The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Memorable stand by Trescothick and Strauss

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Memorable stand by Trescothick and Strauss

By Ted Corbett

DURBAN, DEC. 28. Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, exhibiting heroic qualities in fighting for a lost cause, batted themselves to the point of exhaustion at Kingsmead on Tuesday as they put together 273, one of the finest opening stands in history. There was even a hint that they might have created victory if the South African morale had plunged as low as it appeared to. It was a partnership in the finest traditions of English recoveries; but lets be fair we have had practice.

Trescothick, never moving his feet but showing remarkable concentration, made his ninth Test century, and Strauss, as befits his name with more footwork and a greater desire to lead the run dance, made his fourth since May. When Trescothick was out they had been together for 86 overs, put on the fifth highest opening stand by England batsmen.

It had been clear for some time that both batsmen were tired by the heat and the pressure to keep England's unbeaten record in 2004 intact but Strauss was still there when bad light stopped play at 281 for one, or 88 ahead with two days to go. He needs another 33 to join the old timer Herbert Sutcliffe in making 1,000 runs in his first nine Tests.

Ruthless streak

Once again this England team has shown the ruthless streak needed to produce great results and whatever the result in this match the wonderful fight back will add to its reputation as the second best side in the world.

By tea time - just to give you an idea of the batting surface - there had been only one appeal in each session. Neither gave umpire Darrell Hair a moment of fear; they were made more in hope than expectation. The pair in permanent residence was 30 made overnight when the South African captain Graeme Smith failed to post a short leg even in the final over, even though Jacques Rudolph had been caught there in the last over of the previous day.

So on day three. Here we had a hard, true pitch full of runs but that does not mean there is only a defensive option for the fielding captain and if he is daring for a few overs a careless batsman might get out.

Smith ignored this obvious ploy and Trescothick-Strauss blossomed. They did not take a run for 11 minutes but for the next 90 minutes runs flowed.

Strauss hit the up-and-coming fast bowler Dale Steyn for three successive fours, Trescothick was prepared to trudge along in the wake of his more adventurous pal but once 100 runs had come in that avalanche - including a six off Nicky Boje by Trescothick into the yellow tented area - the pair closed down and waited for lunch. You cannot blame them. Less than half the Test had gone so that time was still the big consideration.

Lone appeal

Jacques Kallis had the lone appeal for a catch behind off Strauss when the pair went for lunch at 107 and in the second session Boje made another appeal for a catch to the wicket-keeper but there was no possible way it could have been given out. At this point almost every stroke brought a new statistic.

The two beat their previous best stand of 190 against New Zealand at Lord's in May - followed by 153 in the second Test; by that time they had put on 1,000 runs together since Strauss stumbled into Test cricket because Michael Vaughan stumbled and was injured just before that first Test. They beat the highest partnership for the first wicket on this ground -190 by Bruce Mitchell and Peter van der Bijl in the 1939 timeless Test. Trescothick reached his century first and Strauss followed.

At tea England wsa 223 and in the next half hour runs began to come even faster. I admired the South African fielding: precise and accurate rather than brilliant on this warm day. AB de Villiers lost a close catch from Strauss off Boje at 259, the first false shot of the day and we remembered that just before tea the spinner bowled an over that made both batsmen squirm. Is a result still possible?

The new ball at 262 brought another appeal for a catch behind after Trescothick missed a ball from Ntini by three inches but after 261 minutes at the crease he was caught behind. Mark Butcher, who had been sitting in his pads for more than four hours, almost got out more than once but this pitch will suit him on Wednesday.

England — 1st innings: 139.

South Africa — 1st innings: 332.

England — 2nd innings: M. Trescothick c de Villiers b Pollock 132, A. Strauss (batting) 132, M. Butcher (batting) 1; Extras (b-1, lb-5, w-1, nb-9) 16; Total (one wkt, 90 overs) 281.

Fall of wicket: 1-273.

South Africa bowling: Pollock 22-10-42-1, Ntini 21-4-51-0, Steyn 9-1-46-0, Boje 24-3-90-0, Kallis 12-1-31-0, Smith 2-0-15-0.

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