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England
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1-5 Jun 2000 (John Ward)
Day1: England 203/3 (Atherton 96, Stewart 8)
Zimbabwe’s tour so far has been plagued by rain from the beginning and, true to form, overnight rain in Nottingham delayed the start of the Second Test. The umpires inspected the field at eleven o’clock, but it was still too wet and a further inspection was announced at noon. Finally it was decided to make a start, under a brightening sky, at 1.40, after lunch.
Zimbabwe won the toss, a rare success when it was important, and put England in to bat.
Zimbabwe’s selectors refused to bit the bullet: Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell were both retained, having scored scarcely a run for weeks and never looking like doing so. Obviously the mental side of the game cannot be measured, but rarely, if ever, can two more demoralised batsmen have been included in a Test team.
Both have all they need to succeed in Test cricket, as they have proved often enough in the past, but at present their confidence is so low that it is difficult to imagine either getting to double figures in this match. I hope to be proved wrong, but at the moment the inclusion of one, never mind both, looks ludicrous. Their negative frame of mind, hard though they will try to hide it, cannot fail to rub off on their team-mates, and what sort of a message will it send to reserves such as Trevor Gripper and Dirk Viljoen?
They may not do much better than Flower or Campbell, but at least they would learn from the experience. What effect would it have on the morale of troops to send shell-shocked soldiers (today’s tongue-twister!) to the front for every offensive?
Guy Whittall was to open the batting, as expected, with Grant Flower, with Neil Johnson coming in number four. Stuart Carlisle has shown in the past he rises to the occasion high in the order, but he was only written down at number six, while Neil Johnson was promoted to number four. Carlisle replaced Trevor Gripper from the Lord’s Test, while Zimbabwe are giving all-rounder Mluleki Nkala a Test debut in place of Bryan Strang. Much to general disappointment, pace bowler Henry Olonga was still unfit. England retained their winning team from Lord’s.
On this first day, Zimbabwe’s batting fragility was not tested. Their bowlers were, and were generally found lacking. They produced some excellent deliveries at times and one or two close umpiring decisions went against them, but their lack of accuracy prevented them from maintaining any pressure. Heath Streak was disappointing after his mighty deeds at Lord’s, straying far too often in direction, as did Pommie Mbangwa, unrecognisable as the bowler who took ten cheap wickets against Yorkshire a few days earlier.
All the batsmen had to do was survive the good balls and plunder the bad, which were not infrequent in coming. Having said that, England perhaps did not take full advantage of Zimbabwe’s spray-gun tactics, choosing to leave a great many loose balls and scoring at a rate of less than three runs an over during the day.
Another television novelty made its debut in this match – a mobile side-camera. Throughout the day, trying not always successfully to keep level with the play, a small white camera cart looking rather like a submarine ran continually up and down the sidelines, no doubt fascinating the schoolchildren present.
Play finally started under an overcast sky at 1.40, with the ground less than a quarter full. England were under way immediately, as Mike Atherton turned opening bowler Heath Streak’s first delivery past square leg for two. Debutant Mluleki Nkala bowled the next over, in preference to Pommie Mbangwa.
He pulled up before his first attempt, possibly distracted by umpire David Orchard’s beard, and then produced a no-ball. He then tested Ramprakash with a couple of good deliveries before the batsman finished the over with a forcing stroke backward of point for four.
When Streak did bowl straight, he tested Atherton’s technique to the full, and early on he slashed uppishly only just wide of Stuart Carlisle at third slip, the ball travelling for the first boundary of the match. Neil Johnson was erratic, as he has been so often recently, but he had a good-looking lbw shout against Atherton rejected by umpire Orchard, and then had Atherton edging the next ball just short of the slips.
Mbangwa was to prove quite expensive, consistently putting the ball wide of the off stump. Atherton was getting into his stride, cutting impressively, as did Ramprakash, and this was to prove the most productive stroke of their partnership, an apt commentary on the Zimbabwe bowling. Later on Atherton thrived on the cover drive, playing the stroke with superb timing and skill, and picking up regular boundaries in this region. England went in to lunch on 96 without loss (Atherton 46, Ramprakash 40).
Atherton showed increased aggression after lunch, reaching his fifty with a classic cover drive for four, and was soon followed by Ramprakash with a square drive to the boundary. Johnson, getting desperate, unleashed a much too vehement appeal for lbw at umpire Kitchen to a ball that hit Ramprakash clearly too high. Two balls later, though, he had his man. Ramprakash (56) played forward to a ball when he should have gone back, and the ball flew off his glove to be clutched by Grant Flower diving to his left in the gully. England were 121 for one.
Nasser Hussain took 23 balls to get off the mark, but then played some powerful strokes through the covers and to leg, choosing the deliveries carefully. Nkala almost took his wicket when he turned a ball hard but uppishly to short midwicket, the ball hitting ground only a yard in front of the fielder. Later that over, though, a slower ball from Nkala had him driving too early, to be caught by the diving Streak at extra cover for 21; England 182 for two.
Graeme Hick soon announced his presence with a crisp cut for four off Nkala, but then tried to lash the ball square, only for Murphy at backward point to fling himself to his right and pull off a brilliant catch. The team exploded around Murphy with delight; Hick out for 5 and England 188 for three.
Atherton, on 89, had a narrow escape, as he clipped Nkala off his toes and Carlisle failed to hold a very sharp chance. Grant Flower was brought on to bowl the last over of the day, amid calls from the crowd for Atherton, on 95, to reach his century. However he contented himself with a single to the deep-set cover field; Stewart then nudged a single and the calls intensified. Not even a full toss tempted Atherton, though, and he walked off content to leave the landmark for another day.
Day3: England 374; Zimbabwe 51/2 (Goodwin 11, Johnson 9)
England, building their innings around a most impressive century from Mike Atherton, put themselves into a strong position in this Test match, despite favourable seam bowling conditions that Zimbabwe’s bowlers failed to exploit to the full. The day closed with the Zimbabwe innings in the balance, and the crucial question will be whether they can evade the follow-on tomorrow.
Once again overnight drizzle and a heavy overcast sky were in evidence in Nottingham, and the ground authorities announced an inspection at 11 a.m. This was followed by the announcement that play would start at 12.15 – weather permitting.
The beleaguered Zimbabwe team were plunged into further trouble on the first day, as two of their players suffered finger injuries. Stuart Carlisle cracked a finger when missing a very difficult chance offered by Atherton while he was fielding at forward short leg, while Grant Flower also hurt his finger in the field.
Paul Strang is set to return for Zimbabwe in the coming one-day triangular tournament, as he and aggressive opening batsman Craig Wishart are to join the party shortly. Trevor Gripper had expected to go home at this stage, but is to be kept on as cover in view of the team’s injury problems. Tatenda Taibu, Brian Murphy and the injured Henry Olonga are expected to return home during the coming week. There is one vacancy in the Zimbabwe one-day party for another player which is being kept open at present, and there is a possibility that Olonga might stay after all if his injury starts responding more quickly to treatment.
Play finally did start at 12.15 under a threatening sky, in poor light and on a still very wet outfield. The ground was perhaps a third full and one feels this was perhaps a diplomatic gesture on the part of the umpires which might not have taken place against a West Indian pace attack. Mike Atherton then put his first ball of the day away for three through midwicket, to take his score to 99.
Neil Johnson and Guy Whittall opened the bowling for Zimbabwe, but both were erratic, as indeed was much of the Zimbabwe bowling throughout the day. Stewart seemed content to watch Whittall’s wayward deliveries go by but was surprised by the straight one, playing half-forward but given out lbw for 9; England 209 for four.
Atherton reached his century in handsome fashion in the next over, picking up a short delivery from Johnson outside off stump and pulling it superbly to the midwicket boundary. It was his 50th century in first-class cricket and 14th in Tests, five of which have now been scored on this ground. However Whittall soon recorded another lbw, bringing a ball back to Knight (1) that went through the gate to strike him on the back pad; England 221 for five. The batsmen were clearly struggling in the conditions and the going would have been even harder had the Zimbabwean bowlers kept their line more consistently. After 45 minutes’ play England went in to lunch on 232 for five (Atherton 108, Andy Flintoff 7).
Atherton played some fine strokes after lunch, his cover drives and cuts off misdirected deliveries being his chief glory. At the other end Flintoff pulled at a ball not quite short enough that kept slightly low, and was given out lbw for 16; England 264 for six. Umpire David Orchard gave all three decisions, and the batsmen did not appear to have any reason for complaint.
Darren Schofield, after a long wait, picked up his first Test runs with a push for three through the covers off Johnson. Johnson’s bowling became increasingly erratic, and in one over leg-side deliveries gave away two doses of four wides. Atherton now became rather bogged down, perhaps mentally drained, and his fine innings came to an end at 136 when he drove Mbangwa hard but neck-high straight at Grant Flower at extra cover. England were 303 for seven. He hit a six and 19 fours, and faced 330 balls.
With some good driving by Schofield through the covers, England went in on 327 for seven at tea (Schofield 30, Andy Caddick 8).
Runs were hard to come by after tea, and eventually Caddick (13) let fly at Nkala and hammered a catch straight at Grant Flower at mid-off; England 335 for eight. Darren Gough, the hero of the crowd, enjoyed an encouraging reception, while Streak, apparently despairing of bowling Schofield out, tested him with bumpers, one of which hit him on the ear-piece of his helmet and held up play for a few minutes.
Gough swung at a wide ball from Nkala and the ball flew to the boundary over backward point, then drove the next ball over the bowler’s head for two, with a single next ball, to threaten an aggressive innings. However he did little more until, fending off a short ball from Streak, he edged it into the hands of Alistair Campbell at first slip for 9; England 358 for nine.
Schofield, in the forties, did his best to protect last man Ed Giddins to reach his fifty, which he did with an unexpected reverse sweep off Murphy for three. Giddins surprised by scooping a widish ball from Streak backward of point for a single; facing again, he got a thick top edge that lobbed just short of third man for another. Schofield finished an exciting over with an original answer to a bouncer from Streak, deliberately flicking it over the keeper for four. But the frivolity could not last, and finally Schofield, trying another outrageous reverse sweep off Murphy, was bowled round his legs for 57. Giddins unbeaten on 3, and England were all out for 374. Nkala, with three wickets for 82 runs, was the most successful of the bowlers.
Grant Flower, desperately short of form, also appeared to find himself desperately out of luck. As he played back to Darren Gough in the first over, the ball looped out to Mark Ramprakash at short leg. Umpire Mervyn Kitchen gave it out, although the slow-motion replay did not appear to confirm any contact with the bat. Zimbabwe were 1 (a no-ball) for one.
Guy Whittall, promoted to open the Zimbabwe innings for the first time, responded with 12 off Caddick’s opening over, including a thick-edged four uppishly between slips and gully, and a much more impressive boundary through extra cover. He continued his assault in the next over, on-driving two more fours as Caddick overpitched, and at one stage had scored 23 out of the 26 on the board. Murray Goodwin dug himself in deep as he often does at the start of a Test innings, but Whittall, whether from choice or instructions, was committed to seizing the initiative.
Ed Giddins replaced Caddick after two overs, a crucial move. Whittall fell victim to umpire Orchard’s fourth lbw decision of the day, playing half-forward with the ball beating the inside edge of the bat, and again there appeared to be little doubt about the correctness of the decision. He had scored 28 off 28 balls, and Zimbabwe were 33 for two in the eighth over.
After that Goodwin and Johnson played for the close as the light quickly deteriorated. Schofield had his first over for England but it was not a particularly enjoyable experience, nine runs coming from it, including a four and three in the extra-cover region by Johnson, a fine player of leg-spin. Despite this flow of runs, the light was by now so poor that play ended for the day at this point.
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Results - Forthcoming Desktop Scoreboard |
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