da poker： The last hour saw the later order batsmen displaying lynx eyed batting and carrying England nearer the target
Partab Ramchand21-Jan-2002By the time England toured this country in 1984-85, the one-day scenariowas very different from that existing during their previous trip threeyears before.
The last hour saw the later order batsmen displaying lynx eyed batting and carrying England nearer the target. After Marks was out for 44, Richard Ellison joined Downton and the two continued in fading light to inch England closer to their objective in the face of a comparatively inexperienced attack RS Ghai, Amarnath, Prabhakar, Shastri, Ashok Patel and Roger Binny.
India were World champions and it was the turn of the visitors to startas underdogs. But a nicely balanced England team defeated an overconfident Indian side in the first of the scheduled five one-dayinternationals at Pune by four wickets with ten deliveries to spare.There were indications however that the contestants were more evenlybalanced and they produced a humdinger of a match in the second game ofthe series at Cuttack.India got off to a cracking start with openers Krish Srikkanth and RaviShastri putting on 188 runs then the country’s highest partnership forany wicket. Srikkanth was unlucky to be dismissed a run short of hiscentury but Shastri got to the coveted mark before he was out for 102.On an easy paced pitch, the remaining batsmen failed to build adequatelyon this dream start. Srikkanth was out in the 37th over but in theremaining 12.2 overs, India could only add 64 runs. Too much time waswasted first by Shastri as he proceeded to his hundred. And none of theother batsmen Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma andRoger Binny could force the pace leading to India being ultimatelyrestricted to 252 for five in 49 overs.England lost Tim Robinson early, bowled by Manoj Prabhakar for one. Butthe in form Mike Gatting kept them in the hunt with a stroke filled 59.Skipper David Gower chipped in with a valuable 21 while Allan Lamb got28. England’s hopes however faded when Lamb was run out in the 33rd overat 145. However Vic Marks and Paul Downton turned out to be unexpectedheroes. Not only did they add 58 runs in nine overs but they also madethem in light which could theoretically be called unplayable.The last hour saw the later order batsmen displaying lynx eyed battingand carrying England nearer the target. After Marks was out for 44,Richard Ellison joined Downton and the two continued in fading light toinch England closer to their objective in the face of a comparativelyinexperienced attack RS Ghai, Amarnath, Prabhakar, Shastri, AshokPatel and Roger Binny. Play was finally called off in the gloaming after46 overs with the score 241 for six. But Downton (44) and Ellison (14),with their unbroken seventh wicket stand of 38 runs in four overs, hadseen their side edge ahead by 0.08 of a run and England were declaredwinners on a faster scoring rate. Theirs was a really gallant effortthat proved successful and they went two up in a series that they won byfour matches to one.