Magnificent Seven

England claimed a clean sweep of their Summer Tests with an empathic 3 day victory over the West Indies at The Oval.

On the second morning, with Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones resuming their unbroken stand of 77 - the visitors were in danger of conceding a big score, but when Corey Collymore and Fidel Edwards dismissed the pair in the first 19 balls of the day without either adding to their overnight scores, England were 321-7 and the West Indies were in with a chance of dismissing England for a very below par score, and with it the chance to finally regain some pride from a horrible run of results.

What followed in the next hour and a half was bad, Ashley Giles hitting 8 fours in his third Test Half Century, and sharing a stand of 87 with Matthew Hoggard, who hit not only a Test, but also a First Class best score of 38. Both fell in quick succession, and James Anderson and Steve Harmison batted through to lunch on 413-9.

If the previous hour and a half was bad, then the next 40 minutes were carnage. The first four overs after lunch were hammered for 44 runs, including 3 big sixes from the Durham paceman. Finally it took the part-time off-spin of Chris Gayle to end the stand, but not before Harmison had registered his Test and First Class best with 36 not out from only 27 balls. 60 runs were added to take the final score to 470, and England's bowlers now had their tails up.

Chasing 271 to avoid the follow on, the West Indies were slightly hampered by Dwayne Smith's trip to hospital for a check on a side strain - but with a wicket like this, and him due to bat at 6 or 7, he would surely have been back in plenty of time to take his rightful place in the order.

In the second innings at Old Trafford, we'd seen glimpses of Harmison returning to the heights of his performances earlier in the year, and what followed on Friday afternoon was an extension of that.

That said, he was backed up by some superb catching, typified by the first wicket, as Jones raced across to take a ball that Chris Gayle had edged well down the leg side. Worse was to follow in his next over, as Sylvester Joseph edged to Ashley Giles and it was 22-2 with Brian Lara entering the fray.

Immediately Michael Vaughan brought on Andrew Flintoff, but Lara stood tall. The same could not be said of the woeful effort shown by his team-mates as Ramnaresh Sarwan gave a simple chance to Andrew Strauss to make the score 26-3.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul joined his captain, and they managed to steady the ship to go into Tea at 54-3, but immediately after that interval Chanderpaul fell victim to one of the best catches of the summer, Robert Key taking a full-blooded pull shot off Hoggard low down to his left no more than 25 yards from the bat - an incredible piece of reactions that brought Dwayne Bravo in.

Lara started to play his shots, and was in superb touch as the score reached 3 figures before Harmison returned - and with his 3rd ball induced a leading edge from Bravo for a comfortable catch by Jones. He wasn't finished there, as Carlton Baugh (in because Smith was still at hospital) gave catching practice to Strauss, then Lara gave Corey Collymore one ball at the end of the over to survive, but he couldn't, Marcus Trescothick taking the catch.

With Harmison so fired up, Lara couldn't trust the tail to face any balls from him, and that was his downfall, as he top-edged to Ian Bell at fine leg when attempting to grab a single and his superb innings of 79 (out of 127 while he was at the crease) came to an end. that was Harmison's 6th and last wicket as Fidel Edwards and Jermain Lawson seemed to be auditioning for the Keystone Cops with their farcical calling then turning back then going anyway, and a direct hit from Hoggard ended the innings at 152 - a pathetic effort that led to Vaughan inviting them to follow on.

The third over of the follow on was a history maker, as Gayle hit each of the 6 balls to the boundary for 4 - the first time it had happened in Test Cricket, and Hoggard was swiftly withdrawn from the attack to give Ashley Giles his first bowl of the day. A double change saw Flintoff replace Harmison after only 2 overs as well, the big man having bowled 6 in a row at the end of the first innings and needing a break.

Gayle continued to hammer the bowling and in only the 10th over brought up his 50 from a mere 36 balls and the score was an amazing 73-0 from 11 overs when Harmison was given the ball for a final 2 over burst. His first ball on return was far from a loosener, a fast short ball that had Joseph edging to Jones, and it was the 100th wicket of his Test career.

Number 101 followed just 7 balls later, and again it was thanks to an outstanding catch, as Sarwan square-cut, and debutant Bell flung himself lengthways to his left and grabbed the catch. That was the end of the entertainment for the day, although Lara made a statement of intent by coming out at 4 and shunning the nightwatchman.

Harmison took 8-60 in the day, and the West Indies went into Saturday 234 runs behind with 8 wickets in hand. Replying to 470 that wouldn't be a bad position, if it weren't for the fact they'd been bowled out in the interim!

If Friday belonged to Harmison, then Saturday might just belong to James Anderson. With Gayle continuing where he'd left off the previous evening, Anderson was soon introduced into the attack, and although he was smashed into the stands by Gayle in his first over, he fought back, with a pair of smart low down slip catches doing first for Lara - a full ball just carrying to Trescothick, the batsman receiving a fine ovation on the occasion of his last Test innings in England.

Then moments after Gayle had gone to an 80 ball ton, he edged and Flintoff took a superb catch. Gayle had brightened up the follow on with some fine strokes, but at 155-4 they were still 163 behind.

Bravo had been promoted to 5, and he made the most of that opportunity in hitting another half century, and confirming that he is the man that the West Indies will need to build around for the future, the 20 year old finishing with 220 runs @ 27.75 and 16 wickets @ 26.18 - the one bright spot in the gloom that is West Indies Cricket.

Chanderpaul helped him resist for a good long time, but it was a case of too little too late, and although the pair added 82, there was a great sense that England were just biding their time, and eventually Bravo fell, trapped leg before by Hoggard, although replays suggested that he was a trifle unlucky to be given.

Dwayne Smith at least batted this time, although he was under orders to not play any big shots - given the hopelessness of the situation, and with Smith being an integral part of the Champions Trophy side, one wonders if he'd not have been better off not batting, but he did come in, playing a few of the shots he'd been told not to and entertaining the crowd in the process, before Chanderpaul was given out caught behind off Giles (again looking a little unfortunate to be given as there didn't appear any bat in it).

From 265-6, Baugh came in, and he too entertained in a little cameo, although it appeared that someone had a word with Smith, as he retreated into his shell. Flintoff removed him to bring in the bowlers with the side still 33 short of at least making the hosts bat again.

Collymore was resolute, holding up the victory charge for almost half an hour, until Anderson returned and his first ball got him caught behind with the side now only 6 behind, but only 2 wickets were left.

At this point, Vaughan took the new ball, and Harmison's first ball with it was just too quick for Baugh, yet another catch for Jones, and although Lawson drove a 4 to level the scores, Anderson then produced the perfect yorker for his 4th wicket and the the West Indies were all out for 318.

3 balls was all it took for Marcus Trescothick to drive a boundary and with it clinch the perfect summer of Test Matches.

ENGLAND 470
Flintoff 72, Bell 70, Vaughan 66, Giles 52, Hoggard 38, Harmison 36*, Lawson 3-115, Bravo 3-117
WEST INDIES 152
Lara 79, Harmison 6-46
WEST INDIES 318
Gayle 105, Bravo 54, Anderson 4-52, Harmison 3-75
ENGLAND 4-0

England won by 10 wickets and take the series 4-0.

Posted by Marc