Tail of support beckons Dravid

HAMILTON, JAN 3: The uncertainties of Test Cricket make it a fantastic game.Over the past 10 days or so, the much-maligned New Zealand cr...

HAMILTON, JAN 3: The uncertainties of Test Cricket make it a fantastic game.Over the past 10 days or so, the much-maligned New Zealand cricket team have provided great entertainment, value for money, a fighting spirit and success. The New Zealanders are on a roll and this is something which has been missing since the glorious 1980s, when New Zealand didn’t lose a Test series at home, defeating all the Test playing nations in a Test and in a series. We also had significant Test and series wins on foreign soil.

Mental toughness plays a major role. You can have all the skill but the thought process is a prime factor in one’s playing success. This was demonstrated on the first day by Matthew Horne, Roger Twose and Craig McMillan, when it looked as though the Black Caps should have been bowled out for under 200. The fact that New Zealand scored 366 on a sporting pitch was quite extraordinary, even though the Indian bowlers didn’t apply enough pressure through inconsistent line and length on the first day.However, a much improved bowling performance on the second day put India back in the match when they picked up the last five wickets pretty quickly.

It was an emotional and rewarding day for Robin Singh who came back better to pick up his Test wicket and ended up with figures of 2-74. It reminded me of my Test debut, when I picked up 2-88 against Pakistan. It was nice to get my first wicket, but I also knew that I had a lot to do to improve if I wanted to survive in the Test arena. Srinath deserved his third five wicket bag in Test cricket with another whole-hearted display of pace bowling but the Black Caps will be well satisfied with their first innings score.

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Whilst Test cricket is played over five days and can end in an unforgiving and boring draw, it is enjoying a resurgence and is certainly alive and well all around the world. Zimbabwe’s series win in Pakistan is also a positive result and important for the survival of Test cricket.

Here in New Zealand where our total population is only 3.5million, crowds are small by world standards, but they are coming back through the turnstilesIndia ended the day at 196-5. They will be hoping that Rahul Dravid can become the first player to reach a century in this match and score his third in Test cricket. His innings of 93 not out has been a class performance and if India want to stay in this match and get close to New Zealand’s score, he will need good support from the tail.

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand (1st innings; overnight 283-5): Matthew Bell c Mongia b Srinath 0, Matthew Horne b Srinath 63, Stephen Fleming c Dravid b Srinath 0, Roger Twose c Mongia b Prasad 87, Craig McMillan c Prasad b Kumble 92, Adam Parore c sub (VVK Laxman) b Prasad 21, Paul Wiseman c Ganguly b Robin Jr 13, Chris Cairns b Robin Jr 2, Dion Nash not out 18, Daniel Vettori b Srinath 24, Simon Doull c Kumble b Srinath 6; Extras: (5b, 19lb, 2w, 14nb) 40. Total: (all out in 121.2 overs) 366

Fall Of Wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-95, 4-255, 5-278, 6-311, 7-314, 8-315,9-356

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Bowling: Srinath 32.2-10-95-5 (5nb), Prasad 33-10-61-2 (2nb), Kumble 27-07-64-1, Robin Singh Jr 21-5-74-2 (1w), Ganguly 5-3-25-0 (4nb), Tendulkar 3-0-23-0 (3nb, 1w)

India (1st innings): Navjot Sidhu c Parore b Cairns 1, Ajay Jadeja c Nash b Doull 12, Rahul Dravid batting 93, Sachin Tendulkar lbw b Nash 67, Saurav Ganguly c Fleming b Doull 11, Mohd Azharuddin c Fleming b Cairns 4, Nayan Mongia batting 0; Extras: (1b, 1lb, 4w, 2nb) 8. Total: (for five wickets in 56 overs) 196

Fall Of Wickets: 1-17, 2-17, 3-126, 4-164, 5-195

Bowling: Doull 15-6-29-2, Cairns 10-3-54-2 (4w, 1nb), Nash 16-6-35-1, Vettori 13-2-63-0 (1nb), McMillan 2-0-13-0.

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