England beat Australia by 6 wickets.

I am sure that you have now got over the shock of an England victory on Monday. Being lucky enough to be lying at
home on the sofa watching it, I have to say it is a memory I will cherish
for sometime¹. So just
how did England end up in a match-winning position? Two elements: Australian
replacement captain, Adam Gilchrist and the weather. On Sunday, rain
prevented Australia from making the sort of final innings target that would
have prevented England playing for the win. In light of the weather,
Gilchrist made the decision to declare and set England a target of 315. The
wickets of Atherton and Trescothick fell early and it looked all too likely
that England would lose their cool and their wickets. Then Mark Butcher
strode to the wicket.

Butcher's innings of 173* was key to the victory. This is a man who only
made it into the Test team courtesy of a few good performances in recent
domestic matches and the England injury list. When you hit a purple patch,
runs just flow and they certainly did for Butcher that afternoon. In a
blistering display of textbook stroke-play, he beat his previous highest
Test innings by 57 runs. He looked completely comfortable against the
bowlers, treating them with the sort of disdain they normally treat English
batsmen. It was a heartening performance and one that pleased the capacity
crowd no end!

In the first two sessions of the day the fielding was solid, though
England still had the upper hand. However, the final session was a
different story, as tiredness set into the Australian team and the fielding
became increasingly sloppy. The required run rate per over to ensure
victory fell lower and lower. Butcher was looking increasingly solid and
comfortable against the Australian bowling and so the opposition
concentrated their efforts on Ramprakash, to the extent of bringing Mark
Waugh on for a couple of overs, in the hope the change of pace and the
introduction of finger spin would catch one of the batsmen off guard. In
the end it was Shane Warne who put some gloss on an otherwise lacklustre
match performance by dismissing Ramprakash for 32.

There were notable examples of Australian sportsmanship, not least Damien
Martin correcting the umpire and calling a six and Gilchrist's decision to
make it a game. Equally, however, the ball Mark Waugh caught to dismiss
Ramprakash almost certainly was grounded first. Further more Australia have
dismissed England in a day's play before for fewer runs, so perhaps we
should not feel too sorry for them. Australia's best chance of winning was
always going to be with England going for a victory. If they had battened
down the hatches and played for a draw, it would have been harder to get
them out. Well that is how the theory goes anyway, because England played
for the win and wickets were scarce. Throughout the afternoon, Gilchrist, in
desperation, set increasingly aggressive fields. This normally has the
effect of increasing the run rate as, while the fielders are well place for
catches and run outs, if the ball beats them it generally goes for four.
The last 50 runs came off 74 balls in less than an hour and every scoring
ball was greeted with cheers from the crowd. England reached in one day the
second highest last innings total to beat Australia ever² and there are few
occasions in the history of cricket when over 300 has been made in the last
innings of a match. Both sides recognised the contributions of each other
and it was heartening to see Nasser Hussain rush down to greet his batsmen
and the Australian fielders.

By the time you read this, England and Australia will be meeting at the
Oval. Will England be able to build on their success? Will the Oval
provide a fitting climax to the summer?

Abi... Post Sports Correspondant.

23.08.01. Front Page

Back Issue Page