The Wisden Verdict on England
by Tim de Lisle
Monday January 28, 2002

After three matches that were all pretty close, this was a rout. England went from hanging in there to hung, drawn and quartered.

It was extraordinary, compressed entertainment - a one-day game for viewers who find a full 100 overs a bit long. It was effectively settled in less than two hours, like a football match. And it was a game of two halves. First England's batsmen went from riches (111 for 1 at seven an over) to poverty (166 for 6) in the space of 45 minutes. Then India's openers whipped up 100 in 50 minutes - the time it normally takes to have lunch.

Just to add to the drama, it may all have hinged on a single ball: the first of the Indian innings, and the first that Marcus Trescothick had ever kept wicket to at this level. Gough bowled it, Tendulkar either nicked or padded it depending on your allegiance, Trescothick nimbly caught it - and the umpire signalled wide. He couldn't be blamed for not giving it out, but the wide was outrageous.

England couldn't really complain. They had had the luck early on, winning the toss and finding the game reduced to the length that they, alone of all the world's cricketers, are brought up with. Nick Knight played as if it was a Sunday League game at Edgbaston. The middle order played more as if it was a benefit match for a team-mate they didn't much like. Michael Vaughan may be sober as a judge most of the time, but he has a streak of recklessness, as he showed against Murali in the Test at Colombo a year ago. When he and Paul Collingwood both fell to long-hops from Sourav Ganguly, the game was up.

There were a few consolations for England. Knight returned to form, reversing all before him. Graham Thorpe not only got a game at last but characteristically kept his wicket while all around were losing theirs. Please can England never again in the foreseeable future decide that their best team doesn't include him. Or Knight.

The biggest crumb of comfort was that it took some magic to beat them. Virender Sehwag played a scintillating innings, spotting that the runs had to be made early on, keeping the bat upright and picking the gaps so well that he hit 13 of his first 43 balls for four. He put Sachin in the shade.

Tendulkar, instead of being miffed as one or two star players might be, renounced the strike and settled for playing the anchor - possibly the fastest-moving anchor in history, ending up with 87 off only 11 overs faced, and inventing a new stroke - the forehand cross-court on-drive, complete with top-spin, which bisects mid-on and short midwicket. He liked it so much, he repeated it next ball. And all this the day after he lost his manager. As he showed when his father died, wounded tigers are dangerous, but bereaved ones are lethal.

Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden.com.

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