Wednesday, Dec 18, 2002
Wednesday, Dec 18, 2002 |
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Cricket
By Ted Corbett
It was here that Nasser Hussain put Australia in to bat in the first Test and started the slide that has made his England the worst Down Under since the end of the First World War. So this victory was a moment to celebrate, even to open champagne. The Australian newspapers will rejoice with their tongues firmly in their cheeks, probably suggest that bonfires will be lit on every English hilltop, street parties be held from Hove to Headingley and that the Queen will revise her New Year's Honours List to include knighthoods for the whole party. More to the point. England played sensibly, batted with determination as it ran up 292 and bowled to a plan and restricted Sri Lanka to 249 for six. We have not seen such professionalism throughout a match in the last two months and there have been times when the side seemed to be at the point of collapse as 31 players flitted into the squad, on to the massage table and - in the case of five - back home to a reception as cold as the winter winds. Hussain made up for tossing away the Test series in every sense. He called correctly and told Sanath Jayasuriya England would bat. He made 79 off 106 balls and, in a moment that told us much about his cavalier captaincy, ran towards young James Anderson screaming: "You are the man." He had good reason too. Anderson, 20, and bowling only his 32nd one-day over had obeyed Hussain's order to try a slower ball against Jayasuriya's all-out aggression. It was a risky command since Sanath will hit a slower ball bowled out of the ground if he is in the mood and he had already scorched the air with a head-high cover drive. But Anderson found just the right delivery and Jayasuriya sent it steeping into the deep where Hussain was waiting. He would not have dropped that catch if the ball had been marked "Bomb" and when he pouched the ball his cry of delight could be heard a mile away. His own innings, after England had been two for 47 and Ronnie Irani had taken his run aggregate in three matches to one, ensured England would make enough to extend even those run grabbers from Serendipity Isle, and underscored his own recent batting success. Since the ICC Trophy of 2000 in Kenya he has hit 1202 runs in 32 games at 40.06; good enough in anyone's book even though those runs came at walking pace. Alec Stewart, out of form and reminded daily that at 39 he is on the verge of retirement, made the biggest difference. He has just three fifties in 19 matches but he clipped 64 off 60 balls in a man-of-the-match innings played at a scamper. When he was out three wickets fell in four balls so that a potential score around 310 was sold short and the Sri Lankan target was just within their reach. They never looked remotely interested. What is their beef? Are they waiting for Murali? Are they saving themselves for the World Cup? Marvan Atapattu, hitting his strokes as crisply as ever, jogged along at a run a ball, and Mahele Jayawardene was as accomplished as usual making 71 in 92 deliveries; but their body language suggested an old-fashioned go-slow, although they gained a bonus point easily enough by hitting 73 in the last ten overs. For once England had the urge, the galvanising captain and the ideas. It is a timely reminder that fully-fit England can beat most sides; but they are no better than anyone else when life goes wrong. The glee with which Australia has received the announcement that Shane Warne can be included in their World Cup party on December 31 and be substituted later if he is unfit -- and their delay in announcing various teams this week-end -- proves it is not just England who panic about injuries.
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