The Oval Test
Friday, August 24, 2001

One of the more obvious differences between the sides has been in gum-chewing: Australia resolute, with jaws constantly pumping, England half-hearted, and prone to lose interest when the flavour runs out. Butcher hardly dared chew at all this morning after his dropped catch, and might even have swallowed inadvertently. You can see why Trescothick goes for Murray Mints. It's all a far cry from the great days of England confectionery consumption, when Mike Gatting kept a quarter of wine gums in each pocket and lodged a spare sherbet fountain with the umpire for emergencies. Will we ever see his like again?

Marcus Berkmann is a columnist for Wisden Cricket Monthly. He was supposed to be spending the morning working on a film script.

More Marcus Berkmann
Oh Dampometer - what went wrong? - Thursday

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd