Deja vu

In Early 90s, I was a part of my school cricket team in Chennai and we were a regulars in the TNCC's school cricket league. My school has this dubious distinction of getting knocked out of the tournament in the very first round.

It used to be a 40 over affair and that we used to pray for our skipper winning the toss: not with the intention of getting a positive result but with the hope that we can send the opposition in and that we can have the entire day off from the school. Otherwise it would be a 20 over affair.

The opponent's highest scorer, not to belittle their batting line up will be the extras. This is due to the fact that we bowl too many wides and no-balls and I from the third man position used to run to fine leg region only to pick up the ball from the boundary.

This is exactly what happened yesterday. The new ball bowlers sprayed the ball in all direction and that took the pressure off Strauss and Cook (if there were any). Cook for me looked like the aggressor; however, this isn't the Cook we are used to seeing. He used to be more like an accumulator. I guess the pressure of breaking into the one day squad is making him take this new role. Strauss looked calm and composed and looked very sure of what his role is.

The first hour was nothing but a disaster for the Indians and the breakthrough came from Sourav (that speaks loads about the new ball attack) albeit a lucky one. The hawk eye clearly showed the ball was missing the off stump but just.

Later in the day, the bowlers operated with purpose restricting the batters. That for me was the best phase of the day in terms of mind games played. Dravid set an in-out field and the batsmen were not in a position to score boundaries. That I guess put a lot of pressure and eventually Strauss perished to Anil.

That magic ball:

Why wasn't RP Singh operating from around the wicket when nothing was happening initially? I guess this is more to do with experience. Wasim would have immediately switched to around, if not anything but just to try and mix up things.

I expected a night-watchman to walk out; instead poor old Colly walked out and immediately walked in, thanks to Anil's googly.

Weather update:
Not an ideal start for the day. It is dark, murky and was raining all night. On-time start I guess is unlikely.

Cheers
PG


PS: Indian fielding better left un reported. What happens to KKD when trying to catch sitters? I guess, the boys should have a thorough lesson on sliding stop as-well. Robin, hope you read this.