Langer hits century as Australians draw first game
Waleed Hussain - 19 February 2001
The first warm up game of the Australian tour against India A ended in
a tame draw at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium in Nagpur on
Monday. The match was called off by both skippers after 12.1 mandatory overs were bowled with the Australians on 365/9 from 95.1 overs.
The three day match saw 1024 runs scored on a good batting pitch. As
expected, 21 off the 29 wickets to fall in the match were taken by
spinners. Rahul Sanghvi took five in Australia's first innings, Miller
contributed with six in the India A innings and in the Australian
second innings, eight of the nine wickets went to the spinners.
The fact that spinners dominated the proceedings on both sides and
even the tailenders batted away to glory speaks volumes on the
condition of the Nagpur wicket.
Resuming at 39 for one, the Australians batted confidently. The best
batting came from Justin Langer who got a hundred. Langer took 52
minutes to open his account, after which he went about plundering runs
all around the ground. He scored 115 off 157 balls with 17 hits to the
fence and two over it. Ricky Ponting reached his second half-century
of the match. He scored 68 off 95 balls with ten boundaries and one
six. Ponting and Langer added 149 runs off 22.2 overs for the fourth
wicket.
On Sunday, Damien Martyn was off the field for well over 200 minutes.
He was not allowed to bat until the fifth Australian wicket fell. Mark
Waugh and Shane Warne substituted for him on Sunday. He scored a half-
century in the last session of the day before he was bowled round his
legs by Hemang Badani. Martyn's 53 was compiled off 81 balls with nine
boundaries.
Balaji Rao picked up three for 100 and Harbajan Singh bagged three for
81. Laxman and Badani picked up a wicket each. Play was called off
after Damien Fleming was dismissed. Fleming was caught by Laxman at
slip off a wide delivery sent down by Balaji Rao.
The Australians fly to Mumbai tonight and will be playing the second
warmup game against the Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai at the CCI from
February 22.
© CricInfo
Teams
|
Australia,
India.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Colin Miller,
Rahul Sanghvi,
Ricky Ponting,
Damien Martyn,
Mark Waugh,
Shane Warne,
Hemang Badani,
WD Balaji Rao,
V.V.S.Laxman,
Damien Fleming,
Justin Langer.
|
Tours
|
Australia in India
|
Scorecard
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Tour Match: India 'A' v Australia, 17-19 Feb 2001 |
Grounds
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Vidarbha C.A. Ground, Nagpur
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