da blaze casino： It’s been over a year since the historic Ashes series and Damien Martyn,the birthday boy and Man of the Match, admitted that Australia had beenwaiting for this game for quite a while
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Jaipur21-Oct-2006
‘When I walked in there I didn’t go with any set plans. It just happened that way, with the Powerplays and the field in’ – Damien Martyn © Getty Images
It’s been over a year since the historic Ashes series and Damien Martyn,the birthday boy and Man of the Match, admitted that Australia had beenwaiting for this game for quite a while. It was the first time the twoteams met after the never-to-be-forgotten final day at The Oval and Martyncashed in on some wayward English bowling.”It’s been a year since we last played England and that was a greatseries,” he said at the end of the day. “The boys did well and fieldedwell, Huss [Michael Hussey] and me had a great partnership. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay till the end. It was a good wicket and was nice to get runs on it.”The manner in which Martyn took on Steve Harmison was probably the sightof the night, when colourful Diwali firecrackers lit up the sky.Martyn was severe in his assault and peppered five fours in a space of tenballs, nullifying Harmison’s effect almost instantly. “They didn’t bowlgreat tonight,” said Martyn bluntly when asked about his innings on thenight. “When I walked in there I didn’t go with any set plans. It justhappened that way, with the Powerplays and the field in. And with Huss atthe other end, just shoring up an end, we were able to build a partnership.”Ricky Ponting, his captain, didn’t want to read too much into Harmison’sdismal performance but added that his batsmen wouldn’t let up during theAshes. “It’s pretty easy for bowlers to get their tails up in Australia,”said Ponting when asked for an assessment of Harmison’s expensive spell.”Damien in particular played him very, very well tonight and we put awaymost balls that he bowled. If he comes to Australia and bowls that way,we’ll be looking to do exactly the same thing.”Martyn might have stolen the show but the contribution made by MichaelHussey, who walked into a crucial situation, cannot be under-estimated. “Ihad a chat to Buck [John Buchanan] at the break,” said Ponting when askedabout Hussey’s promotion up the order. “With the wicket playing the way itwas, if we lost a few wickets in a row, it would be nice to have someonelike him to really shore things up. Having to chase such a small totaltonight, it was perfectly suited for him to go in. We had three peoplepadded up at the moment and I made the decision to send Huss out. Heplayed the way we expect him to play in that situation. As we all knowhe’s a terrific player, he sums up situations and plays verywell. With him and Damien and Michael [Clarke] we have a lot of options inthe middle.”Glenn McGrath’s first spell and Shane Watson’s continued failure at thetop of the order were the only negatives that Australia could take fromthis game. Ponting wasn’t too concerned about either, placing faith inboth the performers to deliver in the future. “You don’t end up having alot of concerns about one of the greats of the game that Glenn is,” hesaid when asked about McGrath’s insipid first spell. “He delivers anhonest performance everytime he takes the field and I think hisperformance today was that – it was honest. He’s fulfilling a differentrole at the moment, bowling first change something he’s done for only halfa dozen games in his career. So he’s probably still learning the role.”And would he back Watson to open even after another failure? “He has asound and solid technique and all the shots in the book. As a one-dayopener you want to combine both of those and do it well. He got outpulling but I know how instinctive the stroke is. Sometimes you see ashort ball and just decide to go for the pull, not taking into account thebounce. What you saw before he got out, I think shows that he will be avery good opening batsman for us.”