Eng. v. SA. - 5th. Test

[Donny]

England v South Africa, 5th Test, The Oval

Expediency is the order of the day
by Andrew Miller - August 27, 2003

Team England does not go in for wholesale changes these days. In ordinary circumstances, this would count as A Good Thing. The modern regime enables English players and fans to relax between Tests, knowing that continuity is the key to success. A hint of job security here, and a little TLC there, and today's turkeys will be transformed into next week's nighthawks. Or so the theory goes, at least.

But continuity can sometimes breed contempt, and as next Thursday's all-important fifth Test looms large, England's prospects are getting niffier by the day. For one night only, they need to forget the long-term future. Forget the "We'll Be Taking The Challenge Very Seriously" tour of Bangladesh in October. And preferably, forget everything that has gone before in this most flawed of summers. When England square up to South Africa in that decisive one-off tussle at The Oval next week, nothing less than a victory will do - and the selectors must do whatever it takes to secure it.

The teams have been here before, of course. In 1994, South Africa's rampant start to the series was first halted by Michael Atherton's obduracy under pressure at Headingley, then utterly vaporised by Devon Malcolm's never-to-be-forgotten nine-wicket haul ... at The Oval. And four years later at Trent Bridge, Atherton was once again instrumental in turning the tide, with Darren Gough applying the coup de grace in the fifth Test at Headingley.

But the difference between then and now is all too apparent. On any given day (except, of course, when it mattered at Headingley), England have the batsmen to drive home the slimmest of advantages. But quite where they hope to find a strike bowler of the requisite quality is anyone's guess. Perhaps they could follow the example of the Qatari Athletics Association, and borrow an African to boost their medal prospects - in this case Worcestershire's Nantie Hayward, who is surplus to South Africa's requirements, but is bowling as fast as anyone on the county circuit.

The sad truth is that England selected five right-arm seamers for the most conducive of conditions in Headingley, and they blew it. Martin Bicknell performed creditably at first, but tired visibly towards the end; James Anderson (strangely rested from the latest round of County Championship matches) continued to blow cold and colder; Kabir Ali and James Kirtley were energetic but ineffective. Only Andrew Flintoff - plagued as ever by bad luck and no-balls - emerged with credit, but his stillborn strike-rate suggests he lacks the guile to find the edge against top-class batsmen.

What is needed, almost as urgently as a 90mph yorker through Graeme Smith's defences, is a change of attitude from England's attack. To a man, the incumbents are too nice, too demure. They have perhaps been shocked by the ferocity of South Africa's ambitions, but once their pre-series swagger was whipped away, they lost all right to reply. England's alleged strike bowler, for example, has been Steve Harmison. He was injured for Headingley but is likely to return at The Oval, despite managing just five wickets in 83 overs this series. He continues to bowl as he did on the Ashes tour, with plenty of hope but little expectation, and Smith and Co. have cashed in accordingly.

In years gone by, a spitting-and-snarling Dominic Cork would have been rustled up for this sort of make-or-break encounter. He would probably have been handed the new ball as well, ordered to send down a volley of bouncers and invective, and an infuriated opposition would self-destruct. Even Corky is probably beyond a comeback this year, but instead England could do worse than send for Yorkshire's firebrand, Steve Kirby, who is loose, limber, and pretty damn quick as well.


In the absence of that great Oval-ophile Phil Tufnell, England hardly possess a spinner worthy of the name. But that isn't to say that Ashley Giles is worth nothing but abuse either. In seven Test innings this summer, Giles has cobbled together 216 runs at 30.85, with just a solitary score below 21. He is every bit as important for those 20-odd overs he hangs around with the bat, and at least at The Oval he might get a hint of assistance off the track. With Alec Stewart facing the final curtain on his home ground, Giles's role is especially delicate. Stewart remains head-and-shoulders above his young rivals for the wicketkeeper's gloves, but of late even he has been batting as if with misty eyes. Expect either a furious century or an emotional zero from the Gaffer - not a lot in between.

On the whole, the batting is less problematic than the bowling, but it still far from a bed of roses. Bicknell's selection at Headingley has already set the precedent for thirtysomething recalls, so if Nasser Hussain's mysterious broken toe is unable to stand up to the rigours of a Test match, then there will be no further excuses for ignoring Graham Thorpe. But given the state of the series, Thorpe should be recalled anyway, at the expense of the unfortunate Ed Smith, whose two matches to date have been on duff pitches. Then, with Mark Butcher and Andrew Flintoff in the batting form of their lives, England's middle order would have a reassuringly solid look to it (although looks can and have been deceptive).

If only the same solidity could be applied to the opening partnership. Vaughan is too classy a batsman to let the pressures of captaincy unsettle him for long, but Marcus Trescothick continues to be a worry. In the NatWest Series, Trescothick fooled everyone into thinking he was back to his best, but since then he has made only 199 runs in eight Test innings, and is considering taking out a copyright on that flat-footed prod to slip.

Trescothick, like his old mirror-image Graham Gooch, is too good for England to drop. But perhaps it is time for a drop down the order, just as Gooch, at a similar stage of his career, took a step up. Trescothick remains among the most swashbuckling of one-day opening batsmen, but he seems to lack the discipline to ride out the rough times in Test cricket.

It is a hard transition from buccaneer to blocker, and very few of the great one-day openers have been required to do both jobs simultaneously. Mark Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar, even Adam Gilchrist, have all made their Test names in the middle order. Maybe it is time for Trescothick to do likewise. Given that England cannot afford another batting debacle at The Oval, there is no time like the present.


Possible squad 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Mark Butcher, 3 Nasser Hussain, 4 Marcus Trescothick, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Alec Stewart (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Martin Bicknell, 10 James Kirtley, 11 Steve Kirby, 12 James Anderson, 13 Steve Harmison

[Donny]

Jaques Kallis warmed up the bowling arm in the 4th. Test with 9 wickets and has now got his batting in order with a commanding 141 n.o. against Derby.

Mark Boucher (89) was also in good form as he and Kallis added 161 for the 5th. wicket in a total of 5/317.

Paul Havell took 4/77.

[Donny]

SA declared on 7/460 with Kallis making 200 and a newcomer, Thami Tsolekile, getting 90.

Derby are 3/63 at stumps. Charl Willoughby has 3/20.

[Donny]

Thorpe back at last
Steven Lynch - August 31, 2003

Graham Thorpe has been recalled to the England squad for the fifth npower Test against South Africa, which starts at The Oval on Thursday (Sept 4).

Thorpe, 34, has been missing from the team since he dropped out after the Lord's Test against India last year for personal reasons connected with the break-up of his marriage. He also withdrew from last winter's Ashes tour, after originally being selected. But now, with England needing a last-ditch victory to square the series and a broken toe suffered at Headingley ruling Nasser Hussain out, Thorpe is back, to add to his tally of 5109 runs from 77 Tests.

The only other change from the squad for the previous Test is the recall of Gareth Batty, the combative Worcestershire offspinner, instead of James Kirtley, who has been ruled out by shin-splints. Batty, 25, has not won a Test cap yet but did play two ODIs in Australia last winter, and was named in the squad for the third Test at Trent Bridge but released before the match.

Martin Bicknell has been included subject to fitness for what will be, if he plays, his first Test on his home ground. He will test out his hamstring injury by playing for Surrey in their National League one-dayer against Yorkshire today. Ashley Giles and Stephen Harmison, who were in the 13 for Headingley but left out on the morning of the match, are retained, and both are likely to play at The Oval. There are four Surrey men in the squad (and Batty used to play for them), including Alec Stewart who will be playing his 133rd and final Test match in front of his home crowd.

Ed Smith, who has disappointed in three innings after his first-up 64 against South Africa at Trent Bridge, retains his place. It would have been harsh to jettison him after the pitches served up for the matches at Nottingham and Leeds, but he needs a score on what is expected to be a much better batting track at The Oval if he is to cement a winter-tour spot.

David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, explained the changes: "We have chosen Graham Thorpe as a like-for-like replacement for Nasser Hussain. Graham is a proven performer at Test level and I'm sure that he will relish the challenge.

"We will need to take 20 wickets in the match in order to square the series, and the inclusion of Gareth Batty is designed to give us more bowling options at The Oval."

England squad for The Oval Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Ed Smith, Alec Stewart (wk), Andy Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Gareth Batty, Martin Bicknell, Kabir Ali, Stephen Harmison, James Anderson.

[Donny]

The tributes start as Stewart nears his final fling
Wisden CricInfo staff - September 1, 2003

Alec Stewart's illustrious England career will finally come to an end after the fifth Test against South Africa at The Oval, back where it all began with Surrey 22 years ago. It will be Stewart's 133rd Test, 15 more than Graham Gooch, whose record for the most England caps Stewart passed last year. And even before his final fling has begun, the tributes have started pouring in.

Keith Medlycott, the Surrey coach, said: "I played with him in 1984 and he's still going now - it's remarkable really. You can only have quality impressions of a guy like that. He's as good a professional as can be. The way he trains is impeccable, the way he prepares is impeccable and the way he plays is impeccable, he's like the Alan Shearer of cricket.

"He has been such a valuable servant for club and country that I think people have taken him for granted sometimes. People have gone on about the next Ian Botham ever since he retired, but they forget we have had Alec Stewart. He's as good an allrounder as there has been in the world for the last 10 or 12 years - and I'm not talking about his bowling."

Medlycott continued: "A lot of people have been wanting him out of the England set-up for a while now, but we won't appreciate him fully until we realise what we are missing. It's right that a player of his stature has gone out on his own terms, and we are going to see how big a gap needs to be filled over the next couple of years."

David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors, claimed Stewart has never been in better touch, thanks to Duncan Fletcher, the England coach. "He has developed as a cricketer over the last few years because of his work with Duncan and I think he's a better player now than he's ever been during his career." Graveney continued: "He has played a big part in balancing the side over all these years and he continues to be an outstanding allround cricketer for England. The country will owe him a huge debt when he does retire at the end of this series. He has set the standards in terms of fitness and he is 40 going on 30 even now. He doesn't give anything to chance and is hugely professional in his preparation and in the manner he plays the game."

Mark Butcher, who won't have been on Stewart's Christmas card list after he divorced his sister, didn't let family politics cloud his judgment on Stewart. "His standards remain high. If there has been any surrender to the ageing process it has not been anywhere near enough to cost him his place. Where he continues to stand out, though, is through his batting which none of the pretenders to his throne can yet match. He keeps on churning the runs out and there's no-one in the country to touch him in that regard."

Fletcher himself was also full of praise: "I really believe he is one of our few world-class players. He's kept wicket magnificently and I think he's got better and better. Over the last two or three years his batting has improved and the thing that has impressed me most of all is his professionalism as a role model to the younger guys off and on the field.

"He's been a great servant to English cricket and I really respect his ability and what he's contributed and the help he's given me when I've needed it. It's always nice to get out at the top, but there's nothing worse than when a guy leaves the game bitter and that normally happens when you've left your decision too late."

So what of the man himself? Well, Stewart was as pragmatic as ever. "The important thing," he said, "without sounding too blase about it, is that we win well and make up for a poor defeat at Headingley and square the series." And only then will he allow his thoughts to look back on a distinguished 14 years at the top with England: "After that I can sit down in the dressing-room when it is all over and look back on what has been a very good career."

[Donny]

South Africa have the edge ahead of Oval showdown
Andrew Miller - September 3, 2003

In 2000, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh strode off the pitch - arm-in-arm, unvanquished even in defeat. In 2001, Mike Atherton sloped back to the pavilion with a bashful wave of the bat. And in 2003, it will be Alec Stewart's turn to take his leave of the game - once again at The Oval, where the Hobbs Gates are fast becoming the Pearly Gates of Test cricket.


But as Stewart has been keen to point out this week, it ain't over until it's over. England have a Test match to win and a series to square, and all thoughts of retirement have been emphatically postponed until the final ball has been bowled.


Even as Stewart marches smartly towards the exit, however, Graham Thorpe is being ushered back into centre stage. Maybe, from the series point of view, Thorpe's rehabilitation has come two Tests too late, but with Nasser Hussain ruled out by a broken toe his return could not be denied any longer.

A year away from international cricket is a lot of ground to make up in five days, but Thorpe cut a relaxed figure in his pre-match press call, pronouncing himself "a changed man" since his recent and much-publicised traumas. On face value at the very least, it would be churlish to disagree.


Between them, Stewart and Thorpe represent England's sole survivors of the Oval match in 1994, the last time South Africa played a Test there. Then, as now, it was a case of victory or bust for England, and thanks to one of the great spells of hostile fast bowling - Devon Malcolm's 9 for 57 in the second innings - the series was squared at the last gasp.


A repeat performance seems unlikely, as England's decimated bowling resources have been cruelly exposed in this series so far. On two substandard pitches at Trent Bridge and Headingley, South Africa still managed to carry both matches into the fifth day - winning one against the odds, and losing the other against the toss. At The Oval, on the other hand, the groundsman has prepared a Yellow Brick Road of a wicket to compensate for what has gone before, and the prospects of England taking 20 wickets in the match are as stunted as a munchkin.

For the second time this summer, Gareth Batty has been released from the squad early, leaving Ashley Giles as England's solitary spinner. He will return to the side at the expense of either Martin Bicknell, who started brightly at Headingley but was later troubled by his 34-year-old hamstrings, or more likely Kabir Ali, who picked up five wickets on his debut, but who, at 22, so far lacks the guile to compensate for his lack of pace at this level.


All of which leaves the burden of Malcolm's legacy on Steve Harmison's willing but erratic shoulders. But five wickets in 83 overs so far this series is not an auspicious return, and unless James Anderson rediscovers his Midas touch (or Andrew Flintoff develops his own, overdue, version), England are destined to struggle for penetration.



South Africa, without a shadow of doubt, are better equipped to cope, especially as they need only a draw to secure their first series win in England since readmission. In Shaun Pollock, they have a man who can be relied on to locate the perfect length and revel in it, while Makhaya Ntini has been snapping at the batsmen's midriffs all series, and is the perfect probe for the conditions.


Pollock, who missed the Headingley Test to attend the birth of his daughter, is currently one away from becoming the second South African, after Allan Donald, to take 300 Test wickets. His return will further strengthen the waggiest tail this side of Sydney, in which Andrew Hall and even the impish Paul Adams have been instrumental. Hall's unbeaten 99 at Headingley was the piece de resistance of his wonderfully unlikely success story. As bowlers, he and Jacques Kallis will find less assistance at The Oval, but variety has been the spice of South Africa's success.


England, to a man, have points to prove in this Test. Michael Vaughan currently averages 17.33 as England's captain, and needs a score if only for his peace of mind. Ed Smith started brightly with 64 on debut, but two ducks and a 7 have since earmarked him as this year's Aftab Habib. But it is the form and frame of mind of Marcus Trescothick that continues to generate the most debate.


Since he relinquished England's dominant position at Headingley by accepting an offer for bad light, the knives have been out for Trescothick like never before. It has been pointed out, not entirely unreasonably, that his average against South Africa and Australia - who possess penetrative new-ball attacks - is 29, as opposed to 50-plus against the rest of the world.

Given England's parlous position - and the inevitability of Vaughan choosing to bat first if he wins the toss - maybe it is time for England to play that trick that has often been mooted, but never dared. Let the Gaffer loose, for one last hurrah, as the opening batsman he has always preferred to be, and hold Tresco back to lay into the softer ball in the middle of the innings.


Probable teams
England 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Graham Thorpe, 5 Ed Smith, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Alec Stewart (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Martin Bicknell, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson.

South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Gary Kirsten, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Neil McKenzie, 6 Jacques Rudolph, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Andrew Hall, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Paul Adams.

[Donny]

The Proteas won the toss and, after 13 overs, are 0/54 with Gibbs on 31 and Smith, 17.

[HAL]

Tell me more.

[Donny]

After 20 overs, SA are 1/78 with Gibbs going well on 37. Smith was run out for 18 by Vaughan.

[Donny]

S.A. 1/122 and in no discomfort.

It's sad to see bowlers under orders to bowl wide of off stump, hoping for mistakes. As Ian Botham just said, "Perhaps they're trying to bore them out"

[Donny]

S.A. 1/122 and in no discomfort.

It's sad to see bowlers under orders to bowl wide of off stump, hoping for mistakes. As Ian Botham just said, "Perhaps they're trying to bore them out"

[Donny]

They relentlessly move on to 1/200. Kirsten is 67 and Gibbs is facing on 98.

Brings up his ton with a lofted 4 from Vaughan. 102 n.o.

[HAL]

What else do they do?

[Donny]

Tea comes up and S.A. have moved on to 1/230.

Gibbs 122 and Kirsten 71.

[Donny]

At stumps, S.A. are sitting comfortably on 4/362 after an excellent partnership of 227 from Gibbs (183) and Kirsten (90).

Gibbs hit 146 in boundaries which reflects the poor lines of the English attack as much as his ability to plunder it. Flintoff was probably the worst offender, going for 73 from his 14 overs.

A wicket just on stumps (McKenzie for 9) was little compensation for the tired Englishmen. Kallis looks ready to pounce, tomorrow. He's on 32 n.o. and with Rudolph, Boucher, Pollock and Hall to come, the Proteas would be looking to declare some time after tea on around 600.