da bet7： Nobody likes to see a Test match end in a tame draw
da brwin： Anand Vasu29-Nov-2000Nobody likes to see a Test match end in a tame draw. On Wednesday, anation of Indians and a reasonably full Vidarbha Cricket AssociationStadium at Nagpur were certainly disappointed. But the Zimbabweans arenot here to please. They are here for the serious business of doingtheir best in a Test series. And that they did. In a brave display ofgritty batting at its best, the Zimbabweans batted more than threedays to eke out a draw. The man who distinguished himself the most wasundoubtedly Andy Flower. Ending the day on 232 not out, the Zimbabweanstumper became the fourth Zimbabwean, after Dave Houghton (266), GuyWhittall (203*) and brother Grant Flower (201*) to score a doublehundred in Test cricket. After waiting 47 Tests and 84 innings,Alistair Campbell, another star in the Zimbabwean batting firmament,notched up his maiden Test century. Zimbabwe piled up 504/6 inaddition to their first innings score of 382 and the second Test endedin a draw. India however won the two-Test series 1-0.Early in the day, the hosts struck two early blows after AlistairCampbell reached his maiden Test century. Minutes before Campbellreached his hundred, Andy Flower brought up his ninth Test century.The Zimbabwean stumper has been by far the classiest of the batsmenand it came as no surprise to anyone that he crossed the three figuremark early on the final day.Much of India’s hopes rested on the broad shoulders of Javagal Srinathand the Karnataka speedster took a bit of time to warm up. Pitchingthe ball up to Campbell, he coaxed the batsman to come on the frontfoot and drive. Taking up the offer, Campbell blazed three boundaries,one through covers, another past mid off and the third wide of mid on.The last of those boundaries took Campbell to his first ever Testhundred. However, the fairytale did not continue for Campbell. Themomentum he had gathered and indeed the adrenaline rush he must havefelt at notching up his century led him to play a rash stroke thatcost him his wicket. Attempting to hook a quick bouncer that was welloutside off stump from Zaheer Khan, Campbell could only find thewaiting hands of Sunil Joshi at square leg. Campbell’s 253-minuteessay yielded 102 runs and was punctuated by 15 hits to the fence.Grant Flower who batted so well in the first innings breezed in andout of the crease. Although there was never much doubt in the factthat Andy Flower would seal up one end, Dirk Viljoen at the other endwas very much an unknown quantity. Although he has played some usefulinnings in limited overs internationals, his credentials in the longerversion of the game were unproven thus far. However, today Viljoengave a good account of himself. Resisting a fiery spell from ZaheerKhan during which he was struck on the helmet and body more than onceViljoen finally fell to Sharandeep Singh. Tickling a ball from outsideoff to Ganguly at slip, Viljoen was genuinely disappointed as he leftthe crease after over two and a half hours.Viljoen’s innings of 38 helped forge a partnership of 113 with AndyFlower. Although he did eventually fall, the time he spent at thewicket all but ruined India’s chances of forcing a result in thisgame. Heath Streak helped himself to 29 runs before the match wasdrawn. Andy Flower’s contribution to this Test match cannot beunderestimated. The southpaw has adjusted brilliantly to batting inthe subcontinent. With Zimbabwe having to declare the innings closedin Delhi, he was left stranded on 183 not out. There were no suchcompulsions in this Test match. Batting the whole of the last day out,Andy Flower’s marathon innings of over nine hours took him to 232 notout. Hitting 30 boundaries and two sixes, Andy Flower played justabout every shot in the book. The fact that he struck reverse sweepsto the fence speaks volumes for the confidence with which he played.For his efforts with the bat, he was rightly adjudged both the man ofthe match and the man of the series.For the Indian bowlers there was no joy. Although the threemediumpacers bowled with fire in different sessions, they were unluckynot to pick up more wickets than they did. All in all, five days ofgood hard Test cricket showed that Zimbabwe were well on their way tobecoming a very serious player in world cricket.
