Friday, December 19, 2008

2nd Test | New Zealand vs West Indies Day 2 Live Streaming | Napier | Highlights

Shivnarine Chanderpaul continued his dominance of world cricket by scoring his 20th Test century on the first day of the second and deciding Test against New Zealand at McLean Park. Chanderpaul's hundred was brought up with a flick off his hip to fine leg off Daniel Vettori just before stumps, with the innings steering West Indies to a useful 258 for 6.

His partnership of 163 for the fifth wicket with Brendan Nash was the highlight for the visitors after a shaky morning session which had them wobbling at 74 for 4. The stand took the initiative away from New Zealand but they hit back as West Indies limped to stumps with the late loss of Nash and Denesh Ramdin.

Chanderpaul, whose unbeaten 100 took him 214 balls with nine fours and three sixes, has produced an amazing 972 runs at 121.5 in 2008. The limits to his concentration seem immeasurable at present as he comes to the end of his second consecutive calendar year to yield an average of over 100.

Nash joined Chanderpaul at the stroke of lunch and their long and patient stay gave the visitors a fighting chance of posting a respectable first-innings total on a flat pitch. Chanderpaul soldiered on throughout the day but lost his mainstay with the score on 237. Nash presented Daniel Flynn with a gift at short cover off James Franklin with the new ball, and was disappointed at missing his maiden century in his second Test. He walked off for a well-compiled 74 off 162 balls.

Nash showed his natural talent and was strong square of the wicket. He cut nicely and collected runs off his pads, but also showed a very strong straight drive off the seamers and spinners.

West Indies' patience during the second session began to bear fruit as the New Zealand attack started to tire and become frustrated in the final session, before the second new ball was due. The pair's confidence also grew as they began to trust both the pitch and their own instincts to push the score past 200.

The New Zealand bowlers lost their patience and consistency through the latter stages of the second session and the beginning of the third as Chanderpaul and Nash prospered. However, Nash's dismissal opened the door for New Zealand.

The pair seemed to be shutting up shop with half an hour left before Nash's resistance came to an end. Ramdin looked very nervous as he was forced to bat during the toughest period of the day just before stumps. He left a straight one from Vettori which cannoned into off stump. With the loss of the last two wickets, the visitors surrendered a substantial amount of momentum which they gained through the Chanderpaul-Nash association.

The day ended in a similar note to how it began for New Zealand. West Indies, after winning the toss, squandered a golden opportunity in the first session with Ramnaresh Sarwan, Xavier Marshall and Sewnarine Chattergoon all falling to poor shot execution. Chris Gayle made 34 before being undone by O'Brien, who seamed one away and took the edge for Brendon McCullum to claim a simple catch.

Sarwan played a loose cut off Jeetan Patel and he too was caught behind by McCullum. Marshall made 6 before pushing at a ball from O'Brien and guiding it to Jesse Ryder at third slip, who took a good catch low down to his right. Chattergoon slashed hard at a half volley from Vettori and Jamie How claimed a very sharp chance at second slip high above his head. West Indies will need their most consistent batsman, Chanderpaul, to rally the lower order on the second day.

1st Test | Australia vs South Africa Day 4 Live Streaming | Perth | Highlights

There are few more disheartening sights in sport than watching a great career sputter towards an unbefitting end. It's a feeling that has gripped cricket fans in Australia and India in recent months and on a day when Rahul Dravid's half-century against England at least delayed further queries about his retirement plans, Matthew Hayden's second failure of the match against South Africa has only intensified speculation over his future.

Hayden has hit a wall that is starting to look as impenetrable as Dravid's defence at its peak. He took so long to get off the mark in the second innings at the WACA that when he finally struck his first runs in his 37th minute, he raised his bat to the crowd in a mock celebration. The fans cheered but must have been wondering if they will ever see him enjoy another genuine milestone.

If he remains keen to go on next year's Ashes tour, he needs to make a big score quickly. Hayden loves the MCG, where he has made centuries in six out of the past seven Boxing Day Tests, and he will be desperate to harness that positive vibe next week. The way he played in Perth it will take quite a turnaround. A horrible umpiring call contributed to his disappointment when he was given out caught off his pad, but he had been so scratchy that it was hard to imagine him lasting much longer anyway.

In his early days at the highest level, Hayden had an unfortunate habit of occasionally getting bowled misjudging the length and shouldering arms. It's such an ugly mode of dismissal that it magnifies a batsman's flaws. The uncertainty returned in this innings when he was lucky not to be given lbw when he left a Dale Steyn ball that swung in and would probably have clipped the stumps.

His hesitance was understandable. It was only by stripping away much of his aggression and returning to a cautious approach that he returned to form after a miserable Ashes tour in 2005. His first-innings dismissal must have been weighing on his mind as well. On the opening day, Hayden was buoyed by three confident fours when he flashed at a short, wide ball that he could easily have left and edged to slip. A man who made his name by intimidating new-ball bowlers around the world is himself beginning to look daunted.

There have been glimmers of hope in recent months - he made two half-centuries on the tour of India - but he hasn't looked right since missing the trip to the Caribbean due to an ongoing Achilles tendon injury. The heel was the fatal weakness of the mythological Greek soldier for which it was named and it could yet contribute to the undoing of a modern Australian warrior.

2nd Test | India vs England Day 2 Live Streaming | Mohali | Highlights

In cricket, the line between hero and zero is infinitesimally fine, and nowhere is that truth more accentuated than in India. Rahul Dravid, who has endured the slings and arrows of a fickle sport for more than a decade, knows this better than almost anyone. But after a sapping day in the field, England's cricketers also have a much greater understanding of what it takes to succeed in a country that has long been regarded by visiting teams as the ultimate challenge.

Test cricket is a cruel game. Had it not been for England's last-gasp meltdown at Chepauk, where they failed to defend an Indian record-target of 387, today's diligent and disciplined performance might well have laid the groundwork for their first series victory in India for 23 years. Instead, they were locked out of the day's honours by an indomitable alliance of the in-form and form-less - and hard as they might try, their hopes of regaining that lost ground are, to judge by their recent history in India, slim in the extreme.

One-hundred-and-nine Tests and more than 9000 runs separate the careers of Dravid and Gautam Gambhir, but today they batted as equals - the junior elevated by the sheer weight of runs he has accumulated in 2008 (964 from eight matches to date), and the senior brought low by the plague that has beset his game in the same period. Since his recall for the Sri Lanka tour in July, Gambhir hasn't made less than 19 in any of his 15 visits to the crease. Dravid, by contrast, had fallen for 14 or less in 11 out of 16.

And to judge by the awkward whispers in the media and selection corridors, Dravid's slump was becoming more than just an aberration on a mighty career. The Wall, to use the popular image, was crumbling, but today he was not too proud to stoop to his knees, and pile the pieces back into place, brick by brick. The net result was a fluster-free stand of 173 that demonstrated just how freakish that first Test result had been. India did all their chasing, to spectacular effect, in Chennai. Today all that was required was a confident stroll.

Confidence, however, is precisely what Dravid's game has lacked all year, and who knows what might have happened, both to his career and India's innings, had a loose top-edged pull off James Anderson not landed in no-man's land at midwicket when he had made just 1 run from 17 balls. Dravid did not permit himself a similar extravagance until he had crept along to 7 from 45 balls. Then Anderson dropped short again, and a well-set batsman whistled him ferociously through the leg-side for a nerve-soothing boundary.

Once upon a time, 11 from 46 balls would have been a more than acceptable starting point for an innings, and Lord knows, Dravid has been there or thereabouts often enough in his long and illustrious career. And yet, something strange has happened to his game this year, as has also been the case with the other great stonewaller of the modern era, Jacques Kallis. Perhaps it is the proliferation of Twenty20s - both men endured abject seasons in the IPL - but somehow graft isn't appreciated as it once was.

To be accused of being boring by opponents is one thing, but to be shown up by one's peers must be something else entirely. Perhaps it is significant that Dravid has not made a Test century since Chennai in March, a performance in which even a man with more than 10,000 runs to his name must have wondered at the futility of his existence. In almost the identical number of deliveries that Dravid needed to grind to 111, Virender Sehwag at the other end belted an Indian record 319, with more than three times as many boundaries and infinitely more accolades.

Speed is everything in the modern game, and even the greats must feel slip-streamed from time to time. Today, however, was much more to Dravid's liking. Maybe Sachin Tendulkar felt a similar sense of catharsis last week, when he resumed the Chennai run-chase safe in the knowledge that Sehwag's inimitable hurricane had already blown itself out, and he needed only to do what he does best to win the day for his side. Dravid's first instinct has always been survival, an echo of a former era when India were not habitual victors in Test matches and had to dig deep for their triumphs, as at Headingley in 2002 or Adelaide in 2003-04.

More recently, at The Oval in 2007, Dravid responded to a second-innings scoreline of 11 for 3 with a hugely maligned go-slow that forfeited India's prospects of a second victory in the series, but ensured they would not squander their ultimate series triumph. Much of that mindset was in evidence today. Having won the toss, India's only realistic prospect of defeat was to push too hard and risk being bowled out cheaply. So they did not. The upshot was not pretty, and the din of 35,000 fans at Chepauk felt like a distant dream as the murmurs of maybe a tenth of that number echoed around Mohali. But, as it always is when Dravid is undefeated at the close, it was undoubtedly effective.

England did not bowl badly. With Stuart Broad back in place of Steve Harmison (whose appetite for the struggle was tacitly questioned by Kevin Pietersen at the toss), they found seam movement off a full length, handy reverse swing late in the day, and stifled the tempo throughout thanks to Sehwag's hasty departure. Had it been they who held the 1-0 series lead, that alone might have been sufficient to turn pressure into wickets. Instead, where Sehwag had used brute force to grasp the match momentum at Chennai, Gambhir and Dravid used stealth and application. By the close, they had slammed the door on England's prospects of a share of the series, and were a couple of good sessions from turning the key as well.