HE HAD already made four Test centuries on this ground and a fifth evidently
meant little against the intoxication of victory. Michael Atherton, six
hours into a marathon of which few men in the world would have been capable,
settled contentedly for an unbeaten 98 and threw up his arms to acclaim one
of those moments for which he plays the game.
Atherton at least registered the winning runs in this fourth Cornhill Test, a
push through mid-on for three, but he had happily sacrificed his century
while his captain, Alec Stewart, flayed the now-fatalistic South Africa
bowling. "I offered him his hundred," Stewart shrugged later. "But he said I
should just get the game won."
Some time later, beer in hand and a tired smile across his stubbled features,
Atherton enunciated his philosophy of life in cricket. "You don't think
about personal milestones at a time like this. Winning was the thing,
because Test-match victories are the best moments in any player's career."
For Atherton, whose mental resilience and masterful technique were tested as
seldom before during the unforgettable duel on Sunday evening with Allan
Donald, this was the finest century he never made. It was a Herculean
innings, defiant yet never dull, and it encouraged the thought that, at 30,
he is only now approaching his peak.
His balance and judgment were impeccable, his driving fluent and his pulling
safe, strong and verging on the disdainful. "I obviously had a bad time
during the last year of my captaincy, but I worked damned hard this spring
and I'm reaping the rewards," he said. So too are England, for whom he has
scored 476 runs in four Test matches at an average of almost 70.
For England, the critical nature of this victory was matched by its sense of
style. After a poor first day, on which the waywardness of certain bowlers
came close to sabotaging Stewart's decision to field first, England put
together a performance of sustained quality.
Few games are won after facing 374 in the first innings, even fewer after
conceding a deficit. But England, chivvied at every interval by the vocally
determined Stewart, chased the match tenaciously. Fraser's bowling was
heroic and correctly won him the man-of-the-match award, but a target of 247
was far from negligible.
Atherton and Stewart had talked regularly of how many they would feel
confident of chasing and both agreed that 300 would almost put the game out
of reach. On Sunday morning, with seven South Africa wickets still standing,
Stewart gathered his players around him. "I told them we must aim to keep
the target around 260," he recalled. "In the event, we did even better."
The hardest work was done in the last session on Sunday, and when the clouds
remained unthreateningly high yesterday, the greatest threat to England was
lifted. An excellent pitch was still playing relatively truly and, with only
139 needed, England were firm favourites.
Still, there was Donald to be overcome, and Pollock, too. Atherton and Hussain
needed to negotiate an hour to calm "the butterflies" of which Atherton
spoke and they did so with some command, helped by bowling that strayed in
line and watched by an ever-growing crowd.
Nottinghamshire were obliged to call in off-duty stewards and open up parts of
the ground that they had planned to leave empty. It was an extraordinary
scene of ceremony and expectation and, unlike so many such cricketing
moments, neither bad weather nor ineptitude rained on England's parade.
When Donald fired his yorker into the blockhole, the mind registered that the
battle was not won, but this was a day, indeed an innings, when everything
seemed to fall for England. The good balls either beat the edge or fell
short of catchers and when Atherton jabbed down late on a scuttling delivery
from Elworthy, the ball skipped agonisingly over the stumps.
By lunch the requirement was down to 57 and though Donald removed Hussain,
brilliantly caught low down at second slip by Kallis in the first over of
the new session, England did not even pause for breath. Stewart came out
blazing and his first six scoring strokes were fours.
Atherton leaned happily on his bat until the moment came to finish the job,
survive the crowds, take the acclaim and reflect on a victory that came not
a game too soon.
FINAL SCOREBOARD FROM TRENT BRIDGE
England won toss
SOUTH AFRICA: First Innings G Kirsten b Gough..........................7
(42min, 21 balls, 1 four)
G F J Liebenberg c Stewart b Gough 13
(34min, 40 balls, 1 four)
J H Kallis c Stewart b Flintoff.......... 47
(157min, 103 balls, 4 fours)
D J Cullinan c Ramprakash b Fraser 30
(63min, 53 balls, 3 fours)
*W J Cronje c Hick b Fraser......... 126
(286min, 212 balls, 1 six, 16 fours)
J N Rhodes lbw b Fraser................. 24
(64min, 44 balls, 3 fours)
S M Pollock c Stewart b Fraser....... 50
(92min, 71 balls, 6 fours)
+M V Boucher lbw b Fraser............... 4
(8min, 6 balls, 1 four)
S Elworthy c Ramprakash b Gough 48
(71min, 52 balls, 7 fours)
A A Donald not out............................. 4
(43min, 25 balls)
P R Adams c Hick b Gough.............. 0
(6min, 4 balls)
Extras (b 9, lb 3, nb 9)...................... 21
Total (103.2 overs, 438min)........... 374
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-21 (Kirsten 6), 2-26 (Kallis 4), 3-68 (Kallis 14),
4-147 (Cronje 42), 5-196 (Cronje 61), 6-292 (Cronje 107), 7-302 (Cronje
113), 8-325 (Elworthy 8), 9-374 (Donald 4).
BOWLING: Gough 30.2-4-116-4; Cork 17-2-65-0; Fraser 26-7-60-5; Flintoff
17-2-52-1; Salisbury 9-1-57-0; Butcher 4-1-12-0.
ENGLAND: First Innings M A Butcher lbw b Donald............. 75
(197min, 141 balls, 12 fours)
M A Atherton c Boucher b Donald. 58
(190min, 156 balls, 7 fours)
N Hussain lbw b Elworthy.............. 22
(78min, 52 balls, 4 fours)
*+A J Stewart c Kirsten b Kallis...... 19
(57min, 42 balls, 4 fours)
M R Ramprakash not out................ 67
(277min, 205 balls, 7 fours)
I D K Salisbury b Donald................ 23
(104min, 77 balls, 2 fours)
G A Hick b Donald............................ 6
(26min, 17 balls, 1 four)
A Flintoff c Boucher b Kallis........... 17
(48min, 37 balls, 3 fours)
D G Cork c Boucher b Pollock......... 6
(37min, 29 balls, 1 four)
D Gough c Boucher b Donald......... 2
(13min, 13 balls)
A R C Fraser lbw b Pollock.............. 7
(30min, 14 balls, 1 four)
Extras (b 7, lb 13, w 1, nb 13)......... 34
Total (127.5 overs, 533min).......... 336
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-145 (Butcher 74), 2-150 (Hussain 4), 3-191 (Hussain
18), 4-199 (Ramprakash 4), 5-244 (Ramprakash 21), 6-254 (Ramprakash 23),
7-285 (Ramprakash 36), 8-302 (Ramprakash 44), 9-307 (Ramprakash 46).
BOWLING: Donald 33-8-109-5; Pollock 35.5-12-75-2; Elworthy 22-8-41-1;
Kallis 28-9-60-2; Adams 9-2-31-0.
SOUTH AFRICA: Second Innings G Kirsten lbw b
Fraser...................... 6
(53min, 31 balls)
G F J Liebenberg lbw b Gough....... 0
(3min, 4 balls)
J H Kallis c Stewart b Cork............. 11
(43min, 33 balls, 2 fours)
D J Cullinan c Ramprakash b Fraser 56
(143min, 105 balls, 8 fours)
*W J Cronje c Stewart b Cork........ 67
(251min, 168 balls, 8 fours)
J N Rhodes c Stewart b Cork........... 2
(11min, 8 balls)
S M Pollock c Stewart b Cork.......... 7
(21min, 10 balls, 1 four)
+M V Boucher c Hussain b Fraser. 35
(89min, 65 balls, 5 fours)
S Elworthy lbw b Fraser.................. 10
(17min, 19 balls, 1 four)
A A Donald not out............................ 7
(16min, 4 balls, 1 four)
P R Adams c Stewart b Fraser......... 1
(9min, 7 balls)
Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 1)......................... 6
Total (75.3 overs, 333min)............ 208
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Kirsten 3), 2-17 (Kirsten 6), 3-21 (Cullinan 4),
4-119 (Cronje 43), 5-122 (Cronje 43), 6-136 (Cronje 50), 7-189 (Boucher 35),
8-193 (Elworthy 3), 9-200 (Donald 0).
BOWLING: Gough 16-4-56-1; Fraser 28.3-6-62-5; Cork 20-4-60-4; Flintoff
6-1-16-0; Salisbury 5-2-9-0.
ENGLAND: Second Innings M A Butcher c Boucher b Pollock.. 22
(67min, 50 balls, 4 fours)
M A Atherton not out....................... 98
(356min, 277 balls, 14 fours)
N Hussain c Kallis b Donald........... 58
(243min, 170 balls, 5 fours)
*+A J Stewart not out...................... 45
(44min, 34 balls, 9 fours)
Extras (b 2, lb 11, w 2, nb 9)........... 24
Total (2 wkts, 87 overs, 356min).. 247
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-40 (Atherton 11), 2-192 (Atherton 88).
BOWLING: Donald 23-8-56-1 (8 fours; 5-2-6-0, 8-3-11-0, 5-3-7-0,
5-0-32-1); Pollock 26-3-79-1 (nb 8, w 1; 9 fours; 10-1-26-1, 9-1-30-0,
4-1-8-0, 3-0-15-0); Adams 12-4-23-0 (4 fours; 4-1-6-0, 2-1-1-0, 2-0-6-0,
1-1-0-0, 3-1-10-0); Kallis 13-5-26-0 (w 1; 3 fours; 4-1-5-0, 8-3-21-0,
1-1-0-0); Elworthy 9-1-38-0 (6 fours; 3-0-17-0, 6-1-21-0); Cronje 4-1-12-0
(nb 1; 2 fours; one spell).
SCORING NOTES: Fifth day: Lunch: 190-1 (75 overs, 307min; Atherton 87,
Hussain 57). Second new ball taken at 2.04pm - England 221-2 (81 overs).
England won by eight wickets
Match Award: A R C Fraser (Adjudicator: A R Lewis).
Umpires: M J Kitchen and R S Dunne (New Zealand). Third umpire: R
Julian.
Match referee: A Ebrahim (Zimbabwe).
SERIES DETAILS: First (Edgbaston): Match drawn. Second (Lord's): South
Africa won by ten wickets. Third (Old Trafford): Match drawn. Test to come:
Fifth (Headingley): August 6-10.
* Compiled by Bill Frindall
