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Sufficient unto the day...
Prem Panicker |
December 19, 2002 07:55 IST
So that, for today, is that -- no play on day one, in the second and final Test of the series.
Groundsman Dough Strachan, who by early afternoon and before the official inspection was already announcing that he would prefer if play could be abandoned for the day, must be a happy camper -- he's got more time to work on the pitch, and make it faster or whatever.
They say play will start earlier tomorrow, and across the remaining days of the Test, wind and weather permitting -- but a smart bloke, or smart think tank, would want to budget for the other and more likely eventuality, viz, that 90 overs have been lost.
That leaves 360 left in the game -- anything over and above that is a bonus. And that, in turn, means that if either of the two teams wants to win this one (as India needs to, and New Zealand would want to, to complete a 2-0 route), the tempo of play will need to be upped considerably. The runs will have to be scored quicker in order to free up more time for the bowlers to do their job twice, and that in turn is quite a dodge on a quick wicket against anything like decent bowling.
It opens up a little window for the Indians -- the Kiwis have already been going hammer and tongs at the tourists in print, and will be dead keen to try and force a win; that in turn means coming hard at the Indians. The fun will begin when the Kiwi batting lineup looks to escalate the tempo -- it will need to take risks and in that, lies India's best chance to blind-side the hosts.
Assuming no further playing time -- translated, overs -- is lost in this game, the next four days could be electric. Meanwhile -- we have had Messers Duckworth and Lewis come up with an awful lot of numbers to determine what happens when the weather interferes with a one day game. I wonder -- how come the ICC has till date shown no inclination to try a similar exercise with Test cricket?
Oh yes, they did stipulate that lights could be used to extend play -- which is of some use if the ground in question has lights in the first place. But other than that, though the official body insists that it wants to make Test cricket attractive and bring back people to the ground, there seems to be no real attempt to compensate for the weather.
Could it not, for instance, be possible to have stipulated that in the event rain washes out an entire playing day, an extra day will be tagged on? On schedule, this game should end on the 22nd. The first ODI is on the 26th. Given that New Zealand is a smallish country, and consequently that travel time is not a great issue, would it not have been possible -- had the rules stipulated -- to have pushed the 5th day of play to the 23rd?
As it is, there are only two Tests -- which, in itself, is a travesty; and an issue the ICC should look into. If one of them is rain hit, then where is the point? (Of course, one team could still lose inside three days -- but what if both teams happen to be fairly decent, and hell bent on fighting?)
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