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Fleming's lair Wisden CricInfo staff - December 28, 2002
Sunday's match will be the 21st one-day international to be hosted by Napier. New Zealand have featured in each of the earlier 20, winning 12 and losing just six, with one match tied (against England in 1996-97) and one washed out. New Zealand keep that win percentage against India too, winning two out of three ODIs. As at Wellington, teams chasing a target have done well here, winning two-thirds of the matches which have produced a result. The ratio is even more skewed in recent times - only twice in the last nine completed games has the team batting first won.
The dominance of the team chasing is clearly reflected in what captains have opted to do after winning the toss. Fourteen times out of 20, they have chosen to field.
For a side struggling for batting form, India's record at McLean Park certainly won't fill them with confidence. They managed just 212 and 160 in the first two matches - both of which they lost - and then scraped to a victory target of 214 in 1998-99 with two wickets, and one ball, to spare. Sachin Tendulkar played all three games, making just 15, 13 and 23.
The average runs-per-over for the team batting first here is a modest 4.39, which translates into a score of 220 in 50 overs. For the team chasing, it's marginally better at 225. In the last five matches, teams batting first have twice been dismissed for sub-160 totals.
One batsman who has enjoyed playing here is Stephen Fleming. He has hit up 579 runs at 72.38, including one hundred and five fifties. Nathan Astle hasn't done too badly either, averaging 45.60 with two centuries and an equal number of half-centuries.
Chris Harris's dibbly-dobblies have proved to be difficult to get away on the slow pitches here. His 17 wickets have come at 2.94, while Chris Cairns has bagged 15 at just 17.93. Fortunately for India, both have been ruled out from Sunday's match with injuries. For India, Javagal Srinath leads the way with six wickets at 26.44.
S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India. © Wisden CricInfo Ltd |
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