THE 100 metre challenge sprint between Ashley Giles and Mark Richardson that followed the climax of the third npower Test match at Trent Bridge on Sunday evening summed up the spirit of a splendid series and the ability of England to get up on the line.
Richardson, as diehard a Kiwi as they come, flung himself at the tape in his attempt to beat the man he designated the “slowest member of the opposition team”, a challenge that is becoming a traditional epilogue to every series that Richardson plays. By inches, however, it was the equally affable Giles who prevailed.
It may appear that the Test series that ended on Sunday was won more by feet than by inches, but Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, was right to point out how close all three games were. Had Shane Bond, faster through the air than Steve Harmison if less venomous off the pitch, been fit to play, it might have been closer still. If Daniel Vettori had not torn a hamstring at Headingley, the chances are that New Zealand would have won at Trent Bridge, where Giles was so effective.
It has been an invariable feature of all the series that England have lost against Australia since 1989 — eight in all — that they have dropped more catches and had the greater ill fortune with injuries and umpiring decisions. England’s luck was reversed both in the West Indies earlier this year and in the rubber just concluded, when New Zealand’s misfortunes culminated in the loss of not one but two fast bowlers early in England’s first innings at Trent Bridge. It put a tremendous strain on Chris Cairns, the inexperienced James Franklin and Jacob Oram, himself not fully recovered from a side strain. Kyle Mills, who has a more serious side strain, was replaced by Franklin yesterday for the NatWest Series.
For the moment, England can bask in the pleasure of their first “whitewash” against any country in a series of three or more matches since 1978, when New Zealand’s cricket had not yet reached the heights achieved during the prime of Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe, or, more recently, of Fleming and Cairns. With 21 wickets from six innings, Harmison was England’s man of the series, as he had been with 23 in the West Indies. It cannot be stated frequently enough that the key to the possibility of the longed-for defeat of Australia next summer is to make sure that Harmison is man of the Ashes series.
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So far, both Duncan Fletcher and Michael Vaughan have acknowledged the truth of this without taking any obvious action to ensure that their prize asset is not overworked. It was Nasser Hussain’s mistake before the latest Ashes series to overbowl Andrew Flintoff to the point that he was unfit to take any part. It would be far better to risk losing a Test against West Indies in the series of two exhausting back-to-back matches so greedily crammed into the period between July 22 and August 23 than it would be to overstrain Harmison and Flintoff.
That is equally true of the first batch of one-day internationals that England start playing next Thursday. Fletcher has rightly referred to the mental strains of such frequent international cricket, quite apart from the physical ones. The aim should be to keep the essential players — Vaughan and Trescothick are two more — ticking over without needing to bring in the turbo-booster too often.
At least Fletcher now has at his disposal Peter Gregory, a full-time medical adviser, Nigel Stockill, his fitness expert, different physiotherapists for the Test and one-day teams and, when necessary, a psychologist. The exercise on which he is embarked between now and the start of the series against Australia next May is not unlike the one that faces the trainers of thoroughbreds as they prepare for the Derby, or even leading golfers working towards a major championship. They all have to be tuned to the moment.
There have to be pacemakers, too, or in a team game those players who can come good when conditions suit their own particular talents.Giles is a case in point. He may not, in fact, be the slowest sprinter in the England team, but he is certainly their only slow bowler. An uncharacteristically pugnacious gesture towards the press box after the winning runs were scored on Sunday showed what he thought about the continual damning with faint praise to which he is subjected. In truth, he was essential to the win at Trent Bridge and an important part of the success at Lord’s.
By taking six for 116 at Nottingham, he reiterated the case for including in almost all conditions an accurate spinner who can give a different option. Gareth Batty might have done similar, but there is a dependability about Giles that fits well into the team’s ethos of all for one and one for all.