da bet esporte： Ricky Ponting’s restrained and mature 257, his second double-century in successive Tests, was the highlight of the third day at the MCG, one that went almost perfectly for Australia
The Wisden Bulletin by Chandrahas Choudhury28-Dec-2003Close India 366 and 27 for 2 (Dravid 6*, Ganguly 6*) trail Australia 558 (Ponting 257, Kumble 6-176) by 165 runs
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Ricky Ponting’s 257 put Australia in a position to dictate terms
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Ricky Ponting’s restrained and mature 257, his second double-century in successiveTests, was the highlight of the third day at the MCG, one that went almostperfectly for Australia. First, batting much more cautiously than they did on thesecond day so as to deny India any chance of coming back into the game, they groundout a lead of 192 in two-and-a-half sessions. Then, in what was a dramatic changeof pace and mood in the game, they whipped out Akash Chopra and Virender Sehwag late in the day to leave India 27 for 2 at stumps.Australia’s gradually ascending dominance,culminating in the dismissal of a pair who had put on 141 in the first innings,overshadowed the lion-hearted effort of Anil Kumble, who took 6 for 176 in 51 overs.Ponting’s double-century was the third of a remarkable year, one in which heaverages almost 100 in Tests, and his name was the common thread in a series ofpartnerships that completely took India out of the game. Ponting’s double-centuryhere appeared much more inevitable than the one at Adelaide, where he attacked theIndian bowling relentlessly and often chancily. His approach was closer to thatadopted by Rahul Dravid in the second Test: he knew he was in command of thebowling, and set himself the task of batting as long as possible. He enteredyesterday with the score at 30 for 1, and by the time he was out late in the day,Australia were 555 for 9.Indeed, Australia’s tactics were markedly different from that of the day before,when they attacked with gusto and piled up over 300 at great speed. On a pitch withuneven bounce, and with batting becoming steadily more difficult, they realised thatensuring a big first-innings lead was more important than scoring quickly, andset about grinding out that advantage. They added 79 runs in the first session forthe loss of Damien Martyn, and 84 in the second for the loss of Simon Katich. (As ameasure of comparision, they made 114 runs between lunch and tea yesterday, and 158in the last session.) The final session today yielded 88, as wickets fell in a flurry, but by this time the advantage was sizeable.India watched the game slip away from them slowly over the course of the day,though they would not have been too displeased with their morning’s work. Not onlydid they remove Martyn, caught behind off Ajit Agarkar for 31, they alsosent Steve Waugh back to the pavilion retired hurt.Waugh came out to another standing ovation, but what followed was anticlimactic. Heleft his first ball alone, and then, as Agarkar dropped the next ball short, turned hisback on the ball. His head was pointed in the direction of third slip as the ballhit him painfully on the elbow, and after an examination from the physio, hedecided to go off.Waugh was replaced by Katich, and if India could have claimed another wicket atthis point, they would have got into the tail. But Katich hung around to add 64for the fifth wicket with Ponting, before he was caught off bad and pad by Chopra off Kumble (437 for 5). Waugh now returned, with an arm guard over his leftforearm, though he was never at ease during his innings of 19.But Ponting at the other end was dominant, and as he neared his double-hundred hecame down the pitch to Kumble for the first time in the day and hit him over theinfield for boundaries in successive overs. He got to the landmark with a push onthe leg side off Ashish Nehra, and celebrated exuberantly before raising his broadbat with the lime-green handle to the packed house.Ponting lost Waugh soon after tea, lbw padding up once too often to Kumble (502 for6). India then steadily worked their way through the tail, with one end keptup all through the afternoon by Kumble.
Anil Kumble took six wickets, including the prized scalp of Ricky Ponting
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Kumble bowled not only with great heart – something often said of him – but alsowith great skill and guile in an overseas Test match, something of which he has often been accusedof being incapable. The great change discernible in his bowling over the lastyear, especially in this series, is that of his stock ball. Previously it used tobe the top-spinner that hurried on to the batsman after pitching, but now it is thegoogly, which is slightly slower, and not only turns into the right-hander but alsobounces. It is a wicket-taking ball: Waugh was out believing the ball would turnthe other way, and Katich beaten by the extra bounce to be caught off bat and pad.Ponting was Kumble’s final victim, charging down the wicket, missing, and being stumpedfor 257 (555 for 9). Both men had put in magnificent efforts on the day.Australia were bowled out for 558, at just the right time for them, and India wereleft with the task of seeing out 11 overs before stumps. It was not to happen,though Chopra could consider himself unlucky to be given out caught behind offNathan Bracken when the ball actually brushed the top of his back pad (5 for1). When Brett Lee dismissed Sehwag, flicking uppishly and caught brilliantly atsquare leg by Brad Williams, Australia were jubilant (19 for 2).Lee would have fancied his chances of a second wicket when Sourav Ganguly emergedat No. 4, in a effort to ensure that Sachin Tendulkar was available to India on thecrucial fourth day, but Ganguly batted with great composure, before nearly giving it away inthe dying stages with a couple of inside-edges past his stumps. He lived to fightanother day, but India will be hard-pressed to save this game from here.