ENG-WI: Key locks out Windies hopes

Robert Key struck a composed 93 and Andrew Flintoff waded in with a forceful 57 in an unbroken 120-run stand for the fourth wicket as England eventually made light work of what seemed a testing target of 231 to record a seven-wicket win at Old Trafford and take an irreversible 3-0 series lead.

The West Indies resumed overnight on 161-9, with a lead of 226, Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore faced up to the English combination of Steve Harmison's jarring pace and Ashley Giles' consistent line of attack. Collymore was able to glance both men through the legside, but Edwards couldn't fend off a well-directed Harmison bouncer anywhere other than straight up in the air to Andrew Flintoff, who couldn't have wished for an easier catch at second slip, the Durham paceman collecting his fourth wicket of the innings.

10:41am - West Indies 165 all out
England need 231 to win

The two outgoing batsmen returned to take the new ball and attack England's Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss. Edwards immediately looked hostile and beat the bat with the first ball of the innings, before being thickly edged for four, to the right of the diving Dave Mohammed at gully. The Somerset left-hander then collected a rather more orthodox boundary through the covers before being bowled through the gate by Collymore, who pitched the ball just outside off-stump and brought it back between bat and pad, knocking the off stump out of the ground.

Rob Key joined Strauss at the crease and Collymore, his first-innings nemesis, immediately produced a delivery equally as good as that in the first knock, only this time beating the outside edge of the Kent man's bat and the wicket. Meanwhile, Strauss crunched Dwayne Bravo, replacing the expensive Edwards, through the offside for two boundaries in one over before the introduction of the left-armer Pedro Collins tilted the game back towards the West Indies.

A short ball from the Barbadan enticed Strauss into pulling, only to swing away from the left-hander late and looped up off the toe of the bat to Shiv Chanderpaul at wide mid-on. At 27-2, England had been knocked out of their stride as Michael Vaughan joined Key. Fidel Edwards was brought back after just three overs - which cost just two runs - and a gripping battle with Key ensued. A verbal joust was seemingly won by Key, resulting in an Edwards bouncer careering over Carlton Baugh's outstretched hand for four byes, and a brace of boundaries through cover and mid off. Vaughan, however, was lucky to escape after he got underneath a hook shot off Edwards, the resulting skier falling agonising close to the prostrate Baugh, his outstreched glove less than six inches short of the ball. Lunch was taken with England 56-2, still needing another 175 for victory, with Collymore's figures of 1-4 from seven overs, including five maidens, the stand-out performance of the morning session.

The lunch break was punctuated by a ten-minute maelstrom of gusting wind and driving rain, which brought the covers out to the centre and led to the restart of play being delayed by half an hour, and five overs being lost. The overs immediately after lunch belonged to England, and Vaughan struck Collins sweetly through the covers for four, and Key repeated the dose off Dave Mohammad's first ball of the innings, an inviting full toss outside off stump. Key kept up the post-lunch run rate with an imperious clip off his legs against Collins before Vaughan guided Mohammad down through third man for three and a Collins no-ball brought up the fifty partnership just after two o'clock, heralding the return of the morning's star man, Collymore.

The bulk of the afternoon session proved largely uneventful, Vaughan and Key collecting runs through nudges, deflections and no balls, with a Vaughan chinese cut through fine leg for four being the closest that Corey Collymore - or any other West Indian - came to producing a breakthrough until Chris Gayle was introduced with the score on Nelson. It was to prove an inspired piece of captaincy as the off-spinner found exceptional bounce off a good length with his first delivery, taking the shoulder of the England captain's bat on its way to his opposite number's safe hands at slip.

3.04pm - England 111-3
England need 120 more to win

Both new batsman Andrew Flintoff, promoted to number five due to Graham Thorpe's injured finger, and Key were involved in more verbal interchanges before the tea interval, Key deflecting Edwards' sledges with the same ease as he coped with the fast bowler's deliveries. Flintoff meanwhile shared much better humour with fellow all-rounder Bravo in between avoiding a fiery spell from Edwards and collecting boundaries from the increasing number of loose balls served up as England progressed towards tea without further alarm.

Key then offered up the only real chance of his innings shortly after the tea interval, when he nicked Corey Collymore to second slip only for the opportunity to be floored by Sylvester Joseph - and with it, seemingly so did the West Indian hopes as shoulders started to drop and body language became more and more despondent. The chinamen of Mohammad were proving no more than innocuous, and he was only to be trusted with six overs in the entire innings. No West Indian bowler was able to apply a consistent brake to the English scoring at either end, and Flintoff and Key reduced the arrears ball by ball and over by over with a mixture of firmly struck boundaries and scampered singles.

As the target edged below 40, Ramnaresh Sarwan was brought into the attack, and it was against the occasional leg-spin of the Guyanese that Flintoff finally allowed himself to open his shoulders and respond to the Old Trafford crowd's adulation, bringing up his fifty by launching the ball into the stands at long-on, where he was very well held by a man sitting somewhere near row 20. The home favourite was lucky to escape in the same over, bottom edging an extravagant sweep onto his leg stump via his pads, only to see the bails refuse to move despite keeper Baugh's exhortations.

The target was again rapidly reduced by another almighty thump from Freddie - slightly straighter this time, and much less well fielded in the stands. It mattered not, as only four more were needed, and a slog-sweep from Key, who ended unbeaten on 93*, followed by a deft late cut from Flintoff, 57*, brought England victory, their sixth in a row and ninth out of ten Tests, and an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series going into next week's final match at the Oval.

5.13pm - England 231-3
England win by 7 wickets

The England total comfortably surpassed the previous record fourth innings run chase at the ground, surpassing South Africa's 145-7 that had stood for over fifty years. Key's gutsy innings - rated by the Kent batsmen as a better knock than his 221 in the First Test at Lord's - comes at the perfect time for him, as questions were starting to be asked following four failures after the aforementioned double century, and softens the blow to England that is the almost certain loss of man-of-the-match Graham Thorpe due to a broken little finger, sustained during Edwards' barrage yesterday morning, which has given Warwickshire's Ian Bell his first Test call-up after Mark Butcher suffered a calf strain whilst jogging on Friday morning.

The West Indies have, once again, failed to convert a strong position against this England side into a victory, with the first innings batting of Bravo, Chanderpaul and Baugh, and Bravo's six-wicket haul coming to naught following the Flintoff, Giles and Harmison-inspired loss of nine wickets for 74. The potential is there - however it seems that the West Indians no longer believe that they're capable of beating this English side, who by the same token no longer believe that they can lose.

For someone brought up under the shadow of an England side prone to insipid crumbling, collapse, capitulation and series defeat upon defeat, it's a pleasant change. Yet for the West Indians, it's an even more bitter pill to swallow after having been tempted by the hope of victory.

West Indies 395-9
DDJ Bravo 77, S Chanderpaul 76
MJ Hoggard 4-83, A Flintoff 3-79
England 330
GP Thorpe 114, AJ Strauss 90
DDJ Bravo 6-55, CD Collymore 2-66
West Indies 161
RR Sarwan 60, CH Gayle 42
SJ Harmison 4-44, A Flintoff 3-26
England 231-3
RWT Key 93*, A Flintoff 57*

England win by 7 wickets

CricketWeb Man of the Match
Graham Thorpe (England) - 114

England lead the series 3-0

Posted by Neil