Windies v. England 1st. Test

[Donny]

Lowest Test team totals.

26 New Zealand v England Auckland 1954/55
30 South Africa v England Port Elizabeth 1895/96
30 South Africa v England Birmingham 1924
35 South Africa v England Cape Town 1898/99
36 Australia v England Birmingham 1902
36 South Africa v Australia Melbourne 1931/32
42 Australia v England Sydney 1887/88
42 New Zealand v Australia Wellington 1945/46
42 *India v England Lord's 1974
43 South Africa v England Cape Town 1888/89
44 Australia v England The Oval 1896
45 England v Australia Sydney 1886/87
45 South Africa v Australia Melbourne 1931/32
46 England v West Indies Port of Spain 1993/94
47 South Africa v England Cape Town 1888/89
47 New Zealand v England Lord's 1958
47 West Indies v England Kingston 2003/04
51 West Indies v Australia Port of Spain 1998/99

[Donny]

Harmison's magnificent seven

The Wisden Verdict by Freddie Auld


A lot of things have been written and said about Stephen Harmison over the past few months. The most worrying suggested that he was a bad traveller with a dubious attitude, who didn't have the heart or desire to make it at the highest level. There was even a rumour floating around in Bangladesh that an England official had dismissed Harmison as history. Think again: he's now very much part of England's future.

In yesterday evening's press conference, Nasser Hussain said how England's use of the new ball would be crucial. Well, even though the pitch was still offering good pace and bounce, even Mystic Meg wouldn't have predicted what happened this morning. The match was supposed to an epic, going down to the wire on the fifth day. That was how it was scripted - but Harmison had other ideas.

Harmison has had more Doubting Thomases on his case than most, but today was his day, a landmark in a short but stormy international career. It had been threatening to come for a while now. He ended the South Africa series on a high, with four wickets in the second innings at The Oval to help England square the series, and then took the Man of the Match gong at Dhaka with nine wickets in the game. Today was no accident - it was just waiting to happen.

Harmison is a different prospect now from the erratic, sweaty-palmed tearaway who first gangled into the England dressing-room. A settled team spirit has helped, as has having his close friends Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Simon Jones on board. He now feels this is his home. He has also gained the trust of his captain, Michael Vaughan, who was happy to let him loose with an attacking seven-two field and a whole lot of green on the leg side. And Harmison didn't let him down.

From the off, he was bouncing in with a spring in his step. He ruffled some big feathers in the first innings, and that helped set him up for his magnificent seven this morning. Where at times before he lacked that lethal mixture of aggression and accuracy, it was there today in abundance. He didn't get carried away as the ball flew head-high, but kept his length just right. It was not dissimilar to Curtly Ambrose, with whom Harmison has been compared to before. That comparison had previously seemed about as ridiculous as a Billy Bowden six-signal, but suddenly it has started to make sense. To be blunt, West Indies didn't fancy it today. They were beaten at their own game.

West Indies have now been shot down for 61 or fewer in three of their last five Tests against England, which must be an alarming stat for a wounded Brian Lara. Just as worrying for him was that his side donated more extras to England than the combined contribution of West Indies' big four batsmen - himself, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivrarine Chanderpaul.

But Harmison, and England, won't care about that. Perhaps all that training with Newcastle United paid off. Whatever, they'll be dancing in the streets of Durham tonight.

[JLC]

Great win by England. I thought they would win but not that easily.

jlc

[Canberra]

Over to you cc. I await your comments with baited breath.

[I@n S]

ROUT LEAVES HARMISON SPEECHLESS (skysports.com)

Steve Harmison attributed his Test best figures of 7-12 in the first Test win over the West Indies - which he said left him "speechless" - to learning his lesson from his first innings bowling.

The Durham paceman shot the West Indies out for just 47 to set up the seven-wicket victory at Sabina Park and increase England's chances of retaining the Wisden Trophy.

But Harmison, who praised Matthew Hoggard for his role at the other end, realised he needed to pitch the ball up more after taking two wickets in the West Indies' first innings.

"To be honest I'm absolutely speechless," he said.

"I'm really pleased. I learned from the first innings that my natural length was far too short and I watched how the West Indies bowled and saw I needed to bowl a bit fuller.

"Some good people in good places have helped me a lot. The team have worked hard, the preparation has been excellent and it showed today.

"The other bowlers were brilliant. First innings we worked hard to bowl them out and even today `Hoggy' [Hoggard) was excellent."

Captain Michael Vaughan felt that the batting of Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain earlier in the Test was crucial.

"We saw the sun was shining this morning and expected a really tough day," he said. "We bowled well on the first day and on days two and three our application with the bat was first class.

"Nasser Hussain and Mark Butcher's stand on that first morning we had to bat was exceptional, as that allowed Freddie (Andrew Flintoff) to play the way he was able and then Matthew Hoggard hung around for as long as he did.

"This morning was all about Steve Harmison but the hard work we put in on the first three days allowed that to happen.

"We always try to do our homework and today Steve got it right. He found a good length and we held our catches.

"Sessions like that don't come very often. We will definitely enjoy today and then wake up tomorrow and concentrate on Trinidad (the venue for the second Test)."

West Indies captain Brian Lara blamed his experienced batsmen and exonerated his young fast bowlers for the defeat.

"I think [the young fast bowlers] Tino Best and Fidel Edwards were great. It was not their fault things went wrong. The senior batsmen are definitely to blame for the way things went today," he said.

"It came down to a second innings game and we failed in our batting. The England guys bowled pretty well but 47 is something there is no excuse for."