LOS ANGELES, SEPT 19: A clueless India A were literally slaughtered by Australia A in the third match of the Moov America Challenge Cup cricket series at the Woodley Cricket grounds on Saturday. The pitch was once again the villain of the piece, at least as far as the Indians were concerned, and they went down by a whopping 98 runs in a low-scoring match. The result ensured that the Aussies would take the field for the fourth match on Sunday with a 2-1 lead.On Saturday, the Indians opting to field first after a two-hour delayed start owing to heavy dew and poor light conditions, did reasonably well after Adam Gilchrist gave signs that he would put the match beyond India with a blistering attack on medium-pacers Ashish Nehra and Jyoti Yadav. But Dodda Ganesh had him bowled off the inner edge.The Aussie wickets fell regularly after that on a pitch that was decidedly soft and drying. Only Corey Richards who top scored with 30 measured up to the task. Vijay Bharadwaj and Sehwag each came away with twowickets apiece. The Australians final total of 160 was 25 runs too many for the Indians on this track and it showed.Not a single Indian batsman entered double figures as the dicey pitch turned even more spiteful in the afternoon. Deliveries flew at the batsmen from a length and kept them on tenter-hooks. To make matters worse Andrew Symonds bowled fast medium with the ball held across the seam. It bounced, skidded and sometimes reared on the batsmen and left them confounded.Symonds who came on to the bowling crease first change after Denton had removed JP Yadav and Sriram, came up with a sensational spell that fetched him six wickets at a trot to leave India losers by a whopping margin.But given the dicey condition of the pitch they could have at best narrowed the margin of defeat, not eliminated it. On the other hand, Symonds showed great skill, ability and imagination to exploit the conditions and hasten Indians' doom.SCOREBOARDAUSTRALIA A: AC Gilchrist b Ganesh 21, RJ Campbell cGanesh b Yadav 21, MJ di Venuto c&b Sriram 19, CJ Richards b Sehwag 34, A Symonds st Dighe b Harbhajan 14, DR Martyn c Kaif b Sehwag 11, S Lee c Kaif b Bharadwaj 1, BE Young not out 16, B Lee run out 2, GJ Denton st Dighe b Bharadwaj 0, LK Hansen not out 1; Extras: (b2, lb9, w9) 20. Total: (for 9 wkts, in 40 overs) 160Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-55, 3-81, 4-116, 5-135, 6-139, 7-141, 8-145, 9-147Bowling: Ganesh 5-0-24-1, Nehra 6-1-29-0, Yadav 5-1-22-1, Harbhajan Singh 6-0-24-1, Sriram 6-0-17-1, Bharadwaj 7-0-20-2, Sehwag 5-0-13-2INDIA A: DJ Gandhi lbw b Symonds 9, JP Yadav c Richards b Denton 0, S Sriram c Gilchrist b Denton 4, VVS Laxman c Hansen b Symonds 2, SS Dighe c Gilchrist b Symonds 7, M Kaif c Martyn b Symonds 0, VR Bharadwaj c Campbell b Symonds 9, V Sehwag c Campbell b Symonds 5, D Ganesh c Campbell b S Lee 1, Harbhajan Singh lbw b S Lee 0, A Nehra not out 1; Extras: (lb2, w14, nb8) 24. Total: (all out in 23 overs) 62Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-21,3-30, 4-37, 5-37, 6-52, 7-59, 8-60, 9-60Bowling: B Lee 8-2-17-0, Denton 5-0-19-2, Symonds 6-1-14-6, S Lee 4-1-10-2.
