The Hindu : Sport/Cricket : Graham Thorpe hits unbeaten century

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Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Graham Thorpe hits unbeaten century

By Ted Corbett

Graham Thorpe in full flow. — AP

BRIDGETOWN, APRIL 3. The greatness of Graham Thorpe's 13th Test century at Kensington Oval on Friday was not in any handsome strokes, nor in the vast quantity of runs but rather in how simple he made it look to play on a variable pitch on which no other batsman has yet made 70.

His undefeated 119 gave England a lead of two runs on first innings against a West Indies side which has found strength, so it is said, from the uncompromising attitudes of its new manager Tony Howard but he will be the first to say, admiringly, that every one of the tail-end batsmen gave him more than adequate support.

Steve Harmison, who has been described as the outstanding quick bowler in the world this week by a reporter who has apparently forgotten the existence of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Shaun Pollock, played the outstanding minor role, but even that man has not laid down claims for him to be compared with Don Bradman or Steve Waugh.

In some ways there might be more justification for that idea since Harmison, who looks more like a camel at the crease than a regular batsman for all his pads, gloves and helmet, batted far in excess of his ability. He made only three yet he remained with Thorpe while he scored his century and helped him add 40 runs that edged England past the West Indies first innings total of 224.

Lesser men made a few runs too. Mark Butcher, Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain were swept away — the miserable Marcus Trescothick had gone overnight for his 24th run in five innings — so that at 65 for four England was in serious trouble. Andrew Flintoff looked the prince of our dreams for a while and we thought that with five wickets in the first innings he might be heading for the man of the match award with solid support for Thorpe. Oh, dear, no. After making 15 he hit a half-hearted shot to cover and was caught: 90 for five. But Chris Read with 13, Ashley Giles with 11, Simon Jones, an hour over 4 and Harmison hung in and only Matthew Hoggard, who has already proved his stickability this series, failed.

Thorpe, doggedly, playing his wristy shots to leg and twice indulging in the reverse sweep, kept going. He is not elegant like David Gower, he is not powerful like Stephen Fleming and he does not have the variety of shot that makes Brian Lara great but, more like Gary Kirsten of South Africa, he knows the value to defiance and you bowl him a loose ball at your peril. His speciality is recovery and rescue; how often has England's players seen him put the innings back together after their carelessness has almost destroyed any chance of victory. He has 5,793 Test runs in 86 matches that is not the stuff of which legends are made but watch an England side without him and you will appreciate his value.

It was dark by any standards when Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga went out to bat and although Gayle was quickly into his stride there was always a chance of an early wicket. It came in the fourth over when Harmison shot Gayle's off stump out of the ground. In came Lara, a reminder of the influence of manager Howard who has said that it is not enough to issue patriotic statements and rallying calls but it is example that leads best.

Lara did not have to bat long because the umpires led the players off with 3.4 overs remaining and a fascinating third day in prospect. It may even be the last day of this match but as Lara seems to have found in Howard a replacement father again we may see the innings that Lara has been waiting for since the series began. Howard may turn out to be the key to the rest of this series. He once bowled 62 overs in a Test innings. That speaks of persistence and resolve and tenacity.

Thorpe-like qualities and the attributes that Lara needs to find again.

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