da bet7k： The 4th of February is a special day for Rob Ferley
Anand Vasu22-Jul-2009The 4th of February is a special day for Rob Ferley. Nineteen yearsago on that day he came into this world. Birthdays are an occasion toremember and yet Ferley will hold his 19th birthday especially closeto his heart. Bowling an inspired spell of left arm spin, Ferleyscalped 4/32 and bowled England to victory against India in theirencounter at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Ground. The Kentyoungster would do well to duplicate his effort in the third and finalOne-Day encounter to be played at the Lal Bahadur Stadium atHyderabad. With the series level, both teams have everything to playfor.The Indians at least won the ‘Test’ series, and that certainly isevery purists dream. Yet, for an England side to spend so much time inIndia and go back empty handed would be rather disappointing. The tourso far has thrown up many surprises and indeed players with muchresolve. The man who made the difference on the last occasion, wasFerley. “Initially we thought 250 was 10 or 20 runs short. But evenwith 250 on the board we knew we had a good chance of winning. It’snot that easy to chase a target if the bowlers keep the ball on a goodline and length,” said Ferley shortly after the second One-Dayer.”We have everything to play for really,” he volunteered, talking aboutthe final clash. But he wasn’t the only one who came out with flyingcolours. Easily the most impressive youngster on this tour, skipperIan Bell played a classy knock, scoring 91 before falling to a tiredshot. Apart from handling the bowling with ease, Bell also had hiscaptaincy spot on in the second One-Dayer. That is something that willplay a key part in the forthcoming clash.The Indian batsmen, for all their talent, have flattered to deceive.Southpaw Gautam Gambhir bats like a millionaire while the team’scause would be better served if he curbed his strokeplay outside theoff stump. Vinayak Mane, who has scored a pile of runs in this seriesmissed the last game with a bit of a stiff shoulder. Arindam Das whotook his place was dismissed for a duck is likely to give way to Maneif the Mumbai opener recovers in time.Indian coach Roger Binny was optimistic about India’s chances, “All weneed to do is put up a good batting display. Our batsmen have lookedgood and yet not gone on to make a big score.” That really summed upthe Indian performance. Binny added that the Indians were not lookingto alter their plans for the final encounter. Instead they werelooking to concentrate on the basics. “It would be nice if we won thetoss too,” said Binny with a wry smile.Indeed the toss could play a vital role. The pitch at the Lal BahadurStadium looks the same as it was in the earlier game – a bit of anenigma. Although it is flat and hard and seemingly full of runs, thereis also a suggestion that it might play low and slow. Either way theteam winning the toss, and presumably electing to bat first, will havethe edge.