Australia completes series clean sweep
In many ways, this series has represented both the best of times and the worst of times
05-Jan-2000
In many ways, this series has represented both the best of
times and the worst of times. Well nearly anyway, for
Australia has played about as well as might be expected and
the Indians have been about as poor by comparison. It was
far from a surprise then that this was yet again the general
formula in accordance with which matters transpired on the
third day of the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, at
the very end of which the tourists plunged to defeat by an
innings and 141 runs.
For those who may have expected a more competitive and
enthralling series, it also sadly served as yet another
celebration of the twin abilities of Australia's batsmen to take
toll of flagging attacks and for its own bowlers to work their
way through an opposing batting list. Nevertheless, there was
some time for three significant individual highlights all the
while - Justin Langer chalking up several notable feats in
the course of scoring his first Test double century, Ricky
Ponting making an excellent century of his own and VVS
Laxman registering his maiden Test hundred in bravely
inspiring manner. There were also several bizarre curiosities
late in the day - foremost among them a decision by Umpires
Ian Robinson and Darrell Hair to grant the Australians an
extra half hour at the end of the day to complete their seventh
successive Test victory.
These seven and a half hours began amid brilliant sunshine
with Australia again on the offensive with the bat. Around two
run out chances which were badly fluffed by Rahul Dravid,
Langer (223) and Ponting (141*) indeed opened in lucent
style. In front of a crowd delighting in their dominance,
Ponting was the chief architect of a run-spree in the course
of which seventy-two runs were plundered in the first hour of
proceedings and the rate rarely slowed thereafter.
Even by Langer's own admission, his was far from a great
innings in terms of substance and, by its end, it had become
difficult not to recognise the impact of a string of close
decisions (at least four - at 7, 22, 25 and 55 - springing to
mind immediately) that had gone in his favour. But one can
not deny him considerable plaudits for his effort. It was
another performance among many from him in recent seasons
which offered a great testament to his powers of
concentration, his reserves of energy and his ability to take
toll of a labouring attack. Confirmation of the impact of the
innings came in the notion that his is now the highest score
ever made by an Australian against India, exceeding the 213
made by former captain Kim Hughes in 1980/81. What was
additionally only the fifth ever double century by an
Australian against this foe ultimately finished twenty minutes
before lunch when he launched a tired off drive at the gentle
off spin of Sachin Tendulkar but succeeded only in lofting a
short distance to the right of Venkatesh Prasad at extra
cover.
Whilst clearly not as productive, Ponting also performed a
superb job for his team. Continuing a stellar run which has
seen him now score three hundreds (ironically after three
successive ducks!) in the space of four Tests, the young right
hander incorporated sparkling power and timing in what was
an excellent all round exhibition. His century, which came
when he delightfully drove a Tendulkar delivery to the long
on fence, was indeed in many ways significantly more
impressive than the one made by Langer.
Once Langer was out, Ponting and Adam Gilchrist (45*) then
permitted themselves the luxury of accumulating some of the
easiest runs that might ever be granted them at this level
before a declaration was mercifully enacted. Cuts, pulls and
flowing drives were all in evidence as both Ponting and
Gilchrist enhanced their Test averages with a rapid unbroken
stand of 95 runs for the sixth wicket to take the score to 5/552
before the closure came at 2:27pm with their team's lead
beyond 400 runs.
As if their plight had hitherto not been galling enough, the
Indians then crashed headlong toward complete ignominy.
From the manner in which they began, it seemed likely that
the weary tourists must have already been completely rattled
by the time that they then came in to bat. Or that is the way
that it initially appeared anyway as they crashed to a score
of 3/33 and illustrated barely even a scintilla of fight against
some unremarkable Australian bowling.
Mannava Prasad (3) certainly heightened such suspicions
when he meekly pushed forward at a Glenn McGrath (whose
5/55 gave him only his second ever Test ten wicket haul) leg
cutter and angled a low catch to Mark Waugh at second slip.
At the end of a miserable three Tests in Australia, Dravid (0)
then reinforced them when he played a defensive shot at a
straight McGrath delivery outside the line of off stump. The
result was an outside edge straight to a juggling Shane
Warne at first slip who, despite his best attempts to transform
an easy catch into a difficult one, completed the honours to a
roar of approval from the unashamedly partisan and noisy
crowd.
And then even worse was to follow when superstar Sachin
Tendulkar (4) seemed to take temporary leave of his normally
perfectly assured senses in the following over. After a
magnificently authoritative shot to the mid wicket boundary
against the brilliant McGrath from his very first ball had
provided the indication that he was in a mood to butcher the
attack for one last time in this series, complete disaster soon
followed. It came in the form of a loose cover drive at an
outswinger from Damien Fleming, the result a spooned shot
and the easiest of catches for Langer at cover.
With doubt surrounding the likelihood of the injured Vijay
Bharadwaj's ability to bat later in the innings, that left the
Indians with effectively only six wickets standing and still well
over two days to play to avoid defeat.. But it was at about this
stage that Laxman (167) seemed to sense that the time was
right for someone to fill the breach. And so he did with a
grace and an air of majesty that has not been apparent in too
many of the innings played by him or most of his teammates
in this series.
He did survive the odd slice of fortune (the most notable at
54, when he edged a McGrath no ball straight to first slip),
but otherwise his fluency was uncompromising. Moreover, he
played in exactly the fashion for which Indian supporters
have been crying out throughout the series - with
aggression, with pride, and with a myriad of glorious strokes
to all parts of the ground.
One could almost detect gasps and groans from a stunned
crowd as he also made Brett Lee (fifty-two runs brutalised
from five of his overs at one point) suddenly look the mere
mortal that few at this ground had believed him to be in the
wake of weeks of success and favourable publicity. Still
searching for the elusive five wickets which will confirm him
as the greatest Australian wicket taker in history, leg spinner
Shane Warne also took some unexpected punishment,
especially through the leg side in the late afternoon. That the
Australians were moved to introduce Ricky Ponting and
Michael Slater into the attack late in the piece spoke of their
sudden and unexpected sense of frustration.
Nevertheless, such frustration was not prolonged all that
much longer in what remained a hopelessly lopsided Test.
This reality was further encouraged by the strange decision -
with India only having just lost its sixth wicket - of the
umpires to extend play when the conditions apparently did
not allow them to do so. Frankly, Robinson and Hair did not
enjoy good games, they did little to quell the suspicion that
the Indians had consistently been on the wrong end of
several poor decisions in this series, and they regrettably did
nothing but confirm the impression even more acutely with
what was almost their final act amid the Australian whitewash.