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

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe Tour of England, 2003

Itinerary
22 May 2003 - England vs Zimbabwe - First Test at Lord's - England won by 235 runs
05 Jun 2003 - England vs Zimbabwe - Second Test at Chester-le-Street - England won by an innings and 80 runs

England Squad

Nasser Hussain

Mark Butcher
Robert Key
Owais Shah
Andrew Strauss
Jim Troughton
Michael Vaughan

James Foster

Rikki Clarke
Andrew Flintoff

Kabir Ali
Jimmy Anderson
Steve Harmison
Matthew Hoggard
Simon Jones
James Kirtley
Ryan Sidebottom

Ashley Giles

With the certain knowledge of a desperately weak Zimbabwean team arriving on English shores, the ECB has stuck to their policy of trialling a vast selection of promising young players against less vaunted May tourists. On this occasion, eight debutants have been included in the 18-man Test squad. This does not include Paul Collingwood: after a very prolific winter for the ODI squad, Collingwood sustained a shoulder dislocation early in the season and was rendered unavailable. His place in the squad has been taken by Jim Troughton, who impressed everyone in his first full season with Kent and last winter with the ECB National Academy. Most of the Test squad's incumbent batters players have chosen to continue playing in the County Championship.

The captaincy has been entrusted to long-time ODI captain Nasser Hussain, who only recently returned to the Test match squad. It remains to be seen whether this is a long-term appointment for him, or if it is specifically for this series.

 

[Aislabie]

England vs Zimbabwe - First Test at Lord's

English XI
Mark Butcher
Michael Vaughan
Robert Key (debut)
Nasser Hussain
Andrew Flintoff
James Foster
Ashley Giles
Ryan Sidebottom
Steve Harmison (debut)
Matthew Hoggard
Jimmy Anderson

Zimbabwean XI
Dion Ebrahim
Mark Vermeulen
Stuart Carlisle
Grant Flower
Tatenda Taibu
Sean Ervine
Heath Streak
Andy Blignaut
Travis Friend
Ray Price
Douglas Hondo

- - -

England won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

For this least anticipated of Test matches, England fielded two debutants: Robert Key and Steve Harmison. Andrew Flintoff was listed at number five in the batting order, with no fewer than five specialist bowlers (including Ashley Giles) slated to come in below him. Clearly, the England management want to get a good look at their bowling stocks. However, after winning his first ever Test match toss, Nasser Hussain gave first use of the pitch to the English batters.

The brand new opening pair of Butcher and Vaughan started well, mounting a stand of 84 before Vaughan was trapped LBW by Ray Price. At least Butcher made his 50 before getting out, the first of two Douglas Hondo wickets in consecutive overs (the other being debutant Rob Key). In the context of the game, a lot rested on the shoulders of Nasser Hussain, but he made no mistake, and plundered an assured third Test century with support from Giles and Sidebottom at the non-striker's end. However, he surprised everybody by declaring the innings once the England total had passed 300.

With so few runs to work with, the English bowlers really had to be on their game, and they performed excellently as a unit. Most impressive was Jimmy Anderson, who claimed the wickets of Ebrahim, Vermeulen, Ervine and Friend. At the other end of the spectrum, Steve Harmison made something of a misstep on his debut in the Test arena, struggling to find his line and length, and as a result failing to take a wicket in the first innings. In the grand scheme of things though, that didn't matter: Zimbabwe were all out for 162.

At their second attempt, Butcher and Vaughan each went one better: Butcher completed a century, and Vaughan a half-century as the Zimbabwean bowlers struggled for impact. Vaughan lost his off stump to Heath Streak, which brought Robert Key to the crease. The Kent man played in much more assured fashion this time around, and had breezed to a classy 22 by the time Butcher reached his century. To everyone's surprise, Hussain declared again and set Zimbabwe a theoretically achievable 350 to win.

Of course, it was not a realistic target: the English bowlers again shared the wickets out amongst themselves, but Harmison again failed to find his maiden first-class wicket. It remains to be seen whether this will be held against him, but one must hope that such a talented bowler at least gets the second Test to prove himself. Speaking after the game, Hussain explained his declarations: "We knew we only had so long before the rain came, and we wanted to give everyone in the team the best possible chance of pushing for a Test match win before that happened."

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Mark Butcher - 5 points (+5)
2. Nasser Hussain - 3 points (+3)
3. Jimmy Anderson - 2 points (+2)
4. Matthew Hoggard - 1 point (+1)

 

[Aislabie]

England (1) vs (0) Zimbabwe - Second Test at Chester-le-Street

English XI
Mark Butcher
Andrew Strauss (debut)
Robert Key
Nasser Hussain
Owais Shah (debut)
James Foster
Ashley Giles
Kabir Ali (debut)
James Kirtley (debut)
Simon Jones
Steve Harmison

Zimbabwean XI
Dion Ebrahim
Mark Vermeulen
Stuart Carlisle
Grant Flower
Tatenda Taibu
Sean Ervine
Heath Streak
Andy Blignaut
Travis Friend
Ray Price
Douglas Hondo

- - -

Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

In the second Test, an unchanged Zimbabwe faced a much changed England: no fewer than four debutants took their places in the team, with Strauss, Shah, Ali and Kirtley taking the places of Vaughan, Flintoff, Sidebottom and Anderson. Troughton and Clarke will both have to wait for their first chances at Test cricket. This time, captain Nasser Hussain lost the toss and England were sent out into the field.

Finally, Steve Harmison got his Test wicket: an absolute thunderbolt ripping through Mark Vermeulen and toppling his middle stump at Harmison's very first attempt. However, the limelight would be stolen somewhat by debutant Kabir Ali, who took an eye-catching two for 26, and Ashley Giles who was given a nice long spell and was able to take four for 34. No Zimbabwean batter scored more than Stuart Carlisle's 37, making it three straight innings without a half-century from any touring batter.

Once again, Mark Butcher impressed with the bat: he made 74, his third straight 50+ score, while Robert Key also added a maiden Test fifty from number three. At number four, Hussain played another captain's innings: he made another unbeaten century, this time 106 from 239 deliveries. And his support came from Ashley Giles, who nudged and punched his way to a maiden Test half-century of his own. Once the Warwickshire man had reached that landmark, Hussain declared the innings once again to get his bowlers back out there.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, England already had enough runs: the bowlers once again shared the wickets around, and on this occasion the best figures belonged to Simon Jones (three for 27) and Giles again (four for 22). By this point, one really got the sense that the Zimbabwean batters had internalised their poor form and started to believe it, which was a real shame as some players, in particular Tatenda Taibu, have shown real glimpses of talent this series. Glimpses, but no returns.

It will certainly be interesting to see whether Hussain retains the captaincy against South Africa later this summer; one certainly hopes that he will.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Nasser Hussain - 6 points (+3)
2. Mark Butcher - 5 points
=. Ashley Giles - 5 points (+5)
4. Jimmy Anderson - 2 points
=. Simon Jones - 2 points (+2)
6. Kabir Ali - 1 point (+1)
=. Matthew Hoggard - 1 point

 

[Welwyn]

That Ashes series was brutal!!

 

[Aislabie]

That Ashes series was brutal!!

Yep. It just went from bad to worse to even worse.

Honestly that Australian team was just too good for me to really do anything against, and it left me with a newfound respect for Nasser being able to eke out even one win in a dead rubber (and reluctantly for Michael Vaughan being able to score about a million runs that series)

 

[Aislabie]

South Africa Tour of England, 2003

Itinerary
24 Jul 2003 - England vs South Africa - First Test at Edgbaston - England won by 1 wicket
31 Jul 2003 - England vs South Africa - Second First Test at Lord's - England won by an innings and 114 runs
14 Aug 2003 - England vs South Africa - Third Test at Trent Bridge - England won by 6 wickets
21 Aug 2003 - England vs South Africa - Fourth Test at Headingley - England won by 10 wickets
04 Sep 2003 - England vs South Africa - Fifth Test at The Oval - England won by 140 runs

England Squad

Nasser Hussain

Mark Butcher
Nick Knight
Mark Ramprakash
Graham Thorpe
Marcus Trescothick

James Foster
Chris Read

Andrew Flintoff
Graeme Swann

Kabir Ali
Jimmy Anderson
Matthew Hoggard
Simon Jones
James Kirtley
Ryan Sidebottom
Chris Silverwood

Ashley Giles

The headline news when David Graveney sat down in front of the cricketing press today was that Nasser Hussain retained his post as English Test captain for at least the near future. This is a rapid rise for a player who had until recently struggled for a place in the Test team, but it is thought that the ECB respects his tactical nous as well as his ability to mould an inexperienced team: this of course being a team that has lost the services of Alec Stewart, Graeme Hick, Alan Mullally and Phil Tufnell within a year. From the recent Zimbabwe series, Mark Butcher retains his place in the team as the form player, and may yet take Stewart's old number three slot. Of the new look seam bowling battery, only Steve Harmison lost his place in the team: Chris Silverwood preferred as the English management prefer Harmison to get regular overs for Durham. It will also be interesting to see if Ashley Giles is preferred to Graeme Swann after his masterful display of accuracy and control against Zimbabwe.

 

[Aislabie]

England vs South Africa - First Test at Edgbaston

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Mark Butcher
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Ashley Giles
Ryan Sidebottom
Simon Jones
Jimmy Anderson

South African XI
Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Boeta Dippenaar
Jacques Rudolph
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Robin Peterson
Dewald Pretorius
Makhaya Ntini
Charl Willoughby

- - -

South Africa won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

For their first testing Test of the summer, England's playing XI looked much more familiar: there were still a few new and returning faces in the form of Butcher, captain Hussain and Giles, but by and large this was a return to the tried and tested formula. Their opponent would be a highly talented South African XI, led by their youngest ever captain in Graeme Smith. They were clearly missing some first-choice players, most obviously Jacques Kallis whose shoes were being jointly filled by both Boeta Dippenaar and Dewald Pretorius, but this is still a mighty team.

With Smith winning the toss and batting, our first look was at the South African batting and it wasn't entirely flattering. Gibbs and Kirsten both fell early to the bowling of Simon Jones, before Andrew Flintoff followed that up with the wickets of both Dippenaar and Smith. At 71 for four, a huge amount was going to depend on both Jacques Rudolph and the all-rounders. The all-rounders also struggled (of them, only Robin Peterson passed 20), but Rudolph cut loose with superb strokeplay. Rudolph of course famously started his career with a dominant double-hundred in Bangladesh, and his unbeaten innings here at Edgbaston pushed his Test batting average up to 476 thanks to innings of 222*, 71 and 183* today. He couldn't have got there without a Test and first-class career best 40 from Makhaya Ntini: will England be left to rue that 111-run partnership?

In their reply, England didn't have a big score like Rudolph's to count on. Instead, their best contributions came from Marcus Trescothick (73) and Mark Butcher (42). Aside from those two players, nobody could handle the pace and menace of Ntini: riding high on the back of his batting best, he took five of the first seven English wickets to fall in an awe-inspiring spell. Then, in a bizarre few minutes of play, England went from 237 for 7 to 237 all out as Sidebottom, Jones and Anderson all managed to get out to Robin Peterson in the space of five deliveries. The contrast with Ntini's resistance was profound.

Sporting a big first innings lead, South Africa just had to go out and bat properly. The batting conditions were tricky though: Simon Jones was extracting bounce and sideways movement, and it was enough to account for Smith, Dippenaar, Boucher and Peterson over the course of the South African second innings. Unlike the first innings, South Africa's batters couldn't muster a game-defining innings: only Herschelle Gibbs reached 50, and a disciplined bowling effort from the hosts kept their target just about within reach.

For the first time in roughly a decade, England were staring down a difficult run chase without the talismanic Alec Stewart. If that phased them, they didn't show it: Nick Knight (no longer captain) started serenely, and Mark Butcher channelled his best Alec Stewart by cruising to a very fluent fifty. Neither was able to push on to three figures, Graham Thorpe picked up the mantle excellently: he looked world class for every one of his 83 runs, and it came as a total surprise to everyone when he slog-swept Robin Peterson into the hands of Ntini on the leg-side boundary. When his wicket fell, England still needed 47 runs to win and it was down to the four bowlers. Would an unlikely hero put their hand up?

Yes! Simon Jones, with the bat. He used his ungainly, crablike method to find the boundary on five vital occasions, especially off the bowling of both Pretorius and Peterson, the latter of whom he biffed for the game-winning boundary. What a performance under pressure from the Welshman.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Ashley Giles - 7 points (+2)
=. Simon Jones - 7 points (+5)
3. Nasser Hussain - 6 points
4. Mark Butcher - 5 points
5. Andrew Flintoff - 3 points (+3)
6. Jimmy Anderson - 2 points
7. Kabir Ali - 1 point
=. Matthew Hoggard - 1 point
=. Graham Thorpe - 1 point (+1)

 

[Welwyn]

I'm all here for a 75-test Simon Jones career!!

 

[Aislabie]

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

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Mark Butcher
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Ashley Giles
Ryan Sidebottom
Matthew Hoggard
Jimmy Anderson

South African XI
Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Boeta Dippenaar
Jacques Rudolph
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Andrew Hall
Paul Adams
Dewald Pretorius
Makhaya Ntini

- - -

England won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

Both sides made changes after a thrilling first Test match: for England, a simple bit of rotation in the bowling attack: Simon Jones was rested with the intention that he comes back in at Trent Bridge. For South Africa, Andrew Hall and Paul Adams come in for Charl Willoughby and Robin Peterson in the hope that it lends a bit of balance to the side. Both sides wanted to bat at the toss, but it was Hussain, and therefore England, who won the opportunity to do so.

That was an excellent decision from Hussain: although neither Knight nor Butcher was able to record a big score, it was clear from how Trescothick played that England had the best batting conditions of the summer so far. First, it was Trescothick who breezed to a century: the big left-hander crunched 13 boundaries and a six en route to a superb 122. He was finally dismissed as he tried to hit a straight ball to the leg side, but this brought Graham Thorpe to the crease with 236 runs already on the board. He watched on as Hussain passed his own century, then set to scoring some runs of his own and doing so quickly. He was very quick on the pull shot, finding the leg-side boundary as many as ten times as he made an excellent 144: the third English hundred of the innings. The innings was not declared until Thorpe was the seventh English batter dismissed, by which time Ashley Giles had also cashed in a half-century.

After spending almost two days out in the field, the South Africans looked tired and it showed in their batting: Gibbs snicked off for an eight-ball duck before Kirsten played all round a straight ball while stood in front of his stumps. Dippenaar and Smith did their best to rebuild, but the right-hander ultimately became another Test victim for Jimmy Anderson with the score on 128. Then, a pivotal moment in the series: Jacques Rudolph, at that moment averaging exactly 250 in Test cricket, tried to hook a Flintoff bouncer. He missed it, but it did not miss him. The resulting impact ultimately ruled him out of the innings, the Test, and eventually the series.

Without one of their key batters, South Africa more or less fell apart: in the first innings, they crumbled to 203 all out, and nobody was surprised when Hussain enforced the follow-on. The second innings was certainly longer as the touring side tried to hold on for an unlikely draw, but only one batter passed 30. Even more dully, that one bowler was Boeta Dippenaar, and his unbeaten 89 was not spectator-friendly. The star English bowler in the second innings was Ryan Sidebottom: the left-armer ran rampant with his third Test five-for as England romped to an innings win.

That's now eleven consecutive home Test wins.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Ashley Giles - 7 points
=. Simon Jones - 7 points
3. Nasser Hussain - 7 points (+1)
4. Mark Butcher - 5 points
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 5 points (+5)
6. Graham Thorpe - 4 points (+3)
7. Andrew Flintoff - 3 points
8. Jimmy Anderson - 2 points
=. Marcus Trescothick - 2 points (+2)
10. Kabir Ali - 1 point
=. Matthew Hoggard - 1 point

 

[Welwyn]

Seems captaincy suits Nasser

 

[Aislabie]

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

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Mark Butcher
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Ashley Giles
Ryan Sidebottom
Simon Jones
Matthew Hoggard

South African XI
Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Jacques Kallis
Boeta Dippenaar
Neil McKenzie
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Andrew Hall
Paul Adams
Makhaya Ntini

- - -

South Africa won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

The wonderful thing about having such a gifted player as Jacques Kallis is that he is able to fulfil not one, but two specialist roles in your team. As a result of his return to fitness, not only did South Africa have an upgrade on Jacques Rudolph with the bat, but also on Dewald Pretorius with the ball. As a result, there was now room to squeeze in an extra batter and so Neil McKenzie also got the call. For England, just another little shuffle of the pace bowling deck: a rested Simon Jones comes into the side in place of a resting Jimmy Anderson. With cloudy weather forecast in the second half of the game, this would be a big toss to win, and it was Graeme Smith who managed to do exactly that.

Despite getting the short straw, the English fast bowlers set to their work with all their usual levels of effort and skill, and all four of them were rewarded with a wicket before lunch on the first day. First Jones removed Gibbs, then Flintoff got Kirsten, then Hoggard dismissed Smith and finally Sidebottom bested Dippenaar to leave South Africa reeling at 58 for four. This was where that selection of an extra batter could have proved vital, because even when Hoggard made Kallis his second victim, South Africa weren't yet down and out. No, that wasn't the case until Sidebottom got his second wicket moments later. From then on, the collapse continued until a complete team performance from England had left their opponents 147 all out.

Scores of 66 from Trescothick and 73 from Butcher meant that England had pressed into the lead for the loss of only two wickets. However, a superb spell from Shaun Pollock with support from all three of his fellow seamers meant that England couldn't get completely out of sight. Their eventual total of 272 might have been almost double South Africa's, but it was "only" a lead of 125, and we've seen England come back from far worse positions in recent years. Clearly the situation demanded another vintage performance from England's bowlers to make sure this game didn't slip.

Herschelle Gibbs tried to take the initiative right away, coming out of the blocks swinging with a flurry of boundaries. It took a Flintoff in-swinger to stop the situation getting out of hand, and that pattern characterised a fascinating period of play: just as one side looked likely to take a slight advantage, the other team would wrest back control. First it had been Gibbs; then a couple more quick wickets threatened to put England back ahead. That brought strong resistance from Kallis and Dippenaar who fought right back. Then just after their partnership passed 100, Hoggard and Flintoff came back and dismissed both players. Then, as Boucher started to proffer some real resistance, Ashley Giles spun a web at the other end to bamboozle the lower order. The result of all this to-ing and fro-ing was a modest target for England of 140 runs to win.

The inclement weather on Day Four meant that the players were on and off the field at regular intervals, but between those times the broad bats of Trescothick and Hussain were clearly up to the task. Taking no undue risks, they saw England almost all the way to the target. Even some top quality South African fast bowling couldn't turn things around: it was simply too late, and Graham Thorpe sealed the series with a tidy single nudged into the leg side.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Ashley Giles - 9 points (+2)
2. Nasser Hussain - 7 points
=. Simon Jones - 7 points
4. Matthew Hoggard - 6 points (+5)
5. Mark Butcher - 5 points
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 5 points
=. Marcus Trescothick - 5 points (+3)
8. Andrew Flintoff - 4 points (+1)
=. Graham Thorpe - 4 points
10. Jimmy Anderson - 2 points
11. Kabir Ali - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

I'm all here for a 75-test Simon Jones career!!

I think it's likely that he'll end up at around the 35-Test mark. Of course, avoiding that Ashes knee injury is vital, but I don't intend to play him past the end of the 2005 Ashes, in line with when his body had had enough in real life.

Seems captaincy suits Nasser

It does! I was worried I wouldn't be able to get him into the side, and then if I did that he wouldn't make sense as a captaincy candidate, but Thorpe's marriage breakdown and Nasser's recall gave me just enough to work with. 2005 might be Nasser's Ashes!

 

[Aislabie]

England (3) vs (0) South Africa - Fourth Test at Headingley

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Mark Butcher
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Ashley Giles
Kabir Ali
Matthew Hoggard
Jimmy Anderson

South African XI
Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Jacques Kallis
Neil McKenzie
Boeta Dippenaar
Mark Boucher
Andrew Hall
Monde Zondeki
Makhaya Ntini
Dewald Pretorius

- - -

South Africa won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

Once again, England came into a Test match with a shuffled fast bowling pack: this time, Kabir Ali and Jimmy Anderson come into the side with Simon Jones and Ryan Sidebottom rested. Unusually, South Africa have taken a similar approach: with Pollock unavailable, South Africa have brought in both Zondeki and Pretorius, leaving them with no spinner in the side. All the more curious then that Smith still chose to bat first after winning the toss.

The English fast bowling efforts have been excellent all summer, but even then their start to the fourth Test has to rank as a real surprise. Hoggard and Anderson shared the wickets of Gibbs, Smith and Kirsten before the tourists reached 20, and things did not really improve. In fairly helpful conditions, Hussain relied on three of his front-line quicks, with Kabir Ali also taking two important wickets. Indeed, it came as something of a surprise when he belatedly threw the ball to Giles, but it was no surprise at all that he then immediately wrapped up the last two wickets of the innings: just 137 all out.

Despite the testing conditions, the English opening batters then added insult to injury by passing the South African total without losing a wicket. Marcus Trescothick was his usual irascible self as he made a solid 75, but for Knight this was a genuinely special innings. The experienced left-hander made his first Test century since resigning from the England captaincy, and he did it when batting was really tough. There were some punchy middle-order contributions from Thorpe and Flintoff, the latter of whom made 45 from just 41 deliveries. It was during yet another break in play on the third day that Hussain sprung yet another of his patented early declarations with England's lead at 189.

He was immediately vindicated yet again by the efforts of his fast bowlers. The South African opening batters did their best to fight through to the close, but they both failed: first Gibbs edged Flintoff through to Chris Read, then Smith was deceived by Anderson's swing. Early on the fourth morning, things went from bad to far far worse for South Africa when Kallis missed an Anderson bouncer and went down immediately. He had to be helped off the pitch and was not seen again for the rest of the game. This series was truly turning into an eventus horribilis for the South Africans.

Kirsten and McKenzie did their best to mount a proper recovery though: including the brief contribution of Kallis, the third wicket partnership contributed 125 vital runs. That hard work and genuine promise only served to make it more heartbreaking when Hoggard and Anderson returned to the bowling crease and promptly turned a position of 163 for two (effectively three) into a desperate 199 all out. Both bowlers were fantastic, but the batting really was not.

Hussain sprung one last surprise by sending himself and Andrew Flintoff out to knock off the target of just 11, which they did in just three overs with Flintoff hitting the winning run.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Ashley Giles - 9 points
=. Matthew Hoggard - 9 points (+3)
3. Jimmy Anderson - 7 points (+5)
=. Nasser Hussain - 7 points
=. Simon Jones - 7 points
6. Marcus Trescothick - 6 points (+1)
7. Mark Butcher - 5 points
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 5 points
9. Andrew Flintoff - 4 points
=. Graham Thorpe - 4 points
11. Nick Knight - 2 points (+2)
11. Kabir Ali - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

England (4) vs (0) South Africa - Fifth Test at The Oval

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Mark Butcher
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Ashley Giles
Simon Jones
Matthew Hoggard

South African XI
Graeme Smith
Herschelle Gibbs
Gary Kirsten
Neil McKenzie
Boeta Dippenaar
Mark Boucher
Shaun Pollock
Andrew Hall
Monde Zondeki
Paul Adams
Makhaya Ntini

- - -

England won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

Coming into the final Test match of the summer, there was a lot on the line. For England, the opportunity to inflict a historic five-Test whitewash on South Africa. For South Africa, the need to stand up and show that they're a better team than Bob Willis has been saying. They'll have to do it without their best player: Jacques Kallis is on the sidelines, and that's a gap in the side that can't just be plugged. All the same, Pollock and Adams come into the side for Kallis and Pretorius. England have gone ahead and picked two spinners for this Oval Test. And though most observers had expected Matthew Hoggard to be rested for this game, he will play his fourth straight Test match, this time alongside fellow seamers Jones and Flintoff.

Once again, Hussain won the toss and chose to bat first despite tricky conditions: with two spinners, giving them last use of a worn pitch would be essential. Things started shakily with another duck for Nick Knight, followed by a low score for Butcher. The situation called for a captain's innings and Hussain was able to provide half of one: his dour 52 wasn't fun to watch, but it was the perfect foil for a more expansive effort from the broad blade of Andrew Flintoff. He belted eleven boundaries on his way to an all-important 80. Plucky contributions from Read (25), Swann (31) and Giles (33) saw England almost to 300: less than one might have hoped for after winning the toss, but a good total considering that Shaun Pollock was bowling at his world class, metronomic best from one end.

And in the tricky conditions that they faced, with two of their best out of action, one can hardly blame the South African batters for struggling again. Graeme Smith looked somewhat back to his best for 70 runs at the top of the order, and Boeta Dippenaar refused to give his wicket away while all those around him were losing theirs. Unfortunately for both Smith and Dippenaar, nobody else could deal with the immaculate away swing of Matthew Hoggard. He took the wickets of Kirsten (1), McKenzie (2), Boucher (9), Pollock (3), Hall (4) and Zondeki (1) as his six-for consigned South Africa to yet another sub-200 total.

With more bad weather forecast, it was vital for England to get a wiggle on and set the game up. Two ducks (Trescothick and Butcher) definitely didn't help with that at all. For a while, all thought of quick scoring went out of the window as Knight, Hussain and then Thorpe set about making sure that the wobble didn't turn into a full-blown collapse. Once Thorpe was dismissed, bested at last by a ball Paul Adams described as an "outspinner", Flintoff came to the crease with his bat resting against his shoulder. He set about finding the boundary as often as he could, biffing 28 of them just in boundaries. It was a real shame that he was dismissed short of another Test 50, but it gave Hussain the cue he needed to wave for yet another declaration. This one left South Africa with 352 to chase, and seven hours of cricket to do it in: a real tempter.

It is a credit to Hussain's captaincy that he seems never to worry about losing: he is focussed only on trying to win Test matches. And, for the seventh time in his seven-Test tenure, he was successful: once again, Matthew Hoggard made life horribly unpleasant for the South African batters, only this time the English spinners also made a real impact with two wickets each. Even a stoic three and a half hour rearguard from Andrew Hall couldn't quite see South Africa through to the sanctuary of a draw: in the end, the tourists fell about 15 overs short, and were consigned to their first ever five-Test whitewash.

OOC: I genuinely can't quite believe that this series has gone the way it did. On paper, this should have been a very close series, one where I would most likely have favoured South Africa to take it. With the buff of being player-controlled, a 3-1 England victory would have been just about expected. 5-0 is shocking to me, and is frankly one of the silliest things to happen in this playthrough. I love it.

Spoiler: Barrington Medal Points

I've also included 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. Matthew Hoggard - 14 points (+5)
2. Ashley Giles - 10 points (+1)
3. Jimmy Anderson - 7 points
=. Andrew Flintoff - 7 points (+3)
=. Nasser Hussain - 7 points
=. Simon Jones - 7 points
7. Marcus Trescothick - 6 points
8. Mark Butcher - 5 points
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 5 points
10. Nick Knight - 4 points (+2)
=. Graham Thorpe - 4 points
12. Kabir Ali - 1 point

A stunning summer of bowling that yielded 30 wickets at 13.63 apiece were enough to bag Matthew Hoggard a well-deserved Barrington Medal despite only playing five of the summer's seven Test matches.

 

[Aislabie]

Records

Highest Innings Score
for 691 for 8 dec vs India, Trent Bridge 2002
vs 571 all out, Australia, Adelaide Oval 1991

Lowest Innings Score
for 72 all out vs Australia, Trent Bridge 2001
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

Most Test Match Runs (Progressive Record)
Graham Gooch - 11,242 runs, reached vs West Indies, 13th August 1995
expected to hold record until either 2006 (Brian Lara) or 2008 (Sachin Tendulkar)

First Test Bowler to 500 Wickets
Phil Tufnell - 500th wicket vs Sri Lanka , 15th June 2002

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

Opening Batsman Not Out in Both Innings of a Test
120* and 52* - Marcus Trescothick vs West Indies, 2000

Tied Test Match
Australia vs England , The WACA 1995

Partnerships
1. 323 - Mike Atherton & Alec Stewart vs India 1996
2. 418 - Nick Knight & Alec Stewart vs New Zealand 2002
3. 325 - Graham Gooch & Robin Smith vs West Indies 1991
4. 252 - Alec Stewart & Graham Thorpe vs Sri Lanka 2001
5. 313 - Graham Thorpe & Andrew Flintoff vs India 2002
6. 155 - Nasser Hussain & Ronnie Irani vs Zimbabwe 2000
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. 68 - Ian Salisbury & Phil Tufnell vs India 2001

Most Test Runs for England
1. Graham Gooch - 11,242 runs @ 48.04 (28 centuries, best 294)
2. Alec Stewart - 9,846 runs @ 45.58 (25 centuries, best 284)
3. David Gower - 8,506 runs @ 42.96 (15 centuries, best 215)

Most Test Wickets for England
1. Phil Tufnell - 511 wickets @ 29.81 (31 5WI, best 8/114)
2. Ian Botham - 400 wickets @ 28.13 (27 5WI, best 8/34)
3. Bob Willis - 325 wickets @ 25.20 (16 5WI, best 8/43)

Honours Board

Spoiler: Centuries

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 , 1997-98
Graeme Hick - 115
Graham Thorpe - 100
Alec Stewart - 159*
Michael Atherton - 107
Graeme Hick - 135
Graeme Hick - 100*

vs , 1998
Graeme Hick - 132
Nick Knight - 119
Nick Knight - 115
Graeme Thorpe - 111

vs , 1998
Graeme Hick - 133

vs , 1998-99
Alec Stewart - 131
Graham Thorpe - 104
Alec Stewart - 202*

vs , 1999
Michael Atherton - 119

vs , 1999-00
Nick Knight - 109*

vs , 2000
Nick Knight - 129
Nasser Hussain - 100
Marcus Trescothick - 106
Nick Knight - 106*
Mark Butcher - 118
Nasser Hussain - 103*

vs , 2000
Alec Stewart - 104
Alec Stewart - 171
Marcus Trescothick - 127
Michael Atherton - 119*
Nick Knight - 135
Marcus Trescothick - 120*

vs , 2000-01
Nick Knight - 202*
Michael Atherton - 202
Nick Knight - 152

vs , 2000-01
Nick Knight - 202
Marcus Trescothick - 100
Alec Stewart - 164
Graham Thorpe - 137
Nick Knight - 160

vs , 2001
none

vs , 2001
Nick Knight - 134
Graham Thorpe - 129*
Marcus Trescothick - 154*

vs , 2001-02
Graham Thorpe - 180
Nick Knight - 131
Alec Stewart - 188
Graham Thorpe - 100*
Marcus Trescothick - 108*

vs , 2001-02
Nick Knight - 205
Alec Stewart - 284
Graham Thorpe - 111

vs , 2002
Marcus Trescothick - 125
Graham Thorpe - 199*
Mark Ramprakash - 127*
Marcus Trescothick - 250*
Marcus Trescothick - 109
Nick Knight - 106*

vs , 2002
Nick Knight - 149
Mark Ramprakash - 125*
Marcus Trescothick - 123
Graham Thorpe - 269
Andrew Flintoff - 185
Nick Knight - 119
Marcus Trescothick - 111
Nick Knight - 156

vs , 2002-03
Nick Knight - 180
Graham Thorpe - 120*
Alec Stewart - 113
Andrew Flintoff - 125

vs , 2003
Nasser Hussain - 114*
Mark Butcher - 103*
Nasser Hussain - 106*

vs , 2003
Marcus Trescothick - 122
Nasser Hussain - 127
Graham Thorpe - 144
Nick Knight - 103
Nick Knight - 112*

Spoiler: Five-wicket hauls

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 - Hat-trick
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

vs , 1997-98
Ben Hollioake - 5 for 53
Ben Hollioake - 5 for 74
Robert Croft - 5 for 117
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 38
Dominic Cork - 5 for 59

vs , 1998
Dean Headley - 5 for 112
Dean Headley - 5 for 106
Dean Headley - 5 for 119

vs , 1998
Alan Mullally - 6 for 70

vs , 1998-99
Alan Mullally - 6 for 84
Dean Headley - 7 for 55
Alan Mullally - 5 for 76
Dean Headley - 7 for 47

vs , 1999
Dean Headley - 5 for 62
Andy Caddick - 7 for 26

vs , 1999-00
Alan Mullally - Hat-trick
Alan Mullally - 6 for 88
Alan Mullally - 6 for 90
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 114

vs , 2000
Craig White - 6 for 19

vs , 2000
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 98
Craig White - 5 for 48
Alan Mullally - 5 for 72
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 112
Martin Bicknell - 6 for 58

vs , 2000-01
Graeme Swann - 6 for 91
Alan Mullally - 5 for 73
Alan Mullally - 5 for 46

vs , 2000-01
Graeme Swann - 5 for 41

vs , 2001
Matthew Hoggard - 5 for 54

vs , 2001
Andy Caddick - 6 for 95

vs , 2001-02
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 82
Ian Salisbury - 5 for 69
Graeme Swann - 5 for 62

vs , 2001-02
Alan Mullally - 5 for 45
Ryan Sidebottom - 6 for 59

vs , 2002
Ryan Sidebottom - 5 for 70
Simon Jones - 5 for 39
Simon Jones - 6 for 63

vs , 2002
Alan Mullally - 5 for 29
Phil Tufnell - 5 for 27
Simon Jones - 7 for 68
Jimmy Anderson - 5 for 51

vs , 2002-03
Simon Jones - 6 for 108
Graeme Swann - 7 for 124
Ashley Giles - 5 for 135

vs , 2003
none

vs , 2003
Ryan Sidebottom - 5 for 55
Matthew Hoggard - 6 for 63

Career Statistics
Includes all players who debuted before 1990 and played from that date onwards either in real life or in this universe.
These stats are being reproduced from a Google Sheet here.

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	v (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	v (5), 1998
Angus Fraser	537	v (3), 1989	v ,1998
Michael Atherton	538	v (5), 1989	v (5), 2001
Devon Malcolm	539	v (5), 1989	v (3), 1996
Alan Igglesden	540	v (6), 1989	only Test
- - - - - - - - - -	- - -	- - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - -
Alec Stewart	542	v (1), 1989-90	v (5), 2002-03
Phil Tufnell	543	v (1), 1989-90	v (1), 2002
Chris Lewis	544	v (4), 1989-90	v (3), 1996
Graeme Hick	545	v (5), 1989-90	v (5), 2002-03
Martin Bicknell	546	v (3), 1990	v (2), 2000-01
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	v (3), 2001-02
Mark Ramprakash	550	v (2), 1992-93	v (3), 2002-03
Dermot Reeve	551	v (3), 1992-93	only Test
Andy Caddick	552	v (2), 1993	v (3), 2001-02
Nasser Hussain	553	v (3), 1993	v (5), 2003
Mark Ilott	554	v (4), 1993-94	only Test
Graham Thorpe	555	v (4), 1993-94	v (5), 2003
Darren Gough	556	v (1), 1994	v (3), 2001
Dominic Cork	557	v (2), 1994	v (3), 1999-00
Richard Blakey	558	v (3), 1994	v (3), 1996-97
Glen Chapple	559	v (4), 1994-95	v (2), 2000
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 (4), 1998
Nick Knight	563	v (5), 1995-96	v (5), 2003
Mark Butcher	564	v (1), 1996-97	v (5), 2003
Alan Mullally	565	v (1), 1996-97	v (5), 2002-03
John Crawley	566	v (2), 1996-97	v (2), 2000
Dean Headley	567	v (2), 1996-97	v (3), 1999
Craig White	568	v (2), 1996-97	v (2), 2002
Ben Hollioake	569	v (3), 1997	v (2), 2001-02
Paul Nixon	570	v (5), 1997-98	v (4), 2001
Andrew Flintoff	571	v ,1998	v (5), 2003
Mal Loye	572	v ,1998	v (3), 1999
Graeme Swann	573	v (5),1998-99	v (5), 2003
Alex Tudor	574	v (3), 1999	v (3), 2002-03
Dr Julian Thompson	575	v (3), 1999-00	v (4), 1999-00
Kevin Dean	576	v (1), 2000	v (2), 2000
Chris Read	577	v (1), 2000	v (5), 2003
Marcus Trescothick	578	v (1), 2000	v (5), 2003
Ronnie Irani	579	v (2), 2000	only Test
Michael Vaughan	580	v (2), 2000	only Test
Vikram Solanki	581	v (3), 2000-01	v (4), 2001
David Fulton	582	v (1), 2001	only Test
Matthew Hoggard	583	v (2), 2001	v (5), 2003
Ryan Sidebottom	584	v (2), 2001-02	v (3), 2003
Chris Silverwood	585	v (3), 2001-02	v (5), 2002-03
Simon Jones	586	v (1), 2002	v (5), 2003
Ali Brown	587	v (3), 2002	v (4), 2002
Jimmy Anderson	588	v (3), 2002	v (4), 2003
James Foster	589	v (4), 2002	v (2), 2003
Ashley Giles	590	v (5), 2002-03	v (5), 2003
Steve Harmison	591	v (1), 2003	v (2), 2003
Robert Key	592	v (1), 2003	v (2), 2003
Kabir Ali	593	v (2), 2003	v (4), 2003
James Kirtley	594	v (2), 2003	only Test
Owais Shah	595	v (2), 2003	only Test
Andrew Strauss	596	v (2), 2003	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	43	21	0	12	10	v (2), 1992-93	v (5),1998-99
Nick Knight	39	21	0	6	12	v ,1998	v (5), 2002-03
Alec Stewart	9	3	0	2	4	v (1), 1999	v (5), 1999-00
Nasser Hussain	7	7	0	0	0	v (1), 2003	v (5), 2003

Batting & Fielding

Player	Mat	Inn	NO	Runs	Avg	100s	50s	Best	Ct	St
Kabir Ali	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mark Alleyne	4	7	2	95	19.00	-	1	56*	4	-
Jimmy Anderson	9	10	4	34	5.67	-	-	9	2	-
Michael Atherton (RET)	91	174	16	6568	41.57	13	33	242	57	-
Rob Bailey (RET)	15	28	1	815	30.19	1	2	196	15	-
Martin Bicknell	10	11	0	112	10.18	-	-	48	5	-
Richard Blakey (RET)	4	8	2	166	27.67	-	1	50*	11	-
Ian Botham (RET)	108	176	7	5656	33.47	14	25	208	135	-
Ali Brown	2	2	0	59	29.50	-	1	50	-	-
Mark Butcher	13	23	1	741	33.68	2	5	118	9	-
Andy Caddick	39	53	9	643	14.61	-	-	40*	5	-
David Capel (RET)	11	18	0	293	16.27	-	2	98	4	-
Glen Chapple	4	7	2	98	19.50	-	-	30	1	-
Dominic Cork	19	26	6	496	24.80	-	2	72	8	-
John Crawley	8	14	0	385	27.50	-	2	70	3	-
Robert Croft	6	7	0	199	28.43	-	1	54	1	-
Kevin Dean	2	3	3	6	-	-	-	4*	-	-
Phillip DeFreitas (RET)	36	56	6	786	15.72	-	1	82	7	-
John Emburey (RET)	60	89	18	1540	21.49	-	8	75	33	-
Neil Fairbrother (RET)	4	4	0	5	1.25	-	-	3	3	-
Andrew Flintoff	21	35	3	1184	37.00	2	5	185	16	-
James Foster	3	3	0	41	13.67	-	-	30	11	-
Neil Foster (RET)	39	60	12	600	12.50	-	-	42*	13	-
Angus Fraser (RET)	59	80	11	677	9.81	-	-	34	10	-
David Fulton	1	2	0	49	24.50	-	-	40	-	-
Mike Gatting (RET)	70	121	14	4037	37.73	9	19	207	53	-
Ashley Giles	8	10	4	237	39.50	-	2	51*	1	-
Graham Gooch (RET)	131	244	10	11242	48.04	28	60	294	147	-
Darren Gough	30	43	13	429	14.30	-	-	35*	6	-
David Gower (RET)	124	215	17	8506	42.96	15	47	215	75	-
Steve Harmison	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dean Headley (RET)	23	37	9	250	8.93	-	-	24	5	-
Eddie Hemmings (RET)	13	19	3	332	20.75	-	1	95	4	-
Graeme Hick (RET)	95	175	12	6297	38.63	16	32	172*	144	-
Matthew Hoggard	10	9	2	25	3.57	-	-	12	2	-
Ben Hollioake	17	27	3	523	21.79	-	3	75	16	-
Nasser Hussain	31	55	5	1738	34.76	5	8	114*	53	-
Alan Igglesden (RET)	1	1	1	2	-	-	-	2*	1	-
Ronnie Irani	1	2	0	79	39.50	-	1	78	-	-
Mark Ilott	1	2	2	26	-	-	-	25*	-	-
Paul Jarvis (RET)	10	15	4	189	17.18	-	-	35*	1	-
Richard Johnson	1	1	0	1	1.00	-	-	1	-	-
Simon Jones	14	15	3	103	8.58	-	-	31*	5	-
Robert Key	2	3	1	88	44.00	-	1	53	-	-
James Kirtley	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nick Knight	69	129	5	6145	49.56	21	24	247	85	-
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 (RET)	2	2	0	6	3.00	-	-	4	-	-
Chris Lewis (RET)	56	90	12	1973	25.29	1	7	114*	61	-
Mal Loye	2	4	0	101	25.25	-	1	92	1	-
Devon Malcolm (RET)	37	50	13	233	6.30	-	-	21*	11	-
Matt Maynard	1	2	0	13	6.50	-	-	10	-	-
Alan Mullally (RET)	57	73	20	400	7.55	-	-	40	8	-
Phil Newport (RET)	2	3	0	70	23.33	-	-	36	1	-
Paul Nixon	34	55	8	1200	22.64	-	6	84	106	8
Derek Pringle (RET)	21	36	3	512	15.51	-	2	66	7	-
Mark Ramprakash	29	53	5	1669	34.77	3	10	127*	6	-
Chris Read	24	33	7	711	27.35	-	4	94*	82	5
Dermot Reeve (RET)	1	2	0	12	6.00	-	-	6	-	-
Tim Robinson (RET)	41	71	6	2362	36.33	4	12	175	14	-
Jack Russell (RET)	94	156	35	3954	32.68	1	21	128*	243	27
Ian Salisbury	7	8	4	229	57.25	-	2	79*	-	-
Owais Shah	1	1	0	5	5.00	-	-	5	-	-
Ryan Sidebottom	9	10	3	109	15.57	-	-	41	2	-
Chris Silverwood	3	4	1	61	20.33	-	-	44*	-	-
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	-
Vikram Solanki	5	9	0	285	31.67	-	2	63	-	-
Alec Stewart (RET)	117	226	10	9846	45.58	25	44	284	35	-
Andrew Strauss	1	1	0	4	4.00	-	-	4	1	-
Peter Such (RET)	12	15	7	47	5.88	-	-	14*	5	-
Graeme Swann	20	27	0	458	16.96	-	1	64	15	-
Dr Julian Thompson (RET)	2	3	0	59	19.67	-	1	50	-	-
Graham Thorpe	89	163	24	6957	50.05	17	33	269	35	-
Marcus Trescothick	42	77	5	3594	49.92	12	17	250*	112	-
Alex Tudor	14	19	4	351	23.40	-	2	54*	4	-
Phil Tufnell (RET)	113	142	32	652	5.93	-	-	36	32	-
Michael Vaughan	2	4	0	166	41.50	-	2	71	-	-
Steve Watkin (RET)	2	4	0	55	13.75	-	-	27	-	-
Craig White	53	95	18	2538	32.96	1	16	104*	5	-

Bowling

Player	Mat	Ovr	Runs	Wkts	Avg	Econ	5WI	10WM	Best
Kabir Ali	2	54	127	25.40	2.3	-	-	2/26
Mark Alleyne	4	109	307	10	30.70	2.8	-	-	2/27
Jimmy Anderson	9	337	825	39	21.15	2.4	1	-	5/51
Michael Atherton (RET)	91	144	500	13	38.46	3.9	-	-	3/32
Rob Bailey (RET)	15	43	175	2	87.50	4.1	-	-	1/0
Martin Bicknell	10	478	1285	38	33.82	2.7	1	-	6/58
Richard Blakey (RET)	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ian Botham (RET)	108	3779	11223	400	28.13	3.0	27	4	8/34
Ali Brown	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mark Butcher	13	24	100	1	100.00	4.2	-	-	1/0
Andy Caddick	39	1508	4231	134	31.57	2.8	4	1	7/26
David Capel (RET)	11	209	628	12	52.33	3.0	-	-	2/13
Glen Chapple	4	185	563	11	51.18	3.1	-	-	3/82
Dominic Cork	19	696	2038	54	37.74	2.9	1	-	5/59
John Crawley	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Robert Croft	6	210	664	15	44.27	3.2	1	-	5/117
Kevin Dean	2	79	182	7	26.00	2.3	-	-	3/29
Phillip DeFreitas (RET)	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 (RET)	4	2	9	0	-	4.5	-	-	-
Andrew Flintoff	21	568	1655	48	34.48	2.9	-	-	4/32
James Foster	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Neil Foster (RET)	39	1451	3902	115	33.93	2.7	5	1	8/107
Angus Fraser (RET)	59	2400	5929	177	33.49	2.5	5	-	6/68
David Fulton	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Mike Gatting (RET)	70	125	317	4	79.25	2.5	-	-	1/14
Ashley Giles	8	272	718	35	20.51	2.6	1	-	5/135
Graham Gooch (RET)	131	306	740	17	43.53	2.4	-	-	2/12
Darren Gough	30	1178	3256	84	38.78	2.8	2	-	5/50
David Gower (RET)	124	6	20	1	20.00	3.3	-	-	1/1
Steve Harmison	2	40	106	2	53.00	-	-	1/18
Dean Headley (RET)	23	1054	2834	105	26.99	2.7	8	1	7/47
Eddie Hemmings (RET)	13	513	1454	31	46.90	2.8	-	-	4/90
Graeme Hick (RET)	95	288	1032	19	54.32	3.6	-	-	3/38
Matthew Hoggard	10	368	922	43	21.44	2.5	2	1	6/63
Ben Hollioake	17	526	1674	43	38.93	3.2	2	-	5/53
Nasser Hussain	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alan Igglesden (RET)	1	37	146	3	48.67	3.9	-	-	2/91
Ronnie Irani	1	54	123	4	30.75	2.3	-	-	4/69
Mark Ilott	1	38	127	1	127.00	3.3	-	-	1/106
Paul Jarvis (RET)	10	359	1069	26	41.12	3.0	-	-	4/50
Richard Johnson	1	44	155	0	-	3.5	-	-	-
Simon Jones	14	495	1669	71	23.51	3.3	4	1	7/68
Robert Key	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
James Kirtley	1	20	47	2	23.50	2.4	-	-1/22
Nick Knight	69	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Allan Lamb (RET)	60	5	23	1	23.00	4.6	-	-	1/6
Wayne Larkins (RET)	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Syd Lawrence (RET)	2	68	223	4	55.75	3.3	-	-	2/74
Chris Lewis (RET)	56	1580	4266	123	34.68	2.7	1	-	6/70
Mal Loye	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Devon Malcolm (RET)	37	1292	4195	137	30.62	3.2	6	-	7/86
Matt Maynard	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Alan Mullally (RET)	57	2200	5699	201	28.35	2.6	11	1	6/70
Phil Newport (RET)	2	92	339	9	37.66	3.7	-	-	4/87
Paul Nixon	34	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Derek Pringle (RET)	21	625	1807	48	37.64	2.9	2	-	5/95
Mark Ramprakash	29	26	94	5	18.80	3.6	-	-	4/35
Chris Read	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dermot Reeve (RET)	1	14	39	0	-	2.8	-	-	-
Tim Robinson (RET)	41	1	0	0	-	0.0	-	-	-
Jack Russell (RET)	94	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ian Salisbury	7	264	893	25	35.72	3.4	1	-	5/69
Owais Shah	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ryan Sidebottom	13	468	1176	49	24.00	2.5	3	-	6/59
Chris Silverwood	3	105	309	9	34.33	2.9	-	-	3/58
Gladstone Small (RET)	20	784	1980	60	33.00	2.5	3	-	5/48
Robin Smith (RET)	82	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Vikram Solanki	5	22	104	1	104.00	4.7	-	-	1/22
Alec Stewart (RET)	117	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Andrew Strauss	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Peter Such (RET)	12	572	1669	50	33.38	2.9	2	-	8/47
Graeme Swann	20	806	2370	78	30.38	2.9	4	1	7/124
Dr Julian Thompson (RET)	2	46	196	4	49.00	4.2	-	-	3/91
Graham Thorpe	89	12	36	1	36.00	3.0	-	-	1/0
Marcus Trescothick	42	123	468	10	46.80	3.8	-	-	4/29
Alex Tudor	14	449	1540	43	35.81	3.4	-	-	4/63
Phil Tufnell (RET)	113	5655	15234	511	29.81	2.7	31	5	8/114
Michael Vaughan	2	11	32	0	-	2.9	-	-	-
Steve Watkin (RET)	2	64	223	5	44.60	3.5	1	-	5/56
Craig White	53	1513	4419	138	32.02	2.9	3	-	7/63

​

Stats and records are updated once again. A very statistically beneficial summer indeed!