da bet7k： It was eight years ago that Vinod Kambli scored a Test double hundredagainst England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai
Santhosh S18-Nov-2001
Kambli- brilliant ton
Photo AFP
</tableIt was eight years ago that Vinod Kambli scored a Test double hundredagainst England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. On Sunday, thelatest England attack was at the receiving end as the local herosmashed his way to 109 runs off 111 balls. Mumbai Cricket AssociationPresident's XI then closed their innings on 373/5 at the end of thefirst day's play in the two-day match against England XI at theWankhede Stadium on Sunday. Without an iota of doubt, Kambli's knockwas the highlight of the day's play. There was almost nothing for thetouring men to take heart from, other than the fact that they spentone whole day in the field under a scorching sun.Nasser Hussain did not hesitate to bowl first after winning the toss;he had pinned high hopes on the three fast bowlers making earlyinroads. MCA XI openers Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane though were inno mood to gift away their wicket. Jaffer was particularly harshagainst some wayward bowling from Matthew Hoggard, James Ormond andCraig White. The fast bowlers were guilty of bowling short and on bothsides of the wicket.There was some moisture trapped in the track and with the sun beatingdown on it, the pitch transformed itself into a batting beauty. Jafferplayed a few sweet cover drives and whipped the ball through midwicket for fours. Mane too joined in the fun, playing a couple ofrasping drives. The two put together 100 runs for the first wicketbefore Mane was tragically run out in the 23rd over. After playing theball to Graham Thorpe in the covers, Mane took off for a quick single.Jaffer was not too keen on the single and Mane was sent back. Manewearing shoes with rubber soles slipped and ran himself out. The youngopening batsman made 33 runs off 65 balls with the help of sixboundaries.In walked Kambli and he went through his customary early inningsjitters. MCA XI went in for lunch at 123/1, with Kambli on 11* andJaffer on 69*. The second session was sheer entertainment, Kamblismashing the bowling to all parts of the field. The English bowlerswere getting tired and they slowed down proceedings a bit. That thoughwas not going to stop Kambli from scoring 95 runs off the session togo to 106*. The post-lunch session produced 141 runs off 27 overs andMCA XI only lost the wicket of Jaffer.Jaffer was on 99 when he flicked a delivery from Craig White toRichard Dawson at mid-wicket, the simple catch was taken and theunlucky Jaffer missed out on a well-deserved hundred. Jaffer faced 148balls and struck 15 fours in his knock. The two batsmen put together126 runs for the second wicket.Soon after tea, MCA XI lost the valuable wicket of Vinod Kambli, whichslowed down the run rate considerably. Kambli was caught by UzmanAfzaal off the bowling of the off-spinner Dawson after making 109. Theformer India Test batsman punished the English attack for 19boundaries in his stay in the middle. Amol Mazumdar (4) failed,falling in the same over from Dawson, caught by Nasser Hussain.Hoggard bowled a brilliant spell in the evening, giving away just sixruns off five overs. It is the kind of stuff that England will belooking for in the Test matches. Neil Foster bowled such a spell inChepauk many years ago and that set up a great Test victory for thetourists. The only difference here being Hoggard went wicket-less.Bhavin Thakkar (46) was caught by Thorpe off the bowling ofRamprakash. It was left to the experienced Sairaj Bahutule to show hisbatting skills. He remained unbeaten on 52 off 103 balls, whichincluded eight boundaries. Abhjiy Shetye was unbeaten on 10 at closeof play.Dawson was a completely different bowler when he started giving theball more air. The young off-spinner will have to bowl a lot duringthe tour and he seems to be building up a nice rhythm. Ramprakash andVaughan had to do bit of bowling, which would hold the tourists ingood stead. England will look forward to a full day's batting tomorrowand it is also an opportunity for their senior batsmen to run in tosome good form.