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

[Aislabie]

England Tour of Bangladesh, 2003-04

Itinerary
21 Oct 2003 - Bangladesh vs England - First Test at Dhaka - England won by an innings and 49 runs
29 Oct 2003 - Bangladesh vs England - Second Test at Chittagong - England won by an innings and 151 runs

England Squad

Nasser Hussain

Paul Collingwood
Robert Key
Owais Shah
Andrew Strauss
Michael Vaughan

James Foster

Rikki Clarke
Andrew Flintoff
Ben Hollioake

Ian Blackwell
Ashley Giles
Graeme Swann

Gareth Batty
Jason Brown
Gary Keedy
Paul McMahon
Ian Salisbury


This winter's tour to Bangladesh brings with it perhaps the strangest England Test squad we've ever seen. The England selectors have named no fewer than nine recognised spinners in the squad; one assumes that they will not all be able to get game time in what is just a two-match series. In addition to that, there are no specialist seam bowlers in the squad: instead, three all-rounders (Flintoff, Hollioake and Rikki Clarke) will be providing all the seam-up overs the team might need. When asked to explain the selection of each of the spinners in the squad, David Graveney told the press: "Gilo and Swanny are obviously the incumbents. Blackwell has done really well for the ODI team and has earned the opportunity. Batty, Brown and Keedy have all taken 50 wickets each in the Championship this year. Paul McMahon is one of the most exciting talents in the country. And Salisbury is the leg-spinner."

Quite how Hussain manages such an unusual bowling attack will be very interesting indeed.

 

[Aislabie]

Bangladesh vs England - First Test at Dhaka

Bangladeshi XI
Hannan Sarkar
Javed Omar Belim
Habibul Bashar
Rajin Saleh
Alok Kapali
Mushfiqur Rahman
Khaled Mashud
Khaled Mahmud
Mohammad Rafique
Mashrafe Mortaza
Enamul Haque Jr

English XI
Michael Vaughan
Andrew Strauss
Owais Shah
Nasser Hussain
Andrew Flintoff
Ian Blackwell (debut)
Ben Hollioake
James Foster
Ashley Giles
Gareth Batty (debut)
Gary Keedy (debut)

- - -

Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

The half-strength England team selected only three debutants for their first-ever Test in Bangladesh: Ian Blackwell, Gareth Batty and Gary Keedy. The eagle-eyed among you will note that all three are finger spinners, and that will certainly be a theme for this series. Bangladesh named more or less their usual team with very little batting and not much more bowling. Habibul Bashar won the toss and chose to bat first, in the hope that if it came to it, his spinners might get last use of a spinning pitch.

The Bangladeshi batters actually started their innings quite well: they saw off the seam of Flintoff and Hollioake, and kept their heads when the first pair of spinners came on to bowl. Indeed, the 76-run opening partnership lasted until Ian Blackwell came into the attack as technically the fourth spinner. Surprisingly, Blackwell (known in county cricket as much more of a batting all-rounder) was the pick of the bowlers. His accuracy, tuned in vast amounts of one-day cricket, proved perfect for the conditions as he simply let the pitch do the work. He found great support from Gary Keedy, and the pair of them more or less ran through the Bangladeshi batting with eight wickets between them. Late cameos from Khaled Mahmud and Mashrafe Mortaza flattered the home side a little: before those two started swinging Bangladesh were 159 for 8, but they made it to 250.

If anything though, the weaker suit for Bangladesh was their bowling. The English batters feasted: Owais Shah hit an authoritative 76 batting at number three, and Nasser Hussain notched up a sixth Test century: he has proven particularly prolific against Zimbabwe and now Bangladesh. To make things worse for the home side, the entire English lower order got in on the act: Hollioake, Foster, Giles and Batty all biffed spirited cameos, although none passed 50. The result was that England reached their total of 419 all out in a little over five hours' play, and it was time for their bowlers to get back out there.

Again, the Bangladeshi openers saw off the England seamers, and again it didn't matter in the slightest. This time, Ashley Giles turned destroyer in chief, though he was again supported very well by Ian Blackwell. All four spinners took at least one wicket as only one Bangladeshi passed 20 in the second innings. A dismal rout was completed in quick time, the home side bundled out for 120 and England claiming a comfortable (and expected) innings win.

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. Ian Blackwell - 5 points (+5)
2. Ashley Giles - 3 points (+3)
3. Nasser Hussain - 2 points (+2)
4. Owais Shah - 1 point (+1)

 

[Aislabie]

Bangladesh (0) vs (1) England - Second Test at Chittagong

Bangladeshi XI
Hannan Sarkar
Javed Omar Belim
Habibul Bashar
Rajin Saleh
Alok Kapali
Mushfiqur Rahman
Khaled Mashud
Khaled Mahmud
Mohammad Rafique
Mashrafe Mortaza
Enamul Haque Jr

English XI
Michael Vaughan
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Paul Collingwood (debut)
Ian Blackwell
Rikki Clarke (debut)
Graeme Swann
James Foster
Ian Salisbury
Paul McMahon (debut)
Jason Brown (debut)

- - -

England won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

Against all the odds, England managed to squeeze in every last one of their debutants for the second Test in Chittagong. That meant the inclusion of Paul Collingwood and Rikki Clarke as the entire seam department, while Jason Brown and 20-year-old Paul McMahon both made their first appearances as England spinners. To make room for everyone, England left out yet another batter, meaning that debutant Collingwood would bat at four, with Blackwell, Rikki Clarke and Graeme Swann as the 5, 6 and 7. To those who think England aren't taking Bangladesh seriously, this line-up screams a resounding "CORRECT!"

This time, Hussain won the toss and batted first. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Hussain hit another century: this one with the quirk that the first 93 runs came before lunch (and after the dismissal of Michael Vaughan for only three). Not only that, but Hussain would go on to make it a double: his career-best 214 coming as the flashy half of a 364-run second wicket partnership with Andrew Strauss, who made his maiden Test century with an innings of 172. Hussain could have declared when that partnership was broken, but wanted to give Paul Collingwood a fair crack of the whip: the Durham man rewarding him with a further 84 runs. It was when his wicket fell that Hussain declared the innings.

This was probably a bit of a hiding to nothing for Rikki Clarke to make his debut as a seamer: far more about simply getting a debut under his belt than necessarily getting much out of it. Across both innings, his ten wicketless overs cost only 14 runs, as he made a more than acceptable start to his career. Really though, this engagement was all about the spinners. All five of them. Swann quickly got into his work, and ultimately bagged a five-wicket haul that included wickets from the last two balls of the first innings. Ian Salisbury took the wickets of both opening batters, while Blackwell and Brown shared the remaining three between them. Paul McMahon was the only spinner to finish the first innings wicketless.

He needn't have worried though: no sooner had Hussain enforced the follow-on (Bangladesh had made only 171 in their first innings) than McMahon was this time the first spinner Hussain turned to. He repaid that faith by taking a wicket with his first ball: Javed Omar caught close on the leg side. He would end up book-ending the innings nicely as he also took the 10th and final wicket to fall, which confirmed the statistical oddity of England taking all 40 wickets in the Test series with spin. The remaining wickets were spread amongst Swann and Blackwell (three each) and Jason Brown (two) as Bangladesh were bowled out for exactly 200.

After the game, Hussain described the series as "a valuable opportunity for us to look towards the future." Quite what they will have learnt is debatable, save for the fact that county cricket has a plentiful stock of spinners that the England team could turn to in a pinch. The one who stood out most though, apart from the two usual incumbents, was Ian Blackwell. The big Somerset man might just have become the third spinner to be taken on future Subcontinent tours.

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
3. Nasser Hussain - 7 points (+5)
1. Ian Blackwell - 6 points (+1)
2. Ashley Giles - 3 points
=. Andrew Strauss - 3 points (+3)
5. Graeme Swann - 2 points (+2)
4. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

England Tour of Sri Lanka, 2003-04

Itinerary
02 Dec 2003 - Sri Lanka vs England - First Test at Galle
10 Dec 2003 - Sri Lanka vs England - Second Test at Kandy
18 Dec 2003 - Sri Lanka vs England - Third Test at Colombo

England Squad

Nasser Hussain

Mark Butcher
Paul Collingwood
Nick Knight
Andrew Strauss
Graham Thorpe
Marcus Trescothick

James Foster
Chris Read

Ian Blackwell
Andrew Flintoff
Graeme Swann

Jimmy Anderson
Matthew Hoggard
Simon Jones
Ryan Sidebottom

Ashley Giles
Paul McMahon

For the tour of Sri Lanka, England sent out a far more normal squad. From those who got to have an audition against Sri Lanka, a handful made the cut: Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss were both selected to the main squad after scoring a lot of runs, while Ian Blackwell and Paul McMahon both made the cut as spinning options. McMahon looks to be fourth choice within this squad, so he's not especially likely to play, but the ECB considers this to be a valuable experience for him at this stage of his career. Only four specialist quick bowlers make the cut this time, as the Sri Lankan conditions are not expected to reward fast bowling at all. Hussain and England will be looking to extend the nine-match winning streak that dates back to the start of his captaincy tenure.

 

[pillowprocter]

Hannan Sarkar
Javed Omar Belim
Hannan Sarkar

England Tour of Bangladesh, 2003-04

Itinerary
02 Dec 2003 - Sri Lanka vs England - First Test at Galle

seems you're a bit sleep deprived today

 

[Aislabie]

Sri Lanka vs England - First Test at Galle

Sri Lanka XI
Marvan Atapattu
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene
Hashan Tillakaratne
Thilan Samaraweera
Upul Chandana
Kumar Dharmasena
Chaminda Vaas
Dinusha Fernando
Muttiah Muralitharan

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

- - -

England won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

The most obvious thing about the Galle pitch when the players and media arrived to inspect it on the first morning was that it looked flat. Flat flat. The sort of pitch on which you need to make things happen because otherwise they simply won't. For England, that meant picking an extra seamer: both Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard would line up alongside Andrew Flintoff to shoulder fast bowling duties. For Sri Lanka, it meant extra batting: Dinusha Fernando making his debut all the way down at number ten certainly suggests an interest in batting long. The tourists would have the first chance to do that though, as Nasser Hussain won yet another toss.

A century stand, and having both openers returning unbeaten for the lunch break, was an excellent start to that task. Knight was first out with only a half-century, but Marcus Trescothick would make no such mistake: he made his hundred then kept going all the way to an excellent 174. After keeping his opening batter company for the vast majority of that innings, it must have been a huge disappointment for Nasser Hussain to be dismissed on 98, chipping an attempted leg-glance straight back to Thilan Samaraweera. Thorpe and Flintoff were together again at the crease as a result, and both players went on the attack: the pitch was still flat and they both scored quickly. Thorpe made his century at roughly four an over, but the faster scoring Flintoff fell slightly short on 85. England kept batting until the close of the second day, ending their innings on a massive 585 for six.

With so many runs on the board, Hussain was able to set very aggressive fields for his bowlers to work with. This strategy was rewarded almost immediately: even as the runs flowed at between three and four an over, the wickets kept coming. Three fell before lunch, one each for Hoggard, Flintoff and Giles (who dismissed Jayawardene for a four-ball duck). The Sri Lankans definitely rallied: the headline effort was a nuggety captain's century from Hashan Tillakaratne, supported by a spirited 49 not out from Vaas at number nine. However, even the usually quite good total of 340 wasn't enough to avoid being asked to follow-on, and that's exactly what Hussain asked them to do only three deliveries into the fourth morning.

Sri Lanka handled the fourth day far better than any of those previous. Despite losing both openers cheaply, star batters Sangakkara and Jayawardene put together a big partnership. Then, when Jayawardene was dismissed by Swann for 41, Tillakaratne again stepped up with all-important runs. Just as it looked like the game might have been drifting, an opportunity came from nothing: Sangakkara tried to take an overambitious single and had his stumps thrown down by Matthew Hoggard. One last wicket before the close left the game in a fascinating position: Sri Lanka just two runs ahead but with five wickets still to play with, and England desperate to force a victory from a position where they still held the advantage but had now spent two full days in the field.

Once more it was Hoggard who pushed home the advantage: two early morning wickets on day five averted the potential problem, and left the spinners needing only to finish up the tail. They did so, and England faced an elementary target of just 63 to win. The usual openers knocked it off without losing a wicket, taking the English winning streak to 10 Test matches. Hussain was realistic though: "We won't be doing that again," he said in response to a question about enforcing the follow-on, "it was far too hot!"

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 - 7 points
2. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
3. Marcus Trescothick - 5 points (+5)
4. Ashley Giles - 3 points
=. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points (+3)
=. Andrew Strauss - 3 points
7. Graeme Swann - 2 points
=. Graham Thorpe - 2 points (+2)
9. Andrew Flintoff - 1 point (+1)
10. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

Sri Lanka (0) vs (1) England - Second Test at Kandy

Sri Lanka XI
Marvan Atapattu
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Hashan Tillakaratne
Thilan Samaraweera
Kumar Dharmasena
Chaminda Vaas
Dinusha Fernando
Muttiah Muralitharan

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Ashley Giles
Ryan Sidebottom
Jimmy Anderson

- - -

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

After a fairly gruelling first Test, both teams made changes before the Kandy Test got underway: England rotated out their quick bowlers after the two-day stint in the field, while Sri Lanka added extra batting in the form of Tillakaratne Dilshan. The Kandy pitch looked flatter than a flat thing, so this one has "DRAW" written all over it before it even starts. Hashan Tillakaratne had other ideas: after winning the toss and choosing to bat first, he insisted that Sri Lanka were still looking to win the Test series.

Jimmy Anderson started the Test match with a spell for the ages: his seven overs yielded five maidens, two runs and the wicket of Jayasuriya who had been dropped in the slips the over prior. But one wicket does not a batting collapse make, and Marvan Atapattu was still at the crease and looking entirely untroubled. His composed innings lasted well into the second day of the match, and eventually totalled 188. It, along with half-centuries from Jayawardene and Dilshan were the backbone of a very competitive first innings total of 452 for Sri Lanka; one which could have been far more if not for nearly 100 overs of excellent spin bowling from Swann and Giles.

But as we've already mentioned: this pitch is flat. The English batters had no more trouble batting on it than the Sri Lankans did: first, Andrew Strauss notched up a second Test century, spending most of his innings with Nasser Hussain (77) at the other end. Then it got worse for the Sri Lankans: Graham Thorpe got going. He passed 50 from just 42 balls, and although he did slow down a little bit after that, he would still play possibly the most dominant innings ever by an England batter. He recorded the third-highest Test score of all time by a number five batter and the highest since Don Bradman in 1934: Thorpe's monumental innings eventually finished on 274 from 345 balls. He was the ninth wicket to fall, bringing to an end an astonishing partnership of 207 with Ryan Sidebottom. Hussain could have declared there and then, but in a rare flash of sentimentality he sent Anderson out to bat, perhaps in the hope of staying with Sidebottom long enough for the left-hander to reach a maiden Test century. Sadly, he couldn't do that but Sidebottom's 79* still earned him a standing ovation from all the spectators who were still awake.

It was desperately disappointing that the game would eventually fizzle out in a day of Sri Lankan rain, because four early wickets from Sidebottom and Anderson just might have set England up to push for victory if not for the four hours of lost play.

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 - 7 points
2. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
3. Graham Thorpe - 5 points (+3)
=. Marcus Trescothick - 5 points
5. Ashley Giles - 3 points
=. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points
=. Andrew Strauss - 3 points
=. Graeme Swann - 3 points (+1)
9. Ryan Sidebottom - 2 points (+2)
10. Andrew Flintoff - 1 point
=. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

Sri Lanka (0) vs (1) England - Third Test at Colombo

Sri Lanka XI
Marvan Atapattu
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene
Thilan Samaraweera
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Hashan Tillakaratne
Upul Tharanga
Chaminda Vaas
Muttiah Muralitharan
Dilhara Fernando

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Ian Blackwell
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Ashley Giles
Matthew Hoggard

- - -

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

For the final Test in the series, both teams made changes once again: Sri Lanka brought back Upul Chandana and swapped their fast bowling Fernandos, while England shuffled their pace pack and brought back Matthew Hoggard, while also bringing in Ian Blackwell as a third spinner. Yet again the pitch looked exceedingly flat, and thus there would again be a big advantage from winning the toss and batting first. Hashan Tillakaratne won the toss and did exactly that.

England had clearly gone for a strategy of "spin to win", and it certainly didn't look like a bad decision as Ashley Giles settled quickly into a consistent line and length and let the pitch do the work. He would be rewarded with the wickets of Atapattu, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Samaraweera, Dilshan and Tillakaratne in what may go down as one of the best six-wicket hauls in Test history. Half-centuries from three of those players and Chaminda Vaas were enough to get Sri Lanka to a nice, competitive score of 387, but the match was still very much in the balance.

Once England had batted, the game was no longer in the balance: Sri Lanka were well ahead. Relentless bowling from Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Thilan Samaraweera reduced England from 36 for none to 168 for nine and still needing 20 more runs to avoid the follow-on. Nasser Hussain had watched the entire batting collapse unfold from the non-striker's end, and would now be responsible for dragging England past that all important follow-on score so long as number 11 Hoggard didn't get out first. Well, Hoggard lasted 34 balls and that was just about long enough: Hussain stranded on 40 not out, but England had stumbled to 192. Sri Lanka would have to bat again.

Another remarkably unremarkable innings from Sri Lanka saw them reach 315 at their second attempt, once again off the back of a few modest contributions rather than a single big innings. This time it was Graeme Swann who settled into the best rhythm, and Swann who was rewarded with a six-for (Atapattu, Sangakkara, Samaraweera, Jayawardene, Tillakaratne, Muralitharan). England's two seamers shared the rest of the wickets, making the most of both the first and second new balls.

England had been set a target of 511 to win from just over five sessions, but there was also heavy rain forecast for day five. Realistically, the task was to bat for about three sessions without getting bowled out by a rampant Muralitharan. England started well: despite the early loss of Knight, Trescothick and Strauss knuckled down and batted well into the evening session of Day Four. But then, the wickets started falling: England were four down at the close of play, and uncertain whether there would be play on the fifth day. Well, there was. It was stop-start, with four different interruptions throughout the day, but Sri Lanka kept chipping away. The fourth rain interruption had looked like it would be final, but the umpires were able to get play restarted with 40 minutes left. England had two wickets left: the remaining batters were Read, Giles and Hoggard. First a sharp off-break took the inside half of Read's bat and was caught by a diving Atapattu at short leg, then Giles gloved another off-break to Chandana at leg-slip. And that was that: Sri Lanka had won the third Test, and halved the series.

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 - 7 points
2. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
=. Ashley Giles - 6 points (+3)
4. Graeme Swann - 5 points (+2)
=. Graham Thorpe - 5 points
=. Marcus Trescothick - 5 points
7. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points
=. Andrew Strauss - 3 points
9. Andrew Flintoff - 2 points (+1)
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 2 points
11. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

England Tour of West Indies, 2003-04

Itinerary
11 Mar 2004- West Indies vs England - First Test at Sabina Park
19 Mar 2004- West Indies vs England - Second Test at Queens Park Oval
01 Apr 2004- West Indies vs England - Third Test at Kensington Oval
10 Apr 2004- West Indies vs England - Fourth Test at Antigua Recreation Ground

England Squad

Nasser Hussain

Mark Butcher
Paul Collingwood
Nick Knight
Andrew Strauss
Graham Thorpe
Marcus Trescothick

James Foster
Chris Read

Andrew Flintoff

Jimmy Anderson
Steve Harmison
Matthew Hoggard
Simon Jones
Sajid Mahmood
Ryan Sidebottom

Ashley Giles
Graeme Swann

For their third and final tour of the winter, England have made very few changes: two bowlers have come in though, both picked for their outright pace on West Indian surfaces. Steve Harmison has been recalled for the first time since his difficult debut against Sri Lanka, while Sajid Mahmood has received his first call-up after an impressive England A tour in India where he showed real pace. There are no changes in the batting department, but rumours abound that Nick Knight is considering retirement from Test cricket after experiencing real struggle since stepping down as captain.

 

[pillowprocter]

sucks to see thst SL series ruin Nasser's unbeaten run as captain

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies vs England - First Test at Sabina Park

West Indian XI
Chris Gayle
Devon Smith
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Brian Lara
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Ryan Hinds
Ridley Jacobs
Tino Best
Adam Sanford
Corey Collymore
Fidel Edwards

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Simon Jones
Steve Harmison
Matthew Hoggard

- - -

West Indies won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

The first Test at Sabina Park dawned warm and sunny: perfect fast bowling conditions. Each team had selected four fast bowlers and a spinning all-rounder: for England, that meant Jones, Hoggard, Harmison, Flintoff and Swann; for West Indies that meant Collymore, Edwards, Best, Sanford and Hinds. Brian Lara won the toss for the home side, and they opted for their strong batting line-up to get first use of the facilities; Hussain said that he would have done the same.

The English fast bowlers got off to a dream start: first, Simon Jones got Devon Smith to nick off outside the off stump but then Steve Harmison exorcised his tough debut series with a fast, hostile spell in which he dismissed both Sarwan and Lara with fast lifting deliveries. All three of those wickets were snaffled by Chris Read behind the stumps: the Notts gloveman would eventually finish the innings with a record-equalling seven catches. However, he would not complete that until after a masterful innings by Chris Gayle. The tall left-hander made hay on his home ground, belting a stellar 153. The next-best score was Chanderpaul's 49.

In their reply, England clearly set out to be positive: despite the early loss of Trescothick for a two-ball duck, Nick Knight climbed into the fast men and never let them settle onto a length. In particular, Tino Best found himself hit out of the attack as he got through only five overs for 51 runs. The rest of the innings was built around good contributions: Hussain (54) and Thorpe (46) added exactly 100 runs between them, before Graeme Swann turned a potential deficit into a healthy lead with a rollicking career-best 65. It turned out to be spin, not pace that was the chief attacking weapon: between them, Ryan Hinds and Chris Gayle took the wickets of Knight, Thorpe, Flintoff, Read and Swann to keep the home side in the game.

With so little to separate the teams after their first innings, it was vital that whichever team wanted to push for the win was able to get off to a good start, and the home side were the ones to do so. Gayle and Smith overhauled England's advantage for the loss of no wickets, and blunted the new ball admirably. Even though both fell before reaching their fifties, and even though Lara lost his wicket to Flintoff for a rare duck, West Indies were still only one good partnership away from really pushing home their advantage. Sarwan and Chanderpaul were that partnership: the Guyanese pair knuckled down and compiled a stand of 220 runs as first Sarwan, then Chanderpaul notched up Test centuries. When they were parted, the home side enjoyed a lead of almost 300 and the game was absolutely in their favour.

Things only got worse for the visitors though as Ridley Jacobs was able to add 60 runs thanks mostly to the improbable support of Corey Collymore. Still more improbably, Collymore was the aggressor in their partnership of 93. Thanks to their efforts, England were right behind the eight-ball staring down an improbable 422 to win.

That target went from improbable to borderline impossible when Fidel Edwards continued his fantastic Test match by reducing England to 58 for three with all of their top three batters back in the pavilion. So what happened next can only be described as an absolute Cricket Captaining. Things started off pretty normally as Hussain and Thorpe cautiously built a partnership of 151 between them: unfortunately both players would be dismissed in the 80s, Hussain edging a Chris Gayle non-spinner to slip, and Thorpe getting knocked over by Fidel Edwards. But by now, Andrew Flintoff was at the crease. He peppered and occasionally cleared the boundary on his way to a 135-ball 102, but became Edwards' fifth victim of the innings and tenth of the match before England reached the winning line. So who got them there?

Simon Jones. Simon Jones, batting at number nine, hit an almost faultless 49 not out to see England past the winning post. I won this Test match, and even I'm a bit offended by 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. Nasser Hussain - 8 points (+1)
2. Andrew Flintoff - 7 points (+5)
3. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
=. Ashley Giles - 6 points
5. Graeme Swann - 5 points
=. Graham Thorpe - 5 points
=. Marcus Trescothick - 5 points
8. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points
=. Simon Jones - 3 points (+3)
=. Andrew Strauss - 3 points
11. Steve Harmison - 2 points (+2)
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 2 points
13. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (1) England - Second Test at Port of Spain

West Indian XI
Chris Gayle
Devon Smith
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Brian Lara
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Dwayne Smith
Ridley Jacobs
Tino Best
Adam Sanford
Pedro Collins
Corey Collymore

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Simon Jones
Steve Harmison
Matthew Hoggard

- - -

West Indies won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

After the exhausting first Test match, the West Indies arrived in Trinidad with changes in their ranks. Their two best bowlers from Sabina Park were missing: Fidel Edwards nursing an injury from his exertions in the first Test, and Ryan Hinds being left out for the extra batting of Dwayne Smith; we will reserve judgement until we see how that affects the team. On the other hand, England took the unusual step of making no changes to the bowling attack: most observers had expected Anderson and Sidebottom to rotate into the side, but that was not the case here in Trinidad because I forgot to make the changes before the game started.

Brian Lara again won the toss and batted first, and again found his team met by the pace and hostility of Steve Harmison. In the very first over of the game he bested Devon Smith, the left-hander edging through to Chris Read once again. Andrew Flintoff kept up the intensity as a first change bowler, attacking the stumps and getting the reward of both Gayle and Sarwan's wickets. Once again, the strong West Indian batting was able to meet the challenge: Brian Lara is one of the best ever to do it, and he made it look extremely easy against the English bowling. He didn't offer so much as the chance of a chance throughout his innings until he ran down the pitch trying to biff the off-spin of Swann into the Caribbean Sea to bring up his hundred. He missed, and Read removed the bails. Chanderpaul would make no such mistake, but it didn't matter: a wonderful seaming delivery from Flintoff took the edge of his defensive shot and flew to the England captain in the slips. The two best home batters had been dismissed for 99 and 98, and they started a collapse that saw the last seven West Indian wickets fall for 107.

The English batting was world class in reply, though it should probably be noted that the bowling they faced was less than good. Trescothick feasted: he plundered 154 runs at the top of the order, finding excellent support from Strauss (77) and Hussain (68) in compiling back-to-back century partnerships. Trescothick's dismissal, bowled by Collymore, prompted yet another century partnership between Thorpe (72) and Flintoff. The big Lancastrian took apart a very tired bowling attack on his way to a second successive century: this time he finished on 111 not out, his innings ended only by an England declaration.

Steve Harmison was the stand-out bowler once again for England: this time, he took the first four West Indian wickets to fall across his first and second spells. The only batting contribution of note, 71 from Brian Lara, was made while Harmison was getting a breather in the outfield and came to an end when Harmison came back to the batting crease. It was with the West Indian lower order exposed that Graeme Swann came to the bowling crease and a loose shot from Dwayne Smith started one of the easiest Test five-fors he could ever have hoped to take: the last ball of Swann's sixth over brought him his fifth wicket. With West Indies nine down, Harmison came back to the bowling crease one last time and claimed his own fifth wicket in the form of Corey Collymore.

England were chasing a mere 23 runs to win, and they did so in under two overs (although Knight was unfortunately dismissed trying to hook Tino Best).

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. Andrew Flintoff - 12 points (+5)
2. Nasser Hussain - 8 points
3. Marcus Trescothick - 7 points (+2)
4. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
=. Ashley Giles - 6 points
=. Graeme Swann - 6 points (+1)
7. Steve Harmison - 5 points (+3)
=. Graham Thorpe - 5 points
9. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points
=. Simon Jones - 3 points
=. Andrew Strauss - 3 points
12. Ryan Sidebottom - 2 points
13. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (2) England - Third Test at Kensington Oval

West Indian XI
Chris Gayle
Daren Ganga
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Brian Lara
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Ryan Hinds
Ridley Jacobs
Tino Best
Pedro Collins
Corey Collymore
Fidel Edwards

English XI
Nick Knight
Marcus Trescothick
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Ryan Sidebottom
Steve Harmison
Jimmy Anderson

- - -

England won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

For the first time in the series, Nasser Hussain won the toss at the Kensington Oval and he wasted no time at all in choosing to bat first. He had a couple of changes in his side in the bowling department: as expected, Anderson and Sidebottom came into the team after having spent two games on the sidelines. The West Indies also had changes: both Hinds and Edwards come back into the team, while Devon Smith loses his place at the top of the order to the highly respected Daren Ganga.

If the English batters felt challenged by the return of Edwards, they didn't show it: Trescothick played fluently to reach yet another half-century, only to be put resoundingly in the shade by Andrew Strauss at number three. The Old Radleian left-hander quickly got on top of the bowling and cruised to a third Test century. The only real glimpse of an opportunity that the West Indies got in this match occurred when Strauss and Hussain fell within a couple of overs of each other, but Graham Thorpe slammed that door shut with a batting masterclass of his own. The Surrey left-hander made the most of an early dropped catch to race to 130 not out from 226 balls faced. It was one of those innings that only Thorpe can play: even as wickets tumbled at the other end, he played like he simply hadn't noticed that the non-striker kept changing, his composure never so much as cracking.

After Thorpe had made batting look so easy, the West Indians must have felt optimistic. That optimism lasted only as long as it took for the English bowlers to get into their work: Anderson was first to strike, taking the wicket of Gayle for just two, but the rest of the English bowlers soon followed as the first five wickets were shared around the five-man attack equally. The second five were shared very unequally: instead, Graeme Swann spun a web around the West Indian lower order, very quickly turning figures of one for 38 into six for 50. It was a little embarrassing for the West Indies, who squandered an adequate position of 135 for three to fall to 205 all out.

Hussain did not ask them to follow on, instead sending his batters out to attack what was left of day three. Trescothick added his second half-century of the match, with entertaining innings from Strauss (40), Thorpe (29) and Flintoff (41) keeping the crowd entertained. Hussain would ultimately declare early on the fourth morning, after the fall of Swann's flashing blade.

An hour later, Harmison and Anderson had almost bowled England to victory: between them, they had removed the entire West Indian top four. However, with a day and a half left in the game the West Indies were not about to start fighting: Chanderpaul and Ryan Hinds knuckled down in a remarkable rearguard as they stayed together for a full six hours of almost risk-free cricket. Hussain was beginning to be visibly frustrated when he threw the ball to Andrew Flintoff. In just three overs, the star all-rounder changed the game: he dismissed both Hinds and Chanderpaul LBW in the 90s, and then followed it up with the wicket of Best for good measure. From that point, there wasn't much fight left and despite Ridley Jacobs' best efforts the game was done with a session to spare.

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. Andrew Flintoff - 13 points (+1)
2. Graham Thorpe - 10 points (+5)
3. Nasser Hussain - 8 points
=. Graeme Swann - 8 points (+2)
5. Marcus Trescothick - 7 points
6. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
=. Ashley Giles - 6 points
=. Andrew Strauss - 6 points (+3)
9. Steve Harmison - 5 points
10. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points
=. Simon Jones - 3 points
12. Ryan Sidebottom - 2 points
13. Owais Shah - 1 point

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (3) England - Fourth Test at Antigua Recreation Ground

West Indian XI
Chris Gayle
Daren Ganga
Brian Lara
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Ricardo Powell
Ryan Hinds
Ridley Jacobs
Tino Best
Pedro Collins
Corey Collymore
Fidel Edwards

English XI
Marcus Trescothick
Andrew Strauss
Nasser Hussain
Graham Thorpe
Andrew Flintoff
Paul Collingwood
Chris Read
Graeme Swann
Ashley Giles
Sajid Mahmood (debut)
Jimmy Anderson

- - -

West Indies won the toss and chose to bat

- - -

With this final Test in the series being a certified dead rubber, both teams got a little bit experimental. West Indies threw a Test cap the way of bombastic one-day specialist Ricardo Powell in place of Shivnarine Chanderpaul who has been their best batter by far in the first three Tests. England left out Nick Knight to offer a second Test cap to Paul Collingwood, while also making big changes to the bowling attack. Ashley Giles provides a second spin option, while Saj Mahmood comes in to make an eagerly anticipated Test debut. Lara's West Indies chose to bat first in spite of heavy cloud.

It turned out that those heavy clouds were also full of rain, which contributed significantly to a very unfun first couple of days for the home spectators. The other thing that contributed to that was the standard of the home team's batting: only Brian Lara (51) passed 50, and every one of the top four managed to get in then get out. As the teams regularly traipsed on and off again due to rain, one had to wonder quite why Lara had chosen to bat first. Giles and the debutant Mahmood would eventually finish with three wickets each, the rest of the scalps being pretty well shared around.

It was a further damning reflection on the batting conditions when England did no better: Marcus Trescothick drove and punched his way to a classy 45, but apart from him nobody was able to reach 30. Fidel Edwards starred yet again with his third five-for of a breakout series, while Tino Best bagged a bizarre haul of three for eight: unused throughout the morning session, he was brought on after lunch and immediately claimed the wickets of Flintoff, Read and Swann before being pulled from the attack and never used again. Despite the eccentric captaincy, West Indies finished the first half of the game with a 15-run lead.

With the sun finally out, and just over seven sessions of cricket left to be played, the game was fascinatingly poised. This was a real opportunity for the West Indies to take something from the series, and Daren Ganga clearly knew it: he played superbly for a career-best 118 and was supported well by the bigger names of Lara and Sarwan who each made stylish half-centuries. Things were looking very bleak for England as the home side passed 300 while still only three down, only for another patented West Indies collapse to leave them just about still in the game, needing to chase a stiff 376 to win.

And then - I can only explain this by saying "Cricket Captain" - England chased it with seven wickets to spare.

Trescothick made another classy contribution of 89, and Strauss put him in the shade with an uber-patient 148 before the dynamic duo of Thorpe and Flintoff saw England home. Fidel Edwards, who has been superb all series, conceded none for 150.

Sometimes, Cricket Captain is a deeply frustrating game even when you win.

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. Andrew Flintoff - 13 points
2. Marcus Trescothick - 12 points (+5)
3. Graham Thorpe - 10 points
4. Andrew Strauss - 9 points (+3)
5. Nasser Hussain - 8 points
=. Graeme Swann - 8 points
7. Ashley Giles - 7 points (+1)
8. Ian Blackwell - 6 points
9. Steve Harmison - 5 points
10. Matthew Hoggard - 3 points
=. Simon Jones - 3 points
12. Sajid Mahmood - 2 points (+2)
=. Ryan Sidebottom - 2 points
13. Owais Shah - 1 point

Andrew Flintoff won the Barrington Medal, just reward for a winter in which he recorded 542 runs @ 54.20 with two centuries and 21 wickets at 25.38, playing in eight of the nine Test matches.



Nick Knight confirmed his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the English summer in order to focus on captaining Warwickshire full time. He finishes his career with 6,469 runs @ 48.28 (21 centuries, best 247) from 75 Tests. That included 39 matches as captain, in which he claimed 21 wins, 6 draws and only 12 losses. Knight won the 2000-01 Barrington Medal.