New Zealand's 300th Test, at the picturesque Basin Reserve had all the ingredients for an intriguing encounter. Fifteen years after making his Test debut on the Reserve in 1978, Indian coach John Wright returned to the ground at the controls of a side seeking its first away series win in 16 years.
Groundsman Trevor Jackson could have been a master chef, serving up a gourmet meal to Stephen Fleming's prescription - the deck had a good centimeter of grass on it, and thanks to recent weather conditions, a tad more moisture below deck than normal. Cows could have lunch and there would still be too much left, Harbhajan Singh joked before play began.
Adding to the fun was a howling northerly wind that blew across the stadium - behind the bowler's back at one end, a strong headwind at the other.
That set up deja view - India lost the toss, the opposing captain gleefully inserted, India crumbled. Dig out any old match report, replace the names of the bowlers with the present lot -- Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey leading, with back up by Jacob Oram and Scott Styris - and there, the job is done. Never mind that the lineup has a combined total of 58 wickets in 16 Tests, against India's seamers with 128 wickets in 48 Tests - on a greentop away from home, the inexperience of the opposing bowlers is not really a factor.
Bond was expected to be the lead bowler - but early damage was done by Daryl Tuffey who, unlike his higher rated partner, quickly settled into optimum length. In his first over of the day, he got rid of the danger Virender Sehwag - the ball was on a perfect length, just short of full, Sehwag wasn't sure whether to play the length and come forward, or allow for bounce and stay back; in the event, he was all over the place and nowhere in particular when the ball jagged back just enough to go through the gate.
Sanjay Bangar's wicket was a set-up. Tuffey kept moving them away from the right handed opener, who has a tendency to let such balls go with scarcely a glance. He then banged one a touch shorter. Bangar, looking for it to leave him, took his bat out of line - the ball, though, jagged in, brushed the arm guard, and flew to Scott Styris at second slip (9-2). Yes, right, ball going off arm guard is not a regulation mode of dismissal - but umpire Asoka D Silva, who has been following the team around like a malevolent phantom, thought otherwise.
That brought Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar together - the former composed, the latter seemingly determined to build a shell and crawl inside it. Meanwhile skipper Stephen Fleming, in the first of several astute moves, backed Tuffey by switching his end, and giving him the wind at his back.
Jack Oram is primarily a one day bowler, with the ability to move the ball either way. Tendulkar, on the day, couldn't figure out either of those ways - constantly unsure where the ball was going, he kept offering no stroke. The batsman did that once too often, though, and D'Silva's finger spoke volumes. Again, the dismissal was hardly textbook - Tendulkar was well forward, the strike was outside line of off, the ball had at least a meter to go to reach the stumps - but all said and done, Tendulkar on the day was morally beaten.
Sir Richard Hadlee, the Kiwi chairman of selectors, must have smiled - it was he who backed Oram for the Test series, and told him the line, and length, to bowl. The lesson was seemingly well learnt - the six foot six inch Oram bowled 16 deliveries to Tendulkar, of which 12 were on off, and four were on the middle stump, not one ball on the legs for a gimme.
Saurav Ganguly's arrival, on even the most benign of pitches, signals a bouncer. On this track, you could bet the house on a lifter coming through the gate. Ganguly fended at it, but his opposite number at first slip let the chance go.
Bond, back for a second spell and bowling with more control, then opted for the fuller length, and found the edge. Down she went, with Astle in slip being the culprit. So Bond walked back and tried again - and this time, Lou Vincent at third slip snapped up the chance, on the stroke of lunch, to have India 51/4 in 25 overs at the break.
While all this was going on, Rahul Dravid batted on another track, against club bowlers - or so it seemed, from the ease with which he coped.
Resumption of play saw Bond continue his marquee act. Bowling at top speed, and with immaculate control, he produced a spell of pure venom, in the midst of which he sent down the ball of the day. It was just short, it climbed at pace, and as VVS Laxman swayed back out of line, it jagged in, following the hapless batsman and touching wood en route to Robbie Hart behind the stumps.
Parthiv Patel is yet to grow a beard, yet he showed the aplomb of a veteran as he weathered a few close shaves against the seaming ball and stuck it out in the middle. Dravid and the keeper put together the best partnership of the day, with the Indian vice captain lifting his game to yet another, higher, plane. Patel's resistance, however, ended with India still 8 shy of the 100 mark.
Ajit Agarkar batted with seeming ease and, at one point, casually lofted Nathan Astle back over his head for a bowler. Just as another partnership looked to be building, however, Fleming took a hand. Given that Agarkar was looking to play shots, the Kiwi skipper brought in a second slip for Scott Styris - a bowler whose pace normally does not permit of such luxury. Styris promptly placed the ball that inch wider of off and moved it away, Agarkar drove, Astle held. As simple, that, as 1-2-3.
While Harbhajan was busy taking his guard and trying to make sure the mark showed through the grass, Fleming pushed a man out into the deep on the on. First up, Styris bounced - Harbhajan immediately went into the hook, and Craig McMillan, the man sent out to do the job, responded at deep square leg with a brilliant take on the forward dive. If Fleming were a schoolboy, he would have gotten full marks for homework done.
Zaheer Khan negotiated the hat-trick ball and hung around, while Dravid looked to push the scoring before he ran short of partners. The vice captain, while out in the middle, must have wondered why he said, the day before the Test, that this game would be about India's top flight batsmen - it was the sixth and seventh wicket associations that put on 37 and 26 runs respectively, and saved India serious blushes. Zaheer underlined the lesson by batting with a degree of comfort and keeping his end going.
Dravid's vigil however ended, for a priceless 76, when he chopped an in-dipping ball from Styris back onto his stumps. And shortly after, a stunning catch by Oram in the gully - jumping high, palming the ball, then taking it behind his back on the dive - ended the Indian innings, for just 161.
The Kiwi openers were greeted by a tight, testing spell from Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, though the latter was guilty of bowling too much outside off, letting the batsmen watch them go. Nehra however got remarkable swing, making you wish he could do something about the line he lost somewhere late last year. Agarkar, briefly on display, did all the right things without any real venom and it was left to an absolutely innocuous ball from Sanjay Bangar, drifting down leg side, to get India the wicket as Vincent touched to Patel.
There were the usual quota of balls that streaked through gaps in the slip cordon or over their heads - but in the final analysis, Stephen Fleming and Mark Richardson took the Kiwis home on a comfortable 53/1. India, meanwhile, can at the start of yet another foreign tour mourn the collapse of its vaunted batting, and wonder how in heck they are going to pull something out of thin air when play resumes tomorrow morning.
