da roleta： The big boys of the tournament, Australia, get their first outing in theChampions Trophy when they take on West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium inMumbai.
The Preview by Anand Vasu17-Oct-2006
Shane Watson or Simon Katich as opener? Australia, typically, face a problem of plenty © Getty Images
The big boys of the tournament, Australia, get their first outing in theChampions Trophy when they take on West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium inMumbai. It has been hard going for the batsmen on two slow pitches, andthere’s no reason to believe it will be any different on Wednesday. Whenspeaking to the media ahead of the game both Brian Lara, the West Indiancaptain, and his counterpart Ricky Ponting, stressed on the fact that thatthe team playing better cricket on the day would succeed.The West Indies, who played at the Brabourne Stadium against Sri Lanka,only managed 80 in that outing, but they have the advantage of knowingexactly what can go wrong on a track like this. Lara is a master atadapting to different conditions, and by now he is sure to have worked outa strategy that will give him the best chances of succeeding. How histeam-mates deal with the same conditions, is a matter that remains to beseen.What could turn out to be crucial is the opening partnership for the WestIndies. Chris Gayle has the strokes to score quickly on any pitch, andwhen the ball is new and hard it will come on to the bat better than atany time. If he gets going, West Indies will have some sort of a platformfrom which to build. Equally vital is the other half of the openingpartnership – Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Stephen Fleming showed on Mondaythat it was possible to bat long on this pitch, if you were willing toknuckle down and grind it out, and Chanderpaul has both the technique andthe temperament to do that.West Indies are also fortunate in that the likes of Chris Gayle and MarlonSamuels bowl a brand of quickish offspin that could prove to be very hardto get away if the pitch crumbles like it did when South Africa battedsecond against New Zealand. Even with the dew factor in mind, it’sdifficult to see anyone winning the toss and choosing to insert theopposition.Australia, as always, are in a more comfortable position than theopposition. They have a variety of different batsmen in their team whocan tackle pitches that take turn. Simon Katich is a serious option whenhard graft is called for, although Shane Watson seems to be a shoo-in toopen the batting. There are also Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke, twobatsmen who use their feet exceptionally well to the spinners, and cankeep the score moving along almost without anyone realising it.If anything, Australia’s problem is one of plenty. If they went with formplayers, you’d expect Katich, Dan Cullen and Nathan Bracken to miss out.However, if they chose to adopt a horses-for-courses approach, then anyone of these three players could be valuable. Ponting admitted that histeam was considering playing Cullen, the offspinner, alongside Brad Hogg,but that this would depend on how many fast bowlers they thought theywould need. If they went in with only Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, withWatson as the third seamer, Cullen could get in. But it’s hard to see thishappening, as they have spin options in Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke.Ian Bradshaw, who has been one of the more reliable West Indian bowlers inthe recent past, sat out the game against Sri Lanka, but he’s sure to comeback to the team for this big game against Australia. Speaking at a pressconference a couple of days before the game, he was confident that WestIndies could recover quickly from their setback, and hold their own inthis group. “We believe that we have the talent within this side not onlyto win the next game against Australia but to finish at the top of ourgroup and progress to the semi finals,” he said, after a practice sessionat the Wankhede Stadium. Topping the group is some distance away yet, butWest Indies could certainly do with some good news in their immediate gameagainst Australia.