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| December 23, 2002 | Monday | Shawwal 18, 1423 |
Kiwis tame devil track to seal Test series over India
HAMILTON (New Zealand), Dec 22: New Zealand tamed the demon pitch to post an exciting four-wicket victory over India in the second and final cricket Test here on Sunday and wrap up the two-match series 2-0.
The hosts were in deep trouble at 105-5 chasing a 160-run target on a seamer-friendly track before Jacob Oram saw them home with a crucial unbeaten 26 under pressure.
New Zealand scored 160-6 to win their second successive Test against the tourists inside three days. The first day’s play was completely washed out.
They had won the opening Test by 10 wickets at Wellington.
New Zealand did not find batting easy on a pitch where 22 wickets had fallen on a sensational third day as they struggled for runs.
The carnage appeared to continue as New Zealand lost five wickets in the morning after resuming at 24 for no loss, but Oram and Scott Styris (17) put on 31 for the sixth wicket to help their team win a low-scoring match.
This was the first Test since 1934-35 (England v West Indies at Barbados) when no batsman could score a half-century, India’s Rahul Dravid being the top-scorer of the match with 39 in the second innings.
Two small, but valuable, partnerships made New Zealand’s fortunes in a match in which each run put as much pressure on India as the fall of each wicket on the hosts.
Skipper Stephen Fleming (32) added 37 for the third wicket with Craig McMillan (18) and Oram 31 for the sixth with Styris.
Fast bowler Ashish Nehra (3-34) sustained the tourists’ hopes with three wickets in the first session, but his effort was still not good enough to stop India from suffering the first whitewash under Saurav Ganguly’s captaincy.
Oram, playing only his second Test, considerably eased the pressure on his team when he drove Harbhajan Singh through the covers and then Nehra square of the wicket for two boundaries in the closing stages.
Robbie Hart completed the job when he turned Nehra for the winning single.
Later Fleming conceded his team was nervous before completing victory.
“It was pretty tense really,” said Fleming. “Lack of concentration for half-an-hour could have turned the game. So, we were pretty nervous and under pressure.”
Ganguly said batsmen had a tough time on seamer-friendly pitches.
“There was everything in pitches for fast bowlers in both the Tests. There was pace, bounce and seam movement. It was not an easy going for batsmen,” he said.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings) 99 (D.R. Tuffey 4-12, S.E. Bond 4-39).
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 94 (Zaheer Khan 5-29).
INDIA (2nd Innings) 154 (D.R. Tuffey 4-41, J.D.P. Oram 4-41).
NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 24-0):
M.H. Richardson c Patel b Nehra 28
L. Vincent c Patel b Yohannan 9
S.P. Fleming c Zaheer b Nehra 32
C.D. McMillan lbw b Nehra 18
N.J. Astle c Patel b Zaheer 14
S.B. Styris c Patel b Harbhajan 17
J.D.P. Oram not out 26
R.G. Hart not out 11
EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-1) 5
TOTAL (for six wkts, 56.2 overs) 160
FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-52, 3-89, 4-90, 5-105, 6-136.
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 13-0-56-1 (1nb); Yohannan 16-5-27-1; Nehra 16.2-4-34-3; Harbhajan Singh 11-0-39-1.
RESULT: New Zealand won by four wickets to clinch series 2-0.
UMPIRES: D.J. Harper (Australia) and E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka).
TV UMPIRE: D.B. Cowie (New Zealand).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Daryl Tuffey.
FIRST TEST: Wellington, New Zealand won by 10 wickets.—AFP/Reuters
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