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Cricket

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Times

August 23, 2004

Revitalised England now well equipped for stiff tasks ahead

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Chief Cricket Correspondent

“TO SEE a world in a grain of sand.” The emergence of a matchwinning fast bowler in Steve Harmison and the physical and mental development of Andrew Flintoff into a champion all-rounder, a natural victor ludorum, have been the biggest reasons for England’s happy winning habit; but it is also the small things, the 1 per cent improvements in many areas, that have earned seven wins from seven Tests this season.

The latest, the tenth in 11 matches this year, was completed by ten wickets a little after half-past four at the Oval on Saturday and it left the 20,000 people who had booked in advance for the fourth day with no option but to apply for a refund and spend more time than they had planned in moral support of Paula Radcliffe.

The final day at a ground looking less and less like the grubby, open Kennington Oval of old and more and more like the smart, modern “Brit” Oval that will be seating 23,000 in relative comfort from next May, was typical of England’s steady progress under Michael Vaughan. With what looked like a deliberate attempt to fit one more small piece into the jigsaw, he bowled James Anderson from the Vauxhall End all morning and the response, the wickets of Brian Lara and Chris Gayle on the way to figures of four for 52, was the final encouraging individual performance in England’s longest unbroken run of success since 1928-29.

West Indies had been in the match with an even chance at the end of the first day. They were beaten because they could not match the quality of England’s catching or their tailend revival. For Duncan Fletcher this was especially satisfying: just before he became coach in 1999, he said that the two most obvious areas for improvement were the fielding and the lowerorder batting.

Matthew Hoggard is proof that he has achieved both. He has turned himself from being a variable fielder into a good one and from a hopeless No 11 into a determined blocker capable of frustrating the opposition bowlers with valuable runs. It was ungracious of him not to acknowledge the applause for his highest Test score last Friday but he had set his heart on making fifty and he has come to epitomise the unyielding character and sheer professionalism of the team.

Until Harmison got nowhere near a skier to square leg and a couple of hard chances went down late in the West Indies second innings, this had been the best England fielding performance all season. Few things are more important in close Test matches than the taking of the hard chances, such as those held last Friday by Robert Key and Ian Bell. Fletcher calls the rest “nine to five” catches, so he and the other selectors will have to weigh Key’s expertise at short leg and Bell’s all-round excellence when it comes to getting the right mix for the next series starting in South Africa in December.

Vaughan and Fletcher are trying hard not to mention Australia but the mountain still rising above England next year cannot be avoided. One look at the quality of batsmen such as Brad Hodge, Simon Katich, Martin Love and the Hussey brothers, who cannot make the Australia team, another at the batting strength of the India team that will soon be in England for the one-day internationals, should ensure a sense of perspective. So should the first innings totals scored, even against Harmison and company, on the last five occasions that opponents have won the toss and batted: 751 for seven declared (St John’s); 386, 409 and 384 (New Zealand at Lord’s, Headingley and Trent Bridge) and 395 (West Indies at Old Trafford).

That all but the first of these games were won by England is proof of a crucial resilience. Five years ago, shortly before Fletcher and Nasser Hussain began their single-minded alliance, they were the talk of the London cabbie for the wrong reason, publicly ridiculed for losing to what was actually a strong New Zealand team. Stephen Fleming’s 1999 side had a better bowling attack than the one beaten 3-0 this season but those three tough, enthralling victories were still more significant than the four that have followed against a naive and exceptionally young West Indies team.

The bowling at Lara’s disposal does not compare with that of Sri Lanka, the last country to beat England, in Colombo last December. Yet Australia, with Shane Warne outbowling his great rival, Muttiah Muralitharan, went into that climate of sapping heat only a few months after England had succumbed, and won handsomely. Recently Sri Lanka beat South Africa, even without Muralitharan. With him, Sri Lanka would still be more likely than not to beat England given another Test in Colombo this winter.

If their rapid development continues, however, Vaughan’s team might have hardened into the best of the lot by the time that they return to the subcontinent in 2005-06. They are building steadily towards The Great Challenge next season when the absurdly unbalanced international fixture list will need to be circumvented by Fletcher to ensure that Harmison and Flintoff are brought to the boil for an Ashes series not starting until July 21. Nothing in British sport next year will matter more.

SUMMARY OF TOP SUMMER

v New Zealand

First Test (May 20-24, Lord’s): won by seven wickets.
Second Test (June 3-7, Headingley): won by nine wickets.
Third Test (June 10-14, Trent Bridge): won by four wickets.

v West Indies

First Test (July 22-26, Lord’s): won by 210 runs.
Second Test (July 29-Aug 2, Edgbaston): won by 256 runs.
Third Test (Aug 12-16, Old Trafford): won by seven wickets.
Fourth Test (Aug 19-23, the Oval): won by ten wickets.

Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.

(posted 7155 days ago)

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