BRISBANE, 21 January 2004 — A brave Zimbabwe clocked up its first point of the triangular international one-day cricket series at the Brisbane Cricket Ground yesterday but couldn’t quite claim the major prize of a first-up victory over an in-form India.

The minnows of world cricket showed plenty of zeal but fell short at the final hurdle — paying a hefty price with a serious injury to opening batsman Mark Vermeulen which will rule him out of the remainder of their Australian tour. Vermeulen was taken to hospital and found to be suffering from a depressed fracture of the skull after being hit by a top-edged bouncer from left-arm paceman Irfan Pathan.

Although wearing a new protective helmet, the ball somehow managed to squeeze between the peak and the protective grate, hitting Vermeulen above the right eye.

It was a bitter early blow for Zimbabwe as it set off in pursuit of India’s tally of 255 for six on a very good batting wicket. In the end, the Africans fell just short of the mark in their best performance of the tour to date, losing by 24 runs after their last wicket fell at 231 runs just one ball into the 48th over.

Despite the loss, Zimbabwe was awarded its first point of the three-nation series for not conceding a bonus point to India. Zimbabwe had shown great enthusiasm in the field to restrict India to a manageable total in wake of its record-breaking innings of 303 for four at the same ground just two days earlier.

That innings was the highest one-day scored at the venue. But their run chase was set back early, with Vermeulen immediately retiring hurt on 14 in the eighth over.

He was hospitalized in stable condition but will require reconstructive surgery and is expected to remain in Brisbane for the rest of the week.

Zimbabwe fought bravely after the setback with lower order resistance in the form of two hard-hitting 39s from Sean Ervine and Dion Ebrahim, giving them some hope.

India took to the field without the injured pair of star opener Sachin Tendulkar and prolific batsman Virender Sehwag.

But Rahul Dravid, freed from wicketkeeping duties for the match, showed he too, was a class-act top-scoring with 84 from 106 balls while Yuvraj Singh made 69.

Tendulkar’s place in the starting line-up was taken by specialist wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel who was bowled for 19 by Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak after showing glimpses to suggest he had a strong armory of shots.

Both teams observed a minute’s silence before the match in memory of former Test batsman David Hookes who died on Monday.

Dravid Fined for Ball Tampering

Dravid, meanwhile, has been fined half his match fee for ball-tampering during the match at Brisbane yesterday. Dravid was caught by television cameras apparently rubbing a cough sweet on the shiny side of the ball during Zimbabwe’s innings, according to Australian Associated Press. The report said Dravid was reported to match referee Clive Lloyd by third umpire Peter Parker.