England (429 and 76 for 5) beat Rest of the World (242 and 261) by 5 wickets, to square the series at 2-2

scorecard series home

England squared the CMJ Wisden Test series in an absorbing match at the SCG. It was a triumph for England's bowlers, who performed better as a unit than at any time previously in the rubber. The match was also notable for another fine innings from Len Hutton, who dropped anchor for a mammoth 182, his fourth century of a triumphant series.

As usual at Sydney, the spinners played an important part – but it was a lightning-quick spell from Malcolm Marshall which unsettled England as they pushed for victory. Fast and furious, Marshall reduced England to 33 for 5, chasing 74, before sensible innings from Peter May and Hutton – yet again – inched them over the finishing line. Ted Dexter and Ian Botham, sent in first to get the innings off to a flying start, had both gone before the score passed 20. Then Graham Gooch, Colin Cowdrey and Alan Knott all fell to Marshall – who at that point had figures of 5 for 12 – with the score at 33.

Hutton marched in at No. 7 and stopped the rot, perhaps reminding May, his captain and batting partner, of the trouble Freddie Brown ran into when he played fast and loose with his batting order at Brisbane in 1950-51 (England were all out for 122 with Hutton, held back to No. 8, high and dry with 62). There were no further alarms as England levelled the series with more than a day to spare.

Earlier, the World XI had made a good start after winning the toss, with purist-pleasing performances from the Richardses. Barry dominated an opening stand of 107 with Sunil Gavaskar (52), stroking nine fours in making 72 from 73 balls. Then Viv took over, clobbering seven fours and a six in a boisterous 74.

But then England struck back decisively. Jim Laker ripped out the World XI's middle order, grabbing the wickets of Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar before winkling out Garry Sobers for a duck. For once Adam Gilchrist could not inspire a recovery, and Derek Underwood lopped off the tail as the World crumbled for a disappointing 242.

Hutton and Dexter put that total in perspective with a gritty stand of 167. Dexter flicked Muttiah Muralitharan to Viv Richards after a commanding 82, which included six well-driven fours, then Hutton and May put on 102 more. The lower order could make little of Murali or Shane Warne, who shared nine of the wickets, but Hutton was rock-solid. He was eventually the ninth man out, leg-before to Murali, for 182. He faced 493 balls, and hit 17 fours.

After reaching 405 for 4 England were disappointed to subside to 429 all out, but that still meant a lead of 187. That looked more than enough when Gavaskar touched a Trueman special to Knott second ball. Laker was off the field for a while with an injured hand (he bowled only 6.1 overs in the second innings), and Underwood was too quick through the air to take advantage of the helpful pitch. It was left to the perspiring Botham, who finished with 4 for 74, to plug away.

Barry Richards impressed again with a fluent 53, but it was Lara who threatened to set England a more ticklish target. He had flowed to 84, with two sixes off an unimpressed Trueman to go with nine fours, when he was unluckily run out after a disastrous mix-up with Warne. Shortly afterwards the World XI were all out for 261. England needed only 74 to win – but they had some nasty moments making them.

Hutton, with 202 runs for once out, was an obvious choice as Man of the Match.

The teams moved to India for the decisive final Test at Calcutta (report tomorrow).

This series was played using a computer simulation devised for Wisden.com by Y Ananth Narayanan of Hallmark Software in Bangalore, India.

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