Bradmanesque batting by Sachin

Apart from one over from Shane Warne when the leg-spinner beat him all ends up from around the wicket and then fooled him in flight to nearly have him caught at deep mid-off, the right-hander was in complete control. When people are assessing Warne’s performance in this series these are the little things that need to be recalled, the blonde bamboozler has been the only Australian bowler to trouble him in full cry.

In this series the adagethat great bowlers hunt in pairs has been proved true. For the last few seasons Warne and Glenn McGrath have been a successful combination for Australia, but the lanky quick bowler is missing from the tour because of injury and consequently the leggie has had to carry the bulk of the load. To make life even more difficult for Warne his is bowling to a good batting line-up that includes one champion.

With Tendulkar in complete charge it looked like he would correct the anomaly of not having a Test double century until Adam Dale shattered his furniture. Sachin’s dismissal came as a great surprise to the crowd and a relief to the Australians. Boosted by this breakthrough they ripped through the lower order with Dale and Gavin Robertson doing the mopping up.

When Australia’s turn came, Michael Slater set out to emulate the strokeplay of Tendulkar as he raced to a half-century which included 11 fours. The most important part of Slater’s innings was played before he left the dressing room. On arrival at thecrease he batted aggressively as though he had decided if this was to be his last chance he was going to give himself every opportunity to succeed by playing his natural game. Natural it was and exhilarating to watch and it provided Australia with their first decent opening stand of the series.

After belting the pace bowlers out of the attack Slater then set his sights on matching Navjot Sidhu’s big hits off the spinners. Having picked up his first Test wicket when he deceived Greg Blewett with the top spinner, Harbhajan Singh then had to contend with Slater’s onslaught. The stocky right-hander lofted him well back into the stands but the rookie should have had almost immediate revenge. Slater drove a sitter straight back to the bowler and in his eagerness to throw the ball up Singh averted his eyes and spilt the chance.

However, Slater didn’t make most of this let-off and became the second Australian in this series to be dismissed in the nineties. After the initial disappointment, Michael will bedelighted he had at least saved his Test career and given himself a few more games in which to prove his batting is fully rehabilitated.

Darren Lehmann, one of the three debutants in the match looked as though he had been playing Test cricket for a decade. Having made 10,000 first-class runs before making his Test debut, more than any other Australian he is experienced, but his first boundary at the highest level had class written all over it. He repeated the dose a few times as he dealt with the spinners comfortably and gave Mark Waugh great support.

Not generally a lucky player the elegant Waugh had his share of good fortune. The most glaring was the ball from Venkatapathy Raju which rolled quite firmly onto the stumps but didn’t dislodge a bail. Buoyed by this stroke of luck and a better day with both bat and ball, the Australians must feel that they can finish the series on a high note. If they bat well they could save the Test, if someone can match the brilliance of Tendulkar, they might just winit.