Playthrough - England in the 1990s... and beyond

[Aislabie]

England vs West Indies - First Test at Headingley

England XI
Graham Gooch
Alec Stewart
Michael Atherton
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Chris Lewis
Jack Russell
Phillip DeFreitas
Darren Gough
Angus Fraser
Phil Tufnell

West Indies XI
Carl Hooper
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Jimmy Adams
Keith Arthurton
Richie Richardson
Junior Murray
Ian Bishop
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh
Kenny Benjamin

- - -

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

The new era of English cricket - the Hick era, all being well - starts against a once-great West Indian team that is now very dependent on its fast bowling. The fast bowlers have always been the cornerstone of the West Indians' success, but to remain the world's top team they could really have done with a new generation of batsmen to replace the likes of Richards, Greenidge and Haynes. Instead, they start the series with Carl Hooper opening the batting, which isn't quite the same thing.

At least the West Indian batsmen were lucky enough to start their series on an absolute road of a wicket. And so it transpired, with both West Indian openers posting centuries on a day where the English bowlers took not a single wicket - a most inauspicious start to the Hick era. As far as positives go, things pretty much topped out when Phillip DeFreitas stopped Brian Lara from becoming the innings' third centurion, after which the wickets finally started to flow. Not fast enough to stop West Indies posting a massive 559 runs before being bowled out, but still - it was something. One notable achievement for England came when Chris Lewis trapped Kenny Benjamin LBW to claim his 100th Test wicket - he is now England's 33rd-highest all-time wicket taker.

The trouble is, a big total on the board and a slightly wearing wicket is exactly the sort of situation this West Indian bowling attack was made for; the four-man pace battery is an imposing prospect for any batsman, and the English batsmen were no different. Frustratingly, three of them did make starts: Stewart (49), Smith (52) and Hick (49 again) all made good starts to their innings, then each fell to a West Indian fast man. With all five main batsmen back in the pavilion and another 160 runs needed just to avoid the follow-on, it was just too big of an ask for Lewis and Russell on this occasion. By the end of the session, England were following on.

At their second attempt, they did considerably better with bat in hand. The ageing Gooch rolled back the years with a pleasing 73, before being completely upstaged by his opening partner. It might have been for a futile losing cause, but Alec Stewart's 11th Test century demonstrated that these West Indian bowlers could be tamed if England showed enough patience. One can but wish that the third-highest score of the innings was a bit more than Mike Atherton's 26. A classic England collapse was not what the doctor ordered. Stewart's innings was enough to force the West Indies to bat again, but not enough to leave them a chase that could prove challenging.

Fraser and DeFreitas each claimed an opener to add to their Test wickets collection, but it was scant - and belated - reward for their hours of first-innings toil.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I'm also adding a Player of the Season award in the style of the Allan Border Medal - the Barrington Medal.

Spoiler: Points system

Drawn or lost match
Best player - 3 points
2nd best player - 2 points
3rd best player - 1 point

Won match
Best player - 5 points
2nd best player - 3 points
3rd best player - 2 points
4th best player - 1 point

Standings
1. Alec Stewart - 3 points (+3)
2. Chris Lewis - 2 points (+2)
3. Graham Gooch - 1 point (+1)

 

[Ed Smith]

Well, that's a hiding worse than some of mine

 

[ddrap14]

Sherwin Cooper

Uh....

 

[Aislabie]

Well, that's a hiding worse than some of mine

It wasn't a particularly fun one. Trouble is, I've rather lost my grip on the bowling attack. I want to transition to the new generation of quicks, but that's pretty hard to do if they refuse to take wickets. I can't just keep picking them because I know they're good in real life

Uh....

Looks like a typo slipped through the net

 

[Ed Smith]

It wasn't a particularly fun one. Trouble is, I've rather lost my grip on the bowling attack. I want to transition to the new generation of quicks, but that's pretty hard to do if they refuse to take wickets. I can't just keep picking them because I know they're good in real life


Looks like a typo slipped through the net

Aye I know what you mean. But I'm 100% sure that's what I'd do in your position

 

[Aislabie]

England (0) vs (1) West Indies - Second Test at Lord's

England XI
Graham Gooch
Alec Stewart
Mark Ramprakash
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Chris Lewis
Jack Russell
Phillip DeFreitas
Angus Fraser
Richard Johnson (debut)
Phil Tufnell

West Indies XI
Carl Hooper
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Jimmy Adams
Richie Richardson
Keith Arthurton
Junior Murray
Ottis Gibson
Ian Bishop
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

- - -

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

Changes abound on both sides ahead of the Lord's Test: for the West Indies, Ottis Gibson comes in for a presumably injured Kenny Benjamin, and for England, Gough shuffles out of the team to make room for the 20-year-old Richard Johnson who becomes the latest new fast bowler to have a crack at Test cricket. Mark Ramprakash also comes into the side as Michael Atherton takes time out to visit a back specialist. He has the advantage of debuting on his home ground alongside his county teammates - although if rumours from the Middlesex dressing room are anything to go by this might not be a huge help: the Middlesex dressing room is not a welcoming place.

It seems impossible to imagine that anyone could begrudge Graham Gooch one last chance to get his name on the Lord's honours board, and right from the start he looked up for the challenge. He found excellent support from the recalled Ramprakash and reigning Barrington Medal winner Robin Smith, and reached an incredibly 26th Test century to extend his own record just before the end of the first day. The second day dawned bright and sunny, and was utterly dominated by West Indian fast bowlers: no English batsman scored more than Hick's nineteen runs on the second day, and the innings disintegrated to 276 all out.

By the end of that same day, there were significant murmurings in the press box about the English selection policy. Apparently, selecting four relatively gentle fast-medium bowlers is not the way to a happier life, and the proof could be found in another huge West Indian opening stand. Only Angus Fraser was able to stand in the way of another brace of opener centuries for the tourists, with his brace of wickets coming at an opportune yet irrelevant time. Worse though, as the English total mounted ever-higher, Richard Johnson's maiden Test wicket simply refused to arrive. Perhaps it was just too early for the 20-year-old Middlesex man, or perhaps he might have been better off as a part of a more settled bowling attack. Regardless, 124 of the West Indies' 428 runs came from his bowling.

Of course, his wicketlessness was not entirely his own fault: the pitch was very flat still. But this played right into the hands of Gooch, who looked unstoppable from the moment he picked up his bat into that trademark backlift. In the course of batting for more than an entire day for the second time in the Test match, the oldest player ever to do so in well over a century of Test cricket. What a moment for the soon-to-retire batsman. Robin Smith, who is shaping up to be Gooch's runscoring successor, joined him on the honours board with an equally impressive but infinitely less historic unbeaten 129 before Hick declared on the offchance he might be able to push for a win in the final session.

It obviously wasn't to be though, and even as the day descended into an exercise in bat-crowding and appealing, Hick still couldn't engineer a wicket for poor Richard Johnson. Two for Tufnell, but none for the debutant who finished the Test with 44 wicketless overs to his credit. Ouch.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I'm also adding a Player of the Season award in the style of the Allan Border Medal - the Barrington Medal.

Spoiler: Points system

Drawn or lost match
Best player - 3 points
2nd best player - 2 points
3rd best player - 1 point

Won match
Best player - 5 points
2nd best player - 3 points
3rd best player - 2 points
4th best player - 1 point

Standings
1. Graham Gooch - 4 points (+3)
2. Alec Stewart - 3 points
=3. Chris Lewis - 2 points
=3. Robin Smith - 2 points (+2)
5. Phillip DeFreitas - 1 points (+1)

 

[Aislabie]

England (0) vs (1) West Indies - Third Test at Edgbaston

England XI
Graham Gooch
Alec Stewart
Michael Atherton
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Chris Lewis
Jack Russell
Phillip DeFreitas
Darren Gough
Phil Tufnell
Devon Malcolm

West Indies XI
Carl Hooper
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Jimmy Adams
Richie Richardson
Keith Arthurton
Junior Murray
Ian Bishop
Kenny Benjamin
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

- - -

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

Coming into the third Test at Edgbaston, it was clear that England very much needed to start winning Test matches lest their series winning streak come under threat. With that in mind, recalls were given to both Gough and Malcolm, while Mike Atherton also returned to the side to bat number three; there had been rumours of Graham Gooch potentially retiring after the Lord's Test, but that did not come to be. The West Indies, by comparison, had momentum on their side and a potent four-man pace attack at their disposal.

After the West Indies won the toss and opted to bat first, Devon Malcolm immediately rewarded the English team management with an excellent wicket of the in-form Sherwin Campbell. This brought Brian Lara to the middle, and it was immediately obvious that he was batting on a completely different plane to those around him: while Carl Hooper (laboured to 32) and Junior Murray (46, mostly off the edge) were the West Indies' next-highest scorers, Lara breezed his way to a three-hour century before being dismissed quite against the run of play by a turning delivery from Tufnell. The result was that the West Indies were bowled out on the last ball of the first day for 275 - not a bad effort given the conditions, but an effort built almost entirely on the back of Lara's brilliance.

Faced with conditions that were absolutely stacked in favour of the bowlers, the England batsmen chose to go on the attack on the second morning. This meant an unusually attacking 109-run opening stand between Gooch and Stewart as they took advantage of the West Indian bowlers failing to find their radar. It was always a matter of when, and not if, they would get it right though. When they did, it was devastating - Michael Atherton was dealt a sickening blow from a bouncer that looks to have ended his Test summer, and the three batsmen who had been out on the balcony when it happened (Smith, Hick and Lewis) lasted for a combined total of 19 balls between them. Only some late-order nudging from Russell and slogging from Gough saw England past the 200 mark.

Their quick batting effort had meant that England could also make use of the helpful bowling conditions though - and by England, we mean Devon Malcolm. This was his five-over burst with the new ball: W • 4 • • • / 1 • 1 • • W / • W • • • 2 / 1 • • • 1 • / 1 • • • • •. Five overs, three for eleven - and those three wickets were Campbell, Hooper and Lara. Of course, this wasn't the end of days for the West Indies: Richie Richardson, happily embedded in the West Indian middle order, is still an excellent player and would prove it with a stellar 98 not out. But it was a line in the sand: if things got out of hand, Malcolm would come back and try to break your face. And he did come back, several times, finishing the innings with Test-best figures of seven for 86. These were the best figures by an English fast bowler since Neil Foster in 1987.

It still left the small matter of 307 runs to win with a number three not physically able to hold a bat though. Time was no issue, with almost half the game left - but still. The world's best bowling attack on not the best Test wicket. Could it be done? A less resilient England might have been bowled out for 150-odd in such a situation, but this was not that England team. This was an England team with *checks notes* Chris Lewis at number three? Alright then.

But before we got to Chris Lewis' promotion in place of the injured Atherton, we have to talk about the excellent Gooch-Stewart opening stand. They managed to successfully negotiate the 29 overs bowled by Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop and Benjamin on the third evening, with Stewart even managing to find the boundary on four separate occasions. This meant that they could start the fourth day with all ten nine wickets left and only another 244 runs needed to win. Their vigil continued for another hour that morning, with Stewart grinding his way to possibly the toughest half-century of his Test career so far. And there's a reason that he's built a reputation as a fourth-innings specialist: it's because he scores important runs in tough circumstances. And he converts: he reached his century from 207 balls with a nice drop into the leg-side; the score had reached an improbably 173 for none.

Finally, with the score on 202, Kenny Benjamin managed to trap Gooch LBW for 86. And that was the context in which Chris Lewis came to the crease. Lewis was immediately dropped at slip on nought, which was pretty funny too. He would eventually manage 23 valuable runs, the third-highest score of the innings. Russell and Hick also managed to reach the 20s, with Russell still present as England pulled off a miraculous series-levelling run-chase. Is this a series turning moment, or is this just a flash of greatness from Alec Stewart?

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I'm also adding a Player of the Season award in the style of the Allan Border Medal - the Barrington Medal.

Spoiler: Points system

Drawn or lost match
Best player - 3 points
2nd best player - 2 points
3rd best player - 1 point

Won match
Best player - 5 points
2nd best player - 3 points
3rd best player - 2 points
4th best player - 1 point

Standings
1. Alec Stewart - 8 points (+5)
2. Graham Gooch - 5 points (+1)
3. Devon Malcolm - 3 points (+3)
=4. Chris Lewis - 2 points
=4. Robin Smith - 2 points
=4. Phil Tufnell - 2 points (+2)
7. Phillip DeFreitas - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

England (1) vs (1) West Indies - Fourth Test at Old Trafford

England XI
Graham Gooch
Alec Stewart
Mark Ramprakash
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Chris Lewis
Jack Russell
Dominic Cork
Phillip DeFreitas
Phil Tufnell
Devon Malcolm

West Indies XI
Stuart Williams
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Richie Richardson
Keith Arthurton
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Junior Murray
Rajindra Dhanraj
Ian Bishop
Kenny Benjamin
Courtney Walsh

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

Two weeks on from the miracle win at Edgbaston, England arrived with small tweaks to their personnel to try to build on that momentum: Cork comes back in in place of the wicketless Gough, and Ramprakash replaces the injured Atherton. For the West Indies, there were also tweaks to the formula: Stuart Williams comes in to open the batting, Shiv Chanderpaul returns to the middle order and Rajindra Dhanraj comes in to provide... well, something resembling spin. Even though England clawed a win out of the fire at Edgbaston, it'd be a brave pundit who described them as the better side in this series so far.

Of course, resting Curtly Ambrose isn't the first thing you'd do to strengthen your bowling attack, but sometimes a man's just too tired to get wheeled out onto the field again at such short notice. Buoyed by yet another high-class fourth innings century, there looked to be no stopping Alec Stewart. His innings amassed another 85 runs before being ended by Kenny Benjamin, but during that time he was both calm and confident at the crease. He even had support: he turned out to be just one of four Englishmen to pass 60, the others being Robin Smith (74), Chris Lewis (61) and Jack Russell (80). It wasn't a dominant performance, but it was an excellent team effort that England could be very proud of. With a dozen overs left in the day, Hick decided to declare rather than leaving Tufnell and Malcolm out there to get sliced and diced by Bishop and Benjamin.

Phillip DeFreitas took full advantage of the opportunity to have back-to-back opening spells: before the close, he bowled six overs, three maidens two for five; the following morning, he added six more overs, two maidens, none for four. It was an unusually world-class spell from Daffy, and one that gave the four-man English seam attack a real platform to get into their work. Cork, DeFreitas, Malcolm and Lewis: the new first-choice seam attack? Certainly it was the first to make the West Indies look distinctly like the second-best batting team in this particular Test series. Hick did not, however, enforce the follow-on, preferring to rest his seamers and get last use of the wicket.

He chose to give his batsmen 60 overs to add as many runs as they could to their advantage in the game. As many as they could turned out to be 238 additional runs, 84 of them to Robin Smith, who batted chancelessly at a rate of better than four runs per over until a leg-break from Dhanraj of all things finally got the better of him. Regardless, by the time Hick made his second declaration of the Test, England were leading by 450 runs and the only question was whether they would be able to take ten wickets in time to force the win.

For most of the innings, it looked like a definite "yes" - Cork, DeFreitas and Malcolm ran through the entire top five (apart from Lara obviously, but he can't be human - he's too good at batting), and the West Indies hopes hinged on the adhesiveness of Lara and Chanderpaul. And in fairness, there are few better batsmen to depend upon. But then Lara departed the partnership almost immediately (Cork again) and England had their opening.

First Junior Murray fell to Cork (caught behind) - four wickets to go. From then on, it was the Devon Malcolm show. First he winkled out the surprisingly stubborn Dhanraj, then immediately blasted out Bishop, and finally got one to catch the splice of Kenny Benjamin's bat and fly to Chris Lewis in the gully. Finally, there was just one wicket between England and victory, but time was rapidly running out - especially as Chanderpaul was farming the strike expertly. At some point even Devon Malcolm needs a rest, but nobody else had that same fear factor. With three overs left, there was only one man to throw the ball to.

Three overs to go - Malcolm to Walsh - • 1 • • 1 •
Two overs to go - Tufnell to Chanderpaul - 2 • • • • •
One over to go - Malcolm to Walsh - 1

Gutting only five balls left and they'll all be to Shiv Chanderpaul.

Five balls to go - Malcolm to Chanderpaul - • • • W - A bouncer flies past his nose! Has he edged that? England appeal as one, and the umpire is convinced! His finger goes up and England take a 2-1 lead in the series.

I promise I'm not scripting these matches to end like this, it just keeps on happening.


Didn't grab the screenshot at the right point, my bad

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I'm also adding a Player of the Season award in the style of the Allan Border Medal - the Barrington Medal.

Spoiler: Points system

Drawn or lost match
Best player - 3 points
2nd best player - 2 points
3rd best player - 1 point

Won match
Best player - 5 points
2nd best player - 3 points
3rd best player - 2 points
4th best player - 1 point

Standings
1. Alec Stewart - 9 points (+1)
2. Devon Malcolm - 8 points (+5)
3. Graham Gooch - 5 points
=4. Phillip DeFreitas - 4 points (+3)
=4. Robin Smith - 4 points (+2)
=6. Chris Lewis - 2 points
=6. Phil Tufnell - 2 points

 

[Aislabie]

England (2) vs (1) West Indies - Fifth Test at The Oval

England XI
Graham Gooch
Alec Stewart
Mark Ramprakash
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Chris Lewis
Jack Russell
Mark Alleyne (debut)
Dominic Cork
Phillip DeFreitas
Devon Malcolm

West Indies XI
Stuart Williams
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Richie Richardson
Carl Hooper
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Courtney Browne
Curtly Ambrose
Ian Bishop
Kenny Benjamin
Courtney Walsh

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

With a 2-1 lead in the series, it was no surprise that England chose to strengthen their batting for the final Test of this series. What was a surprise was that it came at the expense of Phil Tufnell; he was replaced by the debutant Alleyne, whose bowling might be needed to balance out the fact that Phillip DeFreitas and Chris Lewis have bowled over 250 overs in the first four Tests of the series and must therefore be more than a little worse for wear. The West Indies also dispensed with their spinner to bring back Ambrose, which means that there are a combined nine seam bowlers in the game, of various speeds and skills. But more than that, this is Graham Gooch's final Test match.

Gooch marked the special occasion with yet another Test match fifty: his sixtieth excluding hundreds. That accomplishment matched by someone at the polar opposite point of their Test career: coming in at number eight, Mark Alleyne played with the utmost patience to build an unbeaten 56 on his Test debut. Between times, Alec Stewart (as part of yet another century stand between what might go down as England's greatest-ever opening partnership) and captain Graeme Hick also posted fifties of their own to help England to a handy first innings of 317. The workload that the West Indian bowlers have faced certainly is a heavy one, and it's possible that by this point they're a little down on pace.

By comparison, the English bowling attack was fit and firing: Cork and DeFreitas blew away the top order yet again before the ball was handed to Devon Malcolm: he added the scalps of Richardson, Chanderpaul, Browne, Ambrose and Bishop to a rapidly growing series tally that already reached 20 scalps. He also found a disciplined new bowling partner in Mark Alleyne: the Gloucestershire man sent down twelve overs, six of them maidens, and was ultimately rewarded for his patience with the Carl Hooper as his maiden Test wicket. If all of this sounds one-sided, that's probably because it was very much so: England dominated proceedings, and bowled the visitors out for a very disappointing 171.

There was one last great Gooch moment left in the locker before he bowed out: a final "daddy" hundred against the West Indies. This one, a typically excellent 159, came as part of a century stand with Alec Stewart and a double-century stand with Mark Ramprakash, whose own maiden Test ton stood up well in comparison to Gooch's 28th and final one. Gooch had guided him almost all of the way there, but fittingly Gooch had to depart (to the bowling of Bishop) and left Ramprakash to figure out the important part on his own. If the English management have any sense at all, Gooch will be straight back into the setup to coach and mentor young batsmen just as soon as he's ready to be.

Unlike the last few, there was no close finish to this Test. No overwhelming time constraints, no dicey run-chases, just an excellent, clinical display from the five-man English seam battery. DeFreitas was as disciplined as ever as he wheeled through one last long spell before he could finish his season with some deserved rest. Cork and Lewis also added two wickets each, but the surprise package was Mark Alleyne, who added nine more maidens and two more wickets to his first-innings efforts. There's something wonderfully refreshing about a bowler who sends down 52% of his overs without a run being scored. Of course that won't happen every week, but it rounded off possibly the best England debut since his fellow all-rounder in this team, Chris Lewis.

England won by 246 runs, stamping a large W next to yet another Test series.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I'm also adding a Player of the Season award in the style of the Allan Border Medal - the Barrington Medal.

Spoiler: Points system

Drawn or lost match
Best player - 3 points
2nd best player - 2 points
3rd best player - 1 point

Won match
Best player - 5 points
2nd best player - 3 points
3rd best player - 2 points
4th best player - 1 point

Standings
1. Devon Malcolm - 11 points (+3)
2. Graham Gooch - 10 points (+5)
3. Alec Stewart - 9 points
=4. Phillip DeFreitas - 4 points
=4. Robin Smith - 4 points
=6. Mark Alleyne - 2 points (+2)
=6. Chris Lewis - 2 points
=6. Phil Tufnell - 2 points
9. Mark Ramprakash - 1 point (+1)

And we have a new Barrington Medal winner: a man with 21 wickets at 16 apiece, and three five-wicket hauls in as many Tests. This summer's outstanding performance came from Devon Malcolm.

 

[morgieb]

This game almost feels too easy given how easily England seem to be beating top-tier opposition.

 

[Aislabie]

Records

Highest Innings Score
for 589 for 6 dec vs South Africa, Headingley 1994
vs 571 all out, Australia, Adelaide Oval 1991

Lowest Innings Score
for 74 all out vs Australia, The WACA 1995
vs 83 all out, West Indies, Queens Park Oval 1994

Highest Innings
for 294, Graham Gooch vs West Indies, The Oval 1991
vs 239*, Brian Lara, West Indies, Kensington Oval 1994

Best Innings Bowling
for 8 for 47, Peter Such vs India, Calcutta 1993
vs 7 for 66, Wasim Akram, Pakistan, Headingley 1992

Best Match Bowling
for 12 for 173, Phil Tufnell vs Sri Lanka, Colombo, 1993
vs 11 for 137, Wasim Akram, Pakistan, Headingley 1992

All-Time Record for Most Runs in a Series
1016 - Graham Gooch vs West Indies, 1991

Tied Test Match
Australia vs England , The WACA 1995

Partnerships
1. 202 - Graham Gooch & Alec Stewart vs West Indies 1995
2. 262 - Graham Gooch & Mike Atherton vs New Zealand 1994
3. 325 - Graham Gooch & Robin Smith vs West Indies 1991
4. 247 - Robin Smith & Graeme Hick vs Pakistan 1992
5. 176 - Graeme Hick & Jack Russell vs West Indies 1991
6. 137 - Mike Atherton & Chris Lewis vs South Africa 1994
7. 174 - Chris Lewis & Phillip DeFreitas vs Australia 1993
8. 55 - Jack Russell & Darren Gough vs Australia 1994
9. 95 - Robin Smith & Dominic Cork vs Australia 1995
10. 61 - Graham Thorpe & Peter Such vs West Indies 1994

Honours Board

vs , 1989-90
Graham Gooch - 112
Robin Smith - 101
Robin Smith - 112
Graham Gooch - 100

vs , 1990
Graham Gooch - 127
Rob Bailey - 196

vs , 1990
none

vs , 1990-91
Robin Smith - 110
Graham Gooch - 170

vs , 1991
Robin Smith - 127
Graham Gooch - 175*
Graeme Hick - 108*
Graham Gooch - 165
Graham Gooch - 294
Robin Smith - 145

vs , 1991
Alec Stewart - 166
Graeme Hick - 100

vs , 1991-92
Alec Stewart - 126*
Graham Gooch - 124
Graeme Hick - 107

vs , 1992
Graham Gooch - 103
Robin Smith - 132
Graeme Hick - 147
Graham Gooch - 150*

vs , 1992-93
Graham Gooch - 132
Alec Stewart - 151*
Mike Atherton - 147
Robin Smith - 137

vs , 1992-93
Alec Stewart - 137
Robin Smith - 102*

vs , 1993
Alec Stewart - 132
Alec Stewart - 111
Graham Gooch - 139
Chris Lewis - 114*

vs , 1993-94
Graham Gooch - 143
Alec Stewart - 156
Graham Gooch - 167
Mike Atherton - 127
Graham Thorpe - 111

vs , 1994
Mike Atherton - 117
Alec Stewart - 132
Mike Atherton - 105
Robin Smith - 191

vs , 1994
Graham Gooch - 241
Graham Gooch - 175
Mike Atherton - 242
Graeme Hick - 101
Graeme Hick - 131

vs , 1994-95
Robin Smith - 106
Alec Stewart - 159
Robin Smith - 134
Alec Stewart - 115
Mike Atherton - 157*
Robin Smith - 100
Graham Gooch - 205
Robin Smith - 204

vs , 1995
Alec Stewart - 162
Graham Gooch - 117
Graham Gooch - 135
Robin Smith - 129*
Alec Stewart - 115
Graham Gooch - 159
Mark Ramprakash - 100*


vs , 1989-90
Angus Fraser - 5 for 47
Gladstone Small - 5 for 72
Chris Lewis - 6 for 70

vs , 1990
none

vs , 1990
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 116
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 72

vs , 1990-91
Angus Fraser - 5 for 116
Devon Malcolm - 6 for 75

vs , 1991
Steve Watkin - 5 for 56
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 138
Devon Malcolm - 5 for 47
Angus Fraser - 5 for 86

vs , 1991
none

vs , 1991-92
Angus Fraser - 5 for 51
Phil Tufnell - 7 for 57

vs , 1992
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 100
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 31
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 45

vs , 1992-93
Phil Tufnell - 8 for 114
Peter Such - 8 for 47
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 72
Phil Tufnell - 6 for 167
Phil Tufnell - 7 for 171

vs , 1992-93
Phil Tufnell - 6 for 102
Phil Tufnell - 6 for 71

vs , 1993
Phil Tufnell - 7 for 105
Phillip DeFreitas - 5 for 19
Phillip DeFreitas - 5 for 62

vs , 1993-94
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 141
Peter Such - 6 for 119
Angus Fraser - 5 for 21
Phillip DeFreitas - 5 for 98

vs , 1994
Darren Gough - 5 for 50
Phillip DeFreitas - Hattrick
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 71

vs , 1994
Phil Tufnell - 7 for 124
Phil Tufnell - 6 for 117

vs , 1994-95
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 79
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 122
Phil Tufnell - 6 for 96

vs , 1995
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 97
Devon Malcolm - 7 for 86
Devon Malcolm - 5 for 68
Devon Malcolm - 5 for 46

Career Statistics
Includes all players who debuted before 1990 and played from that date onwards either in real life or in this universe.

Cap Numbers

Player	#	Debut	Last Test
Graham Gooch	461	v (1), 1975	v (5), 1995
Ian Botham	474	v (3), 1977	v (3), 1990
Mike Gatting	477	v (3), 1977-78	v (2), 1992-93
David Gower	479	v (1), 1978	v (2), 1991
John Emburey	480	v (3), 1978	v (4), 1989
Wayne Larkins	484	v (3), 1979-80	v (1), 1990
Allan Lamb	494	v (1), 1982	v (4), 1989-90
Derek Pringle	495	v (1), 1982	v (6), 1989
Eddie Hemmings	497	v (1), 1982	v (5), 1989-90
Neil Foster	502	v (3), 1983	v (1), 1992
Tim Robinson	511	v (1), 1984	v (5), 1991
Gladstone Small	521	v (2), 1986	v , 1991
Phillip DeFreitas	522	v (1), 1986-87	v (5), 1995
Neil Fairbrother	525	v (1), 1987	v (3), 1987-88
David Capel	526	v (3), 1987	v (6), 1989
Paul Jarvis	527	v (1), 1987-88	v (5), 1992
Robin Smith	530	v (4), 1988	v (5), 1995
Rob Bailey	531	v (5), 1988	v (4), 1991
Matt Maynard	532	v (5), 1988	only Test
Syd Lawrence	534	v , 1988	v , 1991
Phil Newport	535	v , 1988	v (1), 1989
Jack Russell	536	v , 1988	v (5), 1995
Angus Fraser	537	v (3), 1989	v (2), 1995
Mike Atherton	538	v (5), 1989	v (3), 1995
Devon Malcolm	539	v (5), 1989	v (5), 1995
Alan Igglesden	540	v (6), 1989	only Test
- - - - - - - - - -	- - -	- - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - -
Alec Stewart	542	v (1), 1989-90	v (5), 1995
Phil Tufnell	543	v (1), 1989-90	v (4), 1995
Chris Lewis	544	v (4), 1989-90	v (5), 1995
Graeme Hick	545	v (5), 1989-90	v (5), 1995
Martin Bicknell	546	v (3), 1990	v (4), 1991-92
Steve Watkin	547	v (1), 1991	v (2), 1991
Peter Such	548	v (3), 1991	v (4), 1994-95
Ian Salisbury	549	v (1), 1992-93	only Test
Mark Ramprakash	550	v (2), 1992-93	v (5), 1995
Dermot Reeve	551	v (3), 1992-93	only Test
Andy Caddick	552	v (2), 1993	v (1), 1994
Nasser Hussain	553	v (3), 1993	v (3), 1994
Mark Ilott	554	v (4), 1993-94	only Test
Graham Thorpe	555	v (4), 1993-94	v (4), 1994-95
Darren Gough	556	v (1), 1994	v (3), 1995
Dominic Cork	557	v (2), 1994	v (5), 1995
Richard Blakey	558	v (3), 1994	only Test
Glen Chapple	559	debut	v (5), 1994-95
Richard Johnson	560	v (2), 1995	only Test
Mark Alleyne	561	v (5), 1995	only Test

Captains

Player	Mat	W	T	D	L	First	Last
Graham Gooch	55	22	1	16	16	v (5), 1988	v (5), 1994-95
Graeme Hick	7	4	0	2	1	v (2), 1992-93	v (5), 1995

Batting & Fielding

Player	Mat	Inn	NO	Runs	Avg	100s	50s	Best	Ct	St
Mark Alleyne	1	1	1	56	∞	-	1	56*	-	-
Mike Atherton	38	70	6	2876	44.93	6	13	242	14	-
Rob Bailey	15	28	1	815	30.19	1	2	196	15	-
Martin Bicknell	4	4	0	65	16.25	-	-	48	2	-
Richard Blakey	1	2	0	58	29.00	-	-	29	1	-
Ian Botham (RET)	108	176	7	5656	33.47	14	25	208	135	-
Andy Caddick	8	14	2	166	13.83	-	-	37*	-	-
David Capel (RET)	11	18	0	293	16.27	-	2	98	4	-
Glen Chapple	2	3	0	63	21.00	-	-	30	1	-
Dominic Cork	6	8	3	116	23.20	-	-	37*	4	-
Phillip DeFreitas	35	55	5	762	15.24	-	1	82	67-
John Emburey (RET)	60	89	18	1540	21.49	-	8	75	33	-
Neil Fairbrother	4	4	0	5	1.25	-	-	3	3	-
Neil Foster (RET)	39	60	12	600	12.50	-	-	42*	13	-
Angus Fraser	49	67	11	566	10.11	-	-	34	8	-
Mike Gatting (RET)	70	121	14	4037	37.73	9	19	207	53	-
Graham Gooch (RET)	131	244	10	11242	48.04	28	60	294	147	-
Darren Gough	11	16	6	187	18.70	-	-	35*	-	-
David Gower (RET)	124	215	17	8506	42.96	15	47	215	75	-
Eddie Hemmings (RET)	13	19	3	332	20.75	-	1	95	4	-
Graeme Hick	44	79	5	2846	38.46	6	15	147	67	-
Nasser Hussain	4	7	0	124	17.71	-	-	33	8	-
Alan Igglesden	1	1	1	2	-	-	-	2*	1	-
Mark Ilott	1	2	2	26	-	-	-	25*	-	-
Paul Jarvis	10	15	4	189	17.18	-	-	35*	1	-
Richard Johnson	1	1	0	1	1.00	-	-	1	-	-
Allan Lamb (RET)	60	105	9	3224	33.58	9	12	137*	53	-
Wayne Larkins (RET)	10	19	0	348	18.31	-	-	43	5	-
Syd Lawrence	2	2	0	6	3.00	-	-	4	-	-
Chris Lewis	49	78	10	1790	26.32	1	7	114*	49	-
Devon Malcolm	30	38	10	189	6.75	-	-	14*	8	-
Matt Maynard	1	2	0	13	6.50	-	-	10	-	-
Phil Newport	2	3	0	70	23.33	-	-	36	1	-
Derek Pringle (RET)	21	36	3	512	15.51	-	2	66	7	-
Mark Ramprakash	11	21	2	694	36.56	1	6	100*	-	-
Dermot Reeve	1	2	0	12	6.00	-	-	6	-	-
Tim Robinson (RET)	41	71	6	2362	36.33	4	12	175	14	-
Jack Russell	66	111	26	2893	34.04	1	16	128*	176	17
Ian Salisbury	1	1	0	21	21.00	-	-	21	-	-
Gladstone Small (RET)	20	26	7	382	20.10	-	2	59	2	-
Robin Smith	65	120	10	5474	49.76	16	28	204	19	-
Alec Stewart	40	78	4	3566	48.19	12	11	166	11	-
Peter Such	11	14	6	45	5.63	-	-	14*	4	-
Graham Thorpe	7	12	1	441	40.09	1	1	4	-
Phil Tufnell	50	60	15	255	5.67	-	-	36	12	-
Steve Watkin	2	4	0	55	13.75	-	-	27	-	-

Bowling

Player	Mat	Ovr	Runs	Wkts	Avg	Econ	5WI	10WM	Best
Mark Alleyne	29	51	3	17.00	1.76	-	-	2/27
Mike Atherton	38	127	495	13	38.08	3.9	-	-	3/32
Rob Bailey	15	43	175	2	87.50	4.1	-	-	1/0
Martin Bicknell	4	191	469	11	42.63	2.5	-	-	3/72
Richard Blakey	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ian Botham (RET)	108	3779	11223	400	28.13	3.0	27	4	8/34
Andy Caddick	8	329	875	21	41.67	2.7	-	-	4/71
David Capel (RET)	11	209	628	12	52.33	3.0	-	-	2/13
Glen Chapple	2	85	276	5	55.20	3.2	-	-	3/99
Dominic Cork	6	230	601	18	33.39	2.6	-	-	3/50
Phillip DeFreitas	35	1291	3452	103	33.51	2.7	4	1	5/19
John Emburey (RET)	60	2371	5105	138	36.99	2.1	6	-	7/78
Neil Fairbrother	4	2	9	0	-	4.5	-	-	-
Neil Foster (RET)	39	1451	3902	115	33.93	2.7	5	1	8/107
Angus Fraser	49	2007	4849	144	33.67	2.4	4	-	5/21
Mike Gatting (RET)	70	125	317	4	79.25	2.5	-	-	1/14
Graham Gooch (RET)	131	306	740	17	43.53	2.4	-	-	2/12
Darren Gough	11	426	1077	23	46.83	2.5	1	-	5/50
David Gower (RET)	124	6	20	1	20.00	3.3	-	-	1/1
Eddie Hemmings (RET)	13	513	1454	31	46.90	2.8	-	-	4/90
Graeme Hick	44	162	529	11	48.09	3.3	-	-	3/38
Nasser Hussain	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alan Igglesden	1	37	146	3	48.67	3.9	-	-	2/91
Mark Ilott	1	38	127	1	127.00	3.3	-	-	1/106
Paul Jarvis	10	359	1069	26	41.12	3.0	-	-	4/50
Richard Johnson	1	44	155	0	-	3.5	-	-	-
Allan Lamb (RET)	60	5	23	1	23.00	4.6	-	-	1/6
Wayne Larkins (RET)	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Syd Lawrence	2	68	223	4	55.75	3.3	-	-	2/74
Chris Lewis	49	1431	3814	110	34.67	2.7	1	-	6/70
Devon Malcolm	30	1096	3483	117	29.77	3.2	5	-	7/86
Matt Maynard	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Phil Newport	2	92	339	9	37.66	3.7	-	-	4/87
Derek Pringle (RET)	21	625	1807	48	37.64	2.9	2	-	5/95
Mark Ramprakash	11	1	2	0	-	2.0	-	-	-
Dermot Reeve	1	14	39	0	-	2.8	-	-	-
Tim Robinson (RET)	41	1	0	0	-	0.0	-	-	-
Jack Russell	66	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ian Salisbury	1	13	76	0	-	5.9	-	-	-
Gladstone Small (RET)	20	784	1980	60	33.00	2.5	3	-	5/48
Robin Smith	65	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alec Stewart	40	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Peter Such	11	557	1614	49	32.94	2.9	2	-	8/47
Graham Thorpe	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Phil Tufnell	50	2510	7028	251	27.56	2.8	22	5	8/114
Steve Watkin	2	64	223	5	44.60	3.5	1	-	5/56

​

Stats and records updated, including the final career numbers of Graham Gooch:



Right-handed opening batsman, occasional medium-pace bowler

131 Test caps, debut: v (1), 1975, last Test: v (5), 1995
22 wins, 16 draws, 16 losses and 1 tie from 55 matches as captain
11,242 runs @ 48.04 (28 centuries, best 294) from 244 innings
17 wickets @ 43.53 (best 2/12) from 306 overs

Graham Gooch retires from Test cricket as arguably England's greatest batsman and captain. He's pretty much the main reason for our rise to be the world's number one Test team, and he'll be a huge hole to fill.

 

[Aislabie]

This game almost feels too easy given how easily England seem to be beating top-tier opposition.

To an extent, yes - although things are always going to be a bit easier when you've got a GOAT-rated Graham Gooch in your ranks. I'm not exaggerating either - in the 58 Tests I've played with him, he's scored 6,518 runs at 61.49 with 20 centuries and a best of 294. Gooch was good in real life, but not that good.

It's also definitely worth noting that England has the double benefit of my usually more rational selection policy, and players pretty much just not experiencing long-term injuries or anything (unless I do the research to find out when those occur). Because this is a universe where I'm God Emperor of English cricket, central contracts and a reduced county schedule would both have come in in the early 1990s, even though that's not realistic to the actual timeline we're familiar with.

And finally, I've also put in thousands of hours on Cricket Captain games, so if there are exploits and ways of getting the best out of your players, I'm probably more likely to find them than most.

That said, it's about to get considerably harder with no Gooch at the top of the order. I'll probably be looking at batting something like Atherton, Stewart, Ramprakash, Smith, Hick to start with - and Smith probably doesn't have too much longer until he retires to focus on his business interests and alcoholism (in real life, that happened in 96 - here, his career is going rather better so he might hold out until 97). The five-bowler strategy really will start to bite me soon.

 

[ddrap14]

to focus on his business interests and alcoholism

This reminds me of that description of Ed Giddins. Still my favourite Aislabie roast, despite the fact the Panesar and Worst of Test Cricket drafts exist

 

[Aislabie]

This reminds me of that description of Ed Giddins. Still my favourite Aislabie roast, despite the fact the Panesar and Worst of Test Cricket drafts exist

Thank you very much for the praise; although tbh, I probably shouldn't joke about that particular aspect of Smith's past as it's something that to a greater or lesser extent we've all been through

 

[Aislabie]

England Tour of South Africa, 1995-96

Itinerary
16 Nov 1995 - South Africa vs England - First Test at Centurion - England won by 5 wickets
30 Dec 1995 - South Africa vs England - Second Test at Wanderers - South Africa won by an innings and 22 runs
14 Dec 1995 - South Africa vs England - Third Test at Kingsmead - South Africa won by 9 wickets
26 Dec 1995 - South Africa vs England - Fourth Test at Port Elizabeth - Match drawn
02 Jan 1996- South Africa vs England - Fifth Test at Newlands - Match drawn

England Squad

Graeme Hick

Mike Atherton
Nick Knight
Mark Ramprakash
Robin Smith
Alec Stewart
Graham Thorpe

Jack Russell

Mark Alleyne
Robert Croft
Chris Lewis

Andy Caddick
Dominic Cork
Phillip DeFreitas
Angus Fraser
Darren Gough
Devon Malcolm

Phil Tufnell

With Gooch gone, there is a phenomenal hole to be filled in the England team. It looks likely that we will see a move to an Atherton-Stewart opening partnership, with Ramprakash, Smith and Hick slotting in below them. As a result, two batsmen were drafted into the squad: Nick Knight came in as a like-for-like reserve at the top of the order, while Graham Thorpe continued to cling to the fringes of the middle order. The bowling department also faced challenges: Mark Alleyne's startling debut has rather served to shore up his standing in the squad as an all-round option alongside Chris Lewis, while Andy Caddick returns due to being perceived (probably correctly) as a better player than those he replaced. As a reserve spinner, Robert Croft was chosen on account of his strengths as a batsman for Glamorgan. The most unfortunate man in all of this is Richard Blakey who, despite not doing anything wrong, finds himself on the outer as England desperately try to squeeze cover for all eventualities into an 18-man touring party. The reserve wicket-keeper will have to be Stewart.

META NOTE: I needed a little bit of a break after getting so quickly into the mid-'90s. I do feel refreshed.