“Nemesis” - The Greek Goddess.

I was unable to find words today to explain the misery faced by Ponting and his “baggy green” pals. England won the 3rd match in the NatWest one-day series Aussies are 0/4. I do remember mentioning about England. It will be team to watch this season. Yes they are proving to be good. After the 20/20 loss, Ponting laughed it out and told that he did not take the game seriously. He went further to comment “it is not real Cricket”. What ever, today he finds himself in a stinking duck pond. The game is laughing at him.

During past 3 games, it was quite clear that team batting second had a better chance to win the game and having lost 3 matches in a row I thought if Ponting wins the toss he would be more prudent to opt for bowling first. But he looked as though he had no clue about the conditions. He pushed his out of form batsmen to play first. Gill Christ is out of form, yesterday he was struggling to strike the ball. He has to play well so that rest of the Aussies can piggyback on his initial slaughter. Hayden also looked dull and tentative but the opening pair managed to launch few sixers. However the run rate was well within 5.00 an over. Hamirson stuck, Gill Christ finally gave up when the score was 57.

Ponting walks in; even average cricket fanatics like my brother and me were discussing about his shuffling weakness. Ponting shuffles too much in first 10 overs at least, 5 out 10 times he gets good help from the umpire for LBWS. However we were discussing that a ball that moves in at a good speed will rattle Ponting down. This is exactly what Hamirson did, a ball that came at about 90 miles stunned shuffling Ponting. He was caught plumb in the middle. It was a definition LBW. Ponting out in the first ball he faced! He walked along with the Cartoon duck on ESPN. The best part was just about 24 hrs ago he was out in the similar fashion against Bangladesh. My first Ponting joke; It would better for Ponting to face few trails before “all-Reals” After all he does not take the game seriously.

Martin walked in to save a Hat trick. He did save the hat trick but was out in the next ball trying to play over 3rd Man. One more duck for the supper.

The best part was yet to come, Collinwood took a catch to get rid of Hayden. This can be termed as the best catch in last few years. The ball flew about 5-6 feet over his head, he timed his jump perfectly and got the hold of the ball. Hayden had to go. Catches win matches but for this catch, England can win the ashes. Get this Ricky, “When bad luck strikes it really strikes you hard”.

The Australian middle order once again saved some pride. Michele Clarke looked really comfortable. He seems to have the qualifications to be next captain. It is just matter of time. The crude truth for me is - when every one is in form captaining a powerful team is no big deal. Today, Ponting’s capacity as the captain is being tested. Frankly, I really don’t see him coming out in flying colors in this acid test. However Aussies are fanatic bunch of professionals, they have the power to come back at the right time. But it has to happen soon if not all of their great performances will be simply forgotten by the people. It is high time for them pull up their socks, shoestrings or what ever. If not floods gates will be opened and people like me will supply free Archana tickets for Greek goddess “Nemesis”, who is in charge of retributive justice or vengeance.