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First test back in the balance

Monday, May 24 2004

Another quite intriguing day of test cricket in the first test between England and New Zealand ended with honours just about even and all results still possible.

A day which witnessed Mark Richardson battling his way to a thoroughly well-deserved Lord's hundred also saw Brendon McCullum fall four short, two mini-collapses in the face of Steve Harmison and Simon Jones bowling inspired spells, Ashley Giles whirling away for 35 overs unchanged and England using the same ball for more than 121 overs, minus the 8 or so the beer-soaked one was used for yesterday.

Those simple facts fail to tell half the story on a day dominated by some of the most bizarre, baffling, unconventional yet at the same time logically inspired captaincy I have seen in quite a few years.

The first over saw Matthew Hoggard delivering a leg-side long hop which McCullum had little difficulty in turning to the fine leg boundary, then an inswinging yorker all but got through, rapping the batsman on the toe. Harmison's own dreadful opener was equally inauspicious, wayward and lacking in rhythm, pace and penetration as he too felt the weight of the McCullum blade.

A flashing cut for four off Harmison brought Mark Richardson a fine fifty, his second of the match, but little was happening for the bowlers. Harmison gave way to Giles, Hoggard went round the wicket, overpitching to Richardson who stroked the ball sumptuously through the covers for four as New Zealand continued to make hay in the May sunshine.

Giles gave the ball a little air and Richardson pounced, dancing down the track to despatch the ball high over long on for another boundary as the tourists threatened to take total command. The introduction of Simon Jones into the attack immediately produced huge problems for Brendon McCullum. Five times in his first two overs he produced that rarest of commodities, the reversing away-swinger 'up the hill' to leave McCullum desperately groping for the ball.

As McCullum approached three figures, his technique for the first time became more than a little ragged, getting into an almighty tangle heaving across the line as Giles persevered with the wide-of-leg-stump line, almost gloving a catch to Geraint Jones. A brace through mid-on, aided by some schoolboy fielding by the cumbersome Ashley Giles, took him on to 96, yet conversely that one moment of abject carelessness was decisive. Two balls later, another super away-swinger from Simon Jones was nervously edged into the waiting gauntlets of Geraint Jones to end a great innings a tantalising four runs shy of immortality.

Styris duly avoided his pair with a couple through mid-on, then the Simon Jones swing bowling master-class continued with a superb over to Richardson, culminating with a cracking inswinger which all but bowled the gritty left-hander. Giles, too, kept the pressure on with a tight over to Styris as the runs dried up to a trickle, pressure which brought the second wicket of the morning. Styris stroked a couple through midwicket off Giles before jabbing the fourth ball of the Warwickshire spinner's over straight to Hussain who made no mistake at silly point.

Two balls later, an under-edge by Craig McMillan (0) looped up off his pad to Hussain again, and once more the far-from-regulation chance was safely pouched. 180-1 had become 187-4 in the space of a little over a half an hour. Simon Jones continued to give a perfect demonstration of the witchcraft that is swing bowling, mesmerising Jacob Oram on more than one occasion as the match continued to swing one way then the other, teeteringly seemingly on a knife-edge.

At lunch, the New Zealand second innings stood at 198-4, 143 ahead of England. The morning session of quite electrifying cricket had witnessed 64 runs scored for the loss of three wickets.

Immediately following the resumption, Giles dropped short to Richardson and the left-handed opener brought the 200 up with a cracking cut to the third man boundary. Flintoff replaced the temporarily absent Jones from the Pavilion End, and indirectly it led to the fall of the fifth wicket. As if to prove that the luncheon interval had done little to alleviate the pressure being felt by New Zealand, Jacob Oram (4) pushed a regulation delivery to midwicket and set off like a scalded cat. Hussain, enjoying the purplest of patches in the field, swooped, picked up and threw down the stumps at the bowler's end.

It was quite crazy cricket by Oram, and it brought Nathan Astle on to the field of play, now recovered following the illness which had incapacitated him for a couple of days. Astle immediately took the game to Flintoff, thrashing a perfectly good length ball through the covers then straight-driving an inswinger for quite glorious boundaries to set the scoreboard ticking again.

Richardson, on 82, was the recipient of a fearful blow on the helmet from a Flintoff bouncer, then the doubtful logic of not playing your best keeper in a test match was exposed once more as a ball from Giles evaded the grasp of Geraint Jones and went for four byes.

Steve Harmison was introduced into the attack for the first time in the afternoon session as replacement for Flintoff while Giles continued to toil from the Nursery End. Another shoddy piece of wicket-keeping further embarrassed Geraint Jones as the byes continued to mount, and at the mid-session drinks interval New Zealand had progressed on to 242-5 with Richardson still undefeated on 85.

A slog-sweep by Richardson took him into the nineties and had Giles optimistically crying 'catch it', then another delivery leaped out of the rough and went for byes, although on this occasion it was difficult to see what poor Jones could have done, so venomously did the ball spit. Simon Jones returned and continued where he had left off before, beating both batsmen outside off stump as England persevered with the old ball into the 93rd over.

Richardson moved within a boundary of a hundred with a neat push for a couple off Giles, and another brace arrived courtesy of an inside edge off Jones. A quick single took him to 99 before Trescothick brought the field in. The batsman went through seemingly a thousand agonies before, at the fifth time of asking, he was able to push a single between the two short legs and progress to one of the more deserved, and certainly one of the hardest-fought, centuries in a test match at the home of cricket.

Tea was taken with New Zealand on 269-5, a lead of 214. Runs had been particularly hard to come by in the afternoon session, especially in the hour before tea. England had persevered with the old ball, now fully 98 overs old, as soft as a sponge and looking like the favourite toy of a playful border collie. Both teams had seemingly played one-another to a standstill, but hopefully the pause was not a premature stalemate but the lull before the storm.

Nathan Astle took the fight to Simon Jones straight after tea, first driving over the outstretched fingers of mid-off, then a full-blooded hook past square leg sent the message that New Zealand were not willing to see the game meander down a cul-de-sac. England, on the other hand, seemed to be sending some positively (or negatively) baffling messages out. They responded to Astle's moment of aggression by bringing back Steve Harmison and posting five men on the boundary with none in close-catching positions, the principal strike bowler operating with a ball more than 100 overs old.

Flintoff dropped Astle off an exceedingly difficult chance, but Harmison was not kept waiting for long before picking up his second victim of the innings. Chasing a full-length ball outside off stump, Richardson only succeeded in feathering the ball through to Geraint Jones who held the simplest of chances to end a splendid vigil on 101 and reduce New Zealand to 287-6, bringing the potentially explosive Chris Cairns to the wicket.

In Harmison's following over, the big Durham man struck again. Still bowling without a slip and with a piece of rag, he got one to leave Astle (49) and Geraint Jones took his third catch of the innings and sixth of the match. Daniel Vettori could so easily have departed first ball too, tentatively edging Harmison past the non-existent gulley to third man for four.

Harmison tormented Cairns too, the batsman profiting from two edges in two balls which both went for four, then a single brought Vettori back on strike. Once again, the pace of Harmison, in a quite wonderful spell of fast, hostile bowling was too hot to handle, Vettori (5) edging through to Geraint Jones who took a superb low catch. Harmison had taken three key wickets in five overs and could easily have had two or three more.

At the mid-session drinks interval, England had New Zealand apparently where they wanted them on 310-8, the mighty Tuffey at the wicket with just Chris Martin to come - and come he did one ball after the resumption. Ashley Giles resumed bowling into the rough, no fielder within a taxi ride let alone in a close catching position, Chris Cairns (15) went for the slog-sweep and Mark Butcher took a fine tumbling catch at deep midwicket.

Harmison found the edge of Tuffey's bat and as Lord's erupted to salute a first five wicket haul by England's bowling talisman at home, Geraint Jones blotted his otherwise impeccable catching copybook by spilling a far from difficult chance. Giles eventually was wheeled out of the attack having bowled 35 overs unchanged, to be replaced by Simon Jones who had Tuffey prodding nervously just short of cover point. Two overs later, Jones uprooted Martin's middle stump, only to be frustrated by the call of 'no ball'.

Batting like refreshingly true tail-enders, Tuffey and Martin threw the bat at everything wide and blocked everything straight, profiting from a mixture of the sublime and the agricultural as precious runs were eked out, every one taking victory further from England's grasp and bringing a win closer to the hands of the visitors. The reintroduction of Flintoff curtailed the entertainment, clean bowling Martin first ball. The partnership had squeezed out 26 runs, 21 of which had come after Geraint Jones' profligacy, taking New Zealand up to 336.

Chasing 282 to win, Trescothick got the England chase - or survival quest, dependent upon your perspective - under way with a smart single off Jacob Oram, then Strauss repeated the exercise with a neat turn off his hips. In Daryl Tuffey's second over, he dropped marginally short to Strauss and the debutant thrashed the ball past point for the first boundary of the innings.

Positive captaincy by Fleming saw Daniel Vettori introduced for the final over of the day, albeit from the least-favoured end. Strauss, with plenty of black-capped company, successfully negotiated the first five deliveries, but oh so nearly edged the final one, an arm-ball which darted down the slope Doosra-like, narrowly evading the outside edge of Strauss's bat.

With a day to go, the game appears to be perfectly poised. England had, through key spells by Harmison, Giles and the unlucky Jones, swung the pendulum back more toward the vertical, although history indicates that a New Zealand victory from this position is more likely than a home one. Pitches, however, tend to last better nowadays, and this one still looks pretty good.

England 441
Strauss 112, Trescothick 86, Flintoff 63, Martin 3-94
and 8-0
Strauss 6*, Trescothick 1*
New Zealand 386
Richardson 93, Cairns 82, Oram 67, Astle 64, Harmison 4-126, S Jones 3-82
and 336
Richardson 101, McCullum 96, Harmison 4-76, Giles 3-87

England require a further 274 to win with 10 second innings wickets standing.


Posted by Eddie