Astle and Fleming shut the door on India
There can be nothing more demoralising for an opening batsman than the
cheap loss of his partner. And when the first wicket falls to the very
first ball of the game, the side batting has every reason to be wrong
footed. Nathan Astle watched in horror from the non-striker's end as
Zaheer Khan trapped Mathew Sinclair plumb in front off the first ball
of the match between India and New Zealand at the R Premadasa Stadium
in Colombo. Having lost the first match of the Coca-Cola Cup in Sri
Lanka to the hosts, New Zealand could not afford to find themselves at
the receiving end once more. They desperately needed to dig deep, find
the resources and put up a strong showing.
Enter Stephen Fleming with the score on 0/1.
The New Zealand skipper has a reputation for being unflappable. The
most tense of situations do not seem to bother the man from
Canterbury. While someone like Steve Waugh is of the same mould,
Fleming seems to take the expressionless, dour mode of playing cricket
to extremes. Martin Crowe, former Kiwi star batsman made just this
point while commentating on television. If anything, Fleming was so
cool on the field that people criticised him for it, said Crowe. That
was precisely the approach the Kiwis needed against India. In the
calming presence of Fleming, Nathan Astle took the bowling on and came
up tops.
In the first match of the Coca-Cola Cup against Sri Lanka, Fleming
looked in good touch, but failed to make an impact. Timing the ball
sweetly through the offside, Fleming was able to keep the scoreboard
ticking over. A sparkling cover drive did wonders for the New Zealand
morale. Tucking the ball away off his pads and hips, Fleming kept the
fielders on their toes. For his part, Astle too was ready for a
sprint, combining well with Fleming. The pair showed a good
understanding and instinctively stole many singles that really did not
exist.
Unfortunately or fortunately, simply being in good nick is never
enough. Playing the classiest of strokes can leave you high and dry if
the runs don't pile up. New Zealand however had no problems on that
count with Astle blazing away from one end. The partnership between
Fleming and Astle settled the matter in New Zealand's favour. With
Fleming providing the stability at one end, Astle was able to crash the
ball square of the wicket in typical fashion. Anything even slightly
short of a length disappeared through the off side.
It was not until the 17th over that the Indians managed to break the
70-run partnership between Astle and Fleming. Apart from keeping the
Indians at bay for a length of time and strengthening the New Zealand
score, the association for the second wicket helped build a solid
foundation. Despite losing a wicket off the very first ball, the pair
of Fleming and Astle managed to score at over four runs an over. The
skipper's contribution, 25, might look a small one. In the context of
the game however, there was no more important partnership than the one
between Fleming and Astle: our Five Star Partnership.
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