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Kiwis blitz India in unofficial ODI

A year or so after installing its lights, Dunedin finally got a one dayer -- albeit unofficial -- to try them out.

An interesting switch it was, too -- I don't know about the rest of you, but this is the first one I've seen featuring white clothes, and the red ball. An innovation necessitated by the fact that it was a last minute decision to play a friendly, and coloured clothes were unavailable. But then, it comes with a plus -- India, which batted second, now knows at first hand what it feels like playing the red ball under lights, and can submit its official word to the ICC on the plan to use lights to extend play, if needed, in Test matches under those conditions.

Given the unofficial character of the game, we won't bother with the usual wicket by wicket match report here, limiting this to a few broad strokes. Beginning with the pitch, object of much speculation during the three days it spent under the covers. Yes, it turned out to be lightly grassed and hard. Yes, it did have some movement for the seamers. But no, it didn't quite turn out to be the batsmen's graveyard it was expected to be -- as New Zealand, batting first, proved with some real lusty hitting.

The most startling statistic of the Kiwi innings is the inordinate number of sixes the batsmen hit. The likes of Mathew Horne, who really looks a class act when he is in full flow, the stylish Stephen Fleming, Adam Parore and Chris Cairns being helped by short boundaries on the flanks, and some really short stuff from the Indian pacers and spinners alike.

The Indians took the field bundled up against the cold, but apparently couldn't warm themselves enough to shake off their lethargy in the field -- the number of twos the Kiwis ran a testimony to some very slow, almost lackadaisical work in the field. With the fielders giving them away like Santa Claus on Christmas eve, the bowlers suffered. The only point of interest was cop-turned-cricketer Robin Singh Junior -- tall, strapping, bowling off a straight run and an easy high arm action, he generated fair nip off the wicket, and though a shade short on lateral movement, beat the bat repeatedly with a fine line on or around off, looking quite a bright prospect in the bargain.

Collectively, however, the Indian bowling seemed to show little sign of teeth -- something that should be worrying coach Anshuman Gaekwad during the build up to the second Test. Srinath bowled within himself, Prasad only on occasion produced that patented leg cutter of his, Kumble's fizzing top-spinners were interspersed with enough short ones to blunt his effectiveness and, in the final analysis, easily the best bowler on view was Saurav Ganguly, who moved it both ways consistently, and kept it tight on line of off, proving difficult to get away with any consistency.

John Hood, author of the 1995 Hood Report which reshaped cricket administration in the country, was recently commissioned by the New Zealand Cricket board to review its activities and those of its six major associations.

The Hood committee, in its recommendations, said that only "the ongoing inconsistency of the Black Caps" remained "an area of major concern". He didn't need much concern on this evidence, as the Kiwi batsmen, off to a good start, kept the momentum going right through the innings to top the 300-mark. Significantly, this comes just a day after Glenn Turner was lamenting, when asked on TV what he thought of the Black Caps' prospects in the upcoming World Cup, that the Kiwi batting was about 35 runs short of par. "When they are going good, they top 250 -- but the top sides, when they are on song, shoot for 300+, which is where New Zealand lacks," was Turner's assessment. Watching today's display, thus, should have given the former Kiwi skipper some cause for joy.

India, in its turn at bat, stuck to its Test batting order -- a good thing too, since it is Tests that are high on the agenda just now. And the result, at the top, was a bit mixed -- Navjot Singh Sidhu, tentative as he has thus far been on tour, looked particularly ill at ease against the slanting line of left arm paceman Allott, and capped that by getting run out for the 17th time in his ODI career, going for a single that didn't exist.

On the other hand, VVS Laxman, starting a shade hesitantly, settled in very quickly and then played with sound judgement and some panache to produce a quality 82, and make a strong bid for the opener's slot later this week, when the second Test gets under way at Wellington. Rahul Dravid, too, looked rock solid, batting pretty much in Test mode and weather the seamers well. Ironically, it was Dravid who struck the only six of the Indian reply, when he waltzed down to waft Daniel Vettori straight back over his head. The two produced a good second wicket partnership that kept India close to the Kiwi run rate -- India getting to 130/1 in its 25 overs, as against the Kiwis who were 137/3 at that stage of the innings -- before they lost their wickets in quick succession.

From then on, the game slipped away from the Indians. Tendulkar, the only one of the touring party to weigh in with a ton on this tour thus far, looked out of touch coming in at four, Azharuddin looked fluent without however getting the support he might have expected from the other end, Ganguly like his opening partner Tendulkar looked ill at ease in the middle order against a mounting ask rate, and the rest just threw their wickets away to negate the advantage of getting a good hit out in the middle after three days of watching the rain slide off the windowpanes.

For the Kiwis -- who backed their bowling with some electric-heeled work in the field -- the most heartening aspect would have been the seeming inability of the Indians to really get to grips with the two left arm pacemen, Allott and Shane O'Connor. It must be really tempting, for the Kiwi management, to play both, alongside Simon Doull, in Wellington this coming weekend. The downside, of course, came in the ease with which the Indians (Dravid and Laxman were in business at the time) handled their star spinner, Daniel Vettori.

Be interesting to see the openers the Indians pick -- and the pace lineup the Kiwis field against them, come Wellington and the second Test. Be equally interesting to see the Indian bowlers approach the task of bowling a side out twice -- for which, they will need to be about 100 per cent sharper, at a conservative estimate, than they looked today.

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