Wright blames it on poor running-between-wickets

Wright blames it on poor running-between-wickets
MICKY AIGNER

PUNE, MARCH 28: Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly preferred to keep away, however coach John Wright, though disappointed, singled out the running-between-the-wickets as the main reason for India’s dismal performance against the Australians in the second-one-dayer, here on Wednesday.

‘‘I am definitely unhappy with the fielding too, and I feel its back to basics,’’ informed Wright. On losing the game, Wright informed ‘‘Well look at the game this way lack of simple calling by the batsmen, no backing-up by fielders and losing eye contact with the ball, are too many negatives to score a win. One cannot make such mistakes.

Terming the three run-outs as a ‘‘major setback’’ the New Zealander explained that ‘‘there has to be better coordination and consistency is the name of the game if we (India) are to produce results.

Preferring not to single out any player, Wright seemed rather peeved with the ‘‘calling aspect’’ that is so badly required in this version of the game.The Australian skipper Steve said that the ground and the crowd were factors that added to their victory. ‘‘The crowd at Bangalore was noisy, here it was relaxed. We could concentrate.’’

On any particular plan of action implemented today. Steve, in a flash, conveyed ‘‘we played better and realistically.’’

‘‘We were looking for an opening to win, this provided a great platform and now the team confidence is such that they want to win all matches in the series,’’ added Steve.

Steve was full praise for his team and said he had no complaints. The skipper was for Matthew Hayden. ‘‘Today also he continued to play well and gave us a fantastic start,’’ and had special mention for his brother Mark too. ‘‘Excellent,’’ he exclaimed.

On the turning point of the game, Steve was quick to indicate the run-outs. But in a jiffy also indicated that his fielding was ‘‘average,’’ referring to the mis-fields deep on the fence.

Man-of-the-Match Mark Waugh said, ‘‘the wicket was a bit slow and playing on it initially was tough.’’ About weather he adopted a plan, Mark said ‘‘after playing out the initial overs I concentrated on hitting through the gaps and running hard,’’ and with a smile concluded ‘‘it paid off. Patience paid off here.’’

About the mix-up with Darren Lehman, which resulted in the run-out of the latter, Mark, in his cool stuff, said ‘‘it happens. That’s the game.’’ Elaborating further, Mark doubted the umpires stance, where in the third umpire was taken into consideration to give the decision. ‘‘I’am not sure if it is done,’’ he said with a shrug and clarified that the run-out was to confirm weather he had passed him, ‘‘it was pretty close’’.