Duck Tales

(Fleming lbw Vaas for zero, fourth time in a row. AFP Photo)



The Lankan Lions finally brought down the high-flying Kiwis in the Super Eight clash yesterday and it snapped New Zealand's record sequence of nine ODI wins.

When Fleming was trapped by Chaminda Vaas for a duck, some interesting statistics came to the fore. This was Fleming's fourth duck in a row against Sri Lanka and it was Vaas who got rid of him on all four occasions! And, hold your breath, on each occasion, Vaas has removed him leg before wicket!

For those who has a special liking for numbers, here are details of Fleming's duck details!

8.1.2006 Fleming lbw Vaas Napier 0
20.10.2006 Fleming lbw Vaas Brabourne St.Bombay 0
6.1.2007 Fleming lbw Vaas Auckland 0
12.4.2007 Fleming lbw Vaas Grenada 0

Overall, we are told, Fleming has been dismissed without scoring six times against Sri Lanka - 17th time overall in ODIs.

Vaas has claimed Fleming's wicket 11 times - the most by any bowler. Brett Lee and Waqar Younis has captured Fleming's wicket seven times each.

Fleming the captain, with 14 ducks against his name, this equals Arjuna Ranatunga and the third in the skipper's duck-list is Sourav Ganguly, who had nine noughts during his captaincy.

India A No-Hoper in Warne's List!

Shane Warne feels Australia is heading for a World Cup hat-trick even though both Sri Lanka and New Zealand can push them hard. South Africa, according to him, is disciplined but regimented while England is the dark-horse of the tournament. What about Rahul Dravid and Co.? Team India can eat their heart out for they simply don't feature in Warne's list of title contenders!

Warne does not read too much into Australia's recent slump in form and says the Aussies have a great chance of completing the Cup hat-trick. In his column for "The Times", Warne dubbed old foe Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori the best two spinners in the World Cup and is even impressed by Kiwi rookie Jeetan Patel. Once again, Harbhajan Singh or Anil Kumble did not get a mention here.

The former leggie tipped Paul Collingwood, Murali, Stephen Fleming, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke to be Players of the Tournament and again he didn’t find any Indian good enough to be there. Leading run-scorer? Warne springs a surprise again. It's not Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Yousuf, Brian Lara or even Ricky Ponting. Instead, Warne places his money on Kiwi Lou Vincent!