6TH MATCH -- ZIMBABWE v AUSTRALIA

Again a Zimbabwean World Cup campaign finished with a heavy defeat, as they were never in the game in the return match with Australia. As in the first World Cup, by this time they had no hope of qualifying for the semi-finals, were nearing physical and mental exhaustion, exacerbated by the unremitting heat, and were trying not to think of home. They were feeling rather demoralised after a tour where so much had gone wrong. Things went no better in this particular match, when a 90-minute bus trip was necessary even to get to the ground from the hotel.

Don Arnott describes Cuttack as a most unusual venue. The hotel where they stayed was in another town, Bhubaneswar, about 25 kilometres to the south, and they had to drive through some rural areas to reach Cuttack itself. Mr Arnott particularly remembers the tedious journey on a road crowded with traffic and animals, and small boys in rural villages staring into the bus whenever it slowed down or stopped and then calling out, "Hello, Mr Houghton! Hello, Mr Traicos! How are you?" and so on.

Apart from losing three wickets for 22 runs in the middle order, one of those being Craig McDermott who was sent in as a pinch-hitter, the Australian batting dominated Zimbabwe's hard-working bowlers throughout. It was another good batting pitch apart from the occasional rogue ball, but as usual slow and low, and Zimbabwe again made the mistake of putting the opposition in to bat. The outfield was also very slow, and only David Boon had much success in getting the ball to the boundary.

McDermott during his brief innings swept a ball powerfully to Kevin Arnott fielding at shortish square leg; Arnott got his right middle finger to the ball and knew immediately that he had a problem. He left the field and was rushed off to see a doctor in an ambulance of sorts, literally bumping their way through the crowds of people and cattle outside the ground. An X-ray revealed a break in the top joint and he was unable to hold a bat properly.

Boon held the early part of the Australian innings together and kept the score moving in masterly fashion, while Dean Jones carried on the job, although not in his best form, when he was dismissed just short of a century. Marsh batted well in an oening stand of 90 before being run out trying to take a second run to Malcolm Jarvis at fine leg. Traicos found turn from the pitch and took two cheap wickets in the middle order, but Mike Veletta played a dashing innings. It was a case of good batting rather than poor bowling and the Australians clearly outclassed the Zimbabweans. Rawson, gradually getting fitter, bowled very well without luck and Traicos was as immaculate as ever.

For Zimbabwe the first four batsmen all got in, but none reached 40. The Australians, realising the increasing difficulty of scoring runs on this pitch, concentrated on bowling accurately and they were very hard to score from. In the absence of Arnott with his broken finger, Andy Waller enthusiastically volunteered to open the innings, but soon probably wished he hadn't. Early on one of the rogue balls, from Bruce Reid, rose sharply to hit Waller a severe blow on the nose as he unwisely tried to hook, causing him to retire temporarily. Kevin Arnott thinks that most people would have had to be carted off to hospital straight away or might not even be with us today, but Waller shrugged it off as lightly as possible and continued his innings later. Eddo Brandes remembers that he had a few stitches put in at the back of their changing room.

Waller was the fifth opener to be tried by Zimbabwe in this tournament as they struggled to find a pair that provided both security and a reasonable scoring rate. In five previous matches the highest opening stand had been 13; this time the first wicket fell at 55, but Waller had retired by then. His injury also contributed to Zimbabwean suspicions about the pitch and inhibited their strokeplay.

Some big hitting by Peter Rawson and Eddo Brandes enlivened the last few overs, but by then Zimbabwe had no hope even of coming close and Australia used part-time bowlers. With 20 overs to go the required run rate had risen to nine an over. Brandes remembers hitting Craig McDermott for two straightish sixes; 'he was not happy at all', Brandes recalls euphemistically, and gave him the traditional Australian earful. The margin of defeat would have been larger had not the Australians eased up at the end.

That evening, Kevin Arnott remembers, he and Waller stayed in the room they were sharing, feeling rather sorry for themselves, one nursing a broken finger and the other a damaged face, with two black eyes and several stitches. They were visited there by Allan Border, who came to check on two virtually unknown players by international standards, to make sure they were all out. "That will live with me for the rest of my life," says Arnott. "He will not recall to this day who I am, but he took the time and trouble to come and visit us in our hotel room when he was a busy man and could be spending his time with his team-mates or giving interviews."

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