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England bat through to a draw

Thursday, April 15 2004

England today advanced to a draw in the fourth and final Test against the West Indies, completing a 3-0 series win over their hosts. Despite the best efforts of the West Indian bowlers, the Englishmen, boosted by a fine century from captain Michael Vaughan, closed on 422/5, still some 44 runs behind on first innings.

Resuming on an overnight 145/0, openers Trescothick (88) and Vaughan (140) advanced the total to 182 against purposeful, full-length bowling from Edwards and Collymore. Eventually Edwards managed the breakthrough, having Trescothick caught by Sarwan.

The bowlers found it hard work on the docile Antigua pitch, rarely getting pace or bounce to trouble the batsmen. Vaughan reached his eleventh Test hundred from 210 balls and was eventually dismissed by Sarwan. Mark Butcher, who replaced Trescothick at the crease, took his time initially, but eventually ground his way to an important 61, spending just over four hours at the crease. He got involved in partnerships of 92 (with Vaughan) and 82 (with Hussain) and was then dismissed by left-arm orthodox spinner, Ryan Hinds.

Former captain Nasser Hussain continued the run of solid scores by notching his half-century in good time. He reached 56 until Ryan Hinds bowled him behind his back, the culmination of a testing period for Hussain facing the spinners.

As so often the point of criticism in his Test career, first-innings hero Flintoff (14) perished to an irresponsible shot off a Sarwan fulltoss. Having dropped him in the first innings, Lara this time held on to the well-hit ball. This dismissal brought debutant Geraint Jones to join Thorpe with England suddenly looking a bit shaky in pursuing stumps.

Jones kept out a sharp return over from Edwards and ended unbeaten on 10 when Lara exercised his right to call the match off some 26 overs early. Thorpe walked off with 23 runs to his name.

The awards were largely predictable, with Lara winning the Man of the Match and Harmison the Man of the Series.

Match Summary:

West Indies 1st innings 751/5 (202 overs)
(BC Lara 400 not out, RD Jacobs 107 not out, RR Sarwan 90)

England 1st innings 285 ao (99 overs)
(A Flintoff 102 not out, MA Butcher 52, GO Jones 38)
(PT Collins 4/76, TL Best 3/37, FH Edwards 2/70)

England 2nd innings following on - 422/5 (137 overs)
(MP Vaughan 140, ME Trescothick 88, MA Butcher 61, N Hussain 56)
(RR Sarwan 2/26, RO Hinds 2/83)

Result: Match Drawn
Series: England wins series 3-0
Man of the Match: BC Lara (WI)
Man of the Series: SJ Harmison (Eng)

Posted by Liam