The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : England chases a small target

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Friday, Jul 08, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

England chases a small target

Ted Corbett

LEEDS: Once more England had a small target to chase against Australia on Thursday in the first match of the NatWest Challenge at Headingley and once more Australia backed itself to make early inroads with close, aggressive fields for its new ball pair of Brett Lee and Glenn

McGrath. Five days on from the debacle of 33 for five that marred the reply in the final of the NatWest Series, the England openers Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss crawled along until they had fifty off 84 balls and 61 off 15 overs.

Strauss was dropped by Adam Gilchrist, the Australian wicket-keeper, in the sixth over and Trescothick caught off a no-ball one delivery later. You also have to say it was not a calm partnership but not a single wicket fell by 34; a brave answer on a day when a man might be excused for not being able to concentrate.

Inconsistent

Frankly, for all they kept Australia down to 219 for seven, beat the bat more times than we could count and had any number of bellowed appeals turned down, England's five pacemen never found a consistent line or length.

It was the sort of seaming, occasionally swinging, two-paced, awkward pitch on which the old Yorkshire practitioners — Fred Trueman, Richard Hutton, Tony Nicholson and Bob Platt — used to perfection. They bowled the ball down the pitch on a length and waited for a combination of timid batsmen and variable movement produced wickets. All out 175 would have been their maximum total for the opposition.

England 2005 could not manage that restrictive total as well as bowling 15 wides and let Australia, put in to bat, off the hook. None of this had anything to do with the new rules.

It would have been a fascinating match if it had been played under the standard regulations which have stood the test of 30 years and no doubt the many ICC observers around the ground will have noted this fact.

Vikram Solanki made his own slot in the history books when he became cricket's first substitute at the end of Simon Jones' 10 overs and the two umpires Mark Benson and Rudi Koertzen both had a turn at whirling their arms to announce the end of bowling restrictions. I am not sure it added a scrap to the game.

Gilchrist's flurry

Gilchrist began as he always does with a flourish and it took England until the 16th over to get him out. At least he is no trouble once he has edged the ball; off he goes, the most determined walker in the game's history.

By that time he had hit two sixes — great whirlwind shots on the legside — and five fours for 42 off 61 balls and put on 62 with the still strangely hesitant Matthew Hayden.

Has that little tiff with Jones upset him? Seven balls after Gilchrist's departure, Hayden went too caught off all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for 17 in 47 balls.

Ricky Ponting also looks out of sorts and on this magic roundabout of a pitch he suffered in those dodgy early minutes of his innings. Damien Martyn cannot be anything but stylish and he survived and, rightly, took 105 minutes to score 43 before he was Paul Collingwood's fourth victim after 10 overs that any of those four Yorkshire bowlers would have been proud to produce. At his pace —

below 80 miles an hour — Collingwood had to be even more consistent than the others and he succeeded. His place in this England team is assured and for what is often sneeringly called a bits and pieces player he is as wholehearted a team man as you will find anywhere.

Hussey contribution

Michael Hussey is the Australian answer to Collingwood; underrated and unsung but its top scorer in last Saturday's final and never known to give less than his best. The last five overs brought 51 runs; the difference between victory and defeat; and most of them from Hussey.

It makes trivial reading when one's country is under attack from an unidentified foe and every television screen shows scenes of destruction; especially when the second and third matches of this series are in London. The sporting spirit that won an Olympic bid only 24 hours earlier demands that the cricketers carry on playing, defying these dangerous men, refusing to bow to those who would end the ways of our green and pleasant land.

Scoreboard

Australia: A. Gilchrist c G. Jones b Harmison 42, M. Hayden c Pietersen b Flintoff 17, R. Ponting c Pietersen b Collingwood 14, D. Martyn c G. Jones b Collingwood 43, A. Symonds c Trescothick b Collingwood 6, M. Clarke b Collingwood 2, M. Hussey (not out) 46, S. Watson c Strauss b Harmison 3, B. Lee (not out) 15; Extras (b-2, lb-12, nb-2, w-15): 31; Total (for seven wkts., 50 overs): 219.

Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-68, 3-107, 4-116, 5-120, 6-159, 7-168.

England bowling: Gough 10-1-50-0, Jones 10-1-28-0, Harmison 10-0-39-2, Flintoff 10-0-54-1, Collingwood 10-0-34-4.

Substitutes: Vikram Solanki (Eng), Brad Hogg (Aus).

* * *

Fielding restrictions increased from 15 to 20 overs split into three blocks - the first 10 overs of every innings, and two additional sets of five overs during the rest of the match at the discretion of the fielding captain

Additional 'close catcher' restriction applies only in the first 10 overs

Any one player can be replaced at any stage of the match

The replaced player will miss the rest of the game and his replacement will assume any remaining batting or bowling duties

Both players receive a cap

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