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

[Aislabie]

I should ask: what is your plan with Ben in this game? We all know the sad story in real life...

If he's performing well enough to make the squad for the NZ tour, he'll keep going potentialy until about 2010-2012. If not then real life will sadly take its course.

I saved Syd Lawrence's knee earlier on too

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Wow! @Aislabie This is one of the best series and I'm hooked on it. How did you manage to start a career from 1990? Or are you playing "custom series mode" and updating stats separately?

 

[Aislabie]

Wow! @Aislabie This is one of the best series and I'm hooked on it. How did you manage to start a career from 1990? Or are you playing "custom series mode" and updating stats separately?

Yep - I'm doing All Time Greats series and then doing all the stat tracking manually

 

[Prashanth S Kharche]

Yep - I'm doing All Time Greats series and then doing all the stat tracking manually

Amazing work!

 

[Aislabie]

England vs Australia - First Test at Edgbaston

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Andy Caddick
Dean Headley
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

Australia XI
Mark Taylor
Matthew Elliott
Greg Blewett
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh
Michael Bevan
Ian Healy
Jason Gillespie
Shane Warne
Michael Kasprowicz
Glenn McGrath

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

This is the sort of Ashes series that could mark the changing of eras; the reigning number one Test team in England comes up against the fast-rising Australian team looking to win back the Ashes for the first time in a decade. The last time Australia won the Ashes, they had to beat Botham; this time, they have to win against White. If anything, the Australians come into this series as slight favourites, with McGrath and Warne and all the rest.

Indeed, even the first use of the batting conditions couldn't save England from wrath of Mike Kasprowicz; his early wickets of Stewart and Smith put England on the back foot, and despite an aggressive captain's innings of 77 from Graeme Hick, there was little joy for England fans - not just because of the regular fall of wickets, but also because when wickets weren't falling, Michael Atherton was at the crease the whole time. The first day finished with Atherton's wicket - the last of the England innings - for 87, to round out a disappointing innings of 235 all out. He was also Kasprowicz's last wicket en route to a career-best six for 47.

The second morning dawned overcast, prime conditions for England's almost entirely fast-medium bowling attack. Their efforts were met by a determined batting performance by the Australians: Steve Waugh's 90 was stellar, despite being somewhat overshadowed by a brutal short ball from Craig White that hit Greg Blewett flush on the glove. The Australian went down like a sack of spuds and did not return to bat again later. Headley, meanwhile, made full use of the conditions to really get the ball swinging and claim his first-ever Test five-for. His victims were Elliott, Bevan, Gillespie, Warne and Kasprowicz; not exactly an all-star haul, but all wickets that someone else would have had to take if he didn't.

Being behind in the game, England needed a good start from their batsmen. What they got instead was another stellar spell from Kasprowicz; he took the first four wickets of the innings (Stewart, Smith, Atherton, Thorpe) to complete ten for the match, before returning later to complete a second five-for with the wicket of Tufnell. Far from a match-turning comeback, the English batting was limp: only Atherton (32) passed thirty, although Russell may well have done had he not run out of partners. But run out of partners he did, leaving England with fewer than 100 runs to defend.

In fairness to them they put up a great fight: Headley and Mullally took four of the five wickets between them, unexpectedly exposing the tail with another 20 runs to get. Unfortunately for England, the remaining recognised batsman was Michael Bevan, who - as so often in one-day cricket - steered his team home with the absolute minimum of fuss. 1-0 Australia.

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. Dean Headley - 3 points (+3)
2. Michael Atherton - 2 points (+2)
3. Graeme Hick - 1 point (+1)

 

[Aislabie]

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

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Dean Headley
Angus Fraser
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

Australia XI
Mark Taylor
Matthew Elliott
Justin Langer
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh
Michael Bevan
Ian Healy
Paul Reiffel
Shane Warne
Michael Kasprowicz
Glenn McGrath

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

After a statement of serious intent from the touring Australians at Edgbaston, the second Test dawned with one change for each team, both coming in the form of rotation in the fast bowling department. For England, Ashes veteran Angus Fraser replaced Caddick after an unfortunate performance in the first Test; for Australia, Reiffel came in in place of Gillespie. Both teams clearly confident with their overall formula, but wanting to make small tweaks to their input values. For Australia, there was also an enforced change: with Blewett not recovered from his blow to the hand in the first Test, Justin Langer replaced him at number three.

Like the first Test, Graeme Hick opted to bat first after winning the toss, and there appeared to be no real venom in the pitch that would make batting any more difficult. Of course, it was already difficult against the likes of McGrath, Reiffel and Kasprowicz. The pick of the seam attack was Kasprowicz yet again - this time delivering 16 overs, four for 24 including the wickets of Thorpe, Russell, Fraser and Tufnell. He has formed a formidable partnership with McGrath, and even if you see them off like Atherton managed, you've got to face Shane Warne. And that was how Atherton, despite batting for four and a half hours and being the last recognised batsman, Atherton still fell marginally short of his half-century: caught Healy, bowled Warne. The MCC Members were not amused to see England take nearly three sessions to crawl to 145 all out.

You may remember the earlier point about this being a particularly benign Lord's batting wicket. While that did not particularly appear to be the case after England had batted, the Australian response served as more than an adequate reminder. Langer did a more than adequate job replacing Blewett at number three, grinding out 94 understated runs while both Waughs and Bevan carried on with much more expansive half-centuries of their own. Indeed, the English bowlers did particularly well to get the Australians out even after they had become set, but the damage was done. Even a typically energetic three-wicket burst from White couldn't make any difference to the fact that Australia had nearly tripled the English total.

Faced with little alternative, the message to the English batsmen was clearly to play as positively as they could. So positively in fact that on one occasion, Michael Atherton could be spotted swatting Steve Waugh's medium-pace for six. Not that this made a great deal of difference: McGrath, Kasprowicz and Warne were still McGrath, Kasprowicz and Warne. Thorpe and Russell both made impressive half-centuries, but could only drag England to a relatively insignificant lead of 49 runs.

This posed no problem whatsoever for the Australians, although Tufnell did impress for the first time in the series with a couple of cheap wickets. The game finished, however, when Angus Fraser misfielded a ball on the cover boundary and it consequently trickled for the four match-winning runs.

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. Dean Headley - 3 points
=1. Phil Tufnell - 3 points (+3)
=3. Michael Atherton - 2 points
=3. Graham Thorpe - 2 points (+2)
=5. Graeme Hick - 1 point
=5. Craig White - 1 points (+1)

 

[Aislabie]

England (0) vs (2) Australia - Third Test at Old Trafford

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Nasser Hussain
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake (debut)
Darren Gough
Dean Headley
Phil Tufnell

Australia XI
Mark Taylor
Matthew Elliott
Greg Blewett
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh
Michael Bevan
Ian Healy
Paul Reiffel
Shane Warne
Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath

- - -

Australia win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

Arriving at Old Trafford two down with three to play, there was a sense of panic stations in the England camp as they made three changes to their starting XI: the underperforming Robin Smith made way for Nasser Hussain, while the lower order was bolstered by debutant Ben Hollioake and the returning Darren Gough in place of Fraser and Mullally. Given the disarray displayed by England, Australia took the opportunity to rotate their quicks again - this time resting Kasprowicz to make way for Gillespie. They also showed confidence in their incumbent player by bringing back the fit-again Blewett.

This time, it was Australia who won the toss and claimed first use of a good batting track, so England's refreshed bowling attack knew that they would have to be on top of their game. Gough and Headley both started impressively, offering scarcely a bad ball to the Aussie openers before Gough was rewarded with the breakthrough: Taylor, clean bowled. The first-morning headlines did not belong to Gough though, but to the debutant Hollioake who stole the show in a single over: from the first ball he trapped Greg Blewett LBW for 17, then used the remaining five balls to torment Mark Waugh before he too fell leg-before. What a way to announce your arrival on the Test scene. His breakthroughs set the platform for Dean Headley to bowl another pair of top-quality spells: the first of which contained the wickets of Steve Waugh and Ian Healy in the space of two balls, and the second of which came after Hollioake had broken the Bevan-Reiffel stand and took the scalps of Warne, Bevan and McGrath: his second Ashes five-for.

With only 245 Australian runs to overcome, there was less scoreboard pressure than usual for the England players: they responded with an excellent team batting effort. An 87-run opening stand between Atherton (33) and Stewart (59) gave Graeme Hick to score freely on his way to an excellent 61. Meanwhile, Nasser Hussain looked at home as England's number three, putting in a suitably gritty 60 of his own. Not content with that, Craig White then played like a proper Test batsman on his way to an unbeaten 85, during which he found support from Hussain, Hollioake (32) and - unexpectedly - Tufnell (21). Between them, the England batsmen put on 381 runs, with the help of a further 20 extras to cross the 400 threshold. Without Kasprowicz, this definitely didn't look like the same Australian bowling attack.

Buoyed by a significant first-innings lead, the English bowlers were clearly motivated to make that position count. Removing Australia's entire top four before the Australian deficit had been overturned was an excellent effort, but one that was somewhat thwarted by the exceedingly wide bat of Steve Waugh (and support from Bevan). Their partnership lasted two and a half hours of play, a fact nearly as important as the runs they put on. Ultimately, both lost their wickets to Phil Tufnell, who offered a timely reminder of why he is considered one of England's greatest ever bowlers with another dominant fourth- and fifth-day bowling performance. His spin was instrumental in England needing only 199 runs to win across the last two sessions of play - but if his batting were to be similarly essential then something would have to have gone terribly wrong.

England do have in their ranks an opening batsman whose Ashes has so far been virtually scoreless, but whose reputation is built upon stellar fourth-innings performances. Alec Stewart, the Surrey right-hander, delivered under pressure yet again with a stellar 80 runs: starting relatively slowly in the afternoon session, his pace of scoring raced towards a crescendo after the break before he was pinned leg-before by Warne. At this point, England still needed another 78 to win, and it looked like time was against them. Graham Thorpe stepped on the gas pedal, picking gaps and running hard, but Ben Hollioake was the player to really turn things around. He was at the crease for less than ten minutes, but in that time scored 17 runs including a scalded six over the leg side from the bowling of Gillespie. From that point, it was never really in doubt and Thorpe saw the side home with a half-century from fewer than 50 balls. Not that this was without drama - a late burst of wickets from Warne threatened to claim a third-straight Test victory for Australia.

But with this win, England's hopes of retaining the Ashes will at least be raised, even if the road to an outright series triumph is not a straightforward one.

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 - 5 points (+5)
=1. Graham Thorpe - 5 points (+3)
=1. Phil Tufnell - 5 points (+2)
4. Dean Headley - 3 points
5. Michael Atherton - 2 points
=6. Graeme Hick - 1 point
=6. Ben Hollioake - 1 point (+1)
=6. Craig White - 1 points

 

[Aislabie]

England (1) vs (2) Australia - Fourth Test at Headingley

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Nasser Hussain
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake
Dean Headley
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

Australia XI
Mark Taylor
Matthew Elliott
Greg Blewett
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh
Ricky Ponting
Ian Healy
Paul Reiffel
Shane Warne
Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

With the green shoots of a comeback starting to show for England, all eyes were on Headingley for the fourth Test of the series. England had made one change to their team by bringing back the left-arm angle of Alan Mullally whilst sticking with Nasser Hussain over Robin Smith at number three; Australia had made the brave call to bring in the exciting Ricky Ponting in place of Michael Bevan at number six despite Bevan's excellent record against England in recent years. Will Ponting be the first batsman in this entire Ashes series to reach three figures? If he does, he'll have to wait until the England have batted as Hick wins his third toss in four Tests.

And sure enough, none of the English batsmen would make a century in the first innings. The excellent Australian bowling, helped by a lively Leeds surface, posed genuine problems to all of the English batsmen. The only three to really get on top of it were Michael Atherton (with a characteristically obdurate 41), Graeme Hick (with a captain's innings of 72) and Jack Russell (with an unbeaten 50); everyone else fell cheaply to one of Gillespie, McGrath or Warne as England were sent packing for 265 all out. If Hollioake (who made 24) can also continue bowling well, he could be a very valuable addition to the team at number eight: England added another 114 runs after the fall of the sixth wicket, something that didn't look possible when Fraser or Headley has batted in that position.

With a tricky ten-over session before lunch on the second day, Australia would certainly have been hoping to get through that period without losing any wickets. Thanks to the excellence of Headley and Mullally, the opposite occurred: both Elliott and Blewett were back in the position before the food was fully cooked. Taylor and Waugh began to rebuild with a 50 partnership, only for Action Man Craig White to leap into the game by dismissing both Waugh brothers in consecutive deliveries: Mark caught in close by Nasser Hussain and Steve pinned in front of his stumps for a golden duck. England could rightly consider themselves to be just one wicket away from a huge opportunity in the game, but the 22-year-old Ponting had other ideas. Always recognised as a hugely gifted player, he leapt into the English bowling with one of the best counter-attacking innings in recent Ashes history. He breezed to 78 at almost four runs per over, only to be stopped short of a century by a bit of Ben Hollioake magic: the perfect away swinger just clipping the top of middle and off. Hollioake struck again a few overs later, this time getting one to go through Mark Taylor's gate from around the wicket. If it hadn't been for a flashing fifty from Paul Reiffel, England might even have escaped with a first-innings lead, but 34 is not a huge deficit.

Facing the kind of batting conditions where every innings has an expiry date, Hick's England team did what Hick's England team often does and went on the attack: not only did Michael Atherton score at more than three runs per over en route to his 73 (eventually playing on trying to cut Paul Reiffel), but Graham Thorpe made a stellar century with the sort of strokeplay that will be talked about for years to come. His eighteen boundaries were littered with wristy cuts and pulls, not offering a single chance to the Australian fielders. Apart from those two batsmen, only Graeme Hick (25 off 25) passed fifteen, but so well did Thorpe play that England, defending a target of 239, may now be favourites in the match.

Sure enough, the combination of heavy northern cloud and bumpy Headingly wicket was heavily favourable to the four English seam bowlers. Dean Headley immediately made that count by dismissing Matthew Elliott for a three-ball duck, but most of the Australians guarded their wickets more dearly. Indeed, every Australian apart from Elliott and Glenn McGrath either reached double figures or faced at least 30 balls so they all got in - but the English bowlers then also got them out again. With the score on 40, Mullally bowled Mark Taylor through the gate, then took a stellar caught-and-bowled from Greg Blewett seven runs later. Mark Waugh became White's first wicket, caught at slip for 22. He was followed by his brother (LBW to White) and Ponting (bowled trying to slog Tufnell) and Australia were reeling with 110 runs still to get and only four wickets to carry them there.

One of those wickets was Paul Reiffel; his bowling has been awfully off-colour with only five wickets in three Tests, but his batting has been delivering far beyond expectations. This was another such time as he made another excellent contribution with an unbeaten 46. Throw in another few extras, and the remaining 60-ish runs would have to come from Healy and co. The wicket-keeper was clean bowled by Mullally for 15, and the innings of Warne (LBW to a Hollioake yorker for 11), Gillespie (LBW to White for nine) and McGrath (bowled Hollioake for a duck) were not enough.

England had come back from the brink to level the series at two Tests apiece.

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 Thorpe - 10 points (+5)
=2. Michael Atherton - 5 points (+3)
=2. Alec Stewart - 5 points
=2. Phil Tufnell - 5 points
=5. Dean Headley - 3 points
=5. Graeme Hick - 3 points (+2)
7. Craig White - 2 points (+1)
8. Ben Hollioake - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

England (2) vs (2) Australia - Fifth Test at The Oval

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Robin Smith
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake
Dean Headley
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

Australia XI
Mark Taylor
Matthew Elliott
Greg Blewett
Mark Waugh
Steve Waugh
Ricky Ponting
Ian Healy
Shaun Young
Shane Warne
Mike Kasprowicz
Glenn McGrath

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

Who could have seen this coming two Tests ago? A winner-take-all clash to decide the Ashes between two of the very best teams in the world. On the Australian side, changes were in order: firstly, Mike Kasprowicz came back into the side after his two stellar performances at the start of the series, and secondly the selectors proved they'd been taking plenty of drugs by picking Shaun Young to solve all their problems. On England's side, Robin Smith came back into the team for what will be his final Test match, while the talk of Darren Gough coming in to complete a rare all-seam attack under grey London skies ultimately came to nothing and Tufnell rightly retained his place.

The deciding Test started horribly for England when, before lunch on the opening day, Alan Mullally pulled up with an injured hamstring. To be without a front-line bowler so early on in the series-deciding Test was a horrible blow. Effective though they've been, neither Hollioake nor White is a new ball specialist, putting a huge workload on the oft-injured shoulders of Dean Headley. Fortunately, Tufnell came to the rescue: his 24-and-a-bit overs were profoundly fruitful: four wickets for 53 were an excellent haul for the first four sessions of a Test match. White and Hollioake struggled with their greater workload though, letting Mark Waugh and surprisingly Ian Healy run riot. Australia's benchmark of 344 was well-earned, but did come at the cost of Young, hit in the mouth by a vicious bouncer that ended his Test debut almost before it had begun.

In reply, England fared badly. Of the first six wickets to fall, only Alec Stewart (26) made it past ten. Not among those six wickets though was the England captain. Graeme Hick stood alone, a solitary batting colossus who made the game look easy - as if Australia's three main bowlers weren't McGrath, Kasprowicz and Warne. Only once did he get away with a chance, with a flashy cut-drive flying to gully's right hand but also falling safely to the grass. He hit no fewer than 22 boundaries out of the entire team's 32, and finished the disappointing innings of 222 all out on an unbeaten 126.

When the Australian openers strode out for their second innings under blazing Day Three sun, the English bowlers looked exhausted. They didn't bowl badly, but they also didn't look at any point like taking a wicket. When one of them (Tufnell) finally did, it was Mark Taylor for a determined 167. The other half of that historic, possibly series-winning triple-century opening partnership was Matthew Elliott: hitherto without so much as a fifty, he chose the perfect moment to add a one to the front of that. As soon as he had reached the milestone, Taylor declared, offering some respite to the wicketless trio of still-fit seamers.

The run-chase (a monstrosity of well over 400) was never a realistic target, but 120 overs to bat out for the draw just might have been. The usual specialists in such a situation (Atherton and Smith) failed to deliver however: the former fell in the first over to Glenn McGrath, the latter caught at slip off Kasprowicz for a career-ending 10. An inauspicious end to a stellar career, and an end that brought the England captain to the crease. He picked up where he had left off in the first innings, making all of his fellow batsmen look like amateurs by comparison. Even Shane Warne was made to look ordinary: from the 84 balls he faced off the fearsome leggie, he plundered 70 runs including thirteen boundaries (one of them a six). The only other player to show anything like that confidence came out in the penultimate session of the Test: young Ben Hollioake, the last man standing between the Australians and England's dubious tail, played excellently to reach a maiden Test fifty. He trusted his shots just as much as his defence, and on this occasion it paid dividends - but even he ultimately fell to Warne.

But Hick did not. Hick, with his second vital century of the match, saved The Ashes for England. Hick, unbeaten scorer of 298 runs across 531 balls in the Test match, saved The Ashes for England. He was the obvious man of the match, although in his post-match interview he chose to pay tribute to the retiring Robin Smith as a "modern legend of English batting."

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 Thorpe - 10 points
=2. Graeme Hick - 6 points (+3)
=2. Phil Tufnell - 6 points (+1)
=4. Michael Atherton - 5 points
=4. Alec Stewart - 5 points
=6. Dean Headley - 3 points
=6. Ben Hollioake - 3 points (+2)
8. Craig White - 2 points

Despite Hick's legendary performance, the Barrington Medal points system instead smiled on Graham Thorpe, who won the honour for the first time.



Robin Smith (Ret)
Two-time Barrington Medal winner

Debut: v (4), 1988
Last Test: v (5), 1997
6662 runs @ 49.34 (19 centuries, best 204 vs ) in 82 matches

 

[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 62 all out, India, Trent Bridge 1996

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 8 for 79, Javagal Srinath, India, Lord's 1996

Best Match Bowling
for 12 for 173, Phil Tufnell vs Sri Lanka, Colombo, 1993
vs 12 for 152, Javagal Srinath, India, Lord's 1996

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. 323 - Mike Atherton & Alec Stewart vs India 1996
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. 110 - Jack Russell & Dominic Cork vs South Africa 1995
9. 95 - Robin Smith & Dominic Cork vs Australia 1995
10. 61 - Graham Thorpe & Peter Such vs West Indies 1994

Most Test Runs for England
1. Graham Gooch - 11,242 runs @ 48.04 (28 centuries, best 294)
2. David Gower - 8,506 runs @ 42.96 (15 centuries, best 215)
3. Geoffrey Boycott - 8,114 runs @ 47.72 (22 centuries, best 246*)

Most Test Wickets for England
1. Ian Botham - 400 wickets @ 28.13 (27 5WI, best 8/34)
2. Bob Willis - 325 wickets @ 25.20 (16 5WI, best 8/43)
3. Phil Tufnell - 310 wickets @ 27.85 (24 5WI, best 8/114)

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 , 1995-96
Robin Smith - 118*
Michael Atherton - 109
Graeme Hick - 106
Graham Thorpe - 107*
Michael Atherton - 108
Graeme Hick - 113
Graham Thorpe - 114*

vs , 1996
Alec Stewart - 200
Mike Atherton - 129
Robin Smith - 117*

vs , 1996
Alec Stewart - 149
Alec Stewart - 153
Robin Smith - 104*

vs , 1996-97
Nick Knight - 247
Graham Thorpe - 106

vs , 1996-97
Graeme Hick - 110
Craig White - 104*

vs , 1997
Graham Thorpe - 116
Graeme Hick - 126*
Graeme Hick - 172*


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

vs , 1995-96
Devon Malcolm - 6 for 76
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 79
Angus Fraser - 6 for 68

vs , 1996
none

vs , 1996
Andy Caddick - 5 for 69
Darren Gough - 5 for 117

vs , 1996-97
Alan Mullally - 6 for 94
Andy Caddick - 7 for 53
Craig White - 7 for 63

vs , 1996-97
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 83

vs , 1997
Dean Headley - 5 for 75
Dean Headley - 5 for 49
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 92

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 (1), 1995-96
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	vs (5), 1997
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	vs (5), 1997
Angus Fraser	537	v (3), 1989	vs (2), 1997
Mike Atherton	538	v (5), 1989	vs (5), 1997
Devon Malcolm	539	v (5), 1989	v (3), 1996
Alan Igglesden	540	v (6), 1989	only Test
- - - - - - - - - -	- - -	- - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - -
Alec Stewart	542	v (1), 1989-90	vs (5), 1997
Phil Tufnell	543	v (1), 1989-90	vs (5), 1997
Chris Lewis	544	v (4), 1989-90	v (3), 1996
Graeme Hick	545	v (5), 1989-90	vs (5), 1997
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 (3), 1996-97
Ian Salisbury	549	v (1), 1992-93	only Test
Mark Ramprakash	550	v (2), 1992-93	v (2), 1996-97
Dermot Reeve	551	v (3), 1992-93	only Test
Andy Caddick	552	v (2), 1993	vs (1), 1997
Nasser Hussain	553	v (3), 1993	vs (4), 1997
Mark Ilott	554	v (4), 1993-94	only Test
Graham Thorpe	555	v (4), 1993-94	vs (5), 1997
Darren Gough	556	v (1), 1994	vs (3), 1997
Dominic Cork	557	v (2), 1994	v (3), 1996-97
Richard Blakey	558	v (3), 1994	v (3), 1996-97
Glen Chapple	559	v (4), 1994-95	v (1), 1996-97
Richard Johnson	560	v (2), 1995	only Test
Mark Alleyne	561	v (5), 1995	v (3), 1996-97
Robert Croft	562	v (5), 1995-96	v (3), 1996-97
Nick Knight	563	v (5), 1995-96	v (3), 1996-97
Mark Butcher	564	v (1), 1996-97	v (3), 1996-97
Alan Mullally	565	v (1), 1996-97	vs (5), 1997
John Crawley	566	v (2), 1996-97	v (3), 1996-97
Dean Headley	567	v (2), 1996-97	vs (5), 1997
Craig White	568	v (2), 1996-97	vs (5), 1997
Ben Hollioake	569	vs (3), 1997	vs (5), 1997

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	29	15	0	7	7	v (2), 1992-93	vs (5), 1997

Batting & Fielding

Player	Mat	Inn	NO	Runs	Avg	100s	50s	Best	Ct	St
Mark Alleyne	4	7	2	95	19.00	-	1	56*	4	-
Mike Atherton	56	105	8	4232	43.63	9	18	242	35	-
Rob Bailey	15	28	1	815	30.19	1	2	196	15	-
Martin Bicknell	4	4	0	65	16.25	-	-	48	2	-
Richard Blakey	4	8	2	166	27.67	-	1	50*	11	-
Ian Botham (RET)	108	176	7	5656	33.47	14	25	208	135	-
Mark Butcher	2	4	0	69	17.25	-	-	44	2	-
Andy Caddick	18	21	2	258	13.58	-	-	37*	3	-
David Capel (RET)	11	18	0	293	16.27	-	2	98	4	-
Glen Chapple	3	5	1	73	18.25	-	-	30	1	-
Dominic Cork	14	19	3	350	21.88	-	1	72	8	-
John Crawley	2	4	0	58	14.50	-	-	37	-	-
Robert Croft	3	3	0	111	37/00	-	1	54	-	-
Phillip DeFreitas	36	56	6	786	15.72	-	1	82	7	-
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	58	79	11	643	9.46	-	-	34	9	-
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	19	26	8	266	14.78	-	-	35*	1	-
David Gower (RET)	124	215	17	8506	42.96	15	47	215	75	-
Dean Headley	9	15	5	110	11.00	-	-	24	-	-
Eddie Hemmings (RET)	13	19	3	332	20.75	-	1	95	4	-
Graeme Hick	66	121	9	4677	41.76	11	26	172*	93	-
Ben Hollioake	3	6	0	150	25.00	-	1	56	1	-
Nasser Hussain	9	15	1	340	24.29	-	2	68	18	-
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	-	-
Nick Knight	4	7	0	418	59.71	1	1	247	5	-
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	56	90	12	1973	25.29	1	7	114*	61	-
Devon Malcolm	37	50	13	233	6.30	-	-	21*	11	-
Matt Maynard	1	2	0	13	6.50	-	-	10	-	-
Alan Mullally	9	10	4	46	7.67	-	-	15	2	-
Phil Newport	2	3	0	70	23.33	-	-	36	1	-
Derek Pringle (RET)	21	36	3	512	15.51	-	2	66	7	-
Mark Ramprakash	17	32	2	1047	34.90	1	9	100*	1	-
Dermot Reeve	1	2	0	12	6.00	-	-	6	-	-
Tim Robinson (RET)	41	71	6	2362	36.33	4	12	175	14	-
Jack Russell	85	142	32	3613	32.85	1	20	128*	223	22
Ian Salisbury	1	1	0	21	21.00	-	-	21	-	-
Gladstone Small (RET)	20	26	7	382	20.10	-	2	59	2	-
Robin Smith (RET)	82	152	17	6662	49.32	19	34	204	20	-
Alec Stewart	59	115	5	5078	46.16	15	17	200	15	-
Peter Such	12	15	7	47	5.88	-	-	14*	5	-
Graham Thorpe	25	45	7	1705	44.87	5	7	116	18	-
Phil Tufnell	68	86	16	381	5.44	-	-	36	18	-
Steve Watkin	2	4	0	55	13.75	-	-	27	-	-
Craig White	10	17	3	538	44.83	1	4	104*	3	-

Bowling

Player	Mat	Ovr	Runs	Wkts	Avg	Econ	5WI	10WM	Best
Mark Alleyne	4	109	307	10	30.70	2.8	-	-	2/27
Mike Atherton	56	144	500	13	38.46	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	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ian Botham (RET)	108	3779	11223	400	28.13	3.0	27	4	8/34
Mark Butcher	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Andy Caddick	18	765	2082	63	33.04	2.7	2	-	7/53
David Capel (RET)	11	209	628	12	52.33	3.0	-	-	2/13
Glen Chapple	3	128	398	6	66.33	3.1	-	-	3/99
Dominic Cork	14	522	1492	39	38.26	2.9	-	-	4/138
John Crawley	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Robert Croft	3	77	252	5	50.40	3.3	-	-	2/74
Phillip DeFreitas	36	1324	3530	104	33.94	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	58	2364	5808	176	33.00	2.5	5	-	6/68
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	19	763	2053	50	41.06	2.7	2	-	5/50
David Gower (RET)	124	6	20	1	20.00	3.3	-	-	1/1
Dean Headley	9	392	1001	35	28.60	2.6	2	-	5/49
Eddie Hemmings (RET)	13	513	1454	31	46.90	2.8	-	-	4/90
Graeme Hick	66	198	655	13	50.38	3.3	-	-	3/38
Ben Hollioake	3	122	335	9	37.22	2.7	-	-	3/47
Nasser Hussain	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	-	-	-
Nick Knight	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	56	1580	4266	123	34.68	2.7	1	-	6/70
Devon Malcolm	37	1292	4195	137	30.62	3.2	6	-	7/86
Matt Maynard	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alan Mullally	9	326	821	32	25.66	2.5	1	-	6/94
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	17	1	2	0	-	2.0	-	-	-
Dermot Reeve	1	14	39	0	-	2.8	-	-	-
Tim Robinson (RET)	41	1	0	0	-	0.0	-	-	-
Jack Russell	85	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ian Salisbury	1	13	76	0	-	5.9	-	-	-
Gladstone Small (RET)	20	784	1980	60	33.00	2.5	3	-	5/48
Robin Smith (RET)	82	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alec Stewart	59	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Peter Such	12	572	1669	50	33.38	2.9	2	-	8/47
Graham Thorpe	25	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Phil Tufnell	68	3170	9186	329	27.93	2.9	25	5	8/114
Steve Watkin	2	64	223	5	44.60	3.5	1	-	5/56
Craig White	10	348	877	39	22.49	2.5	1	-	7/63

​

Well would you look at that - I've finally updated the career stats from June. This series is back on the road

 

[Aislabie]

England Tour of West Indies, 1997-98

Itinerary
29 Jan 1998 - West Indies vs England at Sabina Park - England won by 4 wickets
13 Feb 1998 - West Indies vs England at Queen's Park Oval - Match drawn
27 Feb 1998 - West Indies vs England at Bourda - England won by 57 runs
12 Mar 1998 - West Indies vs England at Kenisington Oval - England won by 8 wickets
20 Mar 1998 - West Indies vs England at Antigua Recreation Ground - England won by 347 runs

England Squad

Graeme Hick

Mike Atherton
Mark Butcher
Nick Knight
Mark Ramprakash
Alec Stewart
Graham Thorpe

Paul Nixon
Jack Russell

Robert Croft
Ben Hollioake
Craig White

Andy Caddick
Dominic Cork
Darren Gough
Dean Headley
Alan Mullally

Phil Tufnell

There are a few changes to the England squad after the close-run Ashes series. After Robin Smith's retirement and Nasser Hussain's horror form, there is one new and one returning face in the batting department: Mark Ramprakash makes another comeback to the Test squad, while Surrey opener Mark Butcher finds himself in an England squad for the first time in his career. Meanwhile, Angus Fraser and Devon Malcolm have made way from the Test squad as younger fast bowlers become the focus of English selection policy: Caddick, Cork, Gough, Headley, Hollioake and Mullally is a promising pace battery, all of whom are still in their 20s and are seen as the future. Speaking of the future, Paul Nixon has been called up to the Test side, for the first time since I stopped using him as a meme at Steve Rhodes' expense. He may well be able to look forward to a Test debut this series as Jack Russell's hips start to complain about his incredible workload. Robert Croft is preferred to Peter Such as England's selectors prefer their second spinner to be able to bat a bit.

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies vs England - First Test at Sabina Park

West Indies XI
Stuart Williams
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Carl Hooper
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Jimmy Adams
David Williams
Nixon McLean
Ian Bishop
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Mark Butcher (debut)
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake
Dean Headley
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

- - -

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

Quite unlike real life, the two teams arrived at Sabina Park to find that the groundsman had done an excellent job of preparing the wicket for two top-quality Test teams to compete. The England team lines up with only one enforced change from how they finished the Ashes series: Mark Butcher got the nod to make his Test debut ahead of Nick Knight and Mark Ramprakash, occupying Robin Smith's vacated number three spot. There can be few scarier propositions than making your Test debut against Ambrose, Bishop and Walsh, so he will have been relieved to hear the news that Brian Charles Lara of Trinidad and Tobago had won the toss and chosen to bat first.

Williams and Campbell started frenetically, with plenty of playing and missing to the bowling of Dean Headley in particular. Despite this, the openers managed to bat for most of the morning session before an in-ducker from Craig White finally put paid to the partnership. Of course this brought the talismanic Lara to the crease, so it was quite popular with the home fans; the left-hander breezed to an utterly untroubled half-century before a moment of magic from the world's best spinner managed to get him to snick a ball outside off stump, unfussily pouched by Jack Russell. When Campbell gave the Middlesex man a caught-and-bowled from a leading edge, a dominant 168 for one had wobbled to a precarious 169 for three. A couple more wickets, one each for Tufnell and Hollioake, were enough to expose the start of West Indies' diplodocus tail. Jimmy Adams and the unimposing David Williams each made half-centuries; for the Trinidadian keeper, it was his first at the international level. Their shocking 150 partnership will have greatly frustrated the English bowlers, especially as once they broke it the rest of the tail rolled over just as they would have expected it to.

After studiously avoiding risks before tea on the second day, Atherton and Stewart had laid the platform for one of their trademark opening partnerships. Even against the fearsome fast foursome, neither batter looked troubled before a seaming short ball on the third morning was enough to draw Stewart's outside edge and fly through to Lara at slip. Despite the lack of scoreboard pressure, Mark Butcher's maiden Test innings was not hugely eye-catching as he lasted 45 minutes before edging Courtney Walsh into the slips cordon. As the English middle order fell apart, the West Indians looked comfortably ahead in the game before England had a sparkling recovery partnership of their own: Ben Hollioake (60) played superbly from number eight to partner Jack Russell (66 not out) in rescuing the innings. To trail by only 12 runs after the first innings meant that England still had every chance of forcing a positive result from the game.

Those chances were further improved by a fiery opening spell by Dean Headley in which he forced both opening batsmen into mistakes early in their innings: both were caught behind. As Lara and Hooper rebuilt the situation, a moment of magic from Hollioake broke that partnership too: Carl Hooper, clean bowled. He was promptly hit out of the attack by a ferocious Lara, playing without fear but also without an ounce of support from the other end. As the wickets kept falling, the long tail was exposed again and this time the West Indies were punished as Hollioake picked up the wickets of Williams, McLean, Bishop and Ambrose with a minimum of fuss: along with Carl Hooper earlier in the innings, they made up his maiden Test five-for.

As a result, the target for England was a mere 249 runs to win: testing against these bowlers on the fifth day, but not out of reach for a team that has become known for their last day heroics in recent years. Atherton and renowned run-chaser Stewart both fell cheaply before lunch, but after the interval Mark Butcher lent some much-needed stability to proceedings with his maiden Test half-century. Though it did not appear to be a match-winning effort, it was certainly an innings that made an England loss the least likely outcome of the match.

In the final session of the Test match, England needed 139 runs while the West Indies needed seven wickets. It would have been easy to protect the draw and live to fight another day, but that's not how Hick's England plays their cricket. Instead, Butcher and the new batsman Thorpe tried their best to be positive; immediately, Butcher became Bishop's third victim. Undaunted, Thorpe and White assembled a breezy partnership of 60 that was nonetheless slower than the rate required. With White's dismissal to Nixon McLean, it would again have been easy to write off the run-chase and bat for the draw, but Hick instead promoted Ben Hollioake to number seven: the 20-year-old made his team's intentions evident by launching McLean for an enormous six before trying and failing to do the same to Carl Hooper.

England's last recognised batsman, Jack Russell joined Thorpe in the middle. Surely, the draw? But Thorpe continued to cut loose, ramping an upper-cut for six off McLean. But that was a mere appetiser before the main course that was Carl Hooper's 13th (and final) over: first, Thorpe played a strong sweep shot for four. He then followed it with a deft square-cut. Hooper, evidently rattled, then lost his run-up and delivered a no-ball that was driven high over extra-cover for six. A further pulled six from the final ball of the over consigned Hooper to the indignity of conceding 23 runs from a single over: just two runs short of Ian Botham's Test record for a bad set of six. From this point, England were back in the driving seat and it took only one more boundary from Thorpe's bat (and some excellent running from both he and Russell) to deliver the win with only twelve minutes of play remaining.

A truly captivating Test match that absolutely could have gone either way.

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 Thorpe - 5 points (+5)
2. Ben Hollioake - 3 points (+3)
3. Jack Russell - 2 points (+2)
4. Dean Headley - 1 point (+1)

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (1) England - Second Test at Queen's Park Oval

West Indies XI
Stuart Williams
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Carl Hooper
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Jimmy Adams
David Williams
Nixon McLean
Kenny Benjamin
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Mark Butcher
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake
Dean Headley
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

- - -

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

After an unforgettable first Test match, there was only one change out of the 22 players: Kenny Benjamin coming into the West Indian team in place of Ian Bishop. Every other player across both teams was adjudged to have done more than enough to keep their place. Indeed, once Lara won the toss and again opted to bat first, it seemed that everything was set up for a carbon copy of the series' first match.

The West Indies lost only one early wicket (Stuart Williams again clean bowled by Dean Headley) before Brian Lara stamped his authority on the game. After a session in which the hosts had barely crept past 50 runs, he took full advantage of a speculative over from Tufnell to ensure that it was they who went into the lunch interval with all the momentum. He kicked on early in the afternoon session to pass 50 with nine boundaries to his name, then breezing past his century an hour later with nine more boundaries. It was not until the very end of that session that Sherwin Campbell finally passed his own half-century. The masterclass was finally ended on 115 when the bounding Ben Hollioake bowled a bouncer that just got too big on the left-hander, taking the shoulder of the bat and flying high to gully's left.

The end of that partnership marked a sea-change for the English bowlers, as they (and in particular Hollioake and White) really asserted themselves on the second day. The 20-year-old all-rounder made it back-to-back five-fors by adding the wickets of Sherwin Campbell, David Williams, Jimmy Adams and Courtney Walsh to his bag, serving as Hick's go-to man to the extent that his overs may have to be carefully managed in the second innings. Again though, the West Indies' long tail counted against them in much the same way that England's used to in the dark days of Angus Fraser batting at number eight.

As a batter, there must be few things more frustrating than surviving the hostility of Walsh and Ambrose, only to job out to Nixon McLean. Unfortunately for him, that was the story of Mark Butcher's innings: trying to repair the damage of county teammate Alec Stewart's early dismissal, he ground out a stoic 19 before unexpectedly playing around a McLean half-volley. Remarkably, his 19 and Stewart's five were the two lowest scores in England's top eight as everybody got stuck in to contribute. Of particular note among the smaller contributions were a pair of 40s from all-rounders White and Hollioake, the latter coming at a run a ball pace and including a towering six of McLean. As the pitch deteriorated to the point that even Carl Hooper's off-breaks looked dangerous, these contributions and the 14-run lead the facilitated seemed invaluable.

One great perk of being head and shoulders above the rest of the batters in your team is that if you're in a tricky spot then you can just run them out instead of being run out yourself. So it was when Lara drove a ball straight to cover and started to run; rather than committing to the errant call, he sacrificed his partner Campbell so that he could carry on batting. One might argue this to be selfish, but it was also proven to be the right decision for the team as Lara breezed to an astonishing unbeaten 152. His contribution was the backbone of his team's 301 for four declared, which left England with a pretty unattainable 287 runs to score in just over two sessions. Despite Alan Mullally's excellence, the rest of the English bowling was pretty ropey, in particular Phil Tufnell from whom more has come to be expected on the fourth and fifth days of Test matches.

There was no question of England chasing the win on such a worn surface, especially not against the West Indian pace foursome. Surprisingly, the main breakthroughs came not from Ambrose and Walsh (though they did share three between them), but from Nixon McLean and in particular Kenny Benjamin, who bowled a truly outstanding ten-over spell. England had only two notable partnerships in their entire innings: the first was a century stand between the Graemes, Hick making an accomplished 60, Thorpe a nuggety 45. The other was a tenth-wicket stand between Jack Russell and Alan Mullally. Russell, a noted stonewaller, had been promoted to number six for his blocking powers. When Mullally arrived at number eleven, Russell had only progressed to one not out, such was the abject collapse of the English lower order (six wickets crumbled away for a mere seven runs). It would be a horribly difficult 12 overs for the last pair to try to survive.

BUT THEY ONLY WENT AND BLOODY DID IT... for eleven overs. Until Russell didn't quite manage to shield Mullally from Curtly Ambrose. The huge Antiguan dug in a ferocious short ball that Mullally poked at. It flew to Chanderpaul at gully who... dropped it. That was the West Indies' one with the cricketing gods, and even Courtney Walsh couldn't break the partnership. England escaped with the hairiest of draws, and the West Indies could consider themselves exceptionally hard done by not to be 2-0 up.

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 Thorpe - 6 points (+1)
2. Ben Hollioake - 5 points (+2)
=. Jack Russell - 5 points (+3)
4. Dean Headley - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

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

West Indies XI
Stuart Williams
Sherwin Campbell
Brian Lara
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Carl Hooper
Jimmy Adams
David Williams
Ian Bishop
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh
Dinanath Ramnarine

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Mark Butcher
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Craig White
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake
Robert Croft
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

As one of the all-time great Test series continues, both teams made changes to suit the local Guyanese conditions. For the West Indies, leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine came into the team in place of McLean, while Kenny Benjamin made way for the returning Ian Bishop despite his stellar Day Five spell. For England, meanwhile, Robert Croft came into the team in place of Dean Headley as the team chose to pick two spinners - a strategy that worked particularly well when they had Peter Such at their disposal. Graeme Hick then backed up that decision by winning the all-important toss and choosing to bat first for the first time in the series.

Of course, winning the toss and batting first means sending out your batters to go and face Curtly Ambrose, a proposition that did not work out well for Alec Stewart or Mark Butcher who were both dismissed by the end of the third over. At five for two, this was the perfect moment for a captain's innings and Hick did not disappoint: a near five-hour innings in which no clear-cut chances were offered was enough to see Hick to his twelfth Test century and wrest the day back to net win for England. He did so with the support of Graham Thorpe, who is rapidly becoming England's best and most consistent run-scorer. Once they were both dismissed the innings crumbled as it so often does, but it is a huge credit to them that it did so from a position of strength, the tourists eventually finishing on a roughly par 333 all out.

Not for the first time, Ben Hollioake stepped up when needed with the ball, his twelfth wicket of the series breaking an opening partnership that had already passed 50. That said, Brian Lara at number three makes this something of a double-edged sword; on the one side, you've dismissed a set opener, but on the other hand you've just brought the world's most dangerous player to the crease. For some time, it looked as if Lara was destined for a third Test century in as many innings, only to be undone by a gloved sweep shot to the bowling of Tufnell: it ballooned up to keeper Russell, sending Lara back to the pavilion for a mere 43. This was a sign of things to come as the Test became increasingly spin-centric: between them, Tufnell and Croft shared six vital wickets as even the most dogged of Jimmy Adams half-centuries couldn't drag the hosts past 300. There was even a maiden Test wicket for Mark Butcher, brought on to bowl his medium-pace at the last wicket pair and immediately dismissing Walsh with a straight yorker half-volley.

So often in the past, Alec Stewart's finest innings have come when conditions are at their most treacherous and this Bourda Test proved no different. Accompanied most of the way by a stoic yet strokeless Michael Atherton, a sublime Stewart survived several some strong shouts for leg-before and then made his opportunity count to the fullest extent. By the end of his marathon eight-and-a-half hour innings, he had accumulated an unbeaten and unparalleled 159 runs as the West Indians tried no fewer than eight bowlers to see if they could dismiss him. They could not. After Stewart had led the players off at the end of Day Four with bat aloft, much of the talk in the media centre was about how many more runs England would need on the fifth morning before they declared.

The answer, it turned out, was no more runs. Graeme Hick bravely decided that the West Indies would not be able to chase down 297 runs on a Day Five pitch, and rolled the dice by announcing his declaration mere minutes before the scheduled start of play. This clearly unsettled the openers, with Sherwin Campbell falling for just one run in Mullally's third over. Unexpectedly, this would prove to be the only wicket to fall to a seam bowler in the fourth innings, as Robert Croft turned out to be the unlikely bowling hero with a five-wicket haul that included the essential wicket of Brian Lara as well as Chanderpaul, Stuart Williams, Adams and David Williams. Tufnell then added three tail-end scalps to his earlier wicket of Carl Hooper to secure the win with 57 runs and 40 minutes of play to spare.

A comfortable win in the end, and the first game where England could say with some confidence that they were on top throughout.

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 Thorpe - 8 points (+2)
2. Ben Hollioake - 5 points
=. Jack Russell - 5 points
=. Alec Stewart - 5 points (+5)
5. Graeme Hick - 3 points (+3)
6. Robert Croft - 1 point (+1)
=. Dean Headley - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (2) England - Fourth Test at Bridgetown

West Indies XI
Clayton Lambert
Philo Wallace
Brian Lara
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Roland Holder
Carl Hooper
David Williams
Nixon McLean
Ian Bishop
Curtly Ambrose
Courtney Walsh

England XI
Mike Atherton
Alec Stewart
Nick Knight
Graeme Hick
Graham Thorpe
Mark Ramprakash
Jack Russell
Ben Hollioake
Darren Gough
Phil Tufnell
Alan Mullally

- - -

England win the toss and choose to bat

- - -

As England go into the fourth Test needing only to take home a draw to clinch the season, they've made a couple of changes in order to do so. Out are Mark Butcher and Craig White, who both struggled for runs in the first three Tests, and in are Nick Knight and Mark Ramprakash to reinforce the batting. Also out is Robert Croft, who was not preferred to a third seamer - though many were surprised that it was Darren Gough who was preferred to Dean Headley as his replacement. Meanwhile, the home side did that thing they sometimes do where they panic and replace half of the batting order in some sort of elaborate tantrum: in this case, Clayton Lambert, Philo Wallace and Roland Holder have all been parachuted in for... some reason. They also set aside spinner Ramnarine for a return of Nixon McLean.

Brian Lara didn't miss a beat after winning the toss, immediately choosing to bat first as if he personally wanted best use of the pitch. Shockingly though, it was quite some time before he got to do so: the opening partnership was unbroken until the 29th over of the game, when Ben Hollioake angled a ball into Lambert that the left-hander turned straight into the waiting hands of Atherton in the leg-side. It was at this point that Graeme Hick's gameplan became explicitly clear: from the very first ball of the Trinidadian's innings, boundary riders were sent out and he was offered the option of a single. Not that he always took it: in yet another masterful display, he launched 22 fours and four sixes en route to a 167-ball 159 that utterly dominated the West Indian innings in which nobody else could reach 30. The English bowlers were relentless at the other end, in particular the excellent Mullally who was rewarded with excellent figures of three for 57 from his 21 and a bit overs. And all in all, the gameplan worked: the West Indies were bowled out for 316 just before the end of the first day.

The English batters knew they had two jobs: firstly to bat long, and secondly to pick up runs while they did so. If there's one person in the world who that suits perfectly, it's Michael Atherton. His innings was diametrically opposite to Lara's free-flowing masterclass, but ultimately if you bat for over eight hours against an attack that features Ambrose, Bishop and Walsh then you're doing a whole lot right. En route to his hundred, he found excellent support from Nick Knight (78), Graeme Hick (38), and Graham Thorpe (57). Once Jack Russell, Darren Gough and even Phil Tufnell had hung around for a little while, the West Indies must have been deeply regretting the lack of a specialist spinner just to take some of the overs away from the big fast bowlers. In fact, the only batter who didn't hang around was the returning Mark Ramprakash: his innings lasted just one ball, which he wafted feebly at to be caught behind.

Five and a half overs into the West Indian second innings came the biggest moment of the entire series: having already dismissed Phil Wallace caught behind, the fired-up Darren Gough had Brian Lara in his sights. He ran in hard and dug in a short, fast delivery. The fearless batter went to hook it. There was a crunch, and he went down. It was immediately obvious to all concerned that he would not be in a fit state to continue batting, and with him out of the way England were free to attack at both ends. Gough and Tufnell both absolutely starred with ball in hand: the fast man returned figures of three wickets (not including the maiming of Lara) for just 20 runs, while the spinner brought up his 26th Test five-wicket haul. For the WIndies, it was a sorry display: nobody in their top-six contributed more than Carl Hooper's 15, and if not for another surprising contribution from David Williams they would have lost comfortably by an innings.

With just 24 runs needed to win, England sent out Nick Knight and Mark Ramprakash for a little bit of a confidence booster. Ramprakash didn't get the memo at all: instead of notching up a nice 10 not out, he missed the first ball he faced from Ambrose to be trapped LBW for a king pair. Knight too was dismissed before England reached their target, trying to drive the winning runs on the up, but an eight-wicket victory to secure the series win is absolutely not to be sniffed at.

Now that the series is comfortably in the bag and Brian Lara is out of commission, it will be interesting to see which players if any the England team management choose to rest up.

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 Thorpe - 8 points
2. Darren Gough - 5 points (+5)
=. Ben Hollioake - 5 points
=. Jack Russell - 5 points
=. Alec Stewart - 5 points
6. Michael Atherton - 3 points (+3)
=. Graeme Hick - 3 points
8. Phil Tufnell - 2 points (+2)
9. Robert Croft - 1 point
=. Dean Headley - 1 point
=. Alan Mullally - 1 point (+1)