Andrew's Indian Cricket Tour 2004

OK, I promised them and here they are. Same rule as before, reverse chronological order (roughly) from top to bottom (so best viewed from bottom to top). You might notice that some of them fall between earlier ones, as I had limited space and time while on tour and so I had to select sparingly - thus the earlier ones here fill in spaces in time between those I first posted. I have not selected those which show me in the best light as a photographer (that will be obvious enough from looking at them!) but rather those which I think best capture the sights/events/atmosphere/whatever. Also I need no reminding that those who've had lots of practice smiling for cameras are better at it than me. This is by no means a complete view of the tour. Perhaps it could be filled in a bit more by also putting in video stills, but that will take much much longer (and may in fact never be done here). But for what it's worth, I hope you enjoy these pics.

Cheers.

Poster on a wall near CST train station, Mumbai, indicating a newspaper's take not only on English but Ganguly's "injury"

Skippy feels the heat during the 4th Test, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

The slow way of mopping up the water on the covers, 4th Test, Wankhede Stadium Mumbai

Justin Langer and me, Diplomat Hotel roof, Mumbai

Me and Jason Gillespie, Diplomat Hotel roof, Mumbai

Adam Gilchrist and me, Diplomat Hotel roof, Mumbai

Simon Katich and me, at the Flag pre-match dinner function on the roof of the Diplomat Hotel Mumbai, eve of 4th Test

Sparrow and crew chat with some certain Aussie blokes who are pretty good at cricket

One of those REALLY STUPID balloons, and its seller, Mumbai

More delightful young faces, Mumbai

A monument somewhere in Mumbai

Glenn McGrath and me, Taj Mahal Hotel lobby, Mumbai

Sharing a few quiet ones on the roof of the Skylark, Nagpur

View of a huge mosque from the roof of the Skylark hotel, Nagpur (looks more brightly lit than it is)

Party time! Heritage hotel roof, Nagpur (again) after THAT victory!

You beauty! The looks say it all - Left to right: Mark, myself and Sparrow after the sensational 3rd Test victory, Heritage Hotel roof, Nagpur

A priceless moment - Michael Kasprowicz bowls to a rare field setting, 3rd Test day 4, VCA ground Nagpur

Photograph enthusiasts in Nagpur (they're not hard to find anywhere in India!)

Late afternoon on Central Avenue, Nagpur

Looking out over what they like to call a park in Nagpur

Park cricket, Nagpur

A closer look at the sun going down over Nagpur - yes, the weather is fine and this is how it looks every day

Watching the sun go down on the roof of the Heritage Hotel, Nagpur

A couple of delightful young faces (centre) and Mark (left), VCA ground Nagpur

Skippy watches with eager anticipation, 3rd Test, VCA ground Nagpur

Clarkie gets some much needed slips catching practice

Aussies warm up for day 1 of the 3rd Test, VCA ground Nagpur

Sparrow and Wisden outline the Flag's game plan for the 3rd Test, pre-match dinner function, Nagpur

Elephant on a truck, on the roads of southern India

Mettur Dam, near Mettur, Southern India

Rice paddie, southern India

More southern India mountains

Southern India mountains

Spot the taste of home, Chennai

Canoes (or some similar thing), Marina Beach Chennai

Looking south along Marina Beach, Chennai

Kids at Marina Beach, Chennai

Scenery from the train, on the way from Bangalore to Chennai

Post-match formalities, Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore

An empty threat...

The best sight on tour thus far!

Catching up with some news during a break in play, Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore

A rather good looking scoreboard, day 2 Bangalore

More flag wavers, 1st Test, Bangalore

Warming up for the 1st Test, Bangalore

We all gather excitedly for the 1st Test, Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore

View from top of Rawar's Inn, Bangalore - venue of pre-match Flag dinner function

Bangalore street scenery

Billboard in Bangalore

Another platform...

Another platform view, Mumbai-Bangalore

Railway platform, between Mumbai and Bangalore

Glenn McGrath bowling in the tour match at Braebourne Stadium

Another view of park cricket, Mumbai

Aussies batting against Mumbai, Braebourne Stadium

Sparrow proudly waves the flag

Matt Hayden in pre-match practice action, Braebourne Stadium Mumbai

Wide-angle view of Braebourne Stadium, Mumbai

Trying to dry the field at Braebourne Stadium, Indian style

View of brewing storm from Mumbai hotel room

Some bloke fishing in sea at Mumbai - must like eating fish that swim in sewage

Mumbai west coast looking south

Mumbai west coast looking to north

View from railway bridge in Mumbai

Wankhede Stadium towers

More Mumbai street scenery

As I gazed out on the vast Mumbai airport tarmac at all the unfamiliar-looking liveries on aircraft tails it was a welcome sight to see that big kangaroo glide down onto the runway and make its way to the gate where I was to board. At first it seemed we'd be subjected to the agony of boarding in no less than 4 seat row categories but then to my pleasant surprise pretty close to the start they welcomed "All first and business class passengers and frequent flyer members". That last one was me! I found myself in the line to submit boarding passes just a couple behind Darren Lehmann. Naturally another chance to congratulate a member of the team on the job well done in the series. I sat next to a little kid, one of about 40, all in uniforms with the name of some cricket acadamy on them, and name badges indicating an Australian tour. Soon after we took off an attendant asked him if he'd like to sit up the back with his friends, and hey presto I had 3 seats to myself! The first part of the flight was a chance to finally get to see the blockbuster "I, Robot" which is not a bad film. Then, fortunately, I was able to get about 3 hours of shut-eye, only the 2nd flight I've been able to do so (and naturally enough also the 2nd one I've been able to be horizontal - not a coincidence!). I woke up with about 2 and a half hours of the flight to go, and soon after the cabin lights were on. This was the cue to slide up the window shutters which had been down to shut out the long-risen sun and look out on a very welcome sight - Australia! Down through the clouds and onto the runway in a dreary wet Sydney. A looooong wait for luggage and then finally home. I've got a few days to adjust to the old time zone before going back to work - hopefully I'll get round to posting lots more pictures by then!

Cheers.

The Australian team finished the tour of India in possibly the most disappointing way imaginable yesterday, shot out for 93 chasing 107 to win late on the 3rd day of the last Test. By my estimation, allowing for the longer than usual 2nd and 3rd days to make up for the rain delays on day 1, the game went about 2 and a half regular days, far too short for a Test match which points to the sub-standard nature of the pitch.

India were all out for 104 on day 2, due to that dodgy pitch and some magnificent pace bowling backed up by debutant spinner Nathan Hauritz, who had a dream start getting a wicket with his 3rd ball in Test cricket! He finished with a great 3/16, but it's hard to judge how good it was since the wicket was taking plenty of turn, far more than any other he's likely to play on in the future. How would Warney have loved to play on it! However the Aussies didn't fully capitalise, all out for 203 before the day was finished. Still, it was 99 more than the Indians had managed. The crowd was pretty annoying for the whole day. When we were all out one idiot pointed at the scoreboard laughingly to which of course I could only say "yeah, look at it, we got 99 more than you!"

When Gambli and Sehwag both went early on the 3rd morning to leave India 2/14, it was time to start contemplating a 3 innings match, finishing around lunchtime. But Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman finally found the form and fight completely lacking in the Indian top order throughout the series, putting on a big partnership which took India to the lead. The roar for Sachin's 50 was huge. I don't know how they knew about it though because at the time the scoreboard had it completely wrong, going through one of it's many fits which saw it either stuck on one score depsite the progress of the match or just not displaying any numbers at all. But then the match took another twist. Sachin on 55 top-edged a slog off Hauritz which seemed to be landing in open spaces until Michael Clarke made huge strides across the field. We all held our breath then raised our flags with a mighty shout as he reached out to take a stunning catch. Equally great was Haurie's catch off his own bowling after the lunch break to get rid of Very Very Stupid Laxman for 69 when he was well set, and looking to make the 4th innings target a big one. It seemed the pitch was now much more favourable for spin than pace, a point emphasised when Haurie was upstaged by part-time spinner Clarke who spun out the rest of their batting lineup and finished with a freakish 6 for 9. That's what the idiotic crowd get for their deafening chant of "heeey0 heeeyo Clarke is a homo!" whenever he appeared fielding near the boundary - that's after they'd got tired of "heeeyo heeeyo Jason is a bastard", "heeeyo heeeyo McGrath is a bastard", "Ponting is a donkey" and their old standby "Aussies suck! Aussies suck!". India were gone for 205 and we'd done a magnificent job to stop Sachin and VVS's momentum and restrict the target to a paltry 107.

Should have been dead easy to win from there. For us not to required the coincidence of India bowling and fielding at their best, and us batting at our worst, and unfortunately all of that happened. Full credit to the Indian team for making it as difficult as possible for us and coming up with a morale-boosting result at the end of the series, but the schitzo batting yesterday by the millionaire Aussies can only be described as "unprofessional". They picked the wrong balls to attack, and then at times stayed rooted to the crease defending when on a pitch where you're going to get out eventually no matter how careful you are they should have been trying to score some runs. Alfie was gone from just the 2nd or 3rd ball and from there most or all of the top and middle order looked disinterested in the task at hand. It looked as if they were all thinking "doesn't matter if I get out, the next bloke will get them". It was completely at odds with what some of the team had said when visiting the Flag pre-match function. All that talk of being determined to win didn't translate to even the moderate amount of effort required to knock off 107 easy runs. When Clarke was hopelessly bowled by Kartik for 7 then a short time later Gilly was caught in the deep picking totally the wrong ball to hook or sweep for 5, it was 7/58 with just the bowlers left to bat. Earlier it had seemed that Hayden and Clarke were steadying things and stopping the rot. At 4/48 a mere hour of careful, sensible batting was required and it seemed sanity was returning and the inevitable Aussie win would come. That was until Hayden, who by then was as well set as anyone could be on that disgrace of a pitch, managed to drag a sweep shot back onto the stumps. He couldn't do it again in 100 goes if he tried it! That gave the Indians more momentum which Clarke and Gilly meekly surrendered to. In came Jason Gillespie to hopefully play the knock of his life, soon joined by Nathan Hauritz. These 2 had been slaving away under a hot Indian sun for 2/3 of the day to restrict the Indians to something our batsmen could easily have knocked off and must have been disgusted at how our millionaire top order threw it away. They proceeded to show the fight and application missing from their more fancied peers and in the process show the batsmen how to bat. With determination they defended the good balls as if their lives depended on it and eked out the runs in ones, twos and occasionally a streaky boundary or 4 leg-byes. Again the target looked tantalisingly close and gettable (but then, when does 107 look hard at all?) until Haurie was shot out lbw by one of the umpires off Kumble to leave us 8/78. I'd like to have a look at the replay, especially since it's been reported that Punter's lbw in the 1ts innings was a bit dodgy. I'm sure Punter would have scored at least 14 more! Anyway, Kasper joined Dizzy and again they defied the odds. Kasper was the third bowler to go above and beyond the call of duty with the bat, when he shouldn't have even been required to put the pads on. With 15 more to get Sparrow tried to inspire us, exhorting us all to raise our flags and voices and get the boys up. The end of that over must have featured close to the biggest collective flag-wave of the match. One more run was scored, then tragically Kasper was caught off Harbhajan Singh to leave us 14 to get with 1 wicket left. He really could not be blamed. As much as we all liked to think our flag-waving would make a diference, there's really nothing that can be done about lazy, ordinary batting by guys reputed to be some of the best batsmen in the world. With only Glenn McGrath walking out to bat I could only despair that it was really just too much, and Pidgeon proved my thoughts right, lasting about 2 balls. He'd already batted above his ability in 2 innings in a row, it was too much to expect a third, on that attrocious wicket and with the Indian spinners on fire.

The crowd of course went completely nuts, as they had with every 4th innings wicket before. Some of them tried to taunt us saying they'd won, and that this was the only one that mattered, conveniently forgetting the 2-1 series score in our favour. Many others offered handshakes which many of the Aussies accepted but not me, because for 2 and a half days the Mumbai crowd had been complete utter wankers, and a total disgrace to their country (refer to the chant quotes above!). They are the most rude, uncultured, unsporting rabble that I've had the misfortune to share a cricket stadium with. This is in complete contrast to Bangalore, Chennai and Nagpur, where the spectators showed just as much enthusiasm but infinitely more sportsmanship. It's true that Aussie cricket grounds also have their yobbo element with their rude and unimaginaive chants, it's just that in Oz it's a minority, not the entire stadium-full as it was yesterday (bar us Aussies).

I am still struggling to work out how it all went so wrong, and I think the Flag group all agree that had it been a series-deciding match, the mental state and consequent effort would have been much better and more than enough to secure an easy win. I could only think that their minds were already on the plane back to Australia (except for the bowlers who tried in vain to save us), and after that for that matter so is mine, to the point that I've arranged to get on the plane leaving Mumbai for Sydney tomorrow, not the one on Wednesday as I had originally planned. On the positive side all Aussies can be proud of the fact that while the Indian team shows fight and determination when it matters least, when the series is already lost, the Australian team shows it when it matters most. The series was already won, and the best sight of the day was seeing that Border-Gavaskar trophy raised in triumph by Gilly and Punter who shared the captaincy during the series and also shared the acceptance duties. It was the sweetest sight of the tour since the moment of the Nagpur win, to see the boys come all the way from the opposite side of the ground to the boundary right in front of us, to show off the trophy with huge grins on their faces and even actually applaud the Flag group for the support we gave them throughout the tour. The disappointment of the afternoon had been wiped away by the joy of deservedly receiving the spoils of series victory. We of course returned the favour, each of us in our own raucous way thanking the boys for the happiness they have brought us through their efforts in Bangalore and Nagpur. That gesture after the game yesterday well and truly proved that while the Australian team have numerous commitments on their time to satisfy sponsors and official tour groups who pour money into Australian cricket, in their hearts they first and foremost love Waving The Flag for the unrelenting support they get on tours away from home. It's a huge tribute to the efforts of Luke and Mark and all the others who assist and make these tours happen.

While the feeling today is a bit flat, looking back on the series overall I am happy. I guess yesterday's result, if anything good can be seen in it, puts a whole new perspective on the magnificent result in Nagpur, and if nothing else shows that the Indian team are still worthy and formidable opponents who can seize on any lapse in concentration. It perhaps makes me appreciate more the effort that went into securing the series win both in Nagpur and Bangalore. Having said that, I'd still rather have seen a win yesterday! It would have been easier to accept if we'd just been outplayed by a better team, but fact is we were off our game and dug our own grave. There is no excuse for not getting 107 and the boys will know that as well as I do. But, when all is said and done, the Aussies have conquered the final frontier! It has been the experience of a lifetime to be here to see it. Has there ever been a better Australian team? For the core group of senior players who have been with the team a number of years India was the final missing piece in the jigsaw of world domination. They have now won in every country they've played in away from home, as well as beating almost everyone coming to their own shores. This is truly a golden age in Australian cricket, and one to treasure for every moment that it continues. Most of these guys will not be back to India again. It will be interesting to see who replaces them. Most concerning is in a couple of years how we will replace McGrath and Warne. Not easily I suspect. Cheers to one of the great teams of history.

My Lonely Planet India book has a graph of the rainfall in Mumbai, with November registering as maybe half a blip above zero. In fact some locals, including those at the ground and hotel staff where I am staying, have said it has "never" rained here at this time of the year. Nothing like a Test match to bring it on! I rather suspect that the monthly average was exceeded in one day yesterday, most of that being before 9am by which time I was inside Wankhede Stadium wondering when a cricket match was going to start. It made for a very wet walk to the ground. I decided I needed the exercise and the non-spending of money on a taxi (even though they're pretty cheap here) and since I knew the way, I thought it the only sensible thing to do - until halfway there I was well and truly soaked. I had set out sort of hoping that it would ease but it certainly didn't - until after I arrived. I had also considered doing something else for the morning as it didn't look like disappearing in a hurry, but you can never be sure and I just didn't want to miss any play should it occur. And in any case, if it was going to take a long time for the game to get going it was the perfect opportunity to test out my method of running the security gauntlet on the Mumbai version of the bag search nazis in order to bring in everything which they didn't want us to. I've got it down to a fine art now but you never quite know if it's going to work in any particular place. Fortunately I found no problems.

The rain did ease to the barest of spits mid-morning and the ground staff duly came out to remove the puddles from the covers on the field - the now familiar bucket and towel method which took about 2 hours. There just has to be a better way! Of course there is, the way they do it in Australia and some other countries - they just haven't worked it out here yet. The super-sopper was in action, but only for the outfield. The stadium was maybe a quarter full when the covers were finally dragged off and the teams came out to warm up, but the noise was huge. Never have I heard such atmosphere in a rain delay! India won the toss for the first time in the series. I should have told Adam the previous night to not let Punter interrupt his dream run, but in the end the Aussies will probably be feeling quite pleased about the outcome anyway, India choosing to bat first and making a complete mess of it both yesterday and today. I had heard Shane Warne had broken his finger at practice the previous day, but didn't want to believe it until the team lists appeared on the scoreboard. Sure enough, Shane was nowhere to be seen and Nathan Hauritz got the nod for his debut Test match. What a moment for him. There was only time for 20 minutes of play before another interruption, but that was enough for India to slump to 2/12, Sehwag and new opener Gambir both gone to McGrath and Gillespie respectively. Earlier the nerves must have got to Haurie, dropping Sehwag in the slips in the very first over, but it wasn't costly. He only made 8 before being clean bowled by Pidge, no fielding assistance required. It certainly shut up the mob chanting Sehwaaaaaaaaag Sehwag! at deafening volume for the first 10 minutes, even if just for a few seconds. It was enough to get me to burst into a tune of my own - "What will Sehwag do today? Nothing! Nothing!" But they were never going to be quiet for long, the "Aussies suck" routine getting a relentless workout. Brings back memories of the tour match at Braebourne just a block away. I haven't heard it much, if at all, at the other venues. Must just be a Mumbai thing I guess. They have similar inane renditions for just about every player we've got, "Ponting is a donkey!", "McGrath is a bastard!", the list goes on. I'm sure you get the idea. When Gambir was lbw to Dizzy it was time for the little champion to enter, to a raucous reception (as much as can be given by a less than half-stadium crowd - but even then it was pretty loud).

Not long afterwards they were off again as down came the rain, or to be more correct, down came the vaguely moist mist. It was a disgrace! They would have continued playing at any Aussie venue. For another hour and a half, nothing happened. This despite the fact it was not actually raining at all for much of that time. Towards 4pm, the tiniest, most infrequent drops were making their presence known by ripples in puddles at the edge of the ground, but they could easily have been playing. I think there's a rule somewhere that says it has to be completely stopped before the resumption can occur. It really was a farce. Over 2 hours were lost that shouldn't have been, and wouldn't have been if the spineless umpires hadn't gone off in the first place. We were almost resigned to there being no further cricket for the day and I for one was just about ready to leave when shortly after 4pm the rain stopped completely and the umpires ordered the covers off again. The lights on the towers blazed and the match resumed at 4:30, for another 1/2 hour until bad light stopped play, by which time India had staggered to 2/22. In summary a day of much frustration, and a total of 50 minutes of cricket. But the atmosphere was electric for every minute the players were on the field, and the play was spectacular. A thoroughly unprofessional effort by the officials and the ground staff (there would have been several hours of play on that day at the SCG) but a fine albeit brief display by the players, especially the Australians. I'm sure all were hoping for an end to this bizarre meterological abberation the next day.

Please note: I will defer today's match report until tomorrow due the the lateness of the night but a few brief comments before I go. What a strange day. 18 wickets no less! I suspect the curator will have a lot to answer for. What a fine debut by Nathan Hauritz, 3/16 from 5 overs. Admittedly the pitch suited him. India did better than the lowest score on the ground - by 2 runs. Aussies 99 ahead on 1st innings. India 0/5 batting again but it looks difficult. The match could well be all over by the end of tomorrow. Bizarre! Anyway, I'll say more later.

Cheers.

When I was a very small kid I can recall a dream one night - at a BBQ either at home or at a house of some friends of the family on a hot summer afternoon, when in walked Allan Border, Rod Marsh, Rodney Hogg, etc etc - all 11 members of the Australian cricket team in their garish gold one-day uniforms. Of couse it was every Aussie kid's dream - but a dream it indeed was, a mere figament of the imagination while sleeping. But all these years on I had a weird sense of deja vu of that dream lived out in the real world - well 4/11ths of it anyway, 2 nights ago. Not anywhere near home and family but far away in India with a bunch of hard core Australian cricket supporters. And not with any of those old-timers but the contemporary 2004 crew.

It was a very short walk (about 50 metres) from my hotel to the rooftop where we had our 4th and final pre-Test match function of the tour - the occasions when everyone gets together to eat, drink and hear vital information from Sparrow about the next 5 days as well as get the all important match tickets and other merchandise on offer from The Flag. The one 2 nights ago was extra special. While we were busily chatting away and consuming some drinks and pre-dinner appetisers, some familiar faces suddenly appeared to talk with Luke and some of the rest of our crew. Adam Gilchrist, in a gold Flag t-shirt no less, and Jason Gillespie next to him. I eventually also noticed Justin Langer and Simon Katich as well as 2 of Adam's family. I had remembered Glenn McGrath at the team hotel the previous day, when quizzed as to whether he'd be there saying "nah, we've got another one of those official things to go to", enthusiasm written all over his face - NOT. Presumably those other 4 had to be there later too so I assumed time would be limited and made my move. I had a much more extensive chat with Simon than at the start of the tour, and he remembered I had been there from the beginning. He really is a great bloke. He was very sporting about getting out for 99 in Nagpur, saying it was all his own fault. I just had to ask the question - did he think they would have won in Chennai if not for the rain? The answer - a very definite yes. Just had to get Sehwag and the rest were struggling as it was a hard wicket to bat on. Very similar, funny enough, to what Shane had said in a sports mag I got for only 10 rupees to read on the train. I had brief conversations, in small groups, with Adam and Jason too. I was right about them having limited time - didn't have time to chat with Justin but got photos with all 4 - great!

I had always wondered up until that night whether any of the team would make the effort to meet the Flag crew in any sort of formal way. They certainly didn't have to but I know they appreciate all the support they get from anyone away from home, and as it turns out they wanted to day G'day as a thanks for that. Adam gave an impromptu speech of a couple of minutes and said it's the least they could do, since their Taj Mahal hotel is just across the road. He also said some very kind words about Luke and his tour work. There are a lot of tours now for people to follow the team on but the trend all really started with Waving the Flag, and from Gilly himself it's a big part of the team's success when they tour. Thanks boys, it's great you could turn up. They did have to go pretty quickly after that but it made it a great night, the rest of which consisted of eating fine Indian food and kicking back to the tunes of Men At Work, U2, Coldplay and Crowded House. Marvellous music choice that!

It seems as though the 4th and last Test of this series, starting tomorrow, will not be short of motivation from either side. The Aussies have stated that they have pride in their performance and will do everything they can to win, having previously set the goal of winning all 4 in the series. Although that is not possible now thanks to the rain in Chennai, Ricky Ponting in particular wants to bury the Indians to well and truly reverse the pain of 2001. The Indians too have a lot of pride at stake and are desperate to save face. There is a possibility that they'll play 3 spinners and ask Sachin to open the bowling alongside only one strike paceman. In any case they've promised to play bold attacking cricket.

It was suggested by one of the tour party for me to join him at the Taj Mahal hotel for "high tea" yesterday, expensive but well worth it as a one-off. On the way in I spotted McGrath and Kasper walking in the doorway. Naturally I congratulated them on the job well done in Nagpur last week. Pidgeon hung around long enough for a photo oppotunity with me as well as some other flaggers who were in the lobby, very nice of him. Also spotted Gilly relaxing for a moment on a sofa and offered the same congratulations. Another member of the touring party with him chatted enthusiastically to me but I couldn't put a name to the face - maybe he was the media manager, but possibly Simon Katich with more hair than at the start of the tour. Matty Hayden was upstairs in the restaraunt while my friend and I ate there, no doubt looking for some private time so I left him well alone. It's hard to know how far you can go with the "meeting and greeting" the players, especially if they don't know you from a bar of soap. I'm definitely not an autograph hunter, they get more than enough of that already. I hope to get a few more to pose for a photo though should the opportunity arise, since it doesn't take too long. Although I can't be sure, Gilly looked yesterday as if he might not have wanted much attention at that moment so I restricted it to a G'day and congrats on the win.

Today it's been revealed McGrath is a bit under the weather with a virus, but is expected to play. Ricky Ponting will definitely play after recovering from that dastardly thumb injury incurred in a meaningless one-day tournament, and Katto will move down the order so Punter can have number 3 back. Out of the side is Darren Lehmann, an easy choice in the end because of his Nagpur injury which hasn't healed sufficiently. It is tempting to hope that Boof hasn't played his last Test but realistically with his age and the form of Michael Clarke he may well have. If so, it was a privilage to be there in Nagpur to see his last innings, and many congratulations to him on a great career which should have included more Tests than it did thanks to some NSW players being mysteriously preferred over the years, something which Haydos, Kasper and Andy Bichel can also relate to.

From what I can remember of radio and TV coverage of past tours, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai normally has a great crowd and atmosphere for Test matches, possibly bigger than any venue on this tour so far. I also got a quick look at it before the tour match and the stands look steep and high which should make for a cauldron of noise. This is Tendulkar's home town too so he should get a huge cheer. Only 2 hours now to the pre-match Flag function and 1 sleep to the game, should be great!

The tour has now come full circle. I'm back in Mumbai where it all started. On the posts below you'll see some pictures. Ironically due to website space and time restrictions I have only got as far as just after leaving here for Bangalore and the 1st Test. Thus the picture posts lag the words only ones by a long time. They do however roughly follow the same convention, that is, chronological order from bottom to top. A hint: you will probably need to click the picture to go to another website that displays a larger version if you wish to see all the detail I refer to in some of the posts - well worth doing with most of these actually.

Here's what the train Luke, Mark and I travelled on looks like from the outside. Dadar is really for all intents and purposes Mumbai - a station just a few k's north of Mumbai Central.

A sincere, though I believe wrong, message painted on a wall near a train station platform between Mumbai and Bangalore (you might have to go to the larger version to see it). There is another sign next to it promoting dialogue between faiths as a way to better understand one's own - which I think is a great idea. Peace between religions is something to strive for, but is not the same as saying they're all the same, which, in my humble opinion (after researching facts) they are not.

I took this pic out the train window on the way from Mumbai to Bangalore. I picked this scene because of the incredble variety in it - flat ground and a hill, and tents near a building of much more solid construction - and to top it off, something interesting on the top of the hill too.

Here's what a typical railway platform in India looks like on any given day - somewhere between Mumbai and Bangalore.

This picture is probably not the best view, but trust me, almost every individial visible is involved in a game of cricket. The two in the foreground are just after a gratuitous photo opportunity (as most Indian kids are).

Just one of the many views available from the ground floor of the clubhouse during the tour match.

Sparrow (Luke, left) and Mark contemplate proceedings from the luxurious comfort of the ground floor of the clubhouse pavillion at Braebourne Stadium in Mumbai during the tour match.

Brett Lee sends one down during Australia's tour match against Mumbai at Braebourne Stadium.

Here is the remainder of what happened on day 1 of the tour match - the page after the prevous post.

As mentioned previously in this blog, I've scribbled as best I can the proceedings of the day's play on all the cricket days of the tour. Here is the first page I wrote, on the needlessly shortened day 1 of the tour match against Mumbai.

It was a quiet day yesterday. Still wondering when the enormity of this week's win will truly sink in. Spent most of the morning right here, writing the match report on the previous post - the best one of the tour! back to the hotel for lunch and then relaxing in front of a TV showing the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test across the border. Some great batting by Sanath Jayasuria, almost 10 runs per over at the start of Pakistan's 2nd innings in the face of the 270 first innings deficit. I guess that's just the way he plays - most entertaining.

Gatherings on the rooftops of hotels have become a very regular occurence on this tour. Last night it was the turn of the Skylark, where some of the tour party are staying. A bit more subdued than the night before of course. It's a whole new view from up there. The minarets of a massive mosque about half a kilometre away rose into the night sky with gleaming white lights on top and otherwise bathed in a garish but shadowy green, almost Lord of the Rings Minas Morgul-ish. Firecrackers went bang in the night as some kind of festival went on in the city. Occasionally one exploded visibly in the sky somewhere. Some of the regular tourists decided a game of rooftop cricket was in order, until the inevitable over-keen shot over the edge. Kids below were encouraged to try to throw it back up the 6 or 7 floors - a totally impossible task. Then, one of the staff providing us drinks, the most enthusiastic of the game's participants, actually went all the way down to fetch and return the ball! This actually happened 2 or 3 times. The proprieters decided a bit of music was in order and set up a far-too-loud sound system playing tinny electronic instruments-only versions of "Walk like an Egyptian" and "The Final Countdown". They did turn it down somewhat eventually. It was a good night of relaxation and more contemplation of THAT win.

Not long until we get on the train to Mumbai. Thank goodness for that, it's got heaps more to do and see than Nagpur!

The moment I came here to see occurred in the VCA ground at Nagpur yesterday late in the afternoon Indian time. Zaheer Khan caught Damien Martyn bowled Shane Warne 25. India all out 200. Australia win the 3rd Test by 342 runs. Australia leads the series 2-0 with 1 to play. The trophy is going home! How strange that the obscure, featureless Nagpur will forever be remembered in my heart for this unforgettable 4 days of cricket. The players didn't know what to do. For some of them it took a moment to register that the brilliant catch in the deep had been taken. Then a split second later they all rushed to their nearest team-mate in unrestrained joy as Martyn turned to the crowd and raised his hands in triumph. Eventually all the disparate groups of players converged on a point somewhere around mid-on for the most huge and celebrated "team hug" in their last few years. Officials rushed to rope off a section of the ground so that the players could make their way safely to the edge of the field - the Australians joyfully, the last 2 Indian batsmen dejectedly.

The Flag was throughout the match seated just to one side of the players' pavillion, one tier up from the ground level. I thought it best to grab a front row seat this morning and am glad I did. Shortly before, Sparrow had stood up to grab everyone's attention in the best voice he could manage - what was left of it after cheering the 8 wickets to have fallen thus far in India's second innings. With the match likely to end soon we were warned that we should pack everything in our bags and be ready to grab a spot from which to view the presentation if we wished, since there was going to be pandemonium and a mad rush to the front. There was certainly pandemonium, but long before the end. The last two partnerships were stubborn resistance and bludgeoning attack. In a final fling before the inevitable end, balls were smashed to and over the boundary through the empty spaces left by Adam Gilchrist's field of 3 slips, 2 gullies and a point, which seemed somehow unable to contain the numerous edges flying over or between them for 4. The Indians cheered every boundary, indeed every run, like they were on the verge of winning. Their optimism is unbelievable! Someone forgot to tell them they had another 350-400 to get and only one wicket left. Either they geniunely thought the last pair would bat through the remainder of the day and all of tomorrow and win (that's certainly what it seemed like!) or they had resigned themselves to the fact that the game would end soon and were making the most of every moment of joy they had in a fever pitch cricket carnival. Their chants of "Indiaaaaaaaaa India!" continued, they continued to insist that "India is the best!", the rhythmic bashing of plastic water bottles on seats followed by loud shouts of "Hey!" or something like it in metronomic fashion reverberated in all our eardrums, the hastily written signs claiming that kangaroos can't fight with tigers continued to be proudly displayed. Amazing!

Then came THAT moment! The sound of the hollering, dancing, chanting mob was replaced by our smaller in number, but no less vocal, celebrations of victory. Australian flags were held high with pride. Aussies braced themselves against the front rail to maintain their position against the pushing of the fanatical Indians behind, and did their best to also look out on the field at the jubilation before them, and in my case, to try to get some of it on video tape. Sparrow and Mark were standing a little way to my right. Most of the players know them personally, and most had been here in 2001 to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. As he neared the boundary Adam Gilchrist, the intensity of the celebration after a long three year wait to right those wrongs written all over his face, yelled towards them with a jumping, double-armed fist pump repeated several times - as best he could with wicketkeeping gloves still on. Martyn and Langer each had both their arms above their heads in a world-conquering pose. Michael Kasprowicz looked in danger of losing his right arm out of it's socket with the momentum of his celebration. Glenn McGrath simply waved to the crowd with a satisfied smile. Matthew Hayden no doubt contemplated the best 33rd birthday present one could wish for. And I was here seeing it all! Worth every cent spent on the plane ticket over here and the tickets and accommodation package. Worth every minute sitting in the interminable queue for visa applications in the boiling hot Indian consulate in Sydney, and every moment of hair raising chaos on the roads and confusion of adjusting to new sights, smells, sounds tastes and touches in the first few days in Mumbai. Worth every frustration with non-working taps and non-flushing toilets in hotels and staff who seem completely oblivious to the problems, and every long kilometre travelled on the trains between the cities. Worth even the enduring of the heat, humidity, choking smog and smell of Buckingham Canal in Chennai.

Then came the interminable wait for all the necessary and unnecessary officials to position themselves for the presentation, then the captain's interviews, conducted through speakers somewhere far to distant to hear. Marto saluted us with his richly deserved man of the match trophy. Then, finally, the crowd began to disperse. We of course hung around longer than most of the Indians. The joy of celebration of victory was written on Sparrow's face as intensely as on Gilly's earlier. The shouts, high fives, and huge intense hugs between just about every member of The Flag's touring party and every other, seemed endless. This was a huge, historic moment and all of us were obviously immensely proud to be there. It seemed, probably not surprisingly, most huge for those who had done the most overseas cricket tours so far and particularly those who had been through the heartbreak of 2001. I'm sure, ecstatic though I was and still am, that I have little appreciation yet for the enormity of the cricket history I was privilaged to be here to see. Maybe it will sink in some time when, perhaps at a Test match in Sydney, someone comes up to me, sees my shirt with "WavingTheFlag.com, Australia in India 2004" written on it and says "You were there?? You're kidding! I would have given anything to see that!". Luke did an impromptu interview with an Indian TV crew with the rest of us behind, half waving our flags, half drowning out anything he had to say.

The Indians in our stand still smiled bravely to the end. Most of them shook our hands and offered congratulations. Almost universally they really are great people here, despite the fact that they go so over the top, and despite the presence of a tiny minority who occasionally ruin if for the others. Outside the ground they waved and cheered as I ran past, flag proudly raised, on the short trip to the Heritage Hotel. Some of them still yelled "India is the best!" You just have to shake your head. It's an amazing place.

The rooftop of the Heritage was the place to be last night. The mandatory rehydration and tandoori chicken consumption was repeated. The Flag was joined by members of The Fanatics and probably another small group or 2 of Australian supporters. The staff of the hotel did a magnificent job to put the party on for us. Sometimes I chatted enthusiastically with groups of people about the day's play, sometimes got in long and involved discussions about what the heck Australian cricket is going to do when McGrath and Warne retire, putting into perspective the need to enjoy this golden age while it lasts, and sometimes just gazing over the edge of the rooftop at the dark empty cricket stadium trying to let the moment sink in. The Fanatics provided stirring renditions of Waltzing Matilda and Advance Australia Fair (including the 2nd verse!). Finally, after 11:30pm, there was a decent Waltzing Matilda from The Flag in front of another TV crew. I'd been trying to get it going since just before lunch on day 4 in Chennai with Marto and Dizzy proudly upholding the honour of the country with their bats and their courage, but it seemed I had been pretty much on my own. Finally, I was too tired to go on. It was time to pull up stumps and make my way through the dark Nagpur streets back to the hotel I am staying at here. Good thing it didn't matter how late it was. No cricket this morning, although sad in itself, meant a comfortable sleep-in!

I guess I should say something about the day's play! Michael Clarke went truly ballistic before lunch with the declaration inevitable. Though far behind Marto, he seemed intent on getting a century before him until he lashed out one too many times and was caught by Kaif off Kumble for 73. His batting has been a revelation in this series. It seems inevitable he will be a great champion of the future. Gilly joined Marto who did his best to get to his ton quickly but in the chase for quick runs fell 3 short, caught behind for 97. With 15 minutes to go before lunch this was the cue for Gilly at the other end to inform umpire Aleem Dar that he'd decided Australia had batted long enough. We had a lead of 543, way too much for any team to chase. It was just a matter of bowling out the Indians in the remaining 5 sessions and 1 over. In the end it took less than 2 sessions. The once-great Indian top order just had no answer for our pace attack yesterday. There really is nothing better than watching our champion bowlers demolish a batting line-up with a huge reputation, especially when they're pushing towards the most historic Test series win perhaps since 1995 when we finally defeated the all-conquering West Indies on their home turf. Gillespie scattered the stumps of both Chopra and Dravid in successive overs, two formidable, supposedly hard to remove players. Many edges flew just wide or high of slips but apart from a couple of lives for Sehwag, the geniune chances were generally taken. After the debacle of Chennai our fielding was back to it's usual familiar standard. The great Tendulkar faced a fired up McGrath with the loudest "Sacheeeeeen Sachin!" chant of the day ringing in his ears only to edge one to Martyn at point and depart for just 2, bringing a deathly quiet to all parts of the ground - except ours! As if to make up for his first innings luck, Kasper got a wicket off his first ball, a foolish hook from Laxman - in the context of the match - straight to McGrath at deep fine leg, who took the catch right in front of us. Very Very Stupid! It seemed the batsmen were resigned to the inevitable and just had a lash while their luck lasted. Warnie chipped in with 2 wickets including the last one. It was not the same Indian team who had fought every moment of the way to draw their Test series in Australia last summer, and through their past exploits made me think that even yesterday they were capable of hanging on for nearly 2 days for a draw. They are a better team than they showed yesterday. But then again, it was not the same attack bowling to them as in the Autralian summer. They were not helped by the absence of their dangerous bowlers Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan, or by the fact the pitch amazingly suited us better than them. They probably could also have done with Ganguly's leadership, though not his batting. To their credit, the Australians made the most of all their opportunities and completed a crushing win.

Despite the one-sided nature of the match, if Australia are the best team in the world (as they clearly are on recent results) then in my opinion 2nd place is surely held by India, not England as the farcical official rankings say. This Australian team is the first in 35 years to win a series here, and if my memory serves me correct the 2nd team from any country to do so in about 20 years. The Indians also recently bucked their trend of poor form away from home with that gutsy 1-1 draw in Australia. That's why it means so much to win here.

Now there are a couple of days with not much to do here and then the overnight train trip to Mumbai for the 4th and last Test. For the first time here, I'll be arriving for a Test in a city I've been to before, good old familiar Mumbai. The memories from there at the start of the tour, which is beginning to seem like a long time ago, are great. I hope the Test is a fitting end to the series. I am by no means tired of cricket yet and am looking forward to just sitting back and enjoying the match, secure in the knowledge that the series is already won. It would be good if Australia could reverse their trend of losing dead rubbers and make it an emphatic 3-nil, but whatever happens I'm sure the action and atmosphere will be great.

Cheers.

Another pleasant walk to the ground in the cool of the morning to start today. It promised to be a fascinating contest ahead with Australia holding the better position. By the end we were in a truly dominant position and you'd think that I would be on a great high but it's a funny game this cricket. At the end of day 1 I was fascinated. Day 2 I was contented (though maybe somewhat bored). As the sun set on today I should have been ecstatic, but one very unfortunate incident put a huge dampener on it - I'll get to that later.

It's a strange place this. On the first day of this match I saw the first sign since landing in Mumbai that an Indian might be genuinely angry. He looked dead set ready to pick a fight with one of us in the front row, thought I had no idea what about and still don't. There were reports the next day that there was a drunken cop in our stand on day 1 who was thrown out and then later returned and argued with other cops but I did not see that. Today all seemed normal until midway through the 2nd session when someone came around and wanted to meticulously inspect all our tickets. Then later when people left the stand to get lunch or something else out the back they were point blank not let back in if they'd left their ticket at their seat. This after no-one had bothered to check for the first 2 days. I saw a pretty animated exchange blocking my way out for a minute or 2 as I went out for a drink in the tea break. There must have been something different about today but who knows what it was? I have not done a huge amount of language learning on this trip but I'm convinced there must be no word for "logic" in Hindi, Tamil or any of the other 16 "official" Indian languages. I have also noticed that a small minority of Nagpurians either have no knowledge of, or no respect for, the common cricket courtesy of not standing up or walking in front of seated spectators when the bowler is bowling. This can be quite annoying. I don't remember any huge problems with this in Bangalore or Chennai. It is ironic that such a strange place might well be the scene of Australia's greatest cricket moment of at least this decade and maybe longer, and the cricket moment of my lifetime so far, in the next couple of days.

Just what can I say about the Australian bowling this morning? They did just what was required, cleaning up the Indian tail end before they could get to the 198 follow-on avoidance target, possibly aided by a pitch conducive to their style. It is truly satisfying to watch this championship attack in full flight, backed up by at times an elegant arc of 4 slips and 2 gullies. The rot started for India this morning in just the 2nd over when Hayden took a sharp chance of Warne to dismiss Parthiv Patel, who bats better than he keeps wickets. From there on it was the pace show, with McGrath and Gillespie knocking over the rest. Michael Clarke came good in the slips after some fumbles earlier in the series, taking 2 good catches today to add to his 1 yesterday. It certainly makes a difference to the position of the team in the match when the fielders take the chances that come to them. Dizzy ended the innings in the most comprehensive fashion, clean bowling the hapless Zaheer Khan for a duck. They were all out for 185, 213 behind. Opinion was divided among the flag crew as to what Gilly should do. I was most pleased to see him opt to bat again. Not only did I want to see the entertaining Aussie bats in action, I also wanted the game to go for longer so I have less time to fill in before the train trip to Mumbai. No doubt most importantly, I did not want to see a repeat of Kolkata 2001. There is a reason we decided to bat first when we won the toss - it was so they'd have to bat last. I'd rather have them chasing 500 on the last day than us chasing 200. In fact it's difficult at the moment for me to see a situation when the follow-on rule is relevant these days, especially against respected opponents. Steve Waugh didn't have enough respect for these Indians in 2001 and paid the price.

Batting was as difficult for our openers as it had been for the Indian tail. Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agakar fired up from ball one. Although 8 runs came from the first over it dried up after that. Incredibly, a run was not scored for more than half an hour after lunch, during which Hayden had his middle stump uprooted by Khan. This very rarely happens. Earlier in this tour I remember a discussion about how Hayden is almost never bowled or lbw, and is most often caught off a false shot. For this to happen today must have taken some great bowling and probably also assistance from the pitch. Some reports on the web say he inside-edged it. I hope this is not the start of a slump for Haydos. He certainly has not repeated the great success he had here last time, although he looked in great form at the start of the series. Alfie found conditions difficult and so did Katto when he joined him. Whatever you can say about these Indians, they certainly don't give up. Some of us in the stands wanted the run rate upped, but personally I love a contest between a couple of fast bowlers putting all their effort in and batsmen doing all they can just to survive. It was gripping stuff, and could have gone 2 ways and that is the glorious uncertainty of cricket. If India had got another couple of quick wickets they could have been in a position to knock us over for a mediocre 2nd innings score. They in all likelihood would have still faced the hard task of scoring over 300 to win, but they would have at least had hope. As it turned out, Langer and Katich called on all their skill and courage and survived, and then entered a time when batting began to get easier.

Langer battled well for a while but lost patience on 30 and tried to hit Kartik out of the ground, instead only managing to hit the ball high in the air and into the waiting hands of Laxman in the deep, who took a catch that was probably more difficult than it looked. The crowd went wild at this dramatic moment. It's probably the most animated I've seen the stadium look in this match. Martyn went out and provided good backup to Katich, who by now was making batting look easy. Three times in his innings he hit Anil Kumble for 2 fours in a row, the last of these to take his score to 91. The mood in the stands was happy. Jokes went back and forth between members of Waving The Flag. One of us, Nikki, has a blowup kangaroo called Skippy - you may have seen him on TV with signs to tell you what he's saying. Skippy indulged in humorous banter with some Indian fans in the terrace below who made their own signs. Jimmy spotted how long a drink vendor was taking to sell his wares and called out mockingly, Australian cricket food vendor style, "Cold pies, warm drinks!" Unlikely you'll find a pie in sacred cow country but who cares? Australia were marching inexorably to their most historic Test win in India for 35 years, and all of us were set to celebrate a magnificent and well deserved Katich century, for during most of his innings he'd been untroubled.

Then the moment. Tragedy. Simon Katich lbw Kartik, 99. Typically, it took an Englishman, that man again, umpire David Shepherd, to ruin what would otherwise have been one perfect day. I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Shep these last 2 matches. He's not given an lbw in our favour yet in the match, and now 2 against us, one of which, Dizzy yesterday, was off an inside edge. Somehow it seems unjust for an Aussie who so richly deserved a century to be gone for 99 in a way that is often a subjective judgement. The man no less who when I was able to chat briefly with him way back at practice for the Mumbai tour match gave every indication of being a genuinely great bloke. It would have been easier to take had he been clean bowled or caught in the deep, or maybe if it had been for a different score. Reports have since indicated it looked pretty out, but so did Tendulkar yesterday to McGrath. Quite frankly, someone who did not give that out should never ever give an lbw, but Shep saw fit to today when all flags were at the ready to wave. The fact it may well have been a good decision has somewhat calmed my earlier rage, but I am still not happy with the inconsistency and this unfortunate incident today really leaves a sour taste in the mouth. I repeat that I'm sure Shep does his best but guys who have sight failing with age should not be Test umpires. I should be elated with Australia's position but instead am in a bit of a dark mood, and pretty miffed we all, Katto included, were denied our moment of celebration to top off the day.

At the end of the day though, that's cricket, and many appeals by the Indians were also turned down and maybe it's evened out in the end. In fact I've since learned that the situation got to Rahul Dravid earlier in the day and he lost his cool. It's probably a measure of the pride that the Indians have in their performance and that they, like us, hate to lose. That's why I'm not as disappointed as some are when the Aussie team gets some bad press at their antics when things aren't going their way. It's better than not caring whether you win or lose. Katto can hold his head high. It was a great 99. It was also the cornerstone of today's strengthening of our position in the match, sitting pretty 415 runs ahead with 7 2nd innings wickets in hand and 2 days to play. Thankfully, there is also no sign of rain in Nagpur in the foreseeable future. For most of today I was excitedly contemplating the history looking increasingly likely to unfold and immensely thankful that I was right there watching the match, until the mood-dampener came. The moment that I came to India to see, the win that will book the Border-Gavaskar trophy on a plane home to Australia, looks almost certain to occur within 48 hours, and possibly within 24. I just hope that if and when it occurs I will have recovered sufficiently from the bitter blow today to celebrate it with full gusto. But I will not call it yet, I have too much respect for these opponents. They have thus far not lived up to the expectations of them before the series with the bat (although there's been not too much wrong with their bowling), but they have shown so many times in recent years an ability to fight their way out of seeminlgy hopeless situations, especially against us. It is not for no reason that our last Test series win here was in 1969. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow with a mood shift, once again full of optimism and ready to celebrate the win if I'm fortunate enough to witness it. I certainly hope so.

Cheers.

Ahhh, it's getting late and I'm so tired. Don't think I slept the best last night but will say a few things about today before collapsing into bed.

The mornings tend to be noticeably cool in Nagpur compared to many other Indian cities at this time of the year. Yesterday was a noisy rickshaw ride to the ground but today in view of the temperature a pleasant walk was opted for. When it takes less than half an hour, why not?

What I'd hoped for didn't occur this morning. Dizzy batted really well until he got a thick inside edge onto his pad and blind David Shepherd gave him out lbw. Later when McGrath and the rest of the Aussies appealed for a plumb decision on Tendulkar he shook his head. The Aussies all were clearly confident it was out, and they don't appeal that strongly unless they know it is. The replay tonight confirmed it. Hitting leg stump 3/4 of the way up. I don't think Shep is unfair at all - he does the best he can, but he just can't see the best any more. India happened to get the benefit of his blunders today and it could well be Australia tomorrow, but I'd rather win legitimately than on the back of his mistakes.

Kasper didn't trouble the scorers but Glenn McGrath, perhaps inspired by the occasion of his 100th Test, stuck around for a while with Michael Clarke and played 3 great shots for his 11 not out. It always gets the Aussie supporters going when Pidgeon achieves anything with the bat and today was no exception. Clarke was eventually out for a great 91, caught behind attempting to lift the scoring rate as was the right policy from a team point of view. The 398 all out was less than Australia would have been satisfied with but might turn out to be plenty.

The Indian innings started with a bang. The 2nd over, bowled by Jason Gillespie, yielded 16 runs in 4 4's smacked by Virender Sehwag. As in Chennai he looked a bit streaky and maybe a bit lucky, but hugely effective and certainly entertaining. This time however he didn't last long and was caught behind off McGrath for 22. When Chopra was caught by Warney at slip from Dizzy, it was finally time to see the entrance of the little master Tendulkar. All the Indians as well as the Aussies applauded as he walked out. The atmosphere certainly lifted, but not as much as I might have expected. The size and configuration of the ground in Nagpur probably limits the fever pitch a bit.

The next little while before and after lunch featured both superbly accurate bowling from the 3 Aussie quicks and great, patient defensive batting by Tendulkar and Dravid. Warney later had a go and bowled pretty well, picking up a wicket and being unlucky not to get more. While it was great to see Sachin in action for a while it was also good from the Australian perspective not to see him for too long. He was out for 8 lbw to a great Gillespie delivery, and watching the replay a short time ago on TV it looked maybe not the plumbest you'll ever see but still pretty out. It took a proper umpire, Aleem Dar, to raise the finger though. Shep's earlier mistake was in the end not very costly. This brought Laxman to the crease and due to the unpleasent memories of the 2 particular batsmen now forming a partnership I sort of wished Dravid had been dismissed before Tendulkar. It is a partnership I really prefer not to see but there was to be no Laxman and Dravid show today, and after all I should probably comfort myself with the thought that it probably only happens about once per lifetime. They were both out before the end of the day, the rest of which featured pretty slow scoring, and there probably should have been a few more wickets too as difficult catches were either dropped or went just wide of fielders. Kasper did not get the rewards he deserved for his huge efforts today. A couple of close chances went begging and he had a very confident lbw turned down early. He finished with 0/37, proof that there is sometimes no justice in this game. Kaif and Patel got through it all to finish the day with India 5/146, still 252 runs behind. It was these 2 who frustrated us in Chennai, putting together the partnership that ensured India had a good first innings lead. This time they'll be playing to avoid the follow-on, although after Kolkata I'm sure Gilly would not enforce it anyway.

It was a slow day, but a good one for Australia. It's nearly 10pm here so I won't say much else except that we are in a good position and it will be interesting to see if we get them out quickly tomorrow or if they provide a lot of resistance. Either way it looks like we shouldn't lose the game (though cricket is so unpredictable here that it's not wise to say too much) but it should at least go to day 4 and hopefully day 5, because otherwise I might struggle to kill the extra day or 2 in Nagpur. If the game finishes early, look forward to quite a few more blog musings and pictures.

OK, enough for today. More cricket tomorrow. Can't wait!

Cheers.

What a great feeling to be once again settling into the seats in a cricket ground in India for another day this morning! There had been some conjecture in the papers this morning about the make-up of the Indian team, but surely this news before the start of play had to rock their confidence - Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly, the captain, all out! Apparently Yuvraj was dropped. We already knew about Pathan's side strain, Harbhajan was doubtful with a virus already but I don't think any of us had any idea that Ganguly would be on the sidelines with what the ABC cricket site calls a "muscle strain". Maybe he was just afraid of facing the Aussie pace trio after having done diddly squat so far with the bat in this series! In came Sachin Tendulkar(but we knew that already), Akash Chopra, Murali Kartik and Ajit Agakar. Amazingly Parthiv Patel kept his spot behind the stumps, and again provided the Aussie supporters with much mirth with his ineptitude today. The Australians are unchanged and settled, with the exception of Brett Lee getting a turn at 12th man instead of Nathan Hauritz - a mere technicality really since they all tend to help out in the dressing room on tour.

Adam Gilchrist went out to toss with stand in Indian skipper Rahul Dravid and called correctly for the 3rd time in a row, and naturally chose to bat. I couldn't believe the atmosphere when they started today in contrast to Bangalore and Chennai - it was so dead! I guess this epitomised Sparrow's description of the place in his tour information. According to him there is nothing to see and nothing to do here, and from what I've seen so far I'd have to agree. It wasn't as if there was no-one there,they just hadn't found their voice. Even the appearance of Sachin on the field, both during practice then during play, only aroused a slightly frenetic response from the masses. However they began to rise to a crescendo later in the day with the needless loss of a few Aussie wickets. The ground in Nagpur is quite good, and Sparrow has done the marvellous job of getting us "shade all day" seats close to the action. The ground has a better variety of food and drinks for sale than any I've seen in India so far. It has also been great to once again get re-aquainted with some of the flag crew who were with us in Bangalore and Chennai, as well as get to know some newcomers - at last night's pre-match function, at the game and on a hotel rooftop watching the sun go down afterwards.

The day had just about everything - a characteristic solid start by our openers, a stumble in the 2nd hour with 3 wickets falling, some really good batting partnerships, an injury drama involving Darren Lehmann, a late semi-collapse and another sterling steadying defensive effort from Jason Gillsepie to stop the rot. It was a bit of a strange start. Obviously Zaheer Khan was doing well and looking ever more like a Test class bowler, probably assisted somewhat by the bouncy grassy pitch (what an irony!) and both Langer and Hayden at times looked uncomfortable. They did however put on a good opening stand before both getting out to edges behind, Hayden's being amazingly somehow caught by keeper Patel, and Langer's going to Dravid at 1st slip. No worries, I thought, Simon Katich is a rock against these Indian spinners. Wrong. He was out for just 4 to Kumble, playing what looked an incredibly lame shot to be caught by Chopra at short leg. Reports have since said it came off the bat onto pad and bobbled up, so maybe it wasn't so lame after all. Still, 3/86 was not a good position to be in on a wicket that promises to flatten out later into a batting paradise. Someone had to step up and just like in Sri Lanka Martyn and Lehmann did. These 2, after such a poor start to the series, have come good. They took the score to 234 before Lehmann was finally out for a fine 70. This was just the partnership Australia needed and featured some truly sublime shots. The Indians would have been getting desperate. However Lehmann tragically injured a muscle running hard between the wickets and needed a runner, and Hayden duly came out. However Boof was gone shortly afterwards, caught by Dravid off Kartik. Then Martyn and Clarke batted in another good partnership in which Marto triumphantly brought up his 2nd century in as many innings. Soon after he hit a huge 6 off Kumble, but in my opinion got cocky, thought why not do it again, miscued and was caught by Agakar 2 balls later. I would have liked him to go on and make a big one, but his foolish dismissal let India back into the game. Still, a foolish dismissal on 114 is more forgivable than one on a single figure score. In the tea break Adam Gilchrist came out onto the field and did some throw-down practice but it didn't do him any good, caught and bowled soon after by Kartik for just 2. Shane Warne played what can only be described as a reckless, idiotic shot to be stumped, yes amazingly stumped by Patel for 2. He'd gone so far down the wicket before his airswing that even Patel managed to complete the job, with assistance from the 3rd umpire. I wish Shane would put even just a smidgen of value on his wicket. He has the ability to contribute more than usefully with his bat and actually has a Test high score of 99. Why he did what he did today with the team finely balanced between a good score and a disappointing one is beyond me. Enter Jason Gillespie, who simply picked up where he let off in Chennai with his impeccable defence. He should definitely go in ahead of Warney next time - in my opinion he has earned the promotion, and equally Warne has earned the demotion. Dizzy only made 4 runs but he stayed there to the end of the day, long enough for Clarke to get to 73 not out and the team to 7/362. A pretty good score for a day's play but we shouldn't have lost that many wickets. We could easily have been in a position to push for a 500 or 600 score tomorrow but might have to settle for less than 400. Kartik got his Test best figures, after we absolutely bashed him in Sydney in January. We should have done better today. Still, we have the bowlers to get the Indians out for less, if we field and catch better than in the last match.

I'm hoping Dizzy can bat for another hour or 2 tomorrow, as this would give Clarke the opportunity for his 2nd Test ton and would boost the team score to something which it would be hard to lose from. In my opinion Clarke has done the right thing so far just getting the singles which the Indians are boorishly giving him and trusting Dizzy at the other end, as Dizzy is certainly trustworthy. It's slow progress but they will eventually get frustrated if the wickets don't fall. Once Kasper and Pidgeon join him I hope he has a bash, which he didn't in Chennai. Those 2 (especially Pidgeon) can't be counted on to stay there very long and Clarke might as well slog all the runs he can in the meantime. Interestingly Clarke, Martyn and Lehmann have all made scores which will give the selectors no end of headaches with Punter's return in Mumbai -unless Boof's injury makes it easy for them. I hope he can still bat in the 2nd innings, we might need him.

After play today, as I've mentioned, there was an opportunity to gather on the rooftop of the Heritage Hotel near the ground. They set it up magnificently with not only chairs but mattresses and pillows all around and plenty of various forms of fluid consumption available. Later they fired up a flame driven oven and cooked the 2nd best (but still magnificent) tandoori chicken I've had while here, it went down very well with Coke after the sunset through the dusty haze at the end of an entertaining day's play. I hope the shots of the sunset I took turn out reasonably. At times like this it's good to be alive. Time to pull up stumps for another day and look forward to the next chapter of this cricket odyssey tomorrow.

Cheers.

This post may appear twice - it appears that between the hopeless internet connection in Nagpur and blogger's server that it went onl halfway to publication last time so here's another try...

The biggest news ahead of the 3rd Test starting here in Nagpur tomorrow is that Sachin Tendulkar has been declared fit and will take his place for India. This should add tremendously to the size of the crowd and the atmosphere. Something I have not yet experienced in an Indian cricket stadium is the crowd's response to Sachin walking out to bat. It should be great!

From an Australian point of view, the biggest worry in my opinion is not the number of runs Tendulkar might personally score but the confidence-boosting effect his presence might have on the rest of the Indian team. With 2 Tests to go and the Aussies 1-0 up, I hope that the form slump of the Indian top-order lasts just a little longer, but guys can play themselves into form if they're more relaxed and confident and it might turn out that with Tendulkar's stabilising, mind-empowering presence to assist, the Indians might not need many runs from him to post a big total. Whether his elbow has healed sufficiently well for the contest is something we'll have to wait until the coming days to see. I know Pidgeon, Dizzy and Kasper will be keen to test it out with some short stuff. They might just have the pitch to do it too. Who would have thought that Indian cricket politics could work in Australia's favour? But that just might be what has happened with reports of the groundsmen, politically opposed to the BCCI hierarchy, refusing to produce a pitch to their specifications and actually coming up with one that has some grass on it! By all reports it's bouncy, something which the Aussie quicks will enjoy. Sachin also enjoys the ball coming on more and has 3 centuries at this ground.

Then again, I've heard that Nagpur is a batting paradise conducive to boring draws. It will be a shame if it turns out to be that way. This match has the potential to be a series-levelling one for India, leading to a spine-tingling finale in Mumbai with Ricky Ponting back then as well. It also has the potential to be the match with which Australia, for the first time in 35 years, grabs an historic unbeatable series lead. Just think, with an Australian win here the Border-Gavaskar trophy is coming home! It is something I'd very much like to see. As much as it would be great to see a close contest, I don't particularly like the thought of a repeat of 2001 when India came back in the last 2 Tests after conceding a 1-0 lead in the first. A one-sided series with us winning is something I would enjoy more than a close series with them winning. Still, if we do get knocked off here then the best result of all is still possible, a close series with an Australian win at the end. And, unlike 2001, the last match is in Mumbai, where we won in 3 days back then and have a good record overall.

Glenn McGrath will also be fired up for this match, as it will be his 100th Test. In everyone's opinion that I have heard, he bowled poorly in Chennai and was out of sorts, mysteriously after having given a champion's performance in Bangalore. Pidgeon is not usually out of sorts for very long and certainly has the ability to come roaring back. If he does, watch out India! He'll be targeting Tendulkar too. He has a habit of mentally lifting when bowling to, and often dominating, a chosen batsman in the opposing team. This is invariably someone he has identified as being in his opinion the best in their team. Brian Lara of the West Indies and Michael Atherton of England have had very poor Test series as a result of McGrath's personal mission to dismiss them, and Tendulkar has also been dismissed cheaply by him. I have a feeling that the target man has been Rahul Dravid so far in this series, but I think Pidgeon's radar might be aimed at Sachin this time.

Weighing up Tendulkar's return, and the proven penetrating bowling of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh with fact that Australia still have 3 fit and healthy fast bowlers, Warne's improved performance so far this time around, the good form of most of the Aussie top and middle order and the reported state of the pitch, I have to tip a narrow Aussie win. Maybe the heart is ruling the head a bit, but I think the Aussies have reason to be confident of taking on their class opposition. Especially since they will have had a good talk about how they got themselves into that mess in Chennai and will be determined not to repeat that. After a whole week in India without cricket, I'm well and truly looking forward to once again joining the crew of Waving the Flag and thousands of fanatical Indians in another cricket cauldron. Bring it on!

The biggest news ahead of the 3rd Test starting here in Nagpur tomorrow is that Sachin Tendulkar has been declared fit and will take his place for India. This should add tremendously to the size of the crowd and the atmosphere. Something I have not yet experienced in an Indian cricket stadium is the crowd's response to Sachin walking out to bat. It should be great!

From an Australian point of view, the biggest worry in my opinion is not the number of runs Tendulkar might personally score but the confidence-boosting effect his presence might have on the rest of the Indian team. With 2 Tests to go and the Aussies 1-0 up, I hope that the form slump of the Indian top-order lasts just a little longer, but guys can play themselves into form if they're more relaxed and confident and it might turn out that with Tendulkar's stabilising, mind-empowering presence to assist, the Indians might not need many runs from him to post a big total. Whether his elbow has healed sufficiently well for the contest is something we'll have to wait until the coming days to see. I know Pidgeon, Dizzy and Kasper will be keen to test it out with some short stuff. They might just have the pitch to do it too. Who would have thought that Indian cricket politics could work in Australia's favour? But that just might be what has happened with reports of the groundsmen, politically opposed to the BCCI hierarchy, refusing to produce a pitch to their specifications and actually coming up with one that has some grass on it! By all reports it's bouncy, something which the Aussie quicks will enjoy. Sachin also enjoys the ball coming on more and has 3 centuries at this ground.

Then again, I've heard that Nagpur is a batting paradise conducive to boring draws. It will be a shame if it turns out to be that way. This match has the potential to be a series-levelling one for India, leading to a spine-tingling finale in Mumbai with Ricky Ponting back then as well. It also has the potential to be the match with which Australia, for the first time in 35 years, grabs an historic unbeatable series lead. Just think, with an Australian win here the Border-Gavaskar trophy is coming home! It is something I'd very much like to see. As much as it would be great to see a close contest, I don't particularly like the thought of a repeat of 2001 when India came back in the last 2 Tests after conceding a 1-0 lead in the first. A one-sided series with us winning is something I would enjoy more than a close series with them winning. Still, if we do get knocked off here then the best result of all is still possible, a close series with an Australian win at the end. And, unlike 2001, the last match is in Mumbai, where we won in 3 days back then and have a good record overall.

Glenn McGrath will also be fired up for this match, as it will be his 100th Test. In everyone's opinion that I have heard, he bowled poorly in Chennai and was out of sorts, mysteriously after having given a champion's performance in Bangalore. Pidgeon is not usually out of sorts for very long and certainly has the ability to come roaring back. If he does, watch out India! He'll be targeting Tendulkar too. He has a habit of mentally lifting when bowling to, and often dominating, a chosen batsman in the opposing team. This is invariably someone he has identified as being in his opinion the best in their team. Brian Lara of the West Indies and Michael Atherton of England have had very poor Test series as a result of McGrath's personal mission to dismiss them, and Tendulkar has also been dismissed cheaply by him. I have a feeling that the target man has been Rahul Dravid so far in this series, but I think Pidgeon's radar might be aimed at Sachin this time.

Weighing up Tendulkar's return, and the proven penetrating bowling of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh with fact that Australia still have 3 fit and healthy fast bowlers, Warne's improved performance so far this time around, the good form of most of the Aussie top and middle order and the reported state of the pitch, I have to tip a narrow Aussie win. Maybe the heart is ruling the head a bit, but I think the Aussies have reason to be confident of taking on their class opposition. Especially since they will have had a good talk about how they got themselves into that mess in Chennai and will be determined not to repeat that. After a whole week in India without cricket, I'm well and truly looking forward to once again joining the crew of Waving the Flag and thousands of fanatical Indians in another cricket cauldron. Bring it on!

Well, after a period out of contact with the rest of the world (i.e. no internet access), I'm now in Nagpur for the 3rd Test which starts on Tuesday. In the meantime, I had a fascinating and eye-opening time with some friends of friends in a southern Indian town, going on day trips to villages to see some charity work being done there.

The food I was provided with was another quantum level up from what I've had so far - there is a difference when it's actually cooked in someone's home. Every meal was a feast of spicy Indian tastes, including the best tandoori chicken imaginable, and it was always more than I and another overseas visitor to the place could eat.

The roads outside of the big cities are a new expereience again. The rule seems to be drive on the left hand side - unless there is something slower than you ahead, in which case you drive on the right, whether there is someone coming the other way or not! Quite often the only things coming head-on are motorbikes, which obligingly move to their extreme left to accommodate the bigger vehicles. The horn is most definitely used to announce one's presence rather than point out another driver's error. Most vehicles have "Sound Horn" painted on the back. It seems like a good idea to have sight AND sound to make people aware of one's presence in the envoronment of small town roads and highways in India. It also seems that if you're being overtaken, it is customary to move further to the left and slow down to give the opportunity to avoid a head-on between the overtaker and the oncoming traffic, and if you're approaching an overtaking situation coming the other way you slow down to allow it to happen - all completely opposite to Australia of course. Quite a few times I wondered stressfully how a situation would evolve for a couple of seconds until a truck on the left slowed down enough so we could speed ahead and move left in time to avoid hitting the truck, or tractor, or ox-cart, coming the other way. Other than that it was a quite relaxing and enlightening few days!

After getting back to Chennai last night I had my 2nd overnight train ride of the tour, ending here in Nagpur mid-afternoon. This inevitably involved less sleep than is ideal so I might have an early one tonight.

I'd better not rabbit on for too long as this computer in a dark dingey establishment is prone to do weird things and the connection is rather slow. As tomorrow is not a Sunday, hopefully I'll find something better then. Sorry to anyone whose emails I haven't replied to before updating this but at least you will now know that I'm still alive and well and the tour is progressing as planned, and I'll try to reply soon. I'll leave it there for now.

Cheers.

We may not have got the desired finish to the Test due to the rain today, but at least there was some good cricket news, with the mighty Queensland triumphing in a close one. Andy Bichel was apparently the star. Good onya Andy, that'll teach the Aussie selectors to drop ya!

I woke up this morning to a sight not seen in daylight hours in Chennai for the previous 4 days - dark clouds and a wet ground, and an atmosphere that looked ready to rain at any time. Some people reported a huge thunderstorm at about 5am which I was disappointed not to have been woken up to see. However of more immediate concern was what the rain would do to the cricket. Soon it was coming down again, and any thoughts of rushing to the ground to get an early seat because it would be packed were quickly curtailed. Eventually some of us did go, taking stuff to read, in the hope that it would clear up and the game would start. The chance of a result was going to be reduced though.

The ground was soaking wet, more than half covered with plastic covers which had massive pools of water all over them. They were never going to be cleared in a hurry by the 15 or so ground staff with tea towels and buckets. At times it looked like the rain was clearing and there was a brief flurry of work to try to mop some of it up, but at about lunch time the umpires came out, did a slow lap of the ground and decided that that was the end of the match. A real fizzer of a day after the anticipation of a classic finish. I don't know which team will be more disappointed, both of them would have fancied their chances to win. From an Aussie perspective, with the record we have in Chennai maybe the team will be quite happy to get out of here with a draw, but I know they would rather have had a tilt at the win. Still, if someone had told them before the series started they would be 1-0 up after 2 Tests including Chennai, they would have taken that.

I hope there will be a team meeting to discuss all that went wrong in this game, and a resolve to not play like that again. However, the game was not saved for Australia so much by the rain today (indeed, it also scuttled a possible Aussie victory) as by the magnificent backs to the wall batting yesterday which prevented an Indian victory happening on day 4. Surely the whole team can take inspiration from that and move on to better things still in Nagpur.

Cheers.

This was about as good a day as any Aussie could have hoped for. We started 4 wickets down and 9 in front, with Marto and nightwatchman Dizzy at the crease. What did I say yesterday about Dizzy and these situations? It was hoped he could hang around for maybe an hour or 2 as Marto scored at the other end. Try almost 3 and a half! The 2 of them were, amazingly, still there within sight of tea but were unfortunately dismissed in the same over. This was not before Marto had scored one of the most valuable tons of his career though. Congratulations to him, he's defied all his critics, including me here.

Lehmann and Clarke survived a difficult period until tea then came out attacking after the break. The Indians would have been incredibly frustrated as the lead climbed past 200. They would have been hoping the game would end today. That could well have happened if a few things had gone the other way. Dizzy was dropped by Harbhajan Singh off his own bowling. So many times bat-pad chances floated just out of reach of the close in fielders. There were so many plays and misses. The Aussies just put it behind them and kept batting. Dizzy in particular played what surely must be the finest innings of his life.

Unfortunately just when we seemed to be grabbing the initiative Boof was out to an incredibly lazy shot, a top edge that even Parthiv Patel could catch. Parthiv has been a comic tragedy in this match. Thanks to him the Indians broke their own record for most extras in an innings at the ground. At one point he had a backstop! Brings back memories of primary school cricket. Clarke batted with the tail and added a few useful runs although I think he could have slogged a bit and got more when Warne (duck), Kasper (5) and Pidgeon (3) were there. Still, we finished with a lead of 228 which was more than could possibly have been hoped for at the start of the day.

India had to bat for 3 overs at the end of the day. Unfortunately, instead of losing 1 or 2 quick wickets which can often happen in these situations, they managed to slash 19 runs off the target. Batting had looked pretty difficult for most of the day making me think we were in with a pretty good chance of knocking them over, but Sehwag made it look easy. Hopefully we'll get him early tomorrow, we must do so to stay in the contest. Surely his luck has run out. The highest Test winning score here is the 8/155 the Indians got against us last time. People have been telling me that's irrelevant and they'll get the runs easy, but you have to think positive. I'm thinking crumbling spitting spinning 5th day pitch. Warnie (champion). 3 fit fast bowlers. 4th innings pressure. Yuvraj, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly all out of form. If we can just get Sehwag surely we are a huge chance. But it will depend on that. Only 2 wickets have fallen in the first session of the day in this match. We'll have to buck that trend to put them under pressure. If they're 0/100 at lunch it will be hard for us. Today was the best day of Test cricket I've had the pleasure of watching live at the ground. Anyone watching can't not be impressed with the attitude of this team and their ability to fight. Every ball of it was engrossing, edge of the seat stuff and the atmosphere was huge. There's every chance that tomorrow will top it with an epic contest and hopefully a famous Australian victory.