by By Vijay Lokapally
NAGPUR, March 1.
Those who stayed away did not miss much, and the
enthusiastic who turned up must have wondered if this really was
what they call one-day cricket. The contest never rose above
mediocrity which is what a major part of this Wills World Cup has
been the past fortnight or so.
One lopsided encounter after another is what one has been
witnessing in this competition. A West Indian defeat at the hands
of Kenya might e*** the action-starved cricket fans but such
miracles do not happen everyday. Zimbabwe just did not have the
heart, nor will, nor the competence to match the Australians, who
seem to be cruising well towards their destination. The eight-
wicket victory at the VCA stadium here today goes to prove that
Australia is best equipped to sweep aside all challengers, weak
and strong, in its calculated *** at the title.
Shane Warne, the ``Man of the match``, would not like to
honestly cherish the honour, for the opposition was too brittle.
Here today it looked as if the Zimbabweans had never played a
leg-spinner before. True, he offered a few uncharacteristic bad
balls, but then Warne was so relaxed, probably experimenting with
his line and length. The crafty leg-spinner could afford to do so
as Zimbabwe`s batting came apart, with the exception of Andrew
Waller, who notched a fifty just to put up some sort of
resistance when all his colleagues were interested in was walking
in and walking out in an unprofessional manner, most unbecoming
of a Test-playing nation.
The Zimbabweans contributed immensely towards making it a non-
contest by ignoring the basics of good batsmanship of playing the
ball on merit in the early stages. There are very few batsmen who
can defy this theory but Zimbabwe surely does not possess a
batsman of that calibre who would create bad balls than wait for
them. There was nothing to suggest that this Zimbabwe team was
capable of posing any threat to the Australians at any stage of
the match.
``We did nothing to improve our chances,`` conceded
Zimbabwe skipper Andy Flower. He must be pretty sick with the job
of captaincy which appears to have affected his batting. ``I
am batting pretty well in the `nets` but can`t get past ten in
a match,`` Andy sounded dejected at his poor run in the
tournament.
Mark Taylor was obviously pleased with the result. ``It was
easier than expected. Maybe another 60 runs might have
stretched us because the ball was turning. I thought we played
pretty well. We played good cricket and that is important. We got
to play our best all the time,`` said the Australian skipper.
0};3 A total past 200 might have proved fairly competitive, but
once Zimbabwe, electing to bat, collapsed for just over 150,
there was little interest left in the Australian chase, if one
could term it so. Leg-spinner Paul Strang, who came in for praise
from Taylor and Warne, lacked support and it was quite a merry
outing for the Aussie batsmen, with Mark Waugh once again giving
an impressive account of his ominous form.
Mark Waugh, confidence personified
The other day Waugh spoke of small grounds in India which meant
that the batsman had to concentrate on picking gaps to reach
the fence. He demonstrated it amply in his innings of 76 (109
balls, ten fours) which was marked by some classy drives. He is
enjoying his batting and the confidence should be seen to be
believed. Mark Waugh gives the impression that he walks out to
bat with the firm belief that no bowler can shackle him. He had
expressed his mind when he said that he loves to open the
innings. This match was evidence of how nicely he has settled
into this role, much to the delight of his partner and skipper
Taylor.
Zimbabwe had struggled to organise its batting in all the
preceding matches and the collapse today showed the side in poor
light. Waller alone had the grit to stand up and give the bowlers
a charge before he ran himself out for an admirable 67 (101
balls, ten fours). The rest proved unequal to the task, failing
to read the seamers and faring miserably against the spin of
Warne, who terminated the innings in style, pitching the ball on
the leg to square up the batsman and hit the off-stump.
Good work by Healy
There was some good work behind the stumps by Ian Healy, an
excellent stumping to pack off Andy Flower and a tumbling
catch at leg gully to arrest a promising innings by Craig Evans,
who hit the only six of the match, the ball landing on the roof
at midwicket.
Well, it was yet another contest which had little of the thrills
of limited over cricket. A poor adverti***t for a
tournament of this stature, devoid of quality stuff, and one
could not fault the locals for staying away from the match. They
certainly did not miss much.
Source :: The Hindu (http://SportToday.org/)