Fine line between ordinary and the extraordinary (5 July 1999)

5 July 1999

Fine line between ordinary and the extraordinary

Michael Henderson

If events on the first two days of the Birmingham Test were extraordinary, the resolution on Saturday was baffling.

Showing a breathtaking disregard for everything that had gone before, Alex Tudor, the Surrey fast bowler, who was sent in as nightwatchman when Alec Stewart was bowled in the first over of their second innings on Friday night, ensured that England won by seven wickets.

Tudor finished one run short of his maiden first-class hundred, and it was a pity that Graham Thorpe, his county colleague, did not push a few balls back to the bowlers, to help him get there. Tudor, apparently, told him simply to win the match, but it was still a bit of a swizz. He is a young man of 21 and even if he plays Test cricket for another 10 years he may never come as close to making a hundred.

It was the highest score by an England nightwatchman, topping the 98 of Harold Larwood and the 95 of Eddie Hemmings, both against Australia. Coming after the gibbering incompetence of so much that preceded it, Tudor's innings had the gift of surprise, rather like stumbling across a precious stone in a valley of ashes.

His batting on Saturday, together with that of Thorpe and Nasser Hussain, and before them, Mark Butcher, exposed the earlier efforts of the batsmen on both sides as charlatanry. Yes, it was a bowlers' pitch, to a degree that is unhealthy, but Test batsmen should acquit themselves more thoroughly.

Tudor has been taken under the protective wing of Mark Ramprakash, who has acted as his batting 'mentor'. On the evidence of this match, which is, admittedly, misleading, their roles may need some revision. Ramprakash made a 27-ball duck on Friday morning. Tudor, reprieved only when he was caught behind off a Chris Cairns no-ball, lashed the bowling to all parts, though, to be fair, the New Zealanders bowled poorly.

By making 131 undefeated runs in the match, all but 19 of them in boundaries, Tudor showed up his supposed betters, and also revealed that his talents extend farther than bowling quickly. He did not bowl very well in this match but he helped win it with his strokes, some of which were powerful, and some, particularly those played off the back foot through cover and whipped elegantly off his legs, obliged Ian Botham, commentating on television, to say, with an intake of breath: "Well, Learie Constantine!"

There were, as there always will be in innings of this kind, a few lucky moments. There were also some very fine, and appealing, strokes that a senior batsman would be happy to claim. It cheered the crowd up no end, and England could do with a bit of joy at the moment. There have not been many smiles recently.

Whisper it, in the aftermath of victory, but England could conceivably have a minor problem when the selectors gather next week to pick the side for the second Test, which starts at Lord's on July 22. If Darren Gough has shaken off his calf injury by then, he will take his place in the side, but which bowler could they possibly leave out?

Alan Mullally has justified his position as Gough's partner by bowling very well for a year. Andrew Caddick took eight wickets at Edgbaston, five of them in the second innings as he blew away New Zealand's middle order. Unless Phil Tufnell is to be omitted on his home ground, the man to make way would have to be England's latest batting discovery!

It will not come to that. Gough may well need more time to regain full match fitness, so any change of personnel will be made after Lord's, where New Zealand came so close to winning five years ago, and where visiting teams habitually play above themselves. And that is not to mention Dean Headley and Chris Silverwood, who were unfortunate to be stood down from this match.

It was Tudor's first Test in England, though he played twice in Australia last winter, and it was the first Test anywhere for Chris Read, the Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper, who claimed eight victims, seven catches and a stumping. They came through in fine style, and isn't it good to see two young men contribute so much to a winning performance?

Hussain has cause to thank them. When England were dismissed for 126 on Friday afternoon, to concede a lead of 100, the prospect of victory by seven wickets was as remote as an Arabian desert. Not since Bob Willis in 1982 had an England captain won his first game as leader, and Hussain admitted later that this match could easily have gone the other way.

"It really is a fine line," he said. "If Fleming had taken that catch [when Caddick was 17, and England were 60 for seven in their first innings], it might have been very different." It had been a difficult three days, he knew that, but he thought the players' self-belief had contributed greatly to their victory.

Once again, the question arises: what makes a poor pitch? Hussain deemed it "typical" for Edgbaston. "Everything on the first two days was perfect for bowling. There was plenty of humidity, a bit of dampness in the pitch, and a few cracks starting to appear. If you bowled in the wrong area it would go for four, which you can work out by the high percentage of boundaries. It was not a pitch that Steve Rouse [the groundsman] would say was perfect but it made for an exciting match."

It was indeed exciting, as games between modest teams can be, with players responding to opponents' errors with a few of their own. The quality of batsmanship was poor, and the poverty cannot entirely be excused by the moisture in the pitch, or the conditions overhead. Test matches that last two and a half days confer distinction on few of the participants but, on this occasion, the blame should not be shovelled exclusively at the door of Mr Rouse.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph