VB Series: India ,Australia and Zimbabwe

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1

After this great oneday series this is gonna be a cracker.

Indians are ready to give world champions a fight and Zimbabwe is improving a lot as oneday unit.
Here is the schedule…
**



Date Match Venue 
Jan 2004 
Fri 9 (D/N) Australia v India Melbourne Cricket Ground 
Sun 11 (D/N) Australia v Zimbabwe Sydney Cricket Ground 
Wed 14 India v Zimbabwe Bellerive Oval, Hobart 
Fri 16 Australia v Zimbabwe Bellerive Oval, Hobart 
Sun 18 (D/N) Australia v India Brisbane Cricket Ground 
Tue 20 (D/N) India v Zimbabwe Brisbane Cricket Ground 
Thu 22 (D/N) Australia v India Sydney Cricket Ground 
Sat 24 (D/N) India v Zimbabwe Adelaide Oval 
Mon 26 (D/N) Australia v Zimbabwe Adelaide Oval 
Thu 29 (D/N) Australia v Zimbabwe Melbourne Cricket Ground 
Feb 2004 
Sun 1 Australia v India W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth 
Tue 3 (D/N) India v Zimbabwe W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth 
Fri 6 (D/N) First Final Melbourne Cricket Ground 
Sun 8 (D/N) Second Final Sydney Cricket Ground 
Tue 10 (D/N) Third Final (if required) Brisbane Cricket Ground

**
**Australia Squad
**
*Ricky Ponting
+Adam Gilchrist
Michael Bevan
Andrew Bichel
Nathan Bracken
Michael Clarke
Jason Gillespie
Ian Harvey
Matthew Hayden
Brad Hogg
Brett Lee
Damien Martyn
Andrew Symonds

** India Squad**
*Sourav Ganguly
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
Rohan Gavaskar
+Parthiv Patel
Ajit Agarkar
Anil Kumble
Murali Kartik
Irfan Pathan
Ashish Nehra
L Balaji
Sanjay Bangar
Hemang Badani

Zimbabwe Squad

*Heath Streak
Vusi Sibanda
Mark Vermeulen
Stuart Matsikenyeri
Craig Wishart
Stuart Carlisle
+Tatenda Taibu
Andy Blignaut
Sean Ervine
Grant Flower
Travis Friend
Douglas Hondo
Blessing Mahwire
Ray Price

2

Player to Watch out for..
Sachin,Dravid,Ricky,Hayden,Gilchrist,Sean Ervine,Grant Flower

First match starts on friday between India and Aus.
Will be intresting to see who they pick to play.
For India these guys look certain

*Sourav Ganguly
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
Ajit Agarkar
Anil Kumble
Irfan Pathan

For Australia following are certain

*Ricky Ponting
+Adam Gilchrist
Michael Bevan
Andrew Bichel
Michael Clarke
Jason Gillespie
Matthew Hayden
Brett Lee
Damien Martyn
Andrew Symonds

3

Heath streak strikes..
**
Streak takes aim at Australia’s old-timers**

Heath Streak on the offensive.

Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has fired a shot at the Australian team ahead of the one-day tri-series, saying it is an ageing side in need of new blood.

Streak said selectors made a wise decision to pick plenty of youngsters in the Australia A squad to play Zimbabwe in a day-nighter at Adelaide Oval today, as the senior side needed an injection of youth.

“When you look at the Australian team, they’re not the youngest now; some of them are getting a bit long in the tooth,” Streak said in Adelaide.

“Someone told me that the Australian bowls team is a younger average age than the cricket team. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s good for them to have a look at the youngsters.”

Zimbabwe will be without experienced batsman Craig Wishart for today’s match after he twisted his left knee while batting in the loss to Western Australia on Sunday.

Streak said Wishart had cartilage damage, but Zimbabwe was holding a slim hope he would miss only one match of the tri-series, against Australia in Sydney on Sunday.

“For us, as such a small playing nation, it’s harder for us to lose quality players like Craig,” Streak said. “It’s a big loss, but an opportunity for one of the other guys to stake a claim.”

Zimbabwe beat Australia A by eight runs in their previous match at the WACA Ground last week, with Zimbabwe’s pacemen dominating the Australia A top order.

At one stage of the match, Australia A was 6-66 in reply to Zimbabwe’s 240 before Shaun Marsh led a late-order fightback that threatened to steal the game.

Australia A captain and Australian one-day batsman Michael Clarke said the top-order batsmen, himself included, needed to do better today.

“Our biggest downfall was that nobody in the top six scored runs,” Clarke said. “You have to be positive, and I think we still came very close to winning the game.”

4

tho Zimbabwe has improved as a Unit but i think in the end it will come down to Australia-India competition unless Zimbabwe pulled the rabit out of hat!

Aussies have great batting line from the openers down the middle order - Glenn absense is likely to hurt - Damien has to go - and Micheal Clarke has to come in - and i think Ricky Ponting would prefer to have Brag Hogg and Ian Harvey in the side - Brett Lee has the same pace but doesn't have much potential left as I saw in the test series - hopefully he will come back to his prime.

Indian side has improved but again the side will win matches because of its batsmen - above 265+ runs and India is 80% gurannted to win - one of the reasons i'll be watching this series is Rohan Gavaskar s/o Sunil Gavaskar who will make his debut.

5

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Talha: *
tho Zimbabwe has improved as a Unit but i think in the end it will come down to Australia-India competition unless Zimbabwe pulled the rabit out of hat!...
[/QUOTE]

Similar to NZ-Ind-Aus series.

6

God damnit. 15 ODIs. :eek: damn

7

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Talha: *
i'll be watching this series is Rohan Gavaskar s/o Sunil Gavaskar who will make his debut.
[/QUOTE]

You'll be dissappointed. Rohan is a pretty useless player in international terms. He captains bengal and the reason for doing so is because daddy is close to Dalmiya, chief of BCB.

8

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by karina: *

You'll be dissappointed. Rohan is a pretty useless player in international terms. He captains bengal and the reason for doing so is because daddy is close to Dalmiya, chief of BCB.
[/QUOTE]

This is not fair Karina. I think he made lots of run in Ranji and more importantly during India A tour of England.I think in his case being son of celebrity went against him.He totally deserved his place in the side as middle order batting all rounder.
Tell me what are the other options to replace Kaif..Dont tell me Dinesh Mongia??

9

FB, I haven't seen this kid called amit bhandari, but how about him?

10

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by karina: *
FB, I haven't seen this kid called amit bhandari, but how about him?
[/QUOTE]

He is a bowler who is only good for Ranji.Was given chance in one or 2 ODIs and failed.

here we are talking for a replacement for kaif so guy has to be a middle order batsman and I dont think there is anyone better than Rohan in domestic cricket right now.He deserves the chance.

11

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by fair_&_balance: *

He is a bowler who is only good for Ranji.Was given chance in one or 2 ODIs and failed.

here we are talking for a replacement for kaif so guy has to be a middle order batsman and I dont think there is anyone better than Rohan in domestic cricket right now.He deserves the chance.
[/QUOTE]

How about Abhijeet Kaali

12

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Xpress: *

How about Abhijeet Kaali
[/QUOTE]

he better start playing Ranji first :D

13

Nathan Bracken is missng the opener of the series

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by fair_&_balance: *

he better start playing Ranji first :D
[/QUOTE]

haha yeh rite.
he has not even performed well and is already covered with scandals.

15

What's the need for playing so many matches? If India go through to the finals they will play 11 matches, more than the WC!

And straight after that our thaka-hara team goes to Pakistan! I hope our main players keep resting in between and let the juniors play the Zim matches. We don't want a tired or injured team going to Pak....horrors.

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** Clash of the favourites **

Just two days. That’s all the time we have to get over one of the greatest Test series in recent memory. The emotion over such a keenly contested rubber and the retirement of an Australian icon have to be set aside very soon. Australia take on India in the opening match of the VB tri-series and despite all their frailties which were exposed in the Tests, Ricky Ponting’s team wear the favourites tag.

There wasn’t even time for a warm-up game for India and Australia. With the batsmen indulging in some run-revelry in the Tests, shifting gears will not be a problem. But what of the bowling? Anil Kumble will be India’s best bet again but he can’t bowl all day, and the support cast will need to strike rhythm early. India will also rely heavily on part-timers: Sanjay Bangar’s medium pace will need to be as military in its discipline as in its description while Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar will provide restricting options.

Nathan Bracken finds himself in the elite indisposed company of Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne, which means that Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee will be the vanguards for Australians. Brad Williams’s pace and pumped-up vigour will add some zip while Andy Bichel’s heroics are never too far away. And then there is a small matter of Ian Harvey’s slower balls and yorkers at the death – something that tormented the Indians in the TVS Cup.

The batting stocks could not have been more bullish. Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid are batting as if in a trance. Sachin Tendulkar, irrespective of whether he plays the cover-drive or not, has stood on ODI Olympus in the past year and Virender Sehwag will be given far more license to swat it around. Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds need no invitation to brutalise, and Michael Clarke has shown composure when confronted with pressure. And then there’s Bevan …

Lets not forget, though, that a third team is involved in the tournament as well. Heath Streak insists that Zimbabwe aren’t around to just make up the numbers, but their form in Australia so far has hardly been inspiring. In fact, they have been mauled in two of their three matches. Yet, they fought tooth and nail with West Indies in a five-match home series. Heath Streak and Tatenda Taibu scripted many a rescue act and Andy Blignaut finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker.

With Craig Wishart and Stuart Carlisle suffering injuries and the top order failing time and again, the picture looks far from rosy. But it was a similar story before the Test series in October, and they fought quite magnificently. Ray Price was their hero then and Zimbabwe will look for similar performances to prevent the tri-series from being an abject misnomer.

http://www-usa.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/JAN/040215_VBS2003-04_08JAN2004.html

17

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by karina: *
What's the need for playing so many matches? If India go through to the finals they will play 11 matches, more than the WC!

And straight after that our thaka-hara team goes to Pakistan! I hope our main players keep resting in between and let the juniors play the Zim matches. We don't want a tired or injured team going to Pak....horrors.
[/QUOTE]

Dont worry..Indian and Pakis cannot afford to be tired when they play against each other. They will be just fine. if they are tired their homes will burn ;)

18

Thats why the series was moved by a week or so and now the Indian team will have a break of around two to three weeks before the tour to Paksitan starts.

19

I thiunk Indian will have tough time in this match because of 2 reasons..
1.,Yuvraj and Badani just came to AUS and they are short of match practice.

2.Very weak bowling attack.Onedayers are the one where Indians will miss Harbhajan and Zaheer most.Indians are gonna play a very inexperienced bowling attack.
Not to mention that Aussies too dont have macgrath but Brad Williams and Harvey are good oneday bowler.

Anyway..its gonna be exciting..Another 1.5 hours and fun begins.

20

I’ll miss this one - :frowning:

Hope India wins!:k: