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| December 12, 2001 | Wednesday | Ramazan 26, 1422 |
Trescothick happy to join ‘99 club’
AHMEDABAD (India), Dec 11: England opener Marcus Trescothick was philosophical after joining an unlucky band of Test batsmen to be dismissed for 99 Tuesday.
“It was obviously not my day, I was a bit unlucky,” he said after missing out on a highly deserved third Test hundred on the first day of the second Test against India.
“I wasn’t too disappointed. Getting out on 99 didn’t bother me that much,” the Somerset left-hander said.
The 25-year-old, who dominated the Indian attack in a 124-run opening stand with Mark Butcher, was happy his team recovered to 277 for six.
“Ninety-nine, at the end of the day, you’d take that every time. It happens to the best of cricketers. There are phases when you don’t get the hundreds. Then you might have a run of form where you score four on the trot, like I did last summer for Somerset.”
Trescothick was a rare batting success in the first Test with scores of 66 and 46 while most of the others struggled against Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. England lost by 10 wickets with more than a day to spare.
He admitted to nerves after going into the tea break one run short of three figures. “Being not out on 99 gave me a bit of a buzz. When I came back I was a bit nervous.”
Kumble had him caught behind off the fifth ball after the interval as Trescothick tried a steer to third man.
The opener felt England could still reach 400 but predicted batting against the spinners would be become more difficult once the surface started deteriorating.
“At the moment it’s a pretty decent surface. It’s not broken up at all, although it will certainly turn more in the next two days. I’m sure it will break up a bit, so we have to get a decent score on the board tomorrow.
“Everyone played much better today. It’s just a case of working hard in the nets, knowing your game plan and targeting areas where you’re going to score.”
He attributed his success to improved footwork.—Reuters
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