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Revealed: the secret of getting Lara out : CRICKET

Zoe Goss has achieved something rare as Tim de Lisle reports from Sydne y

Tim de Lisle
Monday 19 December 1994 00:02 GMT
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Very few opponents have been able to deal with Brian Lara in 1994, and now it is clear why; they kept putting men on to bowl at him. Yesterday, Lara found himself up against a woman and he didn't like it. First he was uncharacteristically becalmed , thenhe got out.

Her name was Zoe Goss and their eyes met across a crowded Sydney cricket-ground at an all-star charity match. He was the biggest star of all, the only current player in a World XI of distinguished OAPs such as Sunil Gavaskar and David Gower. She was the

only current player on the other side, a Bradman 11 that included names like Lillee, Thomson and Chappell. She was also the only representative of the Australian women's cricket team, for whom she has played 42 times.

The Australians batted first and Ms Goss made a handsome 29 in their total of 269. She had shown more prowess in the field than most of her team-mates when Greg Chappell brought her on to bowl. Lara had just cruised into double figures with the air of a man who knows when the pickings are easy.

Her first ball was slow, straight and slightly short. Lara had seen a thousand like it in the English summer, and hit most of them for four. This one he pushed defensively back to the bowler. The rest of the over was much the same, and it ended as a maiden.

David Gower, commentating, suggested that Lara needed to play a few shots. Lara heard him, as Channel 9 had taken the opportunity to try out its latest gimmick - fitting every player with a two-way radio tuned to the commentary box. Lara smiled and said:"Not to this bowler."

Ten minutes later, still tied down, he went down the wicket to her and played inside the line. The keeper whipped off the bails and the umpire's finger went up. Ms. Goss' smile was broader than Lara's when he broke the world record. A commentator radioedher to ask how it felt to have got him out.

"Got him out twice, actually," she said nonchalantly, "caught behind and stumped." The umpire confirmed this and Lara went in the book as c Rixon b Goss, 23. After the match, Goss said she had felt "humbled and honoured" just to be there. Not as humbled as Lara felt.

It was left to Lara's partner, the 50-year-old Graeme Pollock, to show him how it was done. His 89 off 71 balls kept the game alive, and in the end the World 11 lost by only one run. Goss took one more wicket, that of Jeffrey Dujon. Pollock was named manof the match. Which he undoubtedly was.

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