The day that Kasper teetered on brink of greatness- Fleming

[Holysmoke]

AUSTRALIA'S visit to the southern Indian city of Kochi last week was a good deal more comfortable that the previous one nine years ago. Mention of the city still sends a shiver down the spine of all who played on that fateful April Fools' Day, 1998. The conditions were the hottest and most humid any of us had experienced. It was our version of Papillon! We arrived in Kochi for the first match of a one-day tri-series that also involved Zimbabwe, and were hit by a wall of heat. Unfortunately, the conditions didn't perturb our coach Geoff "Swampy" Marsh, who made us train for a lazy five hours on the eve of the game. I was struggling for breath and wondered why I had become unfit all of sudden. On the day of the game, we went on to the ground for a warm-up. Meanwhile, the Indians sipped water under shade. "They're soft," was the general call from our group as our warm-up went into its second hour! India won the toss and batted. Michael Kasprowicz struck early, dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, who had scored 650 in six innings on that tour, for six. We were pumped. Someone said: "Well, at least the little master has shown he's human and can have a bad day." Gradually, the 40-degree heat and 100 per cent humidity took its toll. Kasprowicz, who had been the sole quick to last to this stage of the tour, after bowling his heart out in the three Test matches, collapsed halfway though his run-up. He was taken off on a stretcher. The Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were belting us everywhere and put on a hundred in no time. Incredibly, Kasper reappeared. But in his first over, he seemed to forget the basics of running. As a right-hander, he generally pushed off with his left foot, but he was so disorientated that he tried to start on his right foot and fell over. He got up and started belting his behind like a jockey on a feeble horse in an effort to get himself going. He began to run, pulled up, wobbled like a skittle, stabilised proudly for a moment, wobbled again and then collapsed. It's a strike! Kasper was carted off again. Being a glutton for punishment, I waived my option of bowling the minimum 60 balls in my 10-over spell and chucked in three wides and three no-balls. Umpire Bansal enjoyed my bowling so much that he gave me the opportunity to bowl an extra ball in my final over for no obvious reason. Nice gesture. I was so disorientated that my only goal was to land the ball on the pitch, finish the over and get off the ground. The possibility of a wicket was the last thought on my mind. India scored 5-309. The dressing room was chaotic after our bowling performance. Kasper moaned on the table about aliens and we warned him to stay away from the light. Darwin-born and Perth-bred Damien Martyn, who bowled three overs, collapsed from heat exhaustion and was put on a chair under a cool shower. It looked unlikely he would be able to bat. Everyone else was either vomiting or comatose. My boots squelched when I walked from the pools of sweat trapped in them. I felt like I had jumped into a very hot steam bath and doggy-paddled for a few hours. I didn't even have the energy to untie my boots. Just to lift the mood, Adam Gilchrist informed us that we had taken so long to bowl our overs that the break had been reduced to 10 minutes. We also had been fined for a slow over-rate. Somehow, Gilly and Mark Waugh got us off to a flyer and when Waugh was dismissed by Javagal Srinath in the 12th over, the score was already 102. Enter our nemesis, Tendulkar, who made up for a bad day with the bat by taking five wickets — four with leg breaks and one with an off break to dismiss Steve Waugh caught and bowled. I was last out, with the total on 268. It was a brave effort. We stumbled out for the match presentation and watched Tendulkar get another man-of-the-match award. The crowd showed its appreciation of our efforts by showering us with bottles, cans and fruit, including a watermelon. This was ironic, as the Indian batsmen had treated me as if I was bowling them. Such were the conditions that Gilly still rates our performance as one of the proudest he has been involved in. Revenge would have been sweet in the recent one-day match in Kochi. Gilly was skipper. And although he was out for a duck, Australia scored 6-306 and won by 82 runs.

[Holysmoke]

Wow, that must've been some game...