SPORTS Tuesday, 18 February, 2014
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SPoRtS DeSk
T began as a "let's see what we can do" minutes after lunch on day three. Then it became about taking it to the next session. Then to the next day. Along the way it was about making India bat again. Even the most fanciful of New Zealand players or fans wouldn't have thought or planned how they would go about it but, close to five sessions later, New Zealand are the only team in a realistic position to win this match. Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling added 194 to their overnight 158run stand without ever looking in trouble, helping New Zealand take the lead to 325 by stumps. When the two came together, New Zealand were 152 in arrears. This is possibly New Zealand's best rearguard ever. McCullum became the first New Zealander to score back-to-back double-centuries, and finished the day 19 short of their first triple-century. Watling played the longest innings by a New Zealand wicketkeeper and fell only two short of the highest by a New Zealand No. 7 in the second innings. Together they put on the highest sixth-wicket partnership, at 352 runs, in Test cricket. And when Watling finally fell, Jimmy Neesham came in and smacked an unbeaten 67 off 96, the third-highest by a New Zealand debutant at No. 8. Numbers, though, don't do justice to the stories. The task New Zealand's batsmen faced was enormous. They were going with an aim of just batting and batting for days, and at any point for a major duration in the partnership one bad ball could turn the whole match back in India's favour. Having put in a huge effort on day three, New Zealand still began the day at 6 for 5. Just imagine the cruelty of getting out at any point in the first session, and watching India come back. MS Dhoni, too, decided to test their patience as opposed to their survival skills. Having spent most of the last afternoon waiting for a mistake, Dhoni attacked for about half an hour on the fourth morning before resorting to his fancy fields. At one point, he asked Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami to bowl from round the stumps with a seven-two off-side field. It is not hard to imagine that they struggled
Scoreboard New Zealand 1st INNINGS 192 438 India 1st INNINGS NeW ZeaLaNd 2Nd INNINGS 281 bb Mccullum* not out 124 bJ Watling† lbw b Mohammed Shami JdS Neesham not out 67 25 eXTraS: (b 5, lb 11, w 2, nb 7) 571 ToTaL: (6 wickets; 189 overs) To baT: TG Southee, N Wagner, Ta boult FaLL oF WIcKeTS: 1-1 (Fulton, 1.3 ov), 2-27 (Williamson, 10.4 ov), 3-52 (rutherford, 16.6 ov), 4-87 (Latham, 34.1 ov), 5-94 (anderson, 37.2 ov), 6-446 (Watling, 160.2 ov) boWLING: I Sharma 39-4-124-0, Z Khan 43-12-129-3, Mohammed Shami 40-5-136-2, ra Jadeja 49-10-108-1, rG Sharma 11-0-40-0, V Kohli 6-1-13-0, MS dhoni 1-0-5-0 MaTcH deTaILS ToSS: India, who chose to field TeST debuTS: TWM Latham and JdS Neesham (New Zealand) PLayer oF THe MaTcH Tba uMPIreS: SJ davis (australia) and ra Kettleborough (england) TV uMPIre: dJ Walker MaTcH reFeree: rS Madugalle (Sri Lanka) reSerVe uMPIre: Wr Knights
mccullum 281 not out,
NEW ZEALAND LEAD BY 325
to bowl wide outside off. The only chance created with India still in the game was by Zaheer Khan, deep into the first session, but India had just one in-between slip that couldn't get to the catch that a second slip would have taken. It can't take away from the feat of McCullum and Watling. McCullum struggled with back and shoulder pains even on day three and has a dodgy knee. Watling had kept for 103 overs, and got a 37-over rest before coming out to bat again. They still showed intent as the fourth day began. Now that they were in credit, they knew runs would push Dhoni further on the defensive. Defensive he be-
watling relishes GAME-CHANGING GRIND
had beaten his previous best aggregate for a Test series, 370, also against India. When he shouldered arms to Zaheer in the 118th over, at 312 balls, he had played his longest innings too. That leave was part of the only spell where India found some control through Ravindra Jadeja and Zaheer. Four maidens were bowled consecutively, but the two batsmen were too well set and too determined to let that draw them into a loose shot. The shackles broke as Jadeja angled too far into the pads, and New Zealand were off again. There was little happening for India. Just before lunch Jadeja beat Watling with one that ripped across him. Watling
SL RISES FROM ASHES Dhaka
Visitors fight back to win from 67 for 8
aGeNcIeS
Wellington
Two spectacular batting collapses adorned the first ODI, one more dramatic than the other, causing amusement, ridicule and fear at a half-filled Shere Bangla National Stadium. Sri Lanka first slipped to 67 for 8 in 21.3 overs, after which Thisara Perera put together a proper rescue act and gave the visitors a lifeline, a score of 180 in 40 overs. The home side fell the other way, from 114 for 2 to 167 all out - losing 53 for 8 when they were cruising. It was the latter that had more impact on the result, as Sri Lanka ended up winning by 13 runs. Earlier, Of all Thisara Perera's rescue acts, this one perhaps was most important for Sri Lanka. Four years ago, he had played a similar innings against India, but there he had centurion Thilan Samaraweera for company. He scored a similar unbeaten 35 just last week against Bangladesh in the second Twenty20, but the target was low, 121. In Mirpur, however, Sri Lanka had slipped to 67 for 8, after being put in to bat in a rain-shortened game
aGeNcIeS
Individual milestones, team milestones, partnership records. Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling were ticking them off so often it seemed that a round of applause rang out at the Basin Reserve as soon as the previous one had ended. While the announcer was regularly keeping the batsmen aware of what they were achieving, Watling said he and McCullum just focused on coming through the next delivery and the next over for the eight-and-a-half hours their 352-run partnership lasted. "It was just a grind. Just took each ball at a time, each over at a time, each hour at a time," Watling said. "They came at us hard and we weathered the storm, then got a few runs away and just kept trying to take them as deep as we could. To lose one wicket (in the day) is a pretty pleasing effort. Definitely very proud of the way we went about things today. I think Brendon batted extremely well and to be in the position we are now after two days ago, we are pretty pleased with how things went." Watling came in at No 7 to join his captain after lunch on day three when New Zealand were still trailing by 152. They were feeling the pressure at that time, Watling said, and just wanted to somehow get a partnership started. "Yesterday was pretty much bat through the day and try and fight our way back into the game," Watling said. "Today was pretty much the same. The first hour was crucial. If we managed to not lose a wicket there, we felt we could kick on and try and keep going. Each session that started was just about starting again and keeping the partnership going and get as many runs and take as much time out of the game as possible." Watling said he and McCullum
came, but now he struggled to even stem the flow of runs. The bowlers were not able to follow his outlandish plans, and kept straying every now and then. Fiftysix runs came in 13 overs in the first hour. The slips came out, the knuckle-ball slower balls from Zaheer Khan stopped landing, Shami and Ishant went back to bowling one loose ball an over, and India were already waiting for a mistake, or the new ball. The seeds for this were sown on the third day, when India's fields suggested they were waiting for the new ball, 40 overs away. Milestones kept falling by the wayside. When McCullum went past 137, he
In such a precarious position, one that Sri Lanka never found themselves in against Bangladesh, Perera found his launching pad in the 23rd over, one over after the eighth wicket had fallen. He tried a heave towards long-on, where Sohag Gazi was far too relaxed under a well-hit shot. It went for six, and Arafat Sunny ended up
Scoreboard spoke about staying focused and extending India as much as they could. "We have got different types of style of play. We just kept batting, trying to take each ball at a time. That was just about it, really. MS (Dhoni) came to bowl at the end and that's niggly, to say the least, but it was just about seeing each over off and trying to get to that new ball and keep building the lead. "Some of their bowlers bowled 40 overs. The more tired they got, the more runs we could get, or more bad balls they bowled and we started to put a bit more of a lead on the board."
walked towards square leg, and you could imagine him grit his teeth and get his concentration back. Every time they played a false stroke - and there weren't many Watling would make sure they gathered themselves again. A Watling walk to square leg. A quiet word to McCullum. In between, McCullum found time to display some brilliance. In the 142nd over, with India already beaten to pulp, he found the boundary beating three men around the point region, and a man behind them in the deep. Soon they walked back together for a session break for the fourth time. The routine was same: a wee knocking of the fists, a quiet pat on Watling's back. The third new ball arrived in the final session. It claimed Watling. The Joe Pesci to McCullum's Robert de Niro. The lead was an even 200 with three-and-a-half sessions to go. McCullum tried to do to the third new ball what he did to the second. Beat it out of shape. This time, though, he was understandably fatigued. In the 164th over, he played and missed at Ishant thrice. Then, to the fifth ball, he left alone. The capacity crowd at Basin Reserve roared out an applause louder than one for a six or a wicket. They were with him. McCullum appreciated it, and went back to concentrate, to draw those powers out of somewhere.
SrI LaNKa INNINGS MdKJ Perera lbw b rubel Hossain 20 TM dilshan c Mushfiqur rahim b rubel Hossain 3 Kc Sangakkara c arafat Sunny b al-amin Hossain 8 Ld chandimal run out (Shakib al Hasan/arafat Sunny) 13 SMa Priyanjan lbw b Shakib al Hasan 6 ad Mathews b arafat Sunny 3 KdK Vithanage run out (Mushfiqur rahim) 7 KMdN Kulasekara b arafat Sunny 0 NLTc Perera not out 80 SMSM Senanayake b Shakib al Hasan 30 SL Malinga c †anamul Haque b Sohag Gazi 0 eXTraS (lb 1, w 9) 10 ToTaL (all out; 40 overs) 180 FaLL oF WIcKeTS 1-22 (dilshan, 3.6 ov), 2-28 (MdKJ Perera, 5.1 ov), 3-43 (Sangakkara, 10.1 ov), 4-52 (Priyanjan, 11.6 ov), 558 (chandimal, 14.6 ov), 6-62 (Mathews, 16.4 ov), 7-64 (Kulasekara, 18.4 ov), 8-67 (Vithanage, 21.3 ov), 9-149 (Senanayake, 35.3 ov), 10-180 (Malinga, 39.6 ov) boWLING: al-amin Hossain 8-1-34-1, rubel Hossain 8-0-37-2, Shakib al Hasan 7-0-29-2, arafat Sunny 6-2-31-2, Sohag Gazi 7-0-22-1, Mahmudullah 4-0-26-0 baNGLadeSH INNINGS anamul Haque c Mathews b Malinga 0 Shamsur rahman run out (Malinga/†Sangakkara) 62 Mominul Haque c dilshan b NLTc Perera 44 Mushfiqur rahim c †Sangakkara b Mathews 27
Shakib al Hasan run out (Malinga/†Sangakkara) 3 Nasir Hossain c Mathews b Senanayake 8 Mahmudullah c Priyanjan b Senanayake 0 Sohag Gazi c Vithanage b Mathews 6 arafat Sunny c †Sangakkara b Mathews 5 rubel Hossain run out (Senanayake/Mathews) 4 al-amin Hossain not out 2 eXTraS (b 1, lb 2, w 2, nb 1) 6 ToTaL (all out; 39.2 overs) 167 FaLL oF WIcKeTS 1-0 (anamul Haque, 0.2 ov), 2-79 (Mominul Haque, 14.4 ov), 3-114 (Shamsur rahman, 19.4 ov), 4-119 (Shakib al Hasan, 22.2 ov), 5-133 (Nasir Hossain, 28.3 ov), 6-133 (Mahmudullah, 28.5 ov), 7-142 (Sohag Gazi, 31.4 ov), 8-161 (arafat Sunny, 35.3 ov), 9-162 (Mushfiqur rahim, 37.1 ov), 10-167 (rubel Hossain, 39.2 ov) boWLING: SL Malinga 8-1-37-1, KMdN Kulasekara 6-0-38-0, ad Mathews 7.2-1-21-3, SMSM Senanayake 9-0-33-2, NLTc Perera 9-1-35-1 MaTcH deTaILS ToSS: bangladesh, who chose to field SerIeS: Sri Lanka led the 3-match series 1-0 odI debuTS: al-amin Hossain and arafat Sunny (bangladesh) Player of the match NLTc Perera (Sri Lanka) umpires Sharfuddoula and rJ Tucker (australia) TV umpire anisur rahman Match referee dc boon (australia) reserve umpire Mahfuzur rahman
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conceding 24 off that over, spoiling his figures of 5-2-7-2 to 6-2-31-2. That over set the base for a resistance between Perera and Sachithra Senanayake, and Perera went on to reach his highest ODI score, 80 not out off 56 balls with four fours and six sixes. The chances given by the Bangladesh fielders helped both batsmen. Gazi had a catch dropped off his own bowling, Mahmudullah failing to hold on to a Senanayake edge. Nasir then leapt high at long-off, but it was poorly timed and he missed the third attempt, also off Perera. Both Perera and Senanayake got one more reprieve each as they added 82 runs in 14 overs for the ninth wicket. As their partnership flourished, Mushfiqur's decision not to use Shakib was confusing. The left-arm spinner ended up breaking the stand in the 36th over, but the batsmen had done considerable damage on a pitch that had favoured the bowlers. Bangladesh's decision to bowl was justified when Sri Lanka lost both openers by the sixth over. Kusal Perera strung two boundaries in the first over and belted out an upper-cut off Rubel in the fourth, but soon, Tillakaratne Dilshan skied Rubel Hossain to Mushfiqur while Kusal was given out leg-before, though the ball appeared to slip down the leg side.