Marshall, Franklin rescue New Zealand Academy

Displaying exemplary grit and determination, Hamish Marshall and James Franklin rescued the New Zealand Cricket Academy from a tight spot on the opening day of their three day MRF Buchi Babu all India invitation tournament semifinal against Oil and Natural Gas Commission at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Monday.

Shortly before lunch, the New Zealand team lost their fifth wicket with the total on 92. But for the rest of the day, Marshall and Franklin batted in commendable fashion in a rescue act that won the admiration of the sparse crowd present. Not until shortly before close was the partnership broken with Marshall being held by wicketkeeper Sandeep Dogra off Amit Bhandari. But by that time he had got a well deserved hundred and the New Zealand Academy were able to end the day with the cushion of having made 252 for six off 95 overs.

And yet if the afternoon and the evening belonged to the New Zealand side and Marshall and Franklin in particular, the morning's honours were claimed by ONGC and Bhandari in particular. Winning the toss, the New Zealand Academy soon ran into trouble. Off the last ball of the fifth over, JAH Marshall was caught at point by Mithun Minhas off Bhandari for ten in a total of 16. In the eleventh over - his sixth - Bhandari struck again. The other opening batsman MHW Papps who had struggled for 52 minutes and 27 balls to score five was leg before. That made the Kiwi team 20 for two.

L Vincent who came next tried to counter attack but at 37, he hit Rahul Sanghvi to substitute Amit Sharma at mid on and departed for 11. AJ Redmond and skipper JDP Oram seemed to have steadied the boat a bit by adding 38 runs for the fourth wicket off 11.2 overs. But Oram who had dominated the partnership was then bowled by Sanghvi for 20. Bhandari then came back and had the obdurate Redmond caught at slip by Gagan Khoda for 25, compiled off 92 balls and inclusive of five hits to the ropes.

At 92 for five, the back of the New Zealand team's innings seemed to be well and truly broken. But then followed the partnership between Marshall and Franklin which came as a blood transfusion for a side sinking fast. Battling both the accurate bowling and the intense heat, the right handed Marshall and the left handed Franklin batted with assurance. They nursed the innings through the afternoon session adding just 64 runs but more important coming through unbroken. In the post tea session the pair applied the pressure on the now wilting bowlers.

In the first round game against Districts XI, the 21-year-old Marshall from Northern Districts had scored an unbeaten 155. He then missed his team's quarterfinal match against Hyderabad. Carrying on from where he left off against the Districts XI, Marshall played a number of pleasing strokes. His batting was a blend of power, elegance and timing. He was very much the dominant partner in the partnership but the role of Franklin was no less important.

Taking three boundaries off one over from Sanghvi, Marshall made his intentions clear. The 20-year-old Franklin from Wellington too pressed on the accelerator and under pressure, the bowling became wayward. Showing no signs of nerves even in the 90s, Marshall raced to his 100 shortly before close. He did not add another run though, the new ball, taken after 90 overs, getting rid of him. Marshall batted almost five hours, faced 195 balls and hit 12 of them to the ropes. The sixth wicket partnership, which added 158 runs off 57.2 overs, has brought the New Zealand side right back into the game.

Franklin however could not be dislodged and came in unbeaten with 64 invaluable runs when stumps were drawn for the day. He has so far played 174 balls and has hit eight fours. But the chief honours of the day were still with Marshall. So impressed was manager Richard Hadlee by his performance that he got the entire team out of the dressing room to enthusiastically cheer Marshall when he got to his hundred. His gesture, besides symbolising teamwork, was also a handsome tribute to a batsman who had done the most to revive the New Zealand side's hopes in the match.

It must have been galling for ONGC to come out second best in a day which they had dominated for the first half. Bhandari however put in a fine performance, borne out by his figures - 15-8-23-4. Unfortunately not much can be said in favour of the other bowlers. Both Sanghvi and Virendra Shewag, in particular were expensive and wilted under the relentless pressure put on them by the Franklin-Marshall association.