Irani MOTM Not Enough
MOTM vs Aus A
By Dave Buxton
December 8 2002
Essex's Ronnie Irani won the Man-Of-The-Match award in England's latest one-day warm-up match ahead of the VB Series, but once again, the performances of our Ronnie was not enough to save England from another humiliating defeat, this time to Australia's 'A' side at The SCG again.
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This time, England batted second after losing the toss, though they bowled excellently to restrict the Australian 'A' team to just 205-9 from their 50 overs.
That was mainly down to the heroics again of Ronnie Irani. After scoring 81 with the bat vs New South Wales on the same ground 2 days ago, he took 3-30 from 10 overs (1 maiden) with the ball.
He took 3 wickets in the middle of the innings to put the brakes on the Aussie onslaught, as they fell from a commanding 103-2 to 124-5 inside 8 overs, all down to Ronnie.
Firstly he bowled Clarke for 25, then had danger man Andrew Symonds caught by a Nick Knight screamer for just 3 and finally got the main one of Justin Langer caught by James Kirtley, with the opposition captain looking good on 62.
So in chasing just 206 for the first Tour win, Ronnie was called into action early again at number 3 with England 3-1 and promptly took the attack to the Aussies, the way it should be done.
He smashed 33 off 22 balls with 6 boundary fours and added 56 in just 8.1 with ex-Essex team mate Nick Knight.
But when Ronnie went to the first ball that Middlesex's Ashley Noffke bowled, lbw, the innings lost momentum.
Nasser Hussain tried his best with 33 from 72 balls (4 fours), but when the England captain was 4th out on 110, lbw also but to Hogg, England suffered a collapse yet again. No one else match the heart of Ronnie and England fell to 182 all out in 47 overs and a 23 run defeat.
So, another defeat, but another excellent day for Ronnie Irani. Top wicket taker, top scorer and the Man-Of-The-Match as well, to add to his growing reputation. What Ronnie lacks in skill he more than makes up for it with heart and passion and if only the rest of the England side could show the same kind of heart, I'm sure this Tour to Australia would have been better than it has been. England next play on Tuesday against a Prime Minister's XI at Canberra in the last warm-up game. If we dont win that, the VB Series might as well be kissed goodbye, unless the players show some Irani heart for The Three Lions.
Here's a picture of Ronnie celebrating his third wicket:
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Date: 8/12/02