by play started only 15 minutes late on Day 3.Conditions were pretty overcast
and Hussain started off by using Hoggard and Caddick in tandem.Dravid
looked to be in positive touch early on playing a couple of nice shots
through the offside and a couple of very pretty flick/on-drives.Bangar,on
the other hand,seemed pretty keen on defence although he did play a
on-drive off Hoggard that went away for four.Hoggard,earlier in the same
over,had a very confident shout of leg-before against Bangar turned
down,the ball seemingly having hit the batsman fractionally outside the
line of off.It didnt matter much though as Hoggard got his man in the very
next over with a delivery that pitched outside off and moved away a shade
for Butcher to hold the edge from Bangar's defensive push,at slip.Bangar's
was a pretty dogged innings in the circumstances but one gets the feeling
that he will be required to bat similarly in this test match a second time
around.
And then,the moment all of the Oval had been waiting for,or so it
seemed,Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar walked in to some terrific applause on the
occasion of his hundredth test match.He got off the blocks quickly this
time,flicking a poor Hoggard delivery outside leg to the fine leg
boundary.Hussain wasnt much impressed and I doubt a greater look of
disapproval followed a wicket taking over in a test match ever.Dravid then
took over with a gorgeous cover drive off Hoggard to bring up yet another
well deserved half-century.Emboldened by having got to the 50 Dravid then
reached out for one and slashed it away,Slater style,over where fourth
slip might have been to the third man boundary.Tendulkar meanwhile seemed
content on playing himself in being beaten once by Caddick outside off in
the process.
With Hoggard tiring,Hussain made his first bowling change by bringing on
Cork and the response from Tendulkar was astonishing.To Cork's first
delivery which was a well pitched up loosener outside off,Tendulkar
launched into an extravagant square drive that went nowhere partly because
he wanted it to smash it to smithereens.From the evidence of the
series,its apparent Tendulkar doesnt think much of Cork the
bowler.Tendulkar then played an ugly looking square cut off Caddick for
four but that'd be the last boundary in his innings that wouldnt be
pretty.He then proceeded to square cut Cork and then slash-drive him in
the air past cover for boundaries.Tudor,who came on as change for
Caddick,came in for some special treatment.A couple of breath taking
off-drives,the second one for my money being the shot of the day so
far,sandwiched by a delectable guide to third man.Tudor got a couple of
deliveries past Tendulkar but,by and large,Tendulkar forced Hussain's
bowling change of Giles for Tudor.
Giles started over the wicket and his line lingered around leg stump or
wider.Gave Tendulkar an anxious moment as the little master tried to sweep
and had the ball spin back toward the stumps.Stewart looked hassled as
the last delivery pitched wide outside leg and went for four byes.Giles
then turned to bowling around the wicket and looked a better bowler as a
result.Managed to turn a couple past the outside edge and one fears he
might be be able to run through the Indian lower middle order if the
pacers can make a couple of breakthroughs after lunch.
Cheers,
Ragu[stage set for Laxman as Tendulkar goes for 54]
1 is equal to 2 for sufficiently large values of 1
--Anonymous