 |
|
|
[Affiliate Program]
|
Test # 1498 Result: Match Drawn Players of the Series: Andy Caddick, Heath Streak. Close of Play: Day 1: England 233-5 wkts (Flintoff 2*, Stewart 45*; 68 overs) Day 1: BATTLING ENGLAND HOLD FAST! The grey foreboding skies seemed to be following the Zimbabwe tourists as they prepared for the Second Test at a dank and dreary Trent Bridge. Armed with a weather forecast that could have been penned by Bob Dylan, namely, ‘A Hard Rains Gonna’ Fall’, Andy Flower won the toss and elected to put England into bat in an effort to derive the best of the bleak conditions in a match his team had to win so to share the spoils. Breakthrough! Bad light delayed the start for a quarter of an hour. Atherton however did not seem nonplussed by the delay and opened the innings brightly, steering Streak through the covers and then the mid-off area for five runs off the first over. Test debutant, Nkala opened at the other end; he too found the full face of the Atherton blade and was dispatched for two, through mid-wicket in his first ever over in Test cricket. Brought into the side by coach Jeff Thomson in a bid to add more of a cutting edge to the attack, the 19 year-old Mluleki Nkala proved the wisdom of his selection soon afterwards. Atherton was tucked up and played an inside edged to a short ball straight to Andy Flower (17-1 wkt). The young man from Bulawayo was ecstatic with his success. Escape! Hussain and Ramprakash continued battle; with the English skipper looking a shade erratic early in his innings, with his choice of shot being open to question. This was seen to good effect when he ballooned an extravagant square cut over the slips to deep third man into and out of the hands of the luckless Mbangwa who could only juggle the ball to the ground. Streak the bowler was seen not too pleased with the error. After his escape Hussain settled and the two kept the scoreboard clicking on to a healthy 85 runs at Lunch. Wickets Tumble! Ramprakash reached his fifty shortly after the afternoon session restarted (97 balls 4x4s) and prior to a call for bad light – a short intermission – which seemed to break the Middlesex man’s concentration has he completely misjudged the line of a Brian Murphy top-spinner and was leg-before attempting to sweep for 56. The second wicket partnership had produced an invaluable 96 runs at a time when England was in need. Hick’s stay was short, soon becoming Murphy’s second victim playing all around a nicely flighted delivery after he had just reached double figures, giving umpire Merv Kitchen another straightforward LBW decision. Hussain reached his fifty off 88 balls with a flashing on-drive that raced to the boundary five minutes after the fall of Hick, the third wicket. Murphy the Salisbury and Mashanoland leg-break bowler continued to discomfort the English batsmen with a fine display of his art. Stewart was the next to be tested, only surviving a raucous lbw appeal care of a fine tickle onto his pads. However, the next wicket to fall was to Heath Streak, who finally got his man -- Hussain for 59, yorked comprehensively with the strike bowler’s first ball of his new spell (152-4 wkts). Luck! Knight and Stewart added 40 runs at a run a ball in what remained of the middle session, and the home side though losing three top-order batsmen since lunch looked in some sort of control at Tea, standing on 194-4 wkts. Nevertheless, Stewart seemed to be riding his luck. First surviving a close Streak leg-before shout to the burly grey-bearded Orchard, and then being spilled by Carlisle, who put down a catchable chance at mid-wicket off Nkala, shortly before the break. Creditable The weather was unremitting, overcast, and bleak. Still the fifth wicket partnership held firm until 4:20pm when Neil Johnson got one to leave Warwickshire’s Nick Knight (34) and take his off-stump and end the 72 run stand. Andrew Flintoff marched into the middle, and out again, after watching Stewart see off Mbangwa for a maiden as the heavens opened up with a downpour. The players appeared briefly over an hour later for just one over, before bad light intervened. Again the trooping on-and-off, of the players continued, this time after another three overs. Eventually play was called off at 6:08pm with England 233-5 wkts, in front of a handful of die-hard sheltering spectators. A noteworthy performance by England under the most trying of conditions. Day 2: ENGLAND DIG IN! First Ball! Stewart ,three short of his half-century and facing the first ball of the day was caught out through poor footwork by Streak and was duly given out LBW. Bad light and rain then pooled together to limit the morning session to just eight overs before an early Lunch was taken. England 264-6 wkts (Flintoff 16*, Schofield 12*). Ovation! On the restart, the rains waited for the teams to set-up shop and play one over before releasing another heavy shower that halted play for a further 36 minutes. At last, just before 2:00pm play was again possible and Zimbabwe took the new ball. The result was a positive reply from the England duo; they quickly hit their fifty partnership with hardly a hitch. Flintoff scored 50 off just over a hundred balls with included six 4s stroked majestically to the boards. Schofield was equally as impressive as his more senior partner, contributing well within the partnership. Their century partnership was reached just before Tea, a tremendous performance by the two young players. The two received a standing ovation has they mounted the pavilion steps at the interval. England at 338-6 wkts, had all but killed-off Zimbabwe’s quickly diminishing chances of eking out a positive result under the most trying of conditions. The weather was improving marginally, the sun at last appeared occasionally through the greyness, and though the outfield was slow because of the amount of water that it had soaked up in the last 48 hours the batting strip remained in remarkably good condition … and runs still seemed there for the taking now the new ball had been played out. Alas for Chris Schofield he was to fall one short of his maiden half-century. Heath Streak proved his nemesis, producing a real scorcher that left him wafting at thin air as the ball struck him on the roll and he was out, leg-before. Nevertheless, a fine innings in only his second test by the Lancashire starlet, (356-7 wkts). Cheaply! Caddick’s forward prod was not enough to keep his first ball from Murphy at bay, and he put the ball straight into Flower’s gloves behind the stumps and was out for 2 after facing two balls. Flintoff and Gough nudged and pushed singles off Murphy and Nkala for a while until Flintoff tried to break free, he only managed to hit the ball on the full straight to Alistair Campbell at square and was out to the admirable leg-spinner for 67. Giddins became the young Nkala’s second test victim when having his middle stump knocked back. At a minute before 5:00pm the England first innings closed at 365 all out. The last four wickets had gone cheaply for only 9 runs; but this did not detract from a solid batting show by the home side. Counter! England endeavoured to make life as uncomfortable as possible in the remaining playing time. However, Grant Flower and Guy Whittall were resolute in scoring 24 runs before the newly promoted opener after surviving a lbw appeal the previous ball from Gough was hurried into a half-hearted push shot off the same bowler that saw a diving Hussain take the catch at point. Still with an hour on the clock Murray Goodwin joined the affray and united with Flower to score 51 runs before Stumps in a fine counter-attack that had somewhat quelled the earlier English optimism. Zimbabwe 75-1 wkt. Goodwin during this period had given Stewart a very difficult chance off a Giddins shooter … but that was all the English team could report. Day 3: CATCH AS CATCH CAN? Yes! No! Yes! No! Start again delayed due to bad light … both teams ride the weather carousel … as the morning session stuttered into life between stoppages and another early Lunch. Only casualty being Flower, digging out, and edging a Gough full-length delivery to the diving Stewart for 32. Zimbabwe managed ten runs from the six overs bowled in the session. Catches Missed England’s fielding let them down in the afternoon session. Goodwin being the main beneficiary, Caddick putting down a sharp caught and bowled when he was 36, before Giddins failed to hold on to a hard-hit but mis-timed drive into the covers when on 47. Goodwin staggered to his fifty in 146 balls (5x4s), the fifty stand followed soon after as the tourists reached 134-2 wkts, on the back of England’s missed chances. Schofield achieved the breakthrough when he had Johnson caught Hussain close in, bat and pad, to a ball that turned and lifted., soon after the applause for the half-century had died down. Andy Flower, the Zimbabwe skipper, became the stubborn and somewhat fortunate Goodwin’s new partner. The latter had now cast himself as the sheet anchor (scoring only six runs in eleven overs and 40 minutes of batting) and was content to let Flower push the score along whilst he occupied the crease. Nevertheless, Gough put paid to Goodwin, LBW with a ball that hardly rose ankle high just before Tea, (172-4 wkts). However, worse was to follow … Campbell flailed at Gough outside his off-stump and gave Stewart an easy catch without scoring, (172-5 wkts). Lingering Hopes Stuart Carlisle was the new batsman, but he and Flower were soon scurrying off the pitch after twenty minutes of the evening session for another halt for rain. The resumption saw the demise of Flower by Caddick, and possibly any lingering hope Zimbabwe had in the game. The Somerset man bowled the Zimbabwe captain via a thin edge on to first his bat, then his stumps, with the score standing at 187, the sixth wicket had fallen. Rain again halted play before it had hardly begun for a further 50 minutes. Again, another couple of overs and another half-an-hour were washed away. At Stumps, Zimbabwe were 202-6 wkts, still 163 runs behind. Day 4: DOUR TOURISTS! DOUR WEATHER! O Lucky Man! Four overs were bowled with the new ball before a blanket of rain descended on the Nottingham ground. Lunch yet again was taken early. Caddick soon had Streak out for 11 after the intermission – regulation caught and bowled. Stewart failed to dismiss the dour Carlisle (16) when a flier from Gough escaped his despairing dive in front of first slip. Murphy was not so lucky when he shuffled in front of a Caddick yorker and was LBW for 10. Whereas Carlisle (16), survived again, when a brilliant piece of fielding and superb throw resulted in a direct hit by Gough. The decision went to the third umpire who eventually gave the player the green light. Unbelievably, Carlisle’s luck held up yet again when Atherton missed him at first slip off the despairing Caddick whilst still on 16. The rains also came to the aid of the Zimbabwe man, with another enforced 30-minute interlude. At the restart, Gough finally snuffed out Nkala for 3, caught by Stewart; the Yorkshireman’s figures read, 34.1-11-68-5. Atherton was again at fault when Mbangwa’s thin edge was found to be too hot for the first slip. This last wicket pair were proving eminently adept at keeping their wickets in tact, even if by using a fair dose of luck to help their cause. When bad light saw an early Tea taken, the high hopes of one of them making an early departure proved premature. Carlisle survived another dropped chance when Flintoff could not hold a sizzling half volley off Gough at mid-wicket. It was left to Schofield to wheedle out the number eleven when he found both the edge of the bat and Graeme Hick at slip. His 13 had come off 64 balls. Carlisle still there, was 27 not out off 170 balls. Zimbabwe 255 all out. It was 5:15pm and their innings had lasted 123.5 overs. Early Wicket! Late Session! The rains still had not finished with this fourth day and managed to force another premature ending, but not before England had scored 48 for the loss of Ramprakash for 6. Atherton remained on 29 and Hussain 9. Day 5: ENGLAND DRAW – WIN SERIES 1-0! The appalling weather continued unabated whilst the last rites of the Test were played out. The players were forced off the field after a mere three overs for a twenty-five minute break. From the restart and before another stoppage England moved on to 80-1 wkt (Atherton 40* and Hussain 20*) at Lunch, again taken early with the better part of an hour being lost. By Tea England had progressed to 96, without further loss in between the rain showers. Action! A mere handful of spectators watched the game meander to the inevitable draw; their loyalty to the cause was rewarded by some unexpected action when all-rounder, Guy Whittall, struck one final blow for the tourists with three wickets in fourteen balls in the final session: having Atherton (47), Hussain (32), and Hick (4) all caught when playing strokes. Stewart and Knight re-united from the first innings batted out the final overs through the continuing rain and bad light stoppages. When play was concluded with the resultant draw, England had notched 136-4 wkts (Stewart 21* and Knight 9*). View From The Pavilion The weather aided England’s defence of their series lead in a match ravaged by rain. However, the home team’s performance was most commendable with a resolute team performance. Zimbabwe ‘huffed and puffed’ but could never quite match England, who held on to the laurels deservedly and quite comfortably at the final count. © llamados 2000 |
Revised:
Saturday, 16 March 2013. |
