The Hindu : Sport : Pressure getting to Sidebottom?

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Sunday, Jul 29, 2007
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Pressure getting to Sidebottom?

Ted Corbett

— Photo: AFP

Ryan Sidebottom.

NOTTINGHAM: Trent Bridge, where Ryan Sidebottom now earns his bread and butter, must have been the source of his nightmares as a child.

It was on this pitch that his father Arnie bowled to the mighty Australians 22 years ago, when Ryan was a gangling kid at primary school, and came away with only the wicket of Bob Holland, the night watchman whose Test batting brought him an average of 3.14.

This lone victim cost 65 runs off 19 overs. Arnie never played again for England again and for a while it looked as if Ryan, shipped out of Yorkshire to play for Nottinghamshire, might be another one-Test wonder doomed to bowl forever in county cricket on a pitch built for batsmen.

Transformation

Instead the Notts committee built a media centre opposite the pavilion and a massive stand on the Hound Road side and, wow, the pitch that once guaranteed runs by the hundred, turned into a nasty, sneaky strip full of devilment.

Sidebottom has prospered as a complete new ball bowler now, said one who knows him well when he was recalled to the England colours after the Ashes misery made some unfit to wear the England sweater. This summer his combination of swing and seam made West Indian and Indian batsmen crumble so that he had taken 24 Test wickets when he arrived for the second Test.

I am guessing, of course, but in the last couple of days it is probable that someone in the England dressing room said: “Hey, Ryan, you’ll really enjoy bowling on your home pitch. Just look what the Indian swing bowlers have done. Now it is your turn. Go get ’em, son.”

It looked on day two of this match as if the pressure was too much for Ryan in the same way that 20 years ago Arnie tried to leap the gap between county and country. By mid afternoon Ryan had figures of 8-1-26-0 and an expression that said he did not know where to direct the next ball against Danish Karthik and Wasim Jaffer as they laid the foundations for a mighty Indian score. (Not just a solid opening stand but an invitation to the trio of giants in the middle order to place their mark on the game.)

Donald’s demands

Chris Tremlett, all 6ft 7in of him, is also part of a minor cricket dynasty. Grandfather Maurice played for England and Somerset, his father Tim many years for Hampshire; Chris threatens to overshadow all their achievements if only he can find the aggression that the new England bowling coach Allan Donald demands.

Sadly, the most frequent word used to describe the Tremlett life force is soft and on Saturday, for all he bowled an over of screaming, 86-miles-an-hour throat balls, he mixed in deliveries that went too high and too wide.

As often happens when a side is bowled out cheaply, the tide began to run against England who could not convince either Simon Taufel or Ian Howell of their belief that the two batsmen were plainly lbw. James Anderson wasted his breath trying to intimidate Jaffer and a circle of close fielders could not undermine Karthik.

I felt after Lord’s that England would rue its failure to finish off India and the change in fortunes here reinforces my view that India can still win the series.

A run-out decision was refused too; only Monty Panesar kept his cool; for once Michael Vaughan could not find an answer. I cannot remember typing that phrase before, even when he 2005 Ashes tension reached fever pitch.

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