& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

World Series Triangulars: Retrospect and Prospect

A. M. Chowdhury
The Benson A Hedges world Series Triangular Is half way through. The second half is due lo resume today January 90
In the first half seven matches were played In December and Australia, the favourites are leading the table with eight points from five matches 'nd‘a have five points frot.. five and the West indies have collected only a solitary point from their four
The Australians registered victories against the Windles in two matches and out of the three games against India, they lost the first and won the remaining two. The Indians tied their first match against the West Indies and won the other; against Australia the won the first encounter and lost the next two. The West Indies lost all their matches except their first against India from which they collected their only point.
It to obvious that Australia, so far. are the best team in the competition and their place tn the finals to absolutely certain. At the moment India appear to be safe in second position and look poised to make it to the best-of-three final round against Australia. But cricket to a funny game and nothing can be ruled out. Who knows that the West Indiana arc not going to win al their four matches in the second half of the toume-ment? If they win one of their and win both their matches the reckoning for the finals, provided India get beaten by the Auasies All these arc within the realms of poasibtl Ity
But from the run of the matches in the tournament to dale if appear* fairly clear that the task ahead of the West Indians Indeed an uphill one. Their performance In Ihe four matches left a tot to be desired. Their batsmen have not really scored enough runs in any of the games In their first mulch against India they failed to reach the modest target of 127 and tied the match, havtng lost all the wickcis for 126. The good work of the bowlers could not be upon. In their second match against Australia, the target was again not that big lonly 174 In 50 overs). but again their batsmen failed and thanks to three run outs they fell short by nine runs. In their match, against India, the balemen fared little better. chasing India s total of 262 they were ail out for 252. In the fourth maleh. against
men found the Australian total of 234 loo big and could go up lo only 183
In the first Iwo matches the West Indian bowlers did well to realrtel ihe Indian* to 126 and ihc Australian* Io 173. But the buUmcn could hardly measure up to the Indian and Australian attack*. Only Desmond Haynes lived up to his reputation with scores of 0.62. W and S averaging 40
Their greatest disappointment has been their skipper Richie Richardson. He celebrated Is nomination as skip per al Sharjah with a tally of 272 at an average of 90-66. but he ledcd out since then, a tally of 2! tn three matches in Pakistan and 30 in four matches In I Ik present tour-nament are definitely very unlike Richardson. Ills bad patch has continued in the matches following the first half of the World Series. Other upper-order batsmen—Aphllo Wallace. Cari Hooper, Brian Lara and Keith Arthurton— have not really flourished In the tournament so far. But one good thing about them to that they have managed to win all their matches In tl>c Intervening period and some of the bats men— Cari Hooper and Kai th Arthurton in particular are amongst the runs. They would very much hope lor better and consistent performances from their batsmen.
Specially from their skipper. whose lean run is bound to end. A batsman of his quality and experience cannot be In the dumps for loo long.
The four quick bowlers are as good as any other. Hooper and Arthurton arc expected to offer effective support. I have a hunch the Caribbean* arc not really going to take II lying low. They will be up and about and If they can match up their determination with their potential and promise, something spectacular may not be a day dream. But since the new team to In the process of rebuilding. the task ahead of them may prove too big.
Il wus very commendable on the purl of the Indians that they could snatch a point from the West Indies, despite being booked for 126. In their second match they beat the favourites convincingly by a margin of 107 runs The Aussks were all out for 101 Ravi Shastri being the Wrecker with 5 for IS. However, they were beaten equally convlnc Ingly by the Aussie* In the next two matches; David Boon, registering the only ion of the tournament so far. helped his side to surpass the Indian total of 175 for the toss of only two wickets in the second match India wer^ outplayed in the third match. In which they could manage only 157 and Australia raced to victory losing four wickets, thanks to Allan Border s 76 and Dean Jones' unbeaten 63. The West Indies were Srikkanthcd In their second encounter with India, while the Australians were meted out the same treatment In their first encounter.
The Indian bulling has not been consistent. In the two nialchcs where Srlkkanth got Into his stride and did what he usually does, for which Allan Border has coined the word' Srikkanthcd' the Indian totals went beyond 200 and proved to be winning totals India would only hope Srlkkanth docs It every now and then and not once In a while.
After the Just-concluded third Test mulch the Indians arc expected to be in better shape, their morale rejuvenated and confidence re Irlcvcd Ravi Shastri, after his double century and 4 for 46. Is likely to be his real self In Ihe forthcoming matches In the rolc of a genuine all-rounder. Sachin Tendulkar must have found his rhythm, hilling a sh-perb century. The best of Sanjay Manjrekar Is yet to come. Like the West Indians, the Indians would also wish their skipper Mahammad Azharuddln to come out of his bad-patch. The third Test rejuvenation may work as an Inspirational source for theIndians and If they do perorm something spectacular I shall not be among the surprised.
Contrary to all speculation Indian bowling has proved to be quite effective. Kapil Dev. Money l*rabhakai and Subrala Barwijl have mndc most of the swinging condition. Javagal Srlnalh. Initially ridiculed by the Aussles as ' all arms and legs', has already proved that those arm* do not lock in strength and with brisk movements of his legs he I* capable of generating lot of
If India makes It to the 11 nals. which Is very likely Australia may not find them to be an easy prey. The Australians, without the services of their main bowler Bruce Reid due to injury, may find It difficult to contain and run through the Indian balling line up. Ofcourse. Australia have a very balanced team; x their batting has depth and fluency, their bowling-has penetrative power and above all their fielding easily scores an edge over others. Geoff Marsh, David Boon. Dean Jones, Tom Moody. Allen Border and the Waugh twins Mark and Sieve form a formidable line-up. The attack would now rest on Ihc shoulders of Craig Mcdcrmolt, Mike Whitney, Simon O' Donell (if fit), the Waugh brothers. Tom Moody and Peter Taylor, almost all the Australian players are in good form. So the Australians are legitimately considered to be the top favourites for the World Scries Cup
In the absence of Retd the Indians may feel themselves a little relaxed, but one hopes they are not too relaxed. The Austrians were found to faller under pressure in the Sydney fest and this thought Is going to be an encouraging factor for the Indians.
One day cricket Is essentially a batsmen's game and the bowlers' role Is primarily one of containment. Good line and length are more vital than pace and bounce. Above all. Ihc performance on the day de cldcs the issue. The favourite host side, enjoying home ground advantages, would do well to guard against lonipla ccncy. The Indians, with confidence retrieved and the problem of adjustment over-rcally be discounted. Who knows If ihc Australian* arc not due for a great surprise?