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Natwest Challenge : India Vs England, 1st ODI at
Nottingham |
England sail home
comfortably by 7 wickets I
Scorecard
Cricketfundas Highlights by Ashwat Ramani
Sept 1st,
2004:
It was the 1st ODI of the
Natwest Challenge 2004 as hosts England took on
India in the best of 3 ODI's. The Indians were
fresh from a forgetful Asia Cup which was
followed by a damp Videocon Trophy at Amstelveen.
England were oozing with confidence with a 4-0
whitewash over the Windies at home.
Flip of
the Coin:
On a bright sunny day, the
English Captain Michael Vaughan won the toss and
put the Indians in on a wicket which gave some
assistance to the seamers during the early
stages. England went on with 4 seamers which also
included the debutant Alex Wharf who was drafted
into this English side following his wonderful
bowling stints for Glamorgan. Indians without
Sachin Tendulkar, went with their usual 7 batsmen and 3
seamers with Kumble being the only frontline
spinner.
Indian
Batting:
With Sachin out of the
Series, it was time for 'Dada' to come
back to the opening slot where he loved the most
and had scored most of his runs. A left-right
combination of Sourav and Sehwag was always
threatening for the English bowlers. But, the
Englishmen didn't had to wait long to see
Sehwag's back as he tried to flick Gough and
ended up scooping the ball of a leading edge to Michael Vaughan at mid-on. VVS
Laxman joined his captain and both of them
looked very impressive taking on the bowlers for
few boundaries. Debutant Alex
Wharf in his very 1st over induced Ganguly to
play a false shot and the Indian Captain got out
as he tried to pull a ball
way outside the off stump instead of cutting it,
and the ball landed safely in the hands of the wicket
keeper Geraint Jones. Wharf then dismissed
Laxman in his very next over, as Laxman nicked
it behind to the keeper.
Rahul Dravid struck 3 glorious hits to the
boundary and got out to the same bowler
Alex Wharf as he tried to pull him out of the
ground, but Darren Gough at long leg took a
regulation catch.
Indians were in dire
straits at 89/5 in the 19th over, as Yuvraj got out
trying to steal a third run underestimating the
strong arm of Giles who not only prevented the
3rd run but also ran Yuvraj short of his ground. The
remaining batsmen made a procession back to the
dressing room, as they gifted their wickets to
the English bowlers. Mohammad Kaif tried to hold one end
up and reached his 50 in 78 balls.
Immediately, the next ball he got out caught
behind off Steve Harmison.
Harmison went on to pick another wicket as he
dismissed Balaji with a snorter of a delivery. Replays showed that the ball had come
from Balaji's fore-arm and not the bat. With
Ashish Nehra facing the music, a hat-trick was
always on the cards for the bowler Steve
Harmison who made no mistake as he bent down and
took a sharp return catch to complete his
hat-trick and also dismiss India for a paltry
170.
England's Reply:
Openers Trescothick and
Solanki came out into the middle with a moderate
target of 171 from 50 overs. Trescothick went
after the Indian bowlers as he was never afraid
to hit the ball in the air. Vikram Solanki was
fresh from a century in the C&G Trophy final and
looked in ominous form. He stroked the Indian
bowlers to all parts of the ground with utmost
ease. They denied the Indian bowlers the early
inroads which the Indians desperately wanted with
boundaries flowing off the bat regularly. Trescothick finally got out to Balaji
as he cut one hard into the hands of Yuvraj
at backward point. Vaughan immediately followed
him as his stumps were re-arranged by Balaji
within a span of 2 overs.
Andrew Strauss then joined
Solanki as the duo added up 63 runs for the 3rd
wicket before which Pathan got Solanki lbw. Flintoff looked very aggressive from
the start and started to hit some powerful
shots. The worst affected
was Anil Kumble who was smacked for 2 huge hits
out of the park, as the leggie ended up with dreadful
figures of 57 runs in 6.2 overs. With around 17
overs to spare, England reached their target in
exactly 32.2 overs and 7 wickets in hand.
Strauss was unbeaten on 41 and Flintoff was on
34 of 23 balls which also included 3 mighty
sixes. Debutant Alex Wharf was the Man of the
Match for his bowling effort, which even got
ahead of Harmison's hat-trick.
England defeated India
comprehensively in their 1st One Dayer. The
Indians will have to improve their game if they
hope to do well in this series before the very
important ICC Champions Trophy. Both these teams
meet again on Friday, 3rd of September at The
Oval.
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