Date-stamped : 31 Jul95 - 14:27 England v West Indies, Test 4 Old Trafford, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 July 1995 ====> Day 1, 27 Jul 95 Walsh hits back after England bowlers gain the upper hand Lara stands alone as batsmen struggle to dominate at Old Traf- ford, reports Christopher Martin-Jenkins `NEVER a dull moment` might be an apt slogan for the 1995 Test series, not that the marketing men will need any help in sel- ling any remaining tickets for the last two matches, especial- ly if England can build on yesterday`s promising start to the fourth match at Old Trafford. Events unfolded at their now customary helter-skelter rate and England held a slight advantage when play ended, after sundry de- lays, 25 minutes late. It would have been greater had not the home side - 151 behind this morning with eight wickets intact - lost John Crawley in the last over of the day. The redoubtable Courtney Walsh brought a ball back sharply off the seam to hit his off stump as he shoul- dered arms. Half an hour earlier, Walsh had ended Nick Knight`s relatively composed first Test innings with an outrageous, slow full toss. Knight had settled after a torrid start and, had he spotted the ball early in its flight, could have carved it anywhere he chose; instead, deceived like many before by the best slower ball since Franklyn Stephenson`s, he could only play a late poke, which de- flected it onto his stumps. The consolation is that Mike Atherton is still in residence: he batted securely through the day`s final 22 overs for 15 not out, despite doing little more than defend and deflect. Even he might have been caught in the gully when 10, off Ian Bishop, had Richie Richardson, diving to his right, clung on to a difficult chance. England had themselves missed three possible catches, which did not prevent eight West Indian batsmen from being caught. The dismissal of Crawley, preferred at three to Graeme Hick in one of the six changes made by England after their defeat at Edg- baston, restored the balance; but the England approach to batting has so far been more rational and sedate. The West Indies had one of their careless days on a by-no-means lifeless, but essentially true pitch. They played, indeed, much as England had in the first Test at Headingley and such was the resolution with which Ather- ton and Knight launched England`s reply, a substantial first- innings lead looked possible until the double setback in the fi- nal 35 minutes. It proved once again that no one can ever relax against West Indian fast bowling. Both the old boy, John Emburey, and the new old boy, Mike Watkin- son, held the initiative over impatient batsmen If England establish a significant advantage today - which means, perhaps, that someone has to make the first hundred of the series - the spinners should then enjoy themselves. There was only lim- ited and relatively slow turn for them yesterday but both the old boy, John Emburey, and the new old boy, Mike Watkinson, held the initiative over impatient batsmen. Watkinson got two wickets but the majority fell to Angus Fraser and Dominic Cork; it was Cork who took the most important one, curving a ball past Brian Lara`s defensive bat when he had made 87. His 16 fours had restated his quality to anyone beginning to doubt it. Lara, in fact, played a different game from everyone else: he made 87 of the 145 scored while he was in the middle and, by dint of his high backswing and decisive foot movement, made boundaries out of respectable balls. His dismissal and the incisive burst by Fraser shortly before lunch, in which he removed Jimmy Adams and Richardson in successive overs, were the day`s defining moments. Richardson`s correct call on a morning of baking heat was a blow to England and Carl Hooper`s confident pull from Fraser`s first ball seemed to confirm it. Fraser soon settled, however, re- freshed by his recent break, and Cork - if too short with the new ball - needed watching, as always. The extra aggression of Darren Gough was not missed - a fact that must give him food for serious thought as he reviews his chastening season. His Yorkshire prede- cessor, Fred Trueman, may sound like a record with the needle stuck, but he is right: there is no substitute for bowling the right line and length. Cork`s menace lies less in brute strength, more in rhythm; it was another successful day for him. Fraser started the ball rolling in the ninth over when Sherwin Campbell drove, not to the pitch, and was caught behind off a thin edge. Hooper, with that tan- talising talent which never quite matures, pulled at a short ball outside his off stump and dragged it in front of square leg, where Crawley held a well-judged catch as he fell to earth with a thud noticeably less heavy than the one which would have dis- turbed the Australian turf a few months ago. Reward, perhaps, for hours of sweat in the gym. All the new arrivals in the team had something to savour Lara - hitting effortlessly off the back foot - had righted the ship with Adams when Atherton called Fraser back 10 minutes be- fore lunch. Adams, already rapped more than once on his gloves by Fraser, was squared up by a ball which bounced and left him to give Knight his first Test catch at second slip. Two overs later, the last before lunch, Fraser again found bounce and a little movement back in to the right-handed Richardson, who could only edge to first slip. No-one else got to 20 after that. Lara reached his fifty off only 67 balls with a nice four, a glorious force off the back foot, but a pull next ball landed only just short of mid-on. The gam- bler in him is still holding sway over the cool tactician. So it was for the rest of them, blazing away lavishly as though the overs were limited. Watkinson gained his first wicket at extra cover and his second at deep midwicket - Arthurton to a good low catch by Cork, Murray to a well-taken high one by Emburey. Knight parried a high chance from Bishop to give Jack Russell his 100th Test victim and he finished the innings with another smart catch. All the new ar- rivals in the team, indeed, had something to savour; but they have a crucial day ahead of them. Cork said of his dismissal of Lara: "I just tried to bowl wicket-to-wicket to him and all their left-handers. It`s going well for me at the moment but there will be times when I won`t get wickets so I must cash in while I can. "We were all very disappointed by what happened at Edgbaston and were determined to get back to playing the way we did in the second Test at Lord`s." On sharing the new ball, he said: "That was a great honour. Angus is so consistent and I just tried to follow his lead." Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 2, 28 Jul 95 England build steadily as demolition attempt fails - Christopher Martin-Jenkins Second day of five: England (347-7) lead W Indies (216) by 131 A LITTLE bit of luck, a great deal of grit and a lack of thought and variety in the West Indian bowling enabled England to strug- gle into the lead in the Old Trafford Test and then, inch by inch, to climb towards a position of ascendancy. Against bowling which at one point was officially intimidatory, Graham Thorpe showed the way with an innings of 94, full of pluck and skill. He is doing for the England side of the 1990s what Al- lan Lamb did against the West Indies fast bowling of the 1980s. Thorpe batted for four hours and 20 minutes during which he re- ceived a mere 147 balls. His innings reached a crescendo four overs after tea when two drives through extra cover and two pulls hit all along the ground with rolled wrists brought him four of his nine fours in one over from Kenny Benjamin. Yet this flash of colour was quite out of keeping with an attritional day`s cricket in overcast, muggy weather. For the most part batting was like rowing against a spring tide. The current West Indian quartet are no less fast, fit or menacing than their predecessors of the mid-1980s, but they lack a bowler of Malcolm Marshall`s adaptable skill. Yesterday they were con- fronted by batting of admirable determination from first ball to last on a day which started at 11am and ended in drizzle at 6.15pm, with five overs unbowled. If the West Indies batting was at its most carelessly cavalier on the first day, their bowling yesterday, especially in the morning before Andy Roberts and Wes Hall no doubt reminded them that there is more to fast bowling than trying to frighten batsmen out, was at its meanest and moodiest. Curtley Ambrose unfor- tunately tends to set the tone in this respect, and Courtney Walsh`s joie de vivre off the field is seldom shown on it. It was he who was warned by Harold Bird in the seventh over of the day for intimid- ation when bowling constantly short at Mike Ather- ton. Smith later received another peppering but Bird`s decisive inter- vention at least prevented matters getting out of hand Walsh had abided by the umpire`s decisions under the three-year ICC regulation, which allows no more than two bouncers an over, and he accepted Bird`s decision, as did the captain Richie Richardson, with good grace. If only more Test umpires had as great an appreciation as Bird of what is and what is not accept- able. Unquestionably there were sufficient short deliveries for batsmen to be in danger of injury, which is one of the things that umpires are obliged to take into consideration when judging whether bowling is `intimidatory`. Robin Smith later received another peppering but Bird`s decisive intervention at least prevented matters getting out of hand, as they notoriously did when the 1976 West Indian team fired the ball consistently short here at Brian Close and John Edrich. The point now, as it was then, is that obsession with the short ball prevents taking wickets by pitching the ball further up and find- ing the edge of the bat. Until Jack Russell was run out late in the day after a doughty innings, England had most of the luck. The ball got past the out- side edge many times, not least during Thorpe and Smith`s crucial fourth-wicket stand of 104. Richardson`s options were limited because Carl Hooper was off the field all day with a suspected broken index finger on his right hand. It is one of the fac- tors which makes England firm favourites to win the game now and level the series. Hooper is a brilliant player of spin bowling and is unlikely to be able to bat effectively. If England invests some hope in Angus Fraser`s ability to get bounce from a dry pitch with cracks, it will also be to the off-spin of Emburey and Watkinson that they look to finish the job. The first phase today, weather permitting, will be the battle between what remains of the England lower order and refreshed fast bowlers armed with a new ball. As the light faded yesterday, Richardson elected to reduce the severity of the apparently inev- itable over-rate fine by using his two part-time left-arm spinners, Arthurton and Adams. How different was the tame end to the day from the opening salvos at Atherton and Thorpe England lead by 131 with Watkinson and Cork together. Lancashire`s captain has made a good common sense contribution in circumstances as friendly as they ever are against the West In- dies. He came in after Craig White, having played a sensible hand in tune with the whole England performance, had fallen to a top- edged cut, but since Ambrose had been off the field for half an hour for treatment Watkinson soon found himself on the front foot against friendly slow bowling. How different was the tame end to the day from the opening salvos at Atherton and Thorpe. A liberal supply of no-balls - 33 in all so far - and sufficiently even bounce (though not entirely predictable) for cutting and hooking, helped Atherton to get go- ing and Thorpe, having started with a single off the inside edge, to cuff the ball into the gaps. Atherton, dropped by Lara at first slip when 28 off Ian Bishop, whose first spell was lightning fast, fell instead to Ambrose, the ball just brushing his glove as he dropped his hands to play no shot. The century partnership which followed may well have de- cided the outcome. Smith did not enjoy the battle as much as he used to. The bruis- ing experience at Edgbaston may have left a mental mark and he played inside the line whenever he could, more than ever like a limbo dancer as ball after ball flashed over his arched body. Just occasionally a half volley on his toes was punched away through mid-wicket or a ball of the right height cut away square. But it was Thorpe who led the way and when he lost Smith after two and a half hours of determined struggle to a wonderful diving catch at second slip off the glove by Hooper`s substitute, Stuart Williams, he found another useful ally in White. Thorpe was six runs short of the elusive first hundred of the series when Bishop angled a ball across him and finally found his outside edge. White and a confident Russell added a further 29 and Russell and Watkinson 44 before Sherwin Campbell gave his side a bonus by running out Russell. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) ====> Day 3, 29 Jul 95 Defiant Lara is the stumbling block as England set up chance to square series - Scyld Berry Third day of five: W Indies (216 & 159-3) trail England (437) by 62 runs IT WAS always going to be a ding-dong series. But every England supporter must have feared that the ding which resounded around Edgbaston three weeks ago was going to be England`s death-knell in this series. Instead, at Old Trafford, England have responded decisively with a dong of their own, which can only be muffled if Brian Lara car- ries on from his overnight 59 to make his - or anyone`s - first century of this series. Like the Australians, after their nightmare in the recent Trini- dad Test, England have shut out the memory, and their batsmen in particular have so far resumed the excellence they established at Lord`s. It may be thought that the introduction of six unscarred faces may have helped England`s recovery to a position where they lead West Indies, with no fit specialist batsmen to come, by 62 runs. However, England`s advantage here was built by the five sur- vivors: Mike Atherton, Graham Thorpe and Robin Smith - all to be ranked among the best batsmen there have ever been against the West Indian attack of four fast bowlers - together with Dominic Cork and Angus Fraser. England`s players have been mercifully allowed to coast As it has turned out, what happened at Edgbaston has proved less important than what has happened since. England`s players have been mercifully allowed to coast: Fraser has had just a couple of one-dayers, Cork the same plus 15.4 first-class overs only. Thus they could compensate for the lack of a regular third seamer and dismiss West Indies in 60 overs on the opening day. The West Indian cricketers, on the other hand, have been driven from English coast to Irish coast and back again. After the ex- tra one-day game they had to play at Edgbaston, they drove to a hotel at Heathrow and, on consecutive days, played at Reading, flew to Ireland, played a one-day game there, flew back to Eng- land, played J P Getty`s XI, drove to Canterbury then had six days straight against Kent and Middlesex before here. In their cricket has been staleness. England`s relatively fresh vim was apparent yesterday in the bat- ting which added another 90 runs to the overnight score, making it England`s highest total against West Indies at Old Trafford. Cork`s batting, whether he likes it or not, is comparable to that of Ian Botham in his debut series: both able to play big shots against top fast bowling, if not, as yet, a complete defence to string a long innings together. But some corking shots there were, and moreover the most dynamic running between wickets perhaps ever seen from an England bats- man. The era of one-day cricket seems to have thrown up dynamic runners everywhere except in the England side. It was probably because the West Indians were so taken aback at the sight of an England player running four that they failed to note in time that Cork`s back foot had knocked off a bail in the day`s first over. Some of Cork`s back-foot forces flashed the second new ball to the cover boundary until West Indies, on their knees, set a one- day field. But when the back-foot forces resulted in an inside- edged nick on to his pads, Cork still scampered his single; and he ran with equal zeal when Emburey, wearing a chest protector for the first time, dropped the ball in and around the crease. The Blewett Factor - the `gentle` introduction of a player to Test cricket on his home ground, after Greg Blewett`s century at Adelaide last winter - helped Watkinson in his batting too. On his dismissal the pavilion rose to the Lancashire captain, never mind that half his runs had come off slow left-armers. This was the voice of a mass will-to-win, seldom heard at a Test in Eng- land. "England, England!" was chanted as the team reached 400 for the first time since the Headingley Test a year ago On the first two days the crowd had reserved enthusiasm for Lan- cashire players, but Thorpe`s stand with Smith swung them as well as the balance of the match. "England, England!" was chanted as the team reached 400 for the first time since the Headingley Test a year ago. Cork had the effrontery to slap Bishop`s first ball back over his head, and his maiden Test 50 was received like a last-minute winner down the road. And all the time the extras added up to be- come, at 64, the most generous donation ever made to an England innings. The drawback to all this tail-end batting - necessary because chasing anything above 100 on this ever-drier wicket would be a nasty experience - was that the bowlers were a little short of puff when West Indies began their second innings, 221 runs adrift. What is more, England in the ascendancy still set their fields defensively deep, Smith not quite close enough at gully to pick up Campbell in the first over. The crowd tried to rouse England as their spirit began to wilt in the sun and Sherwin Campbell settled in. England did not appear to be quite sure about being on top, with an advantage to be rammed home; their last three Test wins have come when they have been behind on first innings. Eventually Arthurton pushed to mid-off and, sent back, could not beat Fraser`s low throw which Russell did well to retrieve. Campbell aimed square of the wicket and Russell claimed the edge off Watkinson`s off-break. Watkinson took his second wicket in consecutive overs when Jimmy Adams spooned back a leading edge. Adams is as tired as anyone after being on the road with West In- dies since October while county cricket has made England`s job easier by softening up the best of the tourists, enlisting Adams, Ambrose, Walsh, Richardson to play even more cricket when free of international commitments. The crowd kept cheering, and streakers streaking (will Old Traf- ford have to be fenced?), but no further wickets fell. Eng- land have earned some luck. They have chosen an 11-man team for the first time, and their six batsmen, specialist keeper, and four bowlers have all chipped in. The breaks have followed, like Hooper`s finger, and no leg- spinner in Dhanraj on a well-Marronated pitch that could hardly be less suited to four fast bowlers. The pendulum stands poised to swing again. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu) ====> Day 4, 30 Jul 95 Cork`s hat-trick paves way for England to square the series - Christopher Martin-Jenkins ALL`S well that ends well but for England, dreaming of comfort- able victory after Dominic Cork`s hat-trick in the first over of the day, there was a nasty sting in the tail of a stirring Old Trafford Test. They needed only 94 to win the game and level the series, despite Brian Lara`s superb 145, but they were reduced to 48 for four by Ian Bishop and Kenny Benjamin, with Robin Smith on his way to hospital for neurological tests and treatment to a fractured cheekbone after deflecting a ball from Bishop into his face. Smith will undergo an operation today. It was not at all the finish envisaged by another large and par- tisan crowd, baked by a fourth successive day of hot sun. If their mood was carefree, England`s batsmen knew they were in a tough, intense battle. The careless run-out of Mike Atherton after an accomplished start to his innings, and some much more disciplined fast bowling by the West Indies, had created a crisis which was eventually overcome by the fighting qualities and un- derestimated batting skill of Jack Russell and, after a fierce examination of his character and technique, by John Crawley. This was a mentally draining and physically demanding match England won in the end by six wickets. The players of both sides will be immensely relieved to have a free fifth day. This was a mentally draining and physically demanding match, and for England a most important game to have won. It is their first Test success at Old Trafford since 1981. It is all square now and two to play. The West Indies duly paid the penalty for their careless first- innings display and England gained their just reward for brave and determined batting. But not before Lara had played the in- nings of the series, timing and placing the ball as only great batsmen can. Considering Cork had become the 21st bowler to take a Test hat- trick with the last three balls of the first over of the fourth day, it was greatly to the West Indies` credit that it was not until an hour and 50 minutes after tea that the game finished. The West Indies` inconsistency, however, is no less marked than England`s: this was the eighth Test running in which they have failed to make a total of 350. This has been England`s problem, too. Successive England managers and captains have said that if only they could score sufficient runs, they would find bowlers for the job. Angus Fraser, Cork and Mike Watkinson were the men who proved the point, but John Emburey`s return was in keeping with his previous career: reli- able, economical but innocuous. His future probably lies in management and it would be no surprise if he were to take the A team to Pakistan this winter. This was also the third Test hat-trick in the last ninth months Cork`s hat-trick began when Richie Richardson played the fourth ball of the morning, full in length and just outside off-stump, on to his stumps. In dramatic succession, Junior Murray and Carl Hooper then shuffled in front of their stumps and were sent on their way by umpire Cyril Mitchley. The 22nd hat-trick in Test cricket was the eighth by an England bowler and the first since Peter Loader`s, at Headingley in 1957. It was the third hat-trick at Old Trafford, the first two exam- ples making up one of cricket`s oddest records because both were achieved by the same bowler in the same match, the South Aus- tralian, Tommy Matthews, bowling for Australia against South Africa in the 1912 triangular tournament. This was also the third Test hat-trick in the last ninth months, following those last winter by the Australians Damien Fleming, against Pakistan, and Shane Warne, against England. Had Cork not subsequently received a warning for following through too close to the stumps, he might have added more wickets in his first spell. Watkinson shared the bowling with Cork at the start yesterday and picked up his third wicket of the weekend when Bishop was caught off bat and pad at short-leg. Lara, however, milked the strike, driving gloriously on either side and reaching his fifth Test hundred with a sweep for the 12th of his 16 fours. He was ninth out against the new ball, hooking Fraser to midwicket where Nick Knight took his fourth catch of the game. Knight looked the part of a Test cricketer and helped Atherton to give the innings a sound start before he was second out, caught by the substitute, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, at second slip as he drove to try to release the pressure created by accurate fast bowling after tea. Graham Thorpe soon hooked to long-leg and the accident to Smith was swiftly followed by Craig White`s fall to a lifting delivery, jabbed to second slip. Before he had scored, Crawley had already survived a catch claimed by Chan- derpaul off the same bowler, Benjamin, which the umpires agreed had not carried. The luck went with England throughout, as invariably it does with the winning side. Had Cork`s important innings, his first Test fifty, been nipped in the bud when he dislodged a bail with his back foot as he hit Bishop for an all-run four on Saturday morn- ing, England`s lead might have been significantly less than the eventual 221. On the other hand, Cork and his colleagues all be- lieved that Lara had been caught behind early in his innings and England might virtually have been home and dry by the end of the third day if that decision had gone their way. At first sight, it is an attractive idea that the third umpire should be empowered to communicate with the umpires in the middle to warn of possible injustice. Where would it end, however? Television replays call umpiring decisions into question all day long, even though the verdict usually confirms that they were right. Once the game turned down that road, it would become even more dependent on television than, commercially speaking, it al- ready is. The principle that the third umpire should only speak when spoken to must remain, despite the occasional uncorrected howler. The game, after all, was never entirely just. It is a great game for Cork just now. He has taken 20 wickets and scored 129 runs in his first three matches and provided his knees stand the strain and he remains patient on days when, unlike yes- terday, he does not get the rub of the green, he should be an au- tomatic selection for England for a long time. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu) ====> Post match comments W Indies gloating spurred us on, says Atherton - Geoffrey Dean DOMINIC CORK admitted after the end of the match that his taking of a hat-trick was "unbelievable". "You really don`t think it could happen to you. I had a little bit of luck with Richardson`s dismissal as it came off pad and inside edge, but I thought the two lbw`s were plumb." Maybe they reversed back into them, Cork said, referring to reverse in swing. He added that Cornhill, who are sponsoring their 100th Test match in England, would be mounting the ball for him. A delighted Michael Atherton said: "Dominic is obviously in a golden spell at the moment. I thought we thoroughly deserved our victory as we dominated the game for four days. I knew that with the right surface, it would be a tight contest as it has been all summer apart from at Edgbaston. One or two of the things that were said by the West Indies players in the Press after that Test match spurred us on here." Richie Richardson admitted that his side had not batted as well as they should have done. He heaped praise on Cork, declaring that "whenever he`s batting or bowling you can see that he`s very determined, and this rubs off on the other players. He`s a great fighter, as is Graham Thorpe. As for the England bowlers, Angus Fraser is one I`ll always rate". Richardson declared that he did not think his bowlers had over- done the bouncers in the England first innings, and revealed that umpire Dickie Bird had not informed him that he had warned Court- ney Walsh for intimidatory bowling. Questioned whether he thought the West Indies were conplacent after Edgbaston he answered: "I really don`t know. I haven`t noticed any complacency. England just really fought hard. We allowed them to make too many runs." Smith is due to have an operation today which, it is expected, will keep him out for four to six weeks He diplomatically added that he had no complaint over the Cork hit-wicket incident on Saturday when TV replays showed that the England all-rounder had knocked off the leg bail when setting off for the first of an all-run four in the opening over of the day. "These things happen," said Richardson in a post-match press conference which began farsically when a representative from San- dals, the Caribbean hotel chain who are sponsoring the West In- dies tour, rushed in with an inscribed cap that Richardson had forgotten to wear in front of the cameras. Ray Illingworth, chairman of selectors, revealed that he would have picked Cork last year if he had been properly fit. "But he was hobbling around like an old man," quipped Illingworth, who had nothing but praise for Cork. "He wants it and he enjoys it - that`s the big thing." Illingworth added: "It was a big team effort which is what I`m pleased about. At the Wednesday night team dinner, I said we had to be prepared to go through a brick wall." Atherton, however, singled out Thorpe`s 94 in the first innings as "a gem - absolutely superb when the heat was on". He also said how pleased he was with Mike Watkinson`s bowling. "He was a bit nervous in the first innings but bowled exceptionally in the second." The one disappointing note of a memorable day for England was the news that Robin Smith had fractured his cheekbone after being hit by Ian Bishop. Illingworth revealed that when he came off the field after being forced to retire hurt, he could not see out of his left eye. Smith, apparently, wanted to remain at the ground in case he was needed to bat again in an emergency but the team doctor ordered him to go to hospital. Smith is due to have an operation today which, it is expected, will keep him out for four to six weeks. Carl Hooper`s chipped right index finger, meanwhile, is not ex- pected to keep him out of the fifth Test on Thursday week. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by The Management (help@*ogi.edu)