da bet sport： Two individual innings by New Zealand’s Rebecca Rolls and India’s Mithali Raj dominated the World Series of Women’s Cricket match won by New Zealand at Bert Sutcliffe Oval by 53 runs today
da 888： Lynn McConnell25-Dec-2009Two individual innings by New Zealand’s Rebecca Rolls and India’s Mithali Raj dominated the World Series of Women’s Cricket match won by New Zealand at Bert Sutcliffe Oval by 53 runs today.Of the pair, Raj’s was of the most significance. As long as she was at the crease there was an outstanding chance for India to record their first win over New Zealand since 1994/95.Employing the wristy elegance so often seen from batsmen from the subcontinent, Raj scored 82 runs off 98 balls and while at the wicket with Hemlata Kala the team score advanced by 82 runs in 54 minutes, again off 98 balls.She hit 10 fours in her innings and made life miserable for opening bowler Nicola Browne whose first four overs cost 21 runs.New Zealand captain Emily Drumm tried everything with her attack and it wasn’t until she came in herself that the breakthrough was achieved.A reluctant bowler at the best of times, Drumm took three for 26 from seven overs before, having done the damage, handing the ball back to her less experienced bowlers to finish off the innings.”I have been trying to avoid bowling. I don’t want to rescue the side all the time,” she said.There were five bowlers selected to do the job and only two and a half of them had been doing that and she had to pick up the slack, she said.”We are struggling to get our bowlers bowling in tandem and in the line and length that the Indian batsmen have to hit to our sweepers. It is hard trying to create pressure as a bowling side when you can’t contain their batting. That sort of thing has to come from the bowlers,” Drumm said.At the moment, New Zealand was getting by because they were scoring enough runs, but against a better side like Australia the cost of bowling badly would see the Australians get the runs that the Indians couldn’t today.”This whole tournament is about getting our side to play at international level with quality and at the moment we are not doing that. We are not up to the Australian standard yet,” she said.New Zealand’s later batting flattered to deceive.Given a rollicking start by Rolls who scored what is believed to be the fastest half century in a women’s One-Day International, off 30 balls, and on 82 in the 11th over, the side ended on 239 for nine wickets.Rolls’ superb innings of outright attack which included 12 boundaries, ended when she was given out caught by wicket-keeper Sulakshana Naik for 59 off 37 balls. There appeared some doubt about the decision and it took a nod from square leg umpire Jeremy Busby for fellow umpire Dave Quested to send Rolls on her way.Just what might have happened had she been able to continue doesn’t bear thinking about which is probably why the Indians were so pleased to see the back of her.But in the time she was at the wicket, Rolls revealed enough firepower to suggest that when she gets her balance right between outright aggression and unnecessary risk, she is going to cause some teams some fearful problems.Drumm said the innings was one of the best 50s she had seen Rolls get and it was all the more memorable beccause of the beautiful cricket it involved. Drumm was equally complimentary about Raj’s batting and described her as “a lovely cricket player” and her wicket had been crucial to New Zealand’s success.The loss of Michelle Lynch soon after Rolls’ dismissal resulted in a loss of rhythm in scoring and it took solid attention to duty by the experienced pair of Drumm and Maia Lewis to regain the initiative. But it was largely through their placement of the ball and running between the wickets that they got the score moving again.They added 94 runs and were especially effective in dealing with the Indian spinners by getting down to the pitch of the ball and not allowing them to dominate. Neetu David was severely dealt to with 50 coming from her 10 overs. However, Nooshin Al Khadeer came on late and had the benefit of the lesser batting skills of New Zealand’s lower order and took four for 38 off nine overs.The New Zealand pair each scored half centuries, Drumm off 76 balls and Lewis off 80 balls. For Lewis it was especially significant as she has not played for New Zealand since the 1997 World Cup in India and in 46 matches for the country it was only her second half-century, although she also had a century to her name.Having achieved the milestone she gave the Indians two chances for her wicket, the second of which was taken.Drumm said she was delighted with the way she and Lewis batted, especially against a class spinner like David.”She is a class bowler and wouldn’t have gone for 50 runs possibly ever before. I was really pleased with how we dealt with her. We were able to pick her off and that was all to do with the start we had,” she said.New Zealand having been 179 for three in the 36th over then battled their way to 239 for nine which was not the sort of response that might have been expected.The problem with tournament play of this type is that if teams are not fully tested, not all the players get a chance to bat, and that looked to be sadly the case with New Zealand here.India’s problem is that while its lower-order has been getting the opportunities to bat, they have too often been under pressure to maintain scoring rates that they have not been able to play their natural games for long enough to have an effect.
