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Two and too good

This was one of the most intense pieces of Test cricket I've ever seen. Two of the game's finest batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar (the best of all, in my view) and Rahul Dravid, confronted by two of cricket's most outstanding bowlers, Shane Warne (perhaps the greatest spinner of them all) and the magnificent Glenn McGrath.

In our team meetings leading up to the series we'd often spoken of such battles. Here at Adelaide, on such a good batting wicket, our strategy was to give nothing away. And it was set up perfectly, with Shane already bowling superbly from one end and Glenn just one ball into his second spell when Sachin arrived at the crease. From the start, our great paceman was bang on line, constantly on or just outside the right-handers's off stump. In all, his eight-over spell would cost just a single, as the runs dried up completely and these two distinguished batsmen did their best simply to survive.

This battle culminated in Dravid being snared at short leg by Justin Langer off Shane. Our jubilation, at taking such a vital wicket and seeing our game plan rewarded, was obvious. Shane turned straight to Glenn; we all did, and this was an occasion when the scorebook should have read: Dravid caught Langer, bowled Warne/McGrath. The pressure they built and then sustained was phenomenal. Rarely have two bowlers combined so well.

The contrast to our last series against India on the subcontinent in early 1998, when Sachin dominated Shane for most of the series and Glenn was absent, injured, was stark. Now, we were on top, trying to turn a hard-won advantage into a decisive edge. This was a strong contrast, too, to yesterday, when we stumbled to 4-52 after I won the toss and elected to bat.

I must confess I wasn't too worried back then when the fourth wicket fell in our innings, although I knew that one more wicket and we would have been in trouble. Ricky Ponting has been in excellent form, and the wicket was flat and getting flatter. What we needed was to get a partnership going, and Ricky was aggressive from the start. I just tagged along, and from not long after lunch I felt we'd at least got things back on an even keel.

Even with Ricky's run out late yesterday, our aim was still to reach 400. That's what we thought the wicket was worth. Then Adam Gilchrist was dismissed by the first ball of the day, which made things interesting at 6-298; only for Shane Warne to come out and play his best ever Test innings. By the time he was finished, having smashed an important 86, we'd reached 441. That great position was accentuated when we reduced India to 2-9. Dravid and Laxman mounted a fightback, but then McGrath came back to get the dangerous No. 3 with the first ball of his second spell, which brought Tendulkar to the crease.

From a personal point of view, these last two days have been immensely rewarding. As captain, I gained great satisfaction from the manner in which we fought back after our top-order collapse on day one, and from the superb way we stuck rigidly to our bowling plan this afternoon.

And batting-wise, I enjoyed the fact that I played, technically, one of my best innings, and also that I became the first player to score a century against all eight opposing Test countries and in the process passed the 8,000 Test runs milestone.

At stumps tonight, India still needed a further 119 to avoid the follow on, although whether we'll enforce it is debatable at this point.

The weather could still be a factor, and I think this wicket will get harder to bat on the longer the Test match goes. Already, there have been some signs of deliveries keeping unusually low. Still, we're very happy with our position, but fully aware that there is still much work to be done. After all, we were 4-52 at one point, much worse than where India's batting finds itself at stumps.

Clearly, much depends on the Indian captain now. The first session tomorrow is going to be crucial.

(Gameplan)

Gameplan

Steve Waugh