Alive and kicking at the death

Michael Bevan has shown us a great cricketing truth. And that is, attempting to knock the cover off the ball is no guarantee for success in One-day Internationals. He indeed is the quintessential ODI batsman, pushing and driving into the gaps, sprinting between the wickets, and putting away the loose deliveries, writes S. DINAKAR.

WITH Hollywood's Terminator finding his way to the Governorship of California, wonder what's in store for Cricket's Finisher.

But then, the quiet and pleasant Michael Bevan is no Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is not one with those rippling muscles that you would dread running into in a dark alley of an unpleasant neighbourhood.

Ask the cricketers who have been pitted against this New South Welshman in the climactic stages of a limited overs contest, and they would have a different story to tell.

Bevan can hurt ... and hurt you real bad.

Yet, he's not the kind who would send the ball soaring over the ropes like his celebrated team-mate Matthew Hayden or slam it to the fence in a flash a la Adam Gilchrist.

He would do none of that. However, with 6594 runs from 218 matches at a phenomenal 55.41, he tops the averages among all major batsmen in the ODIs. Importantly, a majority of his runs have surfaced when time and overs were at a premium.

In other words, Mr. Bevan delivers at the Death even as the enemy bleeds. Indeed, he is ODI cricket's Terminator and Finisher.

Bevan also takes us to a great cricketing truth in the ODIs. Attempting to knock the cover off the ball is no guarantee for success.

He indeed is the quintessential ODI batsman, pushing and driving into the gaps, sprinting between the wickets, and putting away the loose deliveries. He doesn't live dangerously, but puts others in terrible danger!

Like we saw the other day at Guwahati, when the left-handed Bevan, finding the empty spaces in the field with precision, orchestrated an Aussie recovery with a typically well-paced unbeaten 84.

The essence of his approach is that he keeps it simple and there are no frills about his ways at the crease. Even on those occasions when the scoreboard is not ticking, his mind certainly does, and there are few batsmen who time their run to the `tape' better than Bevan.

This Aussie consistently out-thinks the opposition, and is so cool when things get hot. The Kiwis and their captain Stephen Fleming take considerable pride in their field settings, but, in Guwahati, Bevan managed to find the openings, adjusting his strokes - he is especially strong square of the wicket on the off-side - at the last moment.

When the emphasis has been on preventing boundaries, Bevan has consistently come up trumps, with the hit down the ground, timing the ball rather than hitting it hard, doing so with pin-point accuracy, and leaving little chance to either long-off or long-on to prevent the four.

The nature of his job, walking in at No. 6 or No. 7, suggests there might not be too much time for the Aussie to play himself in. Precisely the reason why rotating the strike is such a key element of his batting.

The fact that the 33-year-old Bevan is a part of a strong Australian batting line-up, indicates that there might be instances, when he may not get to bat at all, but isn't Bevan the man for those special occasions when the game becomes tight?

Unlike most southpaws, Bevan does not possess a high backlift and this explains why he is so quick to dig out the yorkers, quite the most potent delivery in the end overs. And he can leave his opponents exasperated by setting off and completing a run!

As is the trait with most match-winning performers, Bevan relishes the big stage.

They do not come bigger than the World Cup. His 69 against the West Indies at Mohali in a semifinal match of the 1996 edition helped in the Aussie `jail-break' after the Caribbean pacemen had made serious inroads. Then, under the lights, Shane Warne whipped up magic with his leg-spin, and the Aussies were through to the final.

When the World Cup caravan moved to England in '99, Bevan's 65 in the last four duel proved priceless. The Aussies managed to put up a moderate score, but one which proved just enough as they progressed to Lord's after a nerve-jangling tie, even as the Proteas wept.

And in Southern Africa this season, Bevan's fire-fighting abilities came to the fore yet again, in the games where England and New Zealand — a fiery Shane Bond had blown away the Aussie top and middle order save Bevan — trekked back disappointed after having a clear look at victories.

One of Bevan's great abilities is to rally with the lower order, and the key factor here is the belief he instils into men with lesser batting ability, willing them into joining forces with him effectively.

Returning to those clashes against the Englishmen and the Kiwis, both at Port Elizabeth, Bevan, with his team in a hole, found an ally in the spirited Andy Bichel, and the Aussies eventually hauled themselves up on a Port Elizabeth pitch playing tricks. Bevan's 74 not out and 56 were worth more than a hundred.

He does not possess too many ODI centuries, in fact, has only six of them, but his 44 half centuries and scores of 30s and 40s that make a difference do gleam in a distinguished career. It must be said here that the top-order batsmen do enjoy a huge advantage when it comes to constructing three-figure knocks in limited overs contests.

Being the team-man that he is, the soft-spoken Bevan would hardly grumble. His Test career - 785 runs in 18 matches at 29.07 - might be one of unfulfilled dreams and probing questions were asked about his ability to take on short-pitched stuff from the quicks, but Bevan, putting the Test disappointment behind, has trained his attention to a form of the game where he enjoys a rather unique place.

Despite the passing of years — he started his ODI career in 1993-94 — Bevan remains supremely fit and agile on the field, although we do not see too much of his left-arm chinaman bowling, that was exploited in Test cricket by Mark Taylor, that canny captain of the Australian team in the 90s.

Bevan's ability to provide solidity to the Australian line-up also remains undiminished. Whatever be the situation, the Aussies are in the hunt, as long as the `Finisher' is around. A Finisher and a Terminator.