effortless, and his teammates agree he had never been batting better. In that sort of form, he is destined to score a lot of runs on this tour. Hughes is always busy at the nets, offering advice and encouragement to his players. He gave Allan Hurst a private batting clinic today and then turned his attention to Sleep, who is gradually getting his confidence back after a difficult beginning to the tour. North Zone vs Australia The first game of the tour was against North Zone in Srinagar, 1,600 miles from Madras. The ACB requested the game be relocated closer to Madras to reduce travel time and because Sringara was politically volatile due to the Kashmir situation, but this was knocked back as it was the first time a visiting test team had played in Kashmir and advance ticket sales were heavy. Rodney Hogg and Graeme Wood pulled out prior to the game due to illness. There was heavy security due to threats to kill the Australians from the Pakistan-based Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Runs were scored by Hilditch (71), Hughes (70) and Yallop (83) with Hilditch and Rick Darling having a 75 run opening stand in 90 minutes. Hurst took 5-33 and Dymock 4-25 (twice dismissing Arun Lal – who scored 99 – on no balls). The game was drawn. South Zone vs Australia The next game took place against South Zone in Hyderabad. Hogg, Higgs and Sleep all took three wickets in South Zone's first innings. Alan Border scored 113 – his first decent score since his debut century against Pakistan – and Yallop made another half century; Kevin Wright made 52. The match was interrupted by rain and Australia were unable to force a victory, although Higgs and Sleep both picked up two extra wickets in South Zone's second innings. Rodney Hogg had taken four wickets in all despite being pelted by fruit and other missiles during the game, resulting in Hughes asking the police to stop them. Hogg was hit by an apple core on the final day, which he threw back into the crowd. This inspired more items to be thrown at him – a large stone hit him in the groin. It was felt by contemporary reports that Higgs out-bowled Sleep: Sleep also took five wickets, but three of them were from loose deliveries which a batsman of Gavaskar's class would put away.