Date-stamped : 29 Jan95 - 10:29 MATCH REPORTS : India in Australia, Test 1, Nov 1991 ---------------------- DAY 1 -------------------------------- India has been sent in, and have survived the first half hour. They have adopted an incredibly strong batting lineup, although their bowling looks a bit thin. Shastri, Srikanth, Vengsarkar, Manjrekar, Azharudin, Tendulkar, Dev, Prabhakar, More, Srinath, Raju McDermott is bowling really well, and Srikanth has started to go beserk (suicidally according to commentators) -- The Lemming At lunch, India ... 63 fo 4 (28 overs), Azharuddin 7*, Tendulkar 2* McDermott 2/11, Hughes 2/18 1st test, 1st day, 1st session commentary McDermott opened for Aust, bowling to Shastri - his first over was a good one, a couple passed the edge of the bat, another hit the pad but too high for an LBW appeal. This was a maiden over, as were his next two (all to Shastri) though McDermott's accuracy dropped off a little, a few were sprayed around a bit in later overs. At the other end, Whitney opened for Aust, bowling to Srikkanth. Srikkanth pulled one through mid wicket for four to open the scoring in the 2nd over, then square drove through cover for another 4 in Whitney's third over, taking the score to 8. A single later in that over allowed Shastri to face Whitney - this was a top edge from an attempted hook that fell well short of McDermott at deep fine leg. The first runs from McDermott came in the following over, a flick over deep square leg for 4 by Srikkanth. Shastri opened his scoring with a couple of twos from Whitney, McDermott bowled another maiden to Srikkanth, then after Shastri had taken his first boundary in Whitney's first over captured Srikkanth with the first ball of his 6th over - one that got up a bit and Srikkanth played from the splie of shoulder of the bat to Boon at short leg, for a fairly easy catch. A couple of balls later, Manjrekar edged one low to Peter Taylor at 4th slip (4 slips, 2 gullies, and short leg) who dived forward and took the ball, though claimed he hadn't caught it (corrrectly) ending the appeal from the other players. Hughes replaced Whitney, and immediately caused Healy to allow a bye, the first extra of the innings. Last ball of McDermott's next over, Shastri flashed at one that was leaving him only to edge it high to Mark Waugh at second slip for a relatively easy slips catch. McDermott bowled just one more over before being replaced by Whitney for his second spell of the test. Manjrekar and Vengsarkar carried thr innings through to drinks, then Vengsarkar was out in a very similar fashion to Shastri immediately after - again caught high by Waugh at 2nd slip. Soon after Manjrekar was fooled by one of Hughes' leg cutters, and just popped ip up back down the pitch - slightly on the on side. Hughes reacted quickly, altered his follow through, and managed to take a good catch. Azharuddin and Tendulkar played slowly through until lunch surviving one confident caught behind appear from Hughes (ball flicked the pad), and an LBW appeal from McDermott (probably down the leg side). After lunch (which has just finished) Hughes has resumed with a very good over, Azharuddin surviving somehow with balls dropping just shory, or wide, of Boon, and flying past the outside edge of the bat. -- kre At Tea : India 154 for 7 (59 overs), Prabhakar 24*, More 2* McDermott 3/26, Whitney 2/59, Hughes 2/25 1st test, 1st dat, 2nd session commentary Hughes opened the bowling in the second session with a firey over to Azharuddin, who managed to put the ball short and wide of Boon at short leg to survive. After Tendulkar had taken a single from Whitney's first over of the session, Border brought in a silly mid wicket to complemet Boon at short leg. Whitney sent one down leg side, Azharuddin unable to play the shots he'd played the previous over, flicked it off his hip, high, straight down Hughes throat at deep fine leg. Hughes resumed for the next over, bowlingto Tendular, who drove one straight back down the pitch. Hughes reached down to it, and deflected it onto the stumps, appealing for the run out of Kapil Dev who had been backing up. However, the only result was a wry grin from Dev, who'd been safely back in his crease. Hughes went off te field after this over, with a slight strain of his left hamstring, and Reiffel came on to field as 12th man, for his first time on the field as part of an Australian team. Whitney was bowling this over to Tendulkar, who played the first great shot of the day, a magnificent drive to the long off fence for 4, and followed it up next ball with a similar shot, but this time on the on side, slightly wide of mid on. Not to be beatedn, Whitney deliver a ball of almost yorker length, swinging in, and on line. Tendulkar played over it, but the stumps forgot to jump, and were flattened. Mark Waugh took over from Hughes, for one innoccuous over from which 6 runs were taken. Apparently he strained his side bowling it, as he left the field after Whitney's next over, and McDerott took up the attack again. Hughes returned to the field, though seemed a bit sluggish. Stuart Law, the Queensland batsman was appointed 13th man in case of need. Peter Taylor introduced the first spin bowling into te attack soon after the drinks break, there was no sign of spin, and Kapil Dev came to seem to like the bowling dispatching Taylor for one big(gish) six over long on (to the far side of the dog track, for those who know the Gabba). That six brought up the 50 partnership with Prabhakar. He followed it with a four in the same direction, and India's innings started to gain a little respectability. Unfortunately for India, in the next over (from McDermott) Dev moved inside one that was straightish on leg stump, and was bowled. Prabhakar carried on for a short while, then went into his shell, preserving his wicket, and the scoring rate slowed to a crawl - even Taylor who'd been very expensive in his first 4 overs started to drag his figures back into more normal range. Approaching the tea break, Australia gave the Indian batsmen their first life when Border put down a ball hit hard directly to him at short mid wicket, his favourite position these days, Prabhakar survived, and Taylor didn't pick up his first wicket. McDermott went around the wicket in his last couple of overs of the session, he was looking a bit tired, and nothing here seemed to provide any danger to the Indian batsmen. The last ball before the tea break More let go down the leg side and watched it just shave the top of the leg stump - a little lucky there. -- kre 1st test, 1st day, STUMPS AT Stumps : India 239 a.o. (88.1 overs) McDermott 5/54 The innings finished within 10 minutes of the scheduelled end of the day's play, so Australia's first innings will commence tomorrow. First ball of the final session, Whitney to More who plays it down to Boon at short leg, but overbalances slightly out of his crease. Boon flicks the ball back onto the stumps, but isn't quick enough to beat More. More ended up taking a singl from the over, then another from Hughes' first over of the session. Th next two overs went scoreless, then in Whitney's next over More slashed between 3rd slip & gully - could have been caught, had there been someone to catch it, instead More received 4. He took another 3 from a pull in the air to mid wicket. Prabhakar had not scored in the session. Peter Taylor came on about half an hour into the session, and there followed a sequence of tense cricket - very few runs, no real danger to he batsmen who seemed to be attempting to last as long as possible, picking up runs whenever they were available, but not really actively seeking them. Taylor finally made one spin (or one I could see spin) but there was not much turn even then. Prabhakar let it go, and watched it spin back towards the stumps but not enough to be a problem. Next ball Taylor induced Prabhaker to come down the pitch and{attempt to drive, only to miss - but so did Healy with the ball bouncing harmlessly off his pads, and Prabhakar regained his crease. The commentators later pointed out that More (who was at the other end) has taken 5 stumpings in an innings (a record), Healy has only 2 (in his career...) This was the second chance of the innings, and both from Taylor's bowling. Eventually, just as the fifth hour of the game was drawing to an end, Hughes induced More to attempt a hook shot, which Whitney had no problem claiming at deep fine leg. Drinks were taken while waiting the next batsman, expected to be Srinath, however Raju was promoted one position (or perhaps always really was intended to bat number 10). For Taylor to Raju, Border brought in a silly mid off to completent the bad pad, and attempt to apply some pressure. McDermott replaced Hughes, and immediately forced Raju to edge a fast one towards, but slightly wide of Peter Taylor, who diver to his right from third slip, but couldn't do more than get his wrist in the way of the ball and prevent runs - and the 3rd chance of the innings went begging, with Taylor involved in all. Obviously not his day. The 200 came up with a rather streaky shot by Raju, over/past border at short mid wicket, from which they took two. Raju eventually fell to McDermott caught behind from a perfectly ordinary thin edge. Srinath came in, and after a short period of settling down, proceeded to score as quickly as he could - he cut one quick one from McDermott to deep third man, to whichMcDermott retalliated with a bouncer that Srinath seemed totally unable to handle. It was called a no-ball (overstepping) but that wouldn't have consoled Srinath much. Border replaced Taylor with Whitnet at the start of the 86th over, that is, when the new ball was available, and took that immediately. As often happens, this seemed to speed p the scoring rate more than anything else. Prabhakar came out of the shell he'd been in to ccover drive McDermott for 4, then take a single to bring up his 50 (this was scores from 142 balls in 195 minutes, with 27 scoring shots including 6 fours). Srinath managed to take 3 fours from McDermott's first over with the new ball, one glanced very fine, giving Hughes no chance at fine leg, the next to backward square leg. Then he pushed one to deep mid wicket, which Boon had to chase from short leg - the ball stopped just inside the boundary, causing the batsmen to actually have to run all four runs. McDermott was to have the last laught though, the first ball of his next over caught the edge of Srinath's bat, giving Healy another easy catch. Prabhakar was left not out on 54, top score for the innings. The innings concluded at about 17:55 ground time (17:53 by any watch keeping real time, the match had been fast all day), so there was no time to start the Australian innings. 88.1 overs were bowled, the mandatory 90 for the day (actually less a few for wickets that had fallen) would have been completed - just. Attendance was officially 8528, which isn't a lot, but is not at all bad for the first day (a working day) in Brisbane. Apologies for typos in these postings - I type them mostly while watching the game, and my eyes have a more interesting screen to be watching than the one of my terminal (I also have a very noisy phone line, which doesn't help). -- kre ------------------------------ Day 2 -------------------------- 1st Hour Kapil Dev opened the attack for India, and immediately had the ball moving away from Marsh, though not creating any great difficulty. Prabhakar at the other end was also getting some swing in the overcast conditions, one Mark Taylor let go - it was moving across him, but swung back late, to pass close to the stumps, More was required to dive to his right to collect the ball. The Australian scoring opened with a no-ball on the first ball of Kapil's second over, which Marsh played down into the gully, where Tendulkar failed to field it at all, allowing two runs down to third man. Tendulkar was later replaced in the gully by Srikkanth - being moved to mid on. Taylor opened his scoring with a deflection to fine leg for a single in Prabhakar's third over. The first appeal of the morning came from one of Kapil's first few balls to Taylor, however it looked as if the ball may have pitched slightly outside leg stump, otherwise it would have been very close. Taylor was hit on the pad again later in the over, however that one swung too much, and would have missed leg stump - no real appeal from this one. Taylor let the next ball go outside off stump, then Kapil completed a good over (his third maiden from four overs) with other hit on Taylor's pads. Marsh took a quick single from Prabhakar, after witch Taylor edged along the ground through slips for the first boundary of the innings. He followed that immediately by a drive through mid off for three runs. Marsh had a little luck later in the over when one fell just short of Azharuddin diving to his left from third slip, which ended an eventful over. Bowling to Taylor, Kapil decided to go around the wicket - Taylor seemed to be willing to simply allow kapils's balls go down te off side. Marsh scored his first boundary with a delightful drive through mid off in Prabhakar's next over (following a two to square leg), to which Prabakar responded with a bouncer, the first of the innings. The batsmen then took turns passing each other's scor, while the bowlers had some problems with no balls, over stepping the line more than they would have wanted to, perhaps trying to bowl a little too quickly. Srinath replaced Kapil after a 6 over spell from the veteran - his first ball to Taylor (after Marsh had taken a leg bye part way through the over) beat Taylor completely. Taylor immediately had the sight screen moved... Srinath's next over produced the first wide of the innings - one that flew from his hand, high, and very very wide - More ran about 30 metres to collect it near square leg. Drinks were taken after another maiden from Prabhakar. -- kre 2nd Hour Srinath continued after drinks, getting one to bounce and take Taylor on the fingers of the bottom hand, causing a little pain, and a short delay to the game while Taylor had pain killing spray applied. Kapil replaced Prabhakar at the other end - Marsh greeted him with a very hard square cut, one of Marsh's favourite shots, four runs. The fifty partnership came up after 95 mins from 143 balls, with a single to Marsh from Prabhakar. Most of this hour continued with quite slow play, nothing very eventful, though in Prabhakar's 10th over - he was brought back to take over after Srikanth's spell, Taylor took two fours, an on drive, followed by a pull through mid wicket. Next over, Raju replaced Kapil providing the first spin of the innings. Marsh managed to get an inside edge to one for a very streaky single, that could have easily gone back onto the stumps. prabhakar's next over ended just as time for lunch arrived, meaning that Raju only had the one over in the session. -- kre At Lunch D2 : India, sent in to bat, first innings 239. Australia 67 for 0, Marsh 28*, M. Taylor 31* 3rd Hour Raju continued after lunch, Mark Taylor took a single to take Aust to 68. Srinath commenced his second spell from the Vulture St end. Taylor took another single, then Marsh played another nice cut for the first boundary of the session. Just the same sequence occurred in Raju's following over. Taylor attempted to sweep Raju in his next over, getting a top edge. Fortunately for Aust the ball fell well short, Taylor took a single. Just fast the first half hour of the session, Marsh tried to drive Srinath, taking a big swing, but missed - bowled for 47. Boon replaced him and took a quick single from the first ball he faced. Srinath switched to around the wicket to Taylor, and brought in two gullies, with 2 slips - with a largish gap between te two pairs. The over ended with Aust on 1/99. Marsh B Srinath 47 1/95 (156 mins) Srinath bowled a bouncer to Boon, which had the batsman in trouble, glancing off the tope of his helmet through to More. Srinath went up late for the appeal - after seeing the players behind the stumps go up. Boon played a slow cut to a ball from Raju for three allowing Taylor only one more ball from Raju before drinks were called onto the field with Australia at 1/109. 4th Hour (till Tea) Azharuddin used the drinks break to bring back Kapil Dev, replacing Srinath after his successful spell. Boon took a single, then Taylor three to take him to 49. Taylor attemped to take the single needed for his half century from the first ball of Raju's new over, but had to go back as Manjrekar returned the ball to More very quickly. Taylor found himself unable to score from the over at all, giving Raju his first maiden of the innings. Both batsmen discarded their helmets in the next couple of over breaks, Boon replacing his with te Australian cap, Taylor with a white floppy hat. Taylor took a single from the second ball of Raju's next over to complete his 50. Taylor attempted a sweep from Raju, got under it and hit it almost directly to Tendulkar at deep square leg. Tendulkar had to come forward and dive for it, but managed to get his hands to it. Unfortunately for India, he wasn't able to hang onto it, and Taylor had a life - it was a difficult chance. A little more excitement when Taylor took a quick single from Kapil's following over, with the stumps thrown down from mid off. He had made his ground however. Another quick single to Boon, called through by Taylor induced Tendulkar to throw from short cover, he missed (Taylor would have been safe again), and allowed the batsmen an overthrow. Next over, from Raju, taylor went back, played the ball from just in front of off stump for a single, then Boon danced down the pitch, drove hard to straight long on for four. Prabhakar replaced Kapil next over. Taylor finally played a nice sweep for four a few overs later, from Raju, then played another that landed just in front of the fieldsman at backward square leg. A few maiden overs concluded the session, leaving Boon with 2 more to score to reach 4000 runs in tests. -- kre Day 2 , TEA : India, sent in to bat, first innings 239. Australia 136/1, M. Taylor 62*, Boon 16* 5th hour First ball of the session, Prabhakar to Boon, and Boon beaten by a ball that moved away a little. Next ball, Boon straight drives, but too straight, and the stumps save 3 runs for India, just a single for Boon. Tendulkar took up the attack from the opposite end. Taylor wasted no time cutting just forward of point for four, then cover driving for another. That was a short spell, Raju replaced Tendulkar after just the one over. A pair of twos brought up the Australian 150 from 389 balls. A single ended the over. Prabhakar bowled a maiden over, as did Raju in his next - bowling to Boon on 3999 test runs, to a slip and short point, and a ring of 4 fieldsmen on the off side. After another maiden from Prabhakar, Raju finally gave Boon a ball he could cut through cover for a boundary, giving him the 4000 test runs. A single followed, bringing Taylor onto strike. He swept just wide of a diving Azharuddin at backward square for four, then pulled one which bounced to the same fielder. Srinath replaced Prabhakar, and both batsmen sent to the pavilion for their helmets. Ten runs ended up being taken from the over, four then three to Taylor, the rest in singles. Next over from Raju, Taylor attempted to sweep again, but managed to get only the gloves onto the ball, which flew high over More - Vengsarker ran behind the keeper to take a good catch. Border took two from the last ball of the over, then another one from the first ball of Raju's next over. Taylor,M C Vengsarkar B Raju 94 2/178 (283 mins) Border indicated his intention to speed up the scoring, by dancing down the pitch to Raju in his next over, hitting him over long on and the dog track, and into the stand for six. Border advanced to 9 from 6 balls faced. Boon followed suit by hooking Srinath to backward square for four. Next over from Raju to Border, Azharuddin placed Tendulkar back at long on, but inside the fence by about 10 metres - Border wasn't tempted, just played it down there along the ground for an easy single. Drinks came at the end of that over. to Stumps Srinath continued after the break, producing a couple of quick balls, which took the batsmen, first Boon, then Border, by surprise. The weather looks a bit overcast and gloomy - rain is not impossible later in this hour. A single to Boon from Raju's next over brought up the Australian 200 from 77.3 overs (472 balls) in 307 minutes. Srinath followed what has become normal practice in the innings by following a late cut four (to deep 3rd man) from Boon by a bouncer. With the weather continually looking darker, Kapil replaced Srinath from the Vulture St end of the ground, bowling with what wind there is behind him. Boon took a single, then after facing a few balls, Border pulled one over the stand at mid wicket into the trees for a magnificent six (two sizes, no fours). Boon had his hemlet taken away again, then late cut Raju delicately for two, then straight drove for a very nice four - the Australian scoring rate certainly has picked up since Border came in. Boon completed his 50 with a slightlu uppish drive through cover for three. It took 135 minutes 174 balls, and he has hit 5 fours. With the new ball almost due, Prabhakar replaced Raju, only to be on drive by Boon for 4. The fifty partnership took just 71 balls in just under 50 minutes. Just a single scored from a no ball in Kapil's next over, still with the old ball, however Prabhakar took the new ball at the beginning of the next over, as it became due, Boon called for his helmet, and the umpires had a chat - probably about the condition of the light. Just a couple of balls with the new ball, the last of which generated an appeal for caught behind down the leg side, then the umpires discussed the light again, offered it to Border, who had no hesitation in leaving the field about 20 minutes before the scheduelled time for stumps. Australia are still 4 runs behind the Indian total, with 8 wickets in hand. Apparently Waugh is recovering well, will probably bat, though I'd guess he won't bowl again in this game. Day 2, Stumps : India, sent in to bat, first innings 239. Australia 235/2 (85.2 overs), Boon 59*, Border 24* -- kre -------------------------- DAY 3 --------------------------- Another sunny day in Brisbane, though with a few clouds around. The pitch still looks green, though there are a few small cracks appearing, and the thing that measures moisture says its drier now. Bowlers follow through marks are starting to show, but I'd doubt they'd be dangerous yet. In an interview, Mark Taylor said the bowling had been on a good line and length, without much rubbish, and getting runs wasn't easy. 1st Hour Prabhakar completed the over started yesterday without incident to open the day's play. Border took a quick single to open the scoring from Kapil's first over with the new ball. A leg bye, and another single brought Australia to just a run behind India. Another short single to Border in the next over levelled the scores, then Boon cut down to 3rd man for yet another single, to take Australia into the lead, and end the 3rd over of the day. The last ball of Prabhakar's next over was a very nice one, beat Border completely between bat and pad, but missing the stumps. Border wanted a single from the start of Kapil's next over, and backed up half way down the pitch. Kapil followed through across the pitch, picked up the ball and threw at the bowler's end stumps, but missed - Border looked as if he would have been still just short of the crease. Boon tried to get the outside edge to a couple of the remaining balls of the over, but wasn't able. Kapil moved one wicket closer to Ian Botham's total when he managed to get one to swing back in to Border, pass between bat and pad, and take off stump. Then his first ball to Jones was a beauty, swinging late away from Jones, past the endge of the bad, and just missing off stump. Next ball was similar, however moved in just a fraction, rather than away, and this one didn't miss the stumps - Jones out for zero, second ball. Border B Kapil Dev 28 3/244 (103 mins) Jones B Kapil Dev 0 4/244 (2 mins) Waugh came in, ignoring whatever is left of his injury. The 250 came up a couple of overs later on a no-ball from Prabhakar. Waugh took his first boundary next over from Kapil, a glorious straight drive, slightly on the off side. Prabhakar is hitting the pads frequently, and appealing almost every time, but he's bowling from very wide on the crease - he either hits the pad outside the line, or its going down leg side. Srinath replaces Kapil after a spell of 6-1-2-11 in the morning session, and some wonderful swing bowling to watch. Waugh square drove Prabhakar for another nice four - again showing some signs of pain from his injury. Drinks ame at the end of the 100th over of the innings, with Australia on 4/264, and the weather brightening slightly - the clouds that have been around are breaking up a little. 2nd Hour Srinath and Prabhakar continued after the break, Prabhakar capturing his first wicked when he induced Boon to flash outside off stump, a rather loose shot - More had no trouble holding an easy chance low down. Healy took four from a widish ball from Prabhakar that he cover drove. Azharuddin reacted by taking himself from third slip into the covers. Prabhakar reacted by managing to take the edge of Healy's bat, a fine edge between More and vengsarjkar at first slip - More pulled away (he should have kept going and caught it), and Vengsarkar couldn't grab it. Kapil chased it from second slip, but managed to throw it away, allowing Healy an extra two overthrows - three runs from what should have been a wicket. In the next over from Srinath, Waugh attempted to get out of the way of a ball bouncing about waist high, pulling his bat right back, but the ball followed him, and managed to clip face of the bat behind him (Chapelli said it hit the gloves, but he was wrong), giving More a very simple catch. Prabhakar finally managed to have an LBW appeal answered in the affirmative when Healy went back and tried to pull him away to leg, but missed, hit high on the pads, but pretty much right in front. Srinath indicated he was willing to bowl short to Hughes - getting one to rise and take Hughes' glove, lobbing over the batsman but falling well short of the Keeper coming in, then pitching the next well short bouncing over Hughes' head. Earlier in the over he had one hit Taylor on the foot, right in front - however it had pitched slightly outside leg, and the only result was a leg bye. Boon C More B Prabhakar 66 5/265 (251 mins) Hughes took himself off the mark with a slog from a slightly wide ball over mid off for a boundary. Rather than bowling a bouncer as a followup, as he'd been doing through the innings, Prabhakar bowned the next one slow, but Hughes managed to cope without problem. With about 15 minutes left of the session, Azharuddin made a double change, bringing back Kapil, and then Raju for his first over of the day. Hughes and Taylor safely saw out play until lunch (perhaps the most exciting moment was seeing whether one more over would fit when Raju started an over with two minutes left to play - it did). India's session without doubt, 5/64 in it, with some great bowling. -- kre Day 3, Lunch : India, sent in to bat, first innings 239. Australia 298/7 (115 ov), P. Taylor 10*, Hughes 8* Kapil 2/59, Prabhakar 2/74, Srinath 2/59 3rd Hour The covers were on the pitch during the lunch interval, but the rain stayed away, and play started on time. Nothing much from Raju's opening over, but after Hughes had taken two to move the score to 301, Kapil removed Hughes to capture the eighth wicket. McDermott opened his scoring with a streaky four to third man, through the slips (on the ground) that the fieldsman at third man couldn't pick up. Hughes B Kapil Dev 11 8/301 (33 mins) Prabhakar replaced Raju after two innocuous overs from the spinner to open the session. During the over light rain started to fall, and play was suspended at 8/315, after 15 minutes of play. Play was interrupted for about 14 minutes, then Prabhakar bowled what should have been the last two balls of the over - his second was a bouncer, called a no-ball from square leg as the second bouncer to Taylor in the over. First ball of Kapil's new over found McDermott finding the ball with the edge of the bat, and Azaharrudin taking a good catch low to his right at first slip. Taylor wasted no time calling Whitney through for a quick leg bye from his first ball but then could manage only one from a glance to fine leg, so Whitnet had to face again - no problem, Whitney faced a couple then scored his opening run, Taylor finished the over with another two. McDermott c Azharuddin B Kapil Dev 8 9/315 (13 mins) In the next few overs, India didn't do a great job of attacking Whitney, allowing Taylor to take much of the strike and pick up some handy runs. Whitnet eventually managed two from Prabhakar to take Australia to 339, a lead of exactly 100. At that point the players left the ground again as light rain started one more time. Time 14:37, close enough to the end of the hour for me to post this... 4th Hour, to Tea Play recommended again after the rain interruption at 14:49, with Kapil Dev resuming and bowling to Taylor, who was not reluctant to take a quick single. Srinath replaced Prabhakar at the other end, for what turned out to be just a half an over, as Raju took a good diving catch at mid off to remove Taylor, and end the innings, with Australia all out for 340, a lead of 101. Taylor,P c Raju B Prabhakar 31 10/340 (75 mins) Whitney not out 7 Kapil 4/80, Prabhakar 2/88, Srinath 3/59, Raju 1/90 Pley was suspended from 13:55 to 14:09 and from 14:37 to 14:49 The innings ended at 14:56. India's second innings commenced at 15:05, with 45 overs scheduelled to be bowled in the rest of the day, of 18:29. whichever comes later, the additional time to compensate for time lost so far. Assuming that there's no more time lost of course, and the light is still Ok then. McDermott opened the innings with a maiden to Shastri. Hughes took up the attack at the other end, with immediate success, Srikkanth edged the bvall onto his thigh pad, to see it pop up to Boon at short leg. Manjrekar came in at one for none. Two maidens to start the innings, with one wicket down. Srikkanth C Boon B Hughes 0 1/0 (7 mins) Shastri opened the scoring with four to backward square, then a single to fine leg, from McDermott's second over. Then he had a ball beat Manjrekar with late away movement, missing both bat and stumps. Manjrekar took a single to open his scoring in McDermott's next over. The bowling is looking pretty good here - lots of balls being played into the slips area. Manjrekar took his first boundary with a late cut wide of 4th slip and to third man. Shastri let a straight one from McDermott go, and was that ever good judgement, the ball just passing outside the off stump. McDermott followed that with an LBW appeal from the next ball, but he had no chance, the ball clearly going down leg side. There's supposed to be very heavy rain falling at Amberly, about 60 km south west of Brisbane, the wind does seem to have been coming from that direction, so who can tell. In any event, its not going to bother Manjrekar, who hit one directly into Boon's hands at ahort leg, for Boon to take a very good sharp catch about knee high, and slightly to his right. Hughes completed a good over by trapping Vengsarkar directly in front, out for a duck. At that point "time" was called and the players left the ground for tea. India 3/14. Manjrekar C Boon B Hughes 5 2/14 (22 mins) Vengsarkar LBW Hughes 0 3/14 (2 mins) -- kre Day 3 Tea: India, sent in to bat, first innings 239. Australia, first innings 340. India 14 for 3, Shastri 5* 5th hour Whitney took over from McDermott immediately after tea, Azharuddin having joined Shastri at the crease. Shastri glided another through the slips feld, which just beat the casers to the fence for another four. To fill in a few more details on Vengsarkar's dismissal just before tea - Hughes went back just to a very short run, trying to fit one more over in before the break (the bowlers had been in hurry up mode the entire short session). Vengsarkar realised what was happening, and held up play a bit, attempting to make Hughes' over the last. Then hughes bowled, a slowish one, diractly at the stumps - Vengsarkar just moved across in front of the stumps, and missed with the bat. Light at the ground is dimming - I'd be surprised if play continues until the originally scheduelled time for stupms, let alone the extra half hour intended to compensate for the time lost. Shastri and Azharuddin are currently concentrating on survival, though Azharuddin didn't look that way a second ago when he took a wild swipe at one from Whitney, missed, just, and then now, a big drive to Hughes for four - maybe he's decided attack is the best form of defence. A nice cover drive later in the over for another four took the captain to 12, and India 3/32. But not for long, same over, and Azharuddin pushed one directly to Boon, one more time, to drop India to 4/32, and the Boon/Hughes combination have 3. Azharuddin C Boon B Hughes 12 4/32 (23 mins) Hughes left the field after another of over, a good maiden to Tendulkar, Reiffel came on as twelvth man, and McDermott took over the bowling. Tendulkar cut McDermott for four behind point to open his scoring for the innings. Attendances for the three days so far: Day 1: 8528, Day 2: 5634, Day 3: 6360 Total of 20522. Reasonable on the first day, but disappointing over the weekend, when it really should have been bigger. Hughes has a slight hamstring strain again, he's having it strapped, should be back on the field soon. Heavy cloud is stating to cover the ground, more rain, or bad light, is likely soon, The forecast for te next two days is apparently good however. Hughes has returned to the field .. and yes, this commentary is just like radio commentary, when not much is happening on the field, you get trivia to fill in... though there's just been a slight mixup, Tendulkar batting to Whitney, pushed it to mid off, Shastri started to run, but was sent back, making his ground before Jones' throw. McDermott continued bowling after Hughes came back (he is required to field a while before he can bowl again), which was good for Australia, as McDermott caught the edge of Tendulkar's bat - one Tendulkar just fended at, and healy took an easy catch. Kapil Dev replaced him, and received a good ball first up, that he flicked upwardlyonto the leg side, Healy chased it, but couldn't get to it - Kapil opened his account with a streaky single. Tendulkar C Healy B McDermott 7 5/47 (29 mins) To Whitney, Kapil continued as he had played in the first innings, driving a no ball to mid off (where it was fielded, so only the extra was scored) then cutting through the slips cordon for four. Another he turned round the corner to fine leg for an easy one. First ball of McDermott's next over, and the croud were sure kapil was out at first slip, however the ball had bounced just a few inches in front of Waugh currently fielding there (probably to save him from having to run). Next ball McDermott sent in a bouncer, Kapil hooked, Whitney ran in from fine leg but couldn't quite get to it - diving finally but the ball reached the ground first. Kapil is living dangerously. Two and a single to Shastri, then another swipe by Kapil, which he missed. Drinks at the end of the fifth hour with India on 5/58. 6th hour, to stumps Whitney continued after drinks weren't taken at 17:00, immediately he had Shastri edge one into the gully, where Marsh couldn't quite get to it - not that it ended up mattering anyway, as the umpire had called Whitney again for overstepping. Next over Shastri attempted to get an edge to one from McDermott, pushing at one waist high - but he couldn't quite reach it, and survived. he repeated that, with a ball keeping lower (knee high), later in the over. Drinks were eventually taken at the end of the over, at 17:10. Whitney continued after the short break, Kapil Dev square cut him for another four. Clearly his attitude hasn't changed - another four through mid wicket from another no ball from Whitney. Border now has 3 slips and more or less three gullies, one of those is deepish, almost around topoint. But all Whitney can do is bowl no balls. Then kapil pulled another to square leg for another four - an expensive over that one. Next over, McDermott to Shastri, and a confident appeal, not out, possibly going over the stumps. After Whitney's expensive over, Border brought Hughes back, with the on side well defended against a pull in the air. Hughes opened with a yorker, that Kapil kept out without difficulty. A nice on drive just beat Whitney to the fence next ball, and Kapil has almost caught Shastri (24 and 29 resp). A couple of balls later and Kapil was tempted to pull, but directly into the ground, and just a single. Kapil was never going to last long - he attempted to cut to one much too close, the ball went directly to Waugh at first slip for an easy low catch. Prabhakar replaced Kapil, and played out the rest of the over. Kapil Dev C Waugh B McDermott 25 6/87 (36 mins) The clouds have vanished and there's plenty of sun at the Gabba now, its likely that play will continue till when its supposed to now. india are gradually removing their first innings deficit (the 6/100 prediction for the end of play today looks remarkably good). Shastri took one to mid o from Hughesn, Whitney fielded, threw at the stumps, but only managed to collect Prabhakar on the lower shoulder - no real damage. McDermott took the inside edge of Shastri's bat, but it just went down onto his back foot, then rolled forward, a little luck there. A good bouncer ended the over. Now its looking a bit dark again. Prabhakar brought up the hunred for India with a slash just over slips for four. He repeated the shot next ball - except got it harder and higher, to force Australia to bat again, taking India to 104. Merve is giving Parbhakar plenty of chances to view his "famous" glare... McDermott bowled a maiden over to Shastri, which Shastri played pretty well. The umpires then conferred about the light, decided it was too bad to continue, offered it to the batsmen who were quite readt to leave the field. To repeat what I said before - I won't be able to repeat this commentary tomorrow - or at least, not nearly as regularly or with as much detail. Sorry about that folks... -- kre Day 3, Stumps : India 239, Australia 340, India 104 for 6 (36 ov), Shastri 37*, Prabhakar 9* Hughes 4/31, McDermott 2/30 ------------------------ DAY 4 ---------------------- India was all out for 156 an hour and thirty three minutes after the start of the fourth day's play. Looking back, India seems to have done better than Gooch's team. They lost Brisbane test in THREE days. India is surviving at least one more session. Is the difference between Indian and Australian batting was that Aussies got a fine day (second) in which they scored runs without losing many wickets. On the other hand the first and third days were the days when the ball was swinging and even Aussies had trouble facing even mediocre bowling. Is this analysis TOO charitable to the Indian debacle? I hope the top order Indian batsmen do not throw their wickets away in the next test matches. This test showed that Indian bowling, mediocre as it is did its job in a much better fashion than the oft admired and acclaimed Indian batting lineup. -- K. Sankara Rao Australia defeated India by 10 wkts in the first test. Marsh : 17 n.o Taylor : 35 n.o Man of the match : Craig McDermott (9 for 102 in this test) Well done Aussies !...! -- V. Ramkumar Contributed by cric8 (help@cricinfo.com)