Narrow defeat at morale-booster: Streak   Adelaide, Jan 24: Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak today said the performance of his team, which came close to upsetting India in the tri-series match, would go a long way in boosting the morale of his young players in the long run. Streak admitted the loss was a disappointing result for his team but praised the efforts of Stuart Carlisle and Sean Ervine who added a record 202 runs for the fourth wicket. "To lose was obviously disappointing. We kept telling that we just needed a great partnership, and tonight we got out there and almost did it," Streak said after his team lost by a narrow three-run margin in a cliffhanger here. "Carlisle and Ervine did a great job. We knew once the ball stopped swinging, there would be a lot of runs," he said. "It is a big positive. We know that as long as we keep trying and keep fighting we can do it." Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said playing four matches in seven days was beginning to take a toll on his players who did well today to withstand the pressure of a tight match. "It has been a tough week, and all the four matches have been keenly fought. It has been a hectic two months' cricket. The five-day break will be a welcome one," he said. Ganguly praised the batting of Laxman and vice-captain Rahul Dravid who revived the Indian innings today when they were three wickets down for four at one stage. "When you have a score like 280-290, you win eight out of ten times. "But Laxman and Dravid have been in superb form throughout this tour. Laxman's in particular was a tremendous performance, to score three hundreds after not being part of the one-day squad was fantastic," he said. (Agencies) Published: Sunday, January 25, 2004 Back to Index