|
|
|
|
|
  |
|
A low-scoring venue Wisden CricInfo staff - December 25, 2002
The Eden Park at Auckland has played host to 46 one-day internationals, of which New Zealand have won 22. They won the first one-dayer of this series against India, but barring that, their recent record at this venue won't inspire them much - they've lost seven of the 10 matches they played here before that, including the four immediately preceding it, against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England. India have slightly happier memories of this ground. Though they lost the first two times they played here, in 1975-76 and in 1980-81, the two visits before this series began had fetched India easy victories. Sachin Tendulkar, who missed the last game because of a sprained ankle, will have especially fond memories of Eden Park. It was here that he made his debut as an opening batsman in ODIs, blitzing 82 from 49 balls - including 15 fours and two sixes - as India chased 143 with an incredible 26.4 overs to spare. Tendulkar's second visit in an ODI here wasn't as satisfying personally - he made just 5 - but India still romped home with plenty to spare, achieving their victory target of 208 in 43.5 overs. In the last game, New Zealand won the toss, opted to field, and won easily. In the 10 matches before that, captains opted to bat and field an equal number of times, but results were clearly skewed in favour of the team fielding first. Eight times in this period, the team chasing won the match. Overall, the team batting first has won 20 games, and lost 24. Before the first ODI of this series, the average first-innings score here was a modest 223. There had been two sub-150 totals, including New Zealand's 122 all out in 30.1 overs in a day-night match against Australia in 1999-00. India skewed those records of course, with their woeful 108, which New Zealand overhauled only after losing seven wickets. Both seamers and spinners have been equally effective here. The averages are similar - 30.59 for seam bowlers and 30.44 for spinners - while the slow bowlers are marginally more economical (4.09 runs per over, compared to 4.39 for the pace bowlers). S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India. © Wisden CricInfo Ltd |
|
|
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
|
