THE fourth Test between Australia and India ends in a draw, as Adam Gilchrist declares his innings in Test cricket as over.
1805: Well, that’s all she wrote, folks. The captains agree to a draw and the series remains 2-1. Thanks for your company today, cricket fans, and we’ll see you for the one-day series.
1748: Sridhar again: "Oh come on… shd declare now and let the crowd have some fun. It would be 18 overs for 200+ runs; difficult in the shorter versions too…whats to be be scared of?!" - Wow, now I’m working hard - thanks for all the comments - great stuff everyone. I’m being hammered - or Malletted :)
1746: Phil chimes in: "The next captain would have to be Dhoni, in my opinion. Sehwag seems to be back, but he did lose the plot pretty heavily. He is not captain material at all. "
1745: Ramesh responds: "Sehwags biggest problem is his form - lack of consistency.He gets a big one followed by series of low scores.He is a great entertainer,but I would want the captain to be reliable,consistent.He has shown some maturity off late though - I would still wait for sehwag to show more consistency about his batting."
1742: Raghav adds: "Dropping Shewag from tests was a mistake. he had a poor run in the ODIs which led to him being dropped from tests which cost him the captaincy as well. Kumble was last choice as captain after Tendulkar declined the captaincy."
1741: WICKET. Lead 227. Sharma comes out because of injuries. Ponting takes a high catch at mid-off to dismiss Harhbajan, then snaps a left-foot goal. Hogg breathes a sigh of relief.
1738: Vivek from Bangalore: "Cornell, do you think Ponting will get into trouble for slow over rate? Aus over rate has been dismal! I don’t see them bowling 26 overs in one hour.. Will the match be called off early based on amount of time left (30 mins) or no. of overs left? If Indians are all out now, it will be unfair in that they will have to bowl Australian quota of overs. Procter, wassup with him??" - ICC in general, I’m afraid. Dravid’s injury didn’t help the rate today, but both sides have been dire, hopeless and woeful with the over rate this series. Yes, they should shake hands with 30 mins left, for sure.
1736: From Anoop: "Personally wud love to see sehwag as captain since he has a good cricketing brain - but his place in the side is not secure yet, even in ODIs. he was VC when Saurav was the captain but since then has lost his place in the side too. unless dhoni performs too bad, its gonna be him succeeding AK for the captaincy. he is not too bad a captain either (more aggressive than AK has been on day 3/4 of this test match)" - Fair enough - but what more does he have to do to secure his place???
1728: Jason, who I’ve now made honourary co-commentator for his insightful and frequent entries today, adds: "Sehwag is a shoe in for MOTM. It makes you wonder the ‘could have beens’. The future for Australian cricket shouldn’t be viewed so pessimistically as reported, interesting is the term I would use. We have untapped talent in abundance in the state sides. It’s natural to feel down when favourite sons move on but to suggest a meteoric fall is ludicrous. If I was one of the young guns I would be constantly in a state of high anticipation." - Agreed, could not Ashley Mallett was quoted as saying we will be No. 5 in three years. Rediculous.
1721: From Ramesh N: "Sehwag as captain - i am not for it - you actually highlighted a bigger problem for india - who after the big Five ? I wld guess that perhaps Dhoni is the best bet - he has a proven record of handling pressure." - Fair enough. But you know Sehwag better than I, so what’s he lacking? Too old?
1717: WICKET - Sehwag (151) is out, caught by Farewell Boy off Symonds. Fitting that Gilly ended that great knock with a good catch. Great innings, good catch. The powers that be must be watching. And guess who’s next? Harbhajan. Facing? Symonds. Where’s the script?
1713: FOUR and SEHWAG 150! - Well done. All class. Hogg, who has figures of 0-47 off six, must be concerned. His long hop is smashed through the off side. Welcome back into the attack.
1708: Sehwag really deserves a 150 here. And he deserves never to be dropped from this side again. And he should be made captain. Thoughts on this from India? Does he have what it takes? OK, I know he’s 29, but…?
1701: From Sanjeev in Mumbai: "Declaration is out of the question. Ind would only declare if they had a chance of winning. Would they get Aus all out in 30 overs. Not a ghost of a chance. Another 10-15 overs to play, and game over if all Indian wickets aren’t taken. who will be man of the match. I think it should be Virendra Sehwag!" - I was joking, Sanjeev. 
Agreed about Sehwag. MOTM for sure. Ponting a close second. Gilly could get a bowl, though.
1657: Jason: "Cornell, it’s fantastic to see the Indian supporters logging on to give their views. As with all things the more angles the better. Personally 20/20 isn’t my game but considering we’re taking on the world champions on our home soil I shall follow the tri series with much enthusiasm. Both sides are excitement machines, not forgetting Sri Lanka, may the best team win." - Not my cup of Earl Grey either, Jason. May as well roll a dice. But we don’t need three versions of cricket, so let’s bin the 50 over game. Sorry Kerry.
1651: WICKET. Hayden takes a ripper, I mean an absolute snorter, to dismiss Dhoni for 20 off Lee. One-handed, the left, and it went quick. The lead is now 200, with about 32 overs left. Declare, will ya? I dare you. What a catch that was.
1646: FOUR: Dhoni isn’t mucking around either, and why should he. He carts Symonds to long-on for a near-six.
1643: From Nishu: "I would go ahead and say that Gilly is the best all rounder of all times. Perhaps you may not agree with me, but we all know that wicket keeping is such a thankless job. Look at his phenomenal dismissals, his batting averages in both forms of the game, his strike rate and above all - a great individual who has always played in the right spirits of the game. He is indeed a jewel in the Australian cricket and the whole cricket fraternity will miss him." - Hard to compare keeping all-rounders with bowling all-rounders in my opinion. They offer such different options to the side. Nevertheless, the best keeper/batsman I’ve seen. Ian Healy is the best gloveman I’ve seen.
1637: From S Mani: "Just how important was that miss by Clarke yesterday. In retrospect, that miss could’ve cost Aus the match. ‘Cos India has been suspect in the second innings (vs Aus at Sydney, and even earlier against Eng and even SA), as we can see no other player has got pass 20, and only Viru is getting a move on the score. BTW, who will it be in the slips for Aus once Hayden goes?" - Good question. Very good question, actually. Let’s hope his replacement. You really prefer a tall player at first slip. A Mark Waugh, or Greg Chappell type.
1635: FOUR. Looks like Sehwag has hit the gas pedal now. At least for one shot.
1622: From Jason in Adelaide: "Just been watching a tribute to Gilly on the cricket show. I have to admit there where tears in my eyes. Tears for the loss to cricket, yes, but also tears of joy to have been able to witness the phenomenon that is the man. That world cup century … speechless even now. In my humble opinion he is the best Australian cricketer in the modern era. I propose a new public holiday." - Big call. Shane Warne? Steve Waugh?
1620: Joe from Bangalore: "2 days back was most certain about an indian win, but the scenario has changed totally once aussies has been let to score 500 plus, thanks to very bad bowling from Kumble and Bhajie….But still India can give ita try by scoring another 30 odd runs quickly and giving aussies a target which might allure them…" - Try, sure. But this has got ‘draw’ drawn all over it, I’m afraid.
1610: TEA.
1602: India lead by 165. Orhtodox field for Symonds, with a short-leg in place. India batting without urgency now.
1548: Gilly is getting some final keeping memories, standing up to S Clark and copping some tough takes off short deliveries. Show off. :). Latest news is that Dravid will bat if required - and no break to his finger.
1534: WICKET. Is Australia still a chance here? Laxman is out for 12, and Gilly gets a catch on his last day - a good grab down the leg side off VC Bing. Lead is 149 as Dhoni comes out.
1521: From Jason: "Cornell, do you know what Gilly has in his repertoire with regards to bowling? Can you imagine him steaming in off 40 paces firing unplayable missiles? I can see the interview, ‘Gilly, since when could you bowl like that?’, ‘Well I dreamt of being a pace bowler but my under12s team didn’t have a keeper so with much disappointment I moved behind the stumps’. Bless him." - His wiki page says ‘Right-arm off break’. Or maybe it’ll be ‘break-off right arm’ and bowl left arm, if the former doesn’t work.
1510: DRINKS. India lead by 132. Not much happening right now - both sides seem to be happy waiting for the draw. Anyone know any good cricket jokes fit for print? No, not more memorabilia! Limited to 88,000 only.
1456: Speak of the devil. Bing comes into the attack.
1455: From Jason: "Cornell, I’m with you all the way with regards to ‘Bing for VC’. He has come of age since the last ashes tour of England. Clarke besides, the only other candidate would be perhaps ‘Mr. Cricket’. One argument against ‘Bing’ is his acting career, maybe he would better served in parliament." - Minister for cricket and electrical appliances perhaps.
1451: WICKET: Ganguly drives miss-times a drive and Hussey takes a good diving catch at short cover. The umps check with the TV umps before confirming it, as it was close to a bump ball. Laxman comes out to bat.
1444: C’mon Punter, give Gilly a bowl! I seem to remember Rodney Marsh getting an over in his last Test. Confirmation anyone? M Clarke comes on instead. Hope he doesn’t get a caught and bowled chance…
1435: From Shyam: "As an Indian fan, I’ve got to admire Sehwag’s contribution to the team in the last two tests. After he was dropped, he went back to playing domestic cricket and did little of note. Now he’s come back and really injected some positive intent to the Indian top-order after the negative batting of Dravid and Jaffer in the first two tests, and that’s culminated in this back-to-the-wall century. Also, Ponting has overcome his previous failures against Harby and Ishant, so I think this time it will be Ganguly’s turn to sort out his troubles with Hogg (who by the looks of it may be in his final test with the great Gilly)!" - Nice thoughts; agree with most of it. Makes we wonder why he (Sehwag) isn’t captain. He seems to have the tactical nous, and to be honest, Kumble’s tactics in the morning session yesterday were not up to scratch.
1425: From Jason: "Cornell, I wonder how Clarke is feeling today? 2-2 as compared to 2-142, oh well. Interesting reading the reports after day 3 as to India suggesting the Aussies are a little afraid to lose this test. To back this up it would great to see the Indians declare at tea setting Australia around 220 to make in 30 odd overs. Thoughts?" For sure, why not. I think Australia really should be happy with 2-1 for the series, while India has everything to gain by winning this Test. The ball is in their court. Would be great to see Gilly opening and chasing that kind of target in his final Test. By the way, I’m the head of the "Bing for VC" movement. Thoughts on that?
1418: Symonds comes into the attack. Good move, from Australia’s perspective.
1414: From Phil: "I think it is hilarious that the media and fans in general were naive enough to think that Australia could bowl India out cheaply. This was always going to be a draw after Australia let India score 526 when they should never have been allowed to score more than 450." - The tail did wag, that’s for sure. And I’m not seeing anything straight after lunch that suggests Australia is in for the kill. Orthodox-ish field.
1412: OK, let’s hope for a smooth session in the comm box, and some exciting action on the field. I wonder how aggressive Punter will be this afternoon…
1337: LUNCH - Australia will have to run through India in the first hour after lunch, or Gilly may as well have a bowl. A draw beckons … or does it? Meanwhile, we are back in business here and we’ll try to make up for lost time this afternoon. Our commentary has been slower than the over rate in this Test today, but let’s get some comments firing this afternoon.
1259: From Sridhar: "Hi Cornell, Hope the technical glitches have been sorted out. Is Tendlya uncomfortable…very slow and almost no contribution in the partnership from him. Any gremlins in the pitch…or will it be a tame draw?" I hope so. Looks like a draw to me, but with India effectively three down, the Aussies have an hour to get into the tail I reckon.
1238: Dravid’s finger is on ice. He’s off to have an X-Ray shortly. I’m off to have cardiac treatment. Servers …
1233: DRINKS. From Jason: "Cornell, glad you could make it. Seems we have been experiencing the glitches in technology that lends itself to the argument for not introducing anymore into the game itself." Hmmm - perhaps you are right, Jason.
1217: FOUR - Sehwag off-drives for a boundary off Lee. Good that he’s playing his natural game out there.
1212: Apologies all, we appear to be back up and running, which is more than I can say for Dravid, who has retired hurt with a finger injury.
1154: Another injury delay here as Dravid gets some finger assistance. Looks ouchy!
1150: No dramas as yet. Except some technical glitches here. Fingers crossed.
1129: Gilly comes out through a guard of honour, and then takes a few high catches that he throws for himself. Let’s hope he doesn’t drop any on his final day.
Source: Sehwag forces draw
Although Havant and Waterlooville eventually lost 5-2, Gale was proud of his players. He said:” I am immensely proud of the team for the way they have to come to Anfield and produced a performance of that magnitude.
“It’s been fantastic for the players, I told them to come here and enjoy it but don’t treat it as a party - they can have a party afterwards.”
