Its Only Cricket

3rd Test: Australia wins Sydney Test (scorecard), South Africa won Test Series 2-1.. T20 & ODI series follows.
Current Cricket Series : South Africa vs Australia, West Indies vs New Zealand. Coming Up : India in NZ 2009.

Indians far superior than Sussex, on Day 1


DineshKarthikCanLeave.jpgWhat do you look from a 4 day practice match before a big test series? a win is welcome, but batsman must get the runs. Its always been more about the batters adjusting to the conditions, than the bowlers picking wickets on foreign pitch..!!

Hove is where Indian boys have kicked off their England tour with the first warm-up match against Sussex. At the end of the first day - scores rests at 281 for 3 from full 90 overs bowled. 'Satisfactory' is how Indian captain Rahul Dravid will define Saturday, where he won the toss, rested Sachin Tendulkar & Sourav Ganguly, & decided to bat first. The County ground pitch at Hove was easy by no means, so story that follows is equally impressive..

Some swung away, some came in sharply ~ but awkward looking Indian opening pair : Wasim Jaffer & Dinesh Kaarthik negotiated them all. wonderfully! Dropping of wrist by Kaarthik to the balls boucing more than comfortable, or the watchful leaves by Wasim Jaffer (and not falling into driving trap by James Kirtley & 36 year old Jason Lewry) was perfect test match batting. Although Jaffer missed some scoring opportunities, to finally edging to wicketkeeper at 12 runs, Dinesh Kaarthik continued to please. His square drives, great timing & confort against short pitch bowling was a treat to watch. Just a reminder - Dinesh Karthik made 129 in his last test match innings, also as an opener.

Joining into the fun, was Gautam Gambhir. Between him & the openers of this tour match for India - is where tricky selection decision will be taken by Indian think tank - & Gambhir did no bad to his chances for first India vs England NPower test match at Lords starting on 19th July this month.

Rahul Dravid & VVS Laxman were the not out batsman at the wicket, with respective scores of 57 & 37.

Note : Saqlain Mushtaq, former Pakistan off-spinner is playing this 4 day first class match between India & English county team Sussex. Man was brilliant in ODI cricket, but his test match career never flourished. Saqlain bowled 19 overs today, to pick up Dinesh Karthik's wicket. Bowled for 76.




Related Articles
Top Topics Today

Itsonlycricket.com


Get new posts in email

feeds
Random Pics

fun Puneforum