In sport, the journey from youth to manhood, from promise to fulfilment, can
take an awfully long time. Some never make it. At Lord’s this week the crowd
have been privileged to witness this transformation almost overnight. Ian
Bell has grown up before their eyes. He walked to the crease shortly after
lunch on the first day a boy; 496 minutes later, on day two, with 199 to his
name, he left the field a man. The questions can stop.
On another day of England domination, there was also a classy performance to
enjoy from Stuart Broad, who impresses more and more with every passing
game. Broad survived a barrage of short stuff and went on to pass his
previous Test best before aiming and missing a swipe to leg off the left-arm
spin of Paul Harris and falling for 76.
But there was no one yesterday – not even Kevin Pietersen, who finally fell
for 152 – to deny Bell the limelight. On the first day he travelled in
Pietersen’s slipstream; that it was Bell who got England back on track at
three down with a mini counter-attack was largely ignored. The force of
Pietersen’s personality swamps everything and it was not until he left the
stage yesterday that the quality of Bell’s strokeplay could be appreciated
for what it was.
He was the constant thread that ran through England’s performance yesterday.
He shared a record fourth-wicket partnership for any country against South
Africa with Pietersen, a gargantuan effort of 286. And after Paul
Collingwood and Tim Ambrose had gone cheaply – Collingwood given out caught
off a pad – he joined with Broad in another record partnership, this time
for England’s seventh wicket against South Africa. By the end, England’s
batsmen were turning down the offer of the light, all but Jacques Kallis had
gone for a gallon and South Africa were looking ragged.
Bell has played other fine innings for England, but this was by a distance his
best. That he felt so was obvious from his reaction to his hundred, his
third at Lord’s. Whereas a Pietersen hundred is celebrated with gusto, Bell
is normally much more reticent. Here, after driving Kallis firmly into the
covers, Bell raised both arms aloft before clutching the three lions on his
shirt, not once but twice, and bobbing his bat pointedly at the
dressing-room as if in thanks for their support through a difficult summer.
By Bell’s standards this was an extravagant celebration.
Context is everything, of course. With Andrew Flintoff’s shadow looming over
the England team, there is a widespread feeling that someone must make way
at Headingley. Bell was one of those candidates and so the pressure was on.
England were also in a tricky situation when he arrived at the crease.
Before the match the call went out for tough runs in a tight situation. With
England 117 for three and South Africa on the prowl, he was offered the
chance to show his credentials in this regard and he did not disappoint.
As ever, his runs were a delight to watch. He has always been the most
aesthetically pleasing player in this England team, a touch player in a
brutal, power-crazy age. The quality of his strokeplay was pure, the sound
of ball off bat was rarely anything other than resounding – a straight six
off Harris the most sweetly struck blow of the lot – and barely a jarring
note was struck. As Harris tried to frustrate him by bowling over the wicket
towards the end of the day, Bell showed that he can innovate with the best,
stepping outside leg stump and, with a nod to Pietersen, who was watching
from the balcony, reverse-sweeping the orthodox way.
In an aesthetic sport, style counts for something, but runs count for more and
for most of this summer, Bell had not been scoring enough. So the biggest
feather in his cap was that he went on and capitalised on his good form. He
has now added ruthlessness to his list of attributes. A double century was
there for the taking when, trying to hit the left-arm spinner over the top,
he failed to get enough elevation and Harris took a stunning return catch
away to his right. Bell’s dismissal brought an immediate declaration from
Michael Vaughan, the advantage of which was denied to England by early bad
light and rain.
England were helped enormously by Graeme Smith’s defensive tactics in the
morning. Given that the second new ball was only nine overs old, his
reluctance to attack was odd. He began with a fielder on the boundary at
backward point and soon added another at deep square leg. It was almost as
if he had lost faith in his bowlers after a poor first day, but there is
always plenty of time to sit back and defend. If you do not attack with the
new ball, when will you?
His choice of bowlers was also puzzling. Morne Morkel had been the most
impressive bowler on the first day and a captain would normally start with
his most likely wicket-taker. Yet Morkel was the last of the seamers to get
the ball in his hand. When he did come on after an hour’s play, the
initiative had been lost and 79 runs had come in 13 overs. After two unhappy
days, Smith could with a few first-innings runs.
MCC brigade’s new ball game
The umpire’s verdict: Billy Bowden
W hen I arrived at Lord’s in the morning, one or two spectators I passed were
looking a little glum. They thought rain was on the way. I said to them:
“Life is good, keep smiling.”
When I went through the Long Room for the first time, I spotted a couple of
elderly members, prim and proper in their MCC ties, who looked as if they
were once decent players. So I tossed a ball at each one of them from about
three metres away to test their catching skills - and these were still
intact. They even received a round of applause from fellow members.
Later, the weather did present a problem. We had to come off for rain several
times and when that happens, an umpire can never properly relax. I was
beginning to wind down but could not lose my intensity as I would soon be
going out again.
I spotted Kevin Pietersen before the start of play and asked him whether he
had had his necklace fixed after he was hit on the helmet on Thursday. He
told me it was his honeymoon necklace that he had bought in Mexico and so it
meant a great deal to him.
That was not the end of my possession of ornamental wear. Dale Steyn thought
he had dropped his wristband in the Long Room and was relieved to discover I
had it in my pocket. The overriding disappointment about the day was having
play interrupted. I do not expect to see rain in high summer in England.
Billy Bowden is a member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and
Match Referees, sponsored by Emirates Airline – an official ICC partner.
England: First Innings
A J Strauss lbw b Morkel 44
(178min, 131 balls, 6 fours)
A N Cook c De Villiers b Morkel 0
(191min, 132 balls, 9 fours)
*M P Vaughan b Steyn 2
(6min, 3 balls)
K P Pietersen c Boucher b Morkel 152
(281min, 181 balls, 1 six, 20 fours)
I R Bell c and b Harris 199
(496min, 336 balls, 1 six, 20 fours)
P D Collingwood c Amla b Harris 7
(15min, 13 balls, 1 four)
†T R Ambrose c Smith b Morkel 4
(12min, 7 balls)
S C J Broad b Harris 76
(158min, 124 balls, 10 fours)
R J Sidebottom not out 1
(30min, 22 balls)
Extras (b 14, lb 12, w 7, nb 15) 48
Total (8 wkts dec, 156.2 overs, 688min) 593
M S Panesar and J M Anderson did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-114 (41.5; Cook 59); 2-117 (43.0; Cook 60); 3-117
(43.5; Pietersen 0); 4-403 (107.1; Bell 111); 5-413 (110.5; Bell 113); 6-422
(113.3; Bell 118); 7-574 (150.3; Bell 188); 8-593 (156.2; Sidebottom 1).
Bowling: Steyn 35-8-117-1 (nb 2, w 2; 13 fours; 3-2-1-0,
3-1-8-0/lunch/4-1-15-0, 2-0-10-1, 2-0-9-0, 3-0-14-0,
4-0-11-0/stumps/5-0-29-0, 6-2-19-0, 3-2-1-0); Ntini 29-2-130-0 (21
fours; 5-2-10-0, 2-0-8-0, 5-0-17-0, 1-0-6-0, 3-0-7-0,
2-0-10-0/stumps/6-0-40-0, 3-0-27-0, 2-0-5-0); Morkel 34-3-121-4 (nb
5; 13 fours; 2-0-12-0, 6-0-16-0, 5-1-13-2, 5-0-16-0, 3-2-9-0,
4-0-14-1/rain/1.1-0-7-0/rain/ 3.5-0-15-1, 4-0-19-0); Kallis 20-3-70-0
(w 1; 6 fours; 6-2-12-0, 4-0-19-0, 5-1-18-0, 2-0-6-0, 3-0-15-0); Harris
38.2-8-129-3 (nb 4; 2 sixes, 13 fours; 1-1-0-0, 2-1-2-0, 1-0-1-0,
11-2-53-0, 3.3-1-11-0/rain/1.3-0-2-1/lunch/4-1-19-0,
5-1-15-0/tea/7-1-20-1/rain/2.2-0-6-1).
Scoring notes: Second day: Rain break 12.34 to 12.41pm (414-3; 110.3
overs). Rain stopped play at 12.54pm - lunch taken. Lunch 422-5 (113.1;
497min; Bell 118, Ambrose 4). Tea 535-6 (138 overs, 609min; Bell 171, Broad
54). Rain breaks 4.57 to 5.12pm and 5.24 to 5.36pm. Declaration at 5.49pm.
South Africa: First Innings
*G C Smith not out 2
(14min, 13 balls)
N D McKenzie not out 5
(14min, 7 balls, 1 four)
Total (no wkt, 3.2 overs, 14min) 7
H M Amla, J H Kallis, A G Prince, A B de Villiers,
†M V Boucher, P L Harris, M Morkel, D W Steyn and M Ntini to bat.
Bowling (one spell each): Sidebottom 2-0-5-0 (1 four); Anderson
1.2-0-2-0.
Scoring notes: Second day: Rain ended play at 6.14pm. Abandoned at
6.30pm. Close 7-0 (3.2 overs, 14min; Smith 2, McKenzie 5).
Umpires: B F Bowden (New Zealand, 47th Test) and D J Harper (Australia,
72nd).
Replay umpire: N J Llong.
Fourth umpire: R T Robinson.
Match referee: J J Crowe (New Zealand).
Tests to come
Second Test (Headingley Carnegie) July 18-22.
Third Test (Edgbaston) July 30-August 3.
Fourth Test (The Oval) August 7-11.
ªScoreboard compiled by Bill Frindall
