Masterful Trescothick kindled memories of Gooch
Woorkheri Raman - 21 January 2002
The Kolkata police were made to toil hard to keep the enthusiastic crowd
under control during the days leading up to the first one-dayer at Eden
Gardens. The crowd scrambled desperately in a bid to buy the tickets but
it was an impossible situation with more than half the population keen
to witness the match. This is what makes Kolkata unique and special and
eventually the crowd was entertained by a superb display from both
teams. The hosts were made to work hard for their victory but
unfortunately the incompetence of one umpire meant that they could not
fully relish it.
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Marcus Trescothick threatened to "sweep" the game away from the Indians
with a superb knock. His innings was reminiscent of the match-winning
innings Gooch played way back in the 1987 Reliance World Cup semi-final.
Trescothick was not fully fit and that made the manner in which he
applied himself all the more remarkable. He seemed to have worked out a
plan and though he struggled in the early part of his innings, he gave
Ganguly plenty to worry about. Trescothick was very fluent during the
Test series and he picked up from where he left off exhibiting emphatic
stroke play. Such was his dominance over the Indian attack that the
visitors were maintaining a run-rate of over six for the best part of
the innings before he was dismissed. Mind you, not very often does one
see an opener reach his hundred in the 26th over and that too with the
team score only reading 169.
Trescothick was lucky early on and with Laxman spilling a catch off
Agarkar, he made it count in a telling fashion. After he got a measure
of the pace and bounce, he unleashed some powerful shots off the back
foot against the medium pacers. Ganguly was forced to bring on the
spinners well within the first fifteen overs but the tall left-hander
not to be perturbed. He used his feet very well and tonked both Anil
Kumble and Harbhajan Singh for a six apiece. Once the fielding
restrictions were removed, he played very cleverly using Kumble's pace
to his advantage and sweeping Harbhajan at will. At one stage, Harbhajan
was at his wits' end when bowling to the man of the match. As far as the
hosts were concerned it was a matter of getting Trescothick's wicket as
the others failed to provide him the required support. There were useful
partnerships but Trescothick did the bulk of scoring in those
partnerships.
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Hussain tried in desperation by charging the medium pacers and though he
picked up a few streaky boundaries he was never convincing. Kumble
provided the breakthrough by trapping Hussain in front off the very
second delivery but there was an element of doubt, which though did not
go in favour of the batsman. If Hussain's dismissal was doubtful, then
the decision against Trescothick that swung the game in favour of India
was horrendous. Mr Sharma was the umpire who gave both the decisions and
it appeared that he was prone to instant ruling. Agreed that leg before
decisions are not easy but he would have been better off by taking time
before he handed out the verdict. This particular gentleman has been
umpiring for well over a couple of decades but unfortunately his urgency
has robbed off a fair bit of credit from the Indian victory.
Moving on, it now remains to be seen if Sanjay Bangar, the only all-
rounder in the Indian squad will be pressed into service at Cuttack.
There is no point in looking for all-rounders when the deemed one is not
utilised. Anyway, if the first one-dayer is any indication, this one-day
series will be enthralling.
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