Quote:
Originally Posted by acker  Tendulkar went well but just got a bit to flamboyant [...] Ganguly was going OK but in a moment of madness he played Hogg expecting the ball to do something, it did nothing [...] Laxman got to aggresive [...] Dravid...best to forget today ever happened. |
Dravid did job one: he saw the shine off the ball, took the sting out of the bowlers and thereby protected the middle order from the new ball pairing. I't a shame he then got out rather than go on to bat through the day and into day 3... but such things happen: another time he'll get the same sort of start and then leave the field at the end of the day having anchored his side to a strong position, including seeing off the second new ball.
To criticise Dravid for valuing his wicket and then falling to one of (perhaps the) best bowler(s) in world cricket (and the best seamer in this match) strikes me as a bit rich in any circumstances, especially as the delivery that got him was a first rate off-cutter that stayed low and struck the pad. IF he was also feeling his way on the back of just about no cricket in the tour to date (could you remind me how many innings he's had on Aussie soil this season?) then he deserves some slack - and certainly more than LAxman, who committed the cardinal sin of gloving a short ball he was trying to leave, and Tendulkar, who was out trying to play a forcing shot off a player who should have commanded more respect and to a ball that was far too close to his body to warrant that approach.
Quote:
|
Clark's weapon was his subtle variety - one delivery would bounce and edge fractionally away from the bat and the next would nip back and stay slightly lower. That uncertainty led to Rahul Dravid being judged lbw
|
Yuvraj Singh, in particular, would have done well to imitate Dravid, and whilst it's harsh to criticise a batsman who's only faced 11 balls... he WAS having an un-neccessary dart at the ball, wafting outside off stump at the final ball before the te interval.
Dhoni should certainly not be criticised... but any other criticisms to be made should be for the way the lower order folded whilst attempting big shots.
For an excellent tribute to Clark see
Cricinfo - Clark silences the doubters