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Richard Hadlee
WELLINGTON, DEC 27: It was a period of positive fortunes for both teams on Day Two of the second Test. New Zealand lost the early initiative, with the top order batting failing to capitalise on the good work done by Simon Doull on Saturday. There were too many soft dismissals, which allowed India back into the Test match as they had the hosts at 208-7 at tea today. New Zealand's plan was to bat all day, perhaps reaching a lead of 120-150, with wickets in hand. They ended the day with a lead of 82 with three wickets in hand but, at one time, the lead may have been only 20 or 30.
The Indian fightback occurred after lunch. Srinath, who struggled with his line and length yesterday, bowled a magnificent 8-over spell, which brought about the dismissal of Craig McMillan. His performance lifted the team in the field, while Kumble attacked and kept things tight at the other end, picking up the wickets of Parore and Astle.
But, there was further frustration for India, as Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori added anunbroken 82 for the eighth wicket. Nash, scored his second Test half-century and equalled his previous best of 56 and Vettori, whose highest score is 90, defied the Indian attack and the second new ball, to lift New Zealand to 290-7 at stumps. The Indian bowlers could not dislodge the two batsmen, who dug in with dogged determination to keep their wickets intact.
Azharuddin's captaincy was quite inspirational at times. Ganguly had been fielding at bat-pad, about 10 metres from the bat, and Srinath probably felt that he needed the fielder in much closer than that. Dravid took over as the bat-pad fielder, and standing much closer to the bat took a brilliant one-handed reflex catch, low to his right off the next delivery, to dismiss McMillan who looked to be in a threatening mood.
Scoreboard
India (1st innings): 208
New Zealand (1st innings; overnight 52-1): Matthew Bell c Mongia b Prasad 4, Matthew Horne b Kumble 38, Stephen Fleming run out (Jadeja) 42, Nathan Astle b Kumble 56, CraigMcMillan c Dravid b Srinath 24, Adam Parore lbw Kumble 2, Chris Cairns c Tendulkar b Prasad 3, Dion Nash batting 56, Daniel Vettori batting 35; Extras (lb17, b8, nb5): 30. Total (for 7 wkts, 112 overs): 290
Fall Of Wickets: 1-7, 2-79, 3-112, 4-162, 5-172, 6-179, 7-208.
Bowling: Srinath 30-4-81-1 (5 nb), Prasad 23-6-57-2, Kumble 37-14-67-3, Harbhajan 16-3-47-0, Ganguly 6-0-13-0.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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