The Australian team seems to be undecided about the make up of their bowlers for the fourth and final test match against India starting on Thursday, at the Adelaide Oval.
The Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that he was stuck between retaining the same all-pace attack that lost last week’s third test in Perth or ditching express fast bowler Shaun Tait for spinner Brad Hogg.
During a news conference, Ponting said “We’ve got a few things we want to run through our heads about our makeup and about that wicket. And the wicket is normally pretty good to bat on here, it looks like it will be that way it’s actually quite dry at the moment.”
“We’ve just got to toss up in our head whether a spin option is the way to go or if we try to use pace with variable bounce later in the game.” The Adelaide oval is considered to be one of the Australia’s most-spin friendly pitches, but Ricky Ponting said that did not necessarily favour Hogg.
Australia – India and Australia have begun the third Test in Perth despite the umpiring controversy and racism row which threatened to disrupt the cricket tour. The previous Test match ended in bitterness when the Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh was banned initially for using bad language at an Australian player. However the bower Singh denied the charge. The third match in four-test series began this Wednesday at Perth holding a 2-0 series lead. On winning the toss, India batted first with a score of 177 for a loss of two wickets. Both Indian and Australian teams have abandoned their agreement of trusting the word of fielders on disputed low catches. Both the teams have agreed to trust the fielder’s integrity rather than refer the decision to the third umpire at the start of the series.
Shane Bond, New Zealand’s fast bowler has set to join Indian Cricket League, which will bring him about 600,000 New Zealand Dollars (US$ 450,000). However the fast bowler who is now 32 has not yet conformed this, but New Zealand’s Cricket Chief executive, Vaughan has mentioned this in a Wellington newspaper. India’s official cricket authority hasn’t authorized Shane Bond’s involvement with the Indian Cricket League. Shane Bond is known to be New Zealand’s best and fastest bowler since Richard Hadlee. In 17 tests, Bond has taken 79 wickets at an average of 22.39 and 125 wickets in limited-overs matches at 19.32.
