samircreep
June 19, 2005, 03:50 AM
Hi. I'd like to offer some of my thoughts on the match, including the turning points, and key moments. Those of you who have seen the match, please add your comments.
The Toss: Much has been made on Ponting's decision to bat first and in retrospect, it might look as a poor decision, especially when the skipper himself regrets making the decision in the post-match conference. I'd like to differ. Sure, the pitch did have some juice early on and the Bangladeshi bowlers did seam the ball around a bit. But the truth is, 10 mins after the sun came out, there really wasn't much of a devil anymore.Undoubtedly, this was a toss that Shumon, for a change, was lucky to lose and had Bangladesh batted first, we would have struggled earlier on. But it wasn't the turning point, as I'll elaborate later on.
Aussie Batting: Right from the second ball when Gilly played back to a ball that he should have gone forward to, Aussie batting seemed strangely off key. Although the decision might be debatable, Gilly's mindset was strangely defensive. The situation was aggravated when Ponting took a page out of Golla's book and proceeded to commit hara-kiri by shuffling across the stumps to a straighter one from Tapash. And then from then on, the Aussies looked strangely listless. Sure, they were 3 down pretty soon but given the depth of the Aussie batting order and the failry pedestian attack they were facing, surely getting nito a shell was not really warranted. And that's exactly what they did. They might have scored 98 runs on the last 10 overs, but that's mostly because of the generous servings of full tosses that the Bangladeshi pacers dished out. 250 was never going to be a large total on this pitch.
The Pitch: Which brings me to my next point. The Cardiff pitch seemed a ditto version of the one at Delhi: a bit of a life in the morning, simmering down later, but never fast enough to go for your shots, nor slow to wait and slog. It's a great pitch for skiddy bowlers and accumulators. Where the Aussies went wrong was they wanted to spend too much time in the pitch, perhaps thinking that since the game was already up, might as well get some batting practise for the next match. And it's this compacency that cost them the match.
Ponting's Captaincy: Absolutely rubbish. How Steve Waugh would've have blushed to see his protege making some absolutely ridiculous decisions. The biggest mistake was holding Gillespie off till the 40th over, by the time Ash was well set and had pretty much won the match. His field placings were mind boggling, similar to Shumons in the last match. How else would you explain keeping fine leg up in the last five overs when even an inside edge would race away to the short vertical boundaries. Or not attacking Aftab when he first came in. Or asking Gilly to bowl slower balls when not a single one really bamboozled the Bangladeshi batters.Absolutely silly.
Ash's batting: Prior to the England tour, I had written a short peice on the advantages of percentage cricket, esp if you're a batsman. For once, a Bangladeshi bastman finally followed my advice. Throughout the whole match, Ash played only 2 false shots, one which was an attempted hoik over mid wicket which was never on, while the other was a fluffed catch at fine leg.But aside from those two shots, Ash played with the maturity of a batsman who had won many a matches for his country. It was actually very Miandadesque with his uncanny ability to read the bowler's mind (I cant even remember the last time McGrath hit with such utter disdain) and have perfect clarity of exactly where the fielders were. With both fine leg and thrid man up, Ash played some delictable glances staright from Javed's book. A classy innings but perhaps poniting lost the plot a bit too early.
Aftab's 6: I'm still convinced that had Aftab not hit that particular 6, BD wouldn't have won the macth. Aftab reminds me so much of both Kapali and Laxman (and Damien Martyn too, to name an Aussie player) in the sense that both pick up the length of the ball so early.In this particular case, I knew a slower delivery was coming since third man was up yet again. But the total anticipation on Aftab's part was really uncanny, his timing brilliant. The reast, as they say, is history.
The Toss: Much has been made on Ponting's decision to bat first and in retrospect, it might look as a poor decision, especially when the skipper himself regrets making the decision in the post-match conference. I'd like to differ. Sure, the pitch did have some juice early on and the Bangladeshi bowlers did seam the ball around a bit. But the truth is, 10 mins after the sun came out, there really wasn't much of a devil anymore.Undoubtedly, this was a toss that Shumon, for a change, was lucky to lose and had Bangladesh batted first, we would have struggled earlier on. But it wasn't the turning point, as I'll elaborate later on.
Aussie Batting: Right from the second ball when Gilly played back to a ball that he should have gone forward to, Aussie batting seemed strangely off key. Although the decision might be debatable, Gilly's mindset was strangely defensive. The situation was aggravated when Ponting took a page out of Golla's book and proceeded to commit hara-kiri by shuffling across the stumps to a straighter one from Tapash. And then from then on, the Aussies looked strangely listless. Sure, they were 3 down pretty soon but given the depth of the Aussie batting order and the failry pedestian attack they were facing, surely getting nito a shell was not really warranted. And that's exactly what they did. They might have scored 98 runs on the last 10 overs, but that's mostly because of the generous servings of full tosses that the Bangladeshi pacers dished out. 250 was never going to be a large total on this pitch.
The Pitch: Which brings me to my next point. The Cardiff pitch seemed a ditto version of the one at Delhi: a bit of a life in the morning, simmering down later, but never fast enough to go for your shots, nor slow to wait and slog. It's a great pitch for skiddy bowlers and accumulators. Where the Aussies went wrong was they wanted to spend too much time in the pitch, perhaps thinking that since the game was already up, might as well get some batting practise for the next match. And it's this compacency that cost them the match.
Ponting's Captaincy: Absolutely rubbish. How Steve Waugh would've have blushed to see his protege making some absolutely ridiculous decisions. The biggest mistake was holding Gillespie off till the 40th over, by the time Ash was well set and had pretty much won the match. His field placings were mind boggling, similar to Shumons in the last match. How else would you explain keeping fine leg up in the last five overs when even an inside edge would race away to the short vertical boundaries. Or not attacking Aftab when he first came in. Or asking Gilly to bowl slower balls when not a single one really bamboozled the Bangladeshi batters.Absolutely silly.
Ash's batting: Prior to the England tour, I had written a short peice on the advantages of percentage cricket, esp if you're a batsman. For once, a Bangladeshi bastman finally followed my advice. Throughout the whole match, Ash played only 2 false shots, one which was an attempted hoik over mid wicket which was never on, while the other was a fluffed catch at fine leg.But aside from those two shots, Ash played with the maturity of a batsman who had won many a matches for his country. It was actually very Miandadesque with his uncanny ability to read the bowler's mind (I cant even remember the last time McGrath hit with such utter disdain) and have perfect clarity of exactly where the fielders were. With both fine leg and thrid man up, Ash played some delictable glances staright from Javed's book. A classy innings but perhaps poniting lost the plot a bit too early.
Aftab's 6: I'm still convinced that had Aftab not hit that particular 6, BD wouldn't have won the macth. Aftab reminds me so much of both Kapali and Laxman (and Damien Martyn too, to name an Aussie player) in the sense that both pick up the length of the ball so early.In this particular case, I knew a slower delivery was coming since third man was up yet again. But the total anticipation on Aftab's part was really uncanny, his timing brilliant. The reast, as they say, is history.