4th Ashes Test: Fun ruined by ghastly return of reality (28 December 1998)

28 December 1998

4th Ashes Test: Fun ruined by ghastly return of reality

By Mark Nicholas

FOR about an hour and a half either side of lunch yesterday, English batsmen were crunching Australian bowling all around the vast expanse of the MCG. Even the Barmy Army woke up, which is a good or bad thing depending on your point of view, and voiced their pleasure to decent effect. By the end of the day, when Darren Gough was steaming in and knocking 'em over, they could have been the Kop.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been hosting the Boxing Day Test for donkey's years. There isn't much else to do in Melbourne on Boxing Day so they turn up in their tens of thousands for the craic which, of course, made the abandonment of play on Saturday a terrible letdown.

Dame Edna Everage once said that the best thing about Melbourne is that it is only 28 hours from somewhere really interesting. This isn't quite right, but the huge concrete stadium, able to accommodate up to 100,000 spectators, can be a soulless place on a cold, blustery, grey day and particularly if sprinkled by a mere 25,000, the majority of whom are wrapped up to the nines.

But, if you closed your eyes during the most thrilling part of the advance by Alec Stewart and Mark Ramprakash - the 70 they made during the hour after lunch - you could imagine a full house, a hot sun and happier days for English cricket.

Indeed, they batted so well together, hit the ball so cleanly, that Australia briefly looked ordinary. There were full tosses and long hops to feast upon and, better still, the edges kept missing the fielders. It was like being part of a glorious dream, until the ghastly five minutes in which both batsmen fell on their sword, and then reality returned to ruin the fun.

After reaching his hundred, Stewart became rather frenetic and looked as if he might get out any ball. It was the relief, one imagines, which obstructed his concentration and you could hardly blame him given the stress of the past month and the extra focus he placed upon himself by deciding, at the very last minute, incidentally, to surrender the gloves and move back up the order to open.

Ramprakash, in contrast, was in absolute control so it was a shock when he chipped another crafty Steve Waugh seamer to mid-on. Four fifties and a 47 for Ramprakash on this tour but no century. I'll bet that is hurting.

After an awkward, though not unsuccessful summer against the South Africans, during which he was strangely shackled and unable to reveal much of his naturalness, he is beginning to flower again here as he did in the Caribbean.

By using his wrists to time the ball square of the wicket and in presenting the straightest of blades when he drives through extra cover and down the ground, Ramprakash has earned the Australians' respect as more than just a blocker.

Yet, there is something of Kenny Barrington in the purpose of his batting at present. Clearly, last summer he was determined not to lose his place again at any cost - that pain is too much for this proud man - so he got his head down and resolved to sell his wicket dearly.

Like Barrington, he has the talent and the technical skill to occupy the crease on difficult pitches - Guyana earlier in the year, for example, and Perth a month ago - and by disciplining his strokeplay he is making himself the mid-order anchor that England crave.

Barrington, mind you, went on past the fifties and sixties to make hundreds, plenty of them. Ramprakash will do this, too, if everyone is patient. His road to Test-match achiever has been long and filled with heartache. He is still finding himself but soon he will trust his gifts enough to fulfil the rich promise of his youth.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)