It really does not matter what scratch teams in Australia call themselves. Academy XIs, Prime Minister’s XIs, state second XIs, Chairman’s XIs all seem to have certain things in common. They possess scintillating young batsmen of infinite confidence and no respect for the touring team’s Test bowlers, especially if they happen to come from England.
They cling on to brilliant catches of the sort that England fielders in Test matches sometimes manage to get a valiant hand upon before the ball goes for four or six. Usually, too, they have a few youthful fast bowlers who make short work of batsmen of repute.
A couple of old and not very fast bowlers filled that role instead at Lilac Hill yesterday, but the result was the same. The curious combination of England reserves, up-and-coming Academy men and been-and-gone revivalists, in common with most England teams in similar matches over the past 20 years, were outplayed.
Ten thousand spectators, packed into two-tier marquees and temporary stands round the smaller of the two tree-ringed grounds at the Midland-Guildford club beside the River Swan at Caversham, got more or less inebriated and cheered with good humour at the latest humiliation for the Poms, although there were no members of the Barmy Army to taunt. Like Michael Vaughan, they knew better than to risk attendance.
Not so the fearless Alec Stewart, returning as one of three past heroes on either team in accordance with the game’s “festival” tag. Having played at this club for eight years in his formative years as a professional, he needed no second invitation to captain the English team and batted remarkably well for someone who has not played for three years, not to mention having arrived in Australia only yesterday.
Three nets with his father at the indoor school run by his brother at the other Guildford were sufficient to revive that effortless timing that was the hallmark of his batting. He top-scored with 69 off 69 balls, sharing a partnership of 112 with Ravi Bopara, whose fluent 53 will have improved his outside chance of finding a place in the team for the one-day internationals that is to be announced after the Perth Test.
Apart from some cleanly struck sixes against charitable bowling by another of the older folk, Adam Hollioake, and relatively commendable bowling efforts by Sajid Mahmood and Monty Panesar, both hoping for a return to the Test team on Thursday, there was little else of good cheer for the England cause.
Jamie Dalrymple contributed all round as usual, not least in the field, and Ed Joyce was unlucky to be run out off a bowler’s deflection as he was beginning to construct a decent innings, but Liam Plunkett had to leave the field for a precautionary X-ray having been hit on the ring finger of his bowling hand while fielding and Chris Read, given the chance to bat No 3, was expertly caught at mid-on from a hard drive.
The management’s instructions, Stewart said after the home team had sauntered to the target of 260 in a hail of fours and sixes, were to give the five official England reserves as full a game as possible and to win. They failed because, as Stewart also said, the line and length of the bowling was insufficiently consistent.
That is a familiar story and Jon Lewis, the captain on the field, was no less culpable than the younger bowlers, disappearing for four fours in succession in his third over, three of them pulls, as Luke Ronchi, a wicketkeeper-batsman with a chance of taking over from Adam Gilchrist after the World Cup, warmed up. When he was out in only the eighteenth over, aiming for his fourth six but this time outwitted by Panesar, he had scored 89 from 49 balls with 15 fours, the home team were 137 for two and the game was effectively over.
Marcus North, familiar to county cricket, and Adam Voges, celebrating in some style his unexpected call-up to Australia’s Test squad in Perth, administered the finishing touches with confidence and skill. They were troubled only when North was bowled by a no-ball from Mahmood early in his innings. The umpire was Peter Loader, the Surrey and England fast bowler who made Perth his home soon after his tour here in 1958-59 and who, at 77, stands as a fully qualified umpire in grade cricket.
As expected, England were under the command of Andrew Strauss for the two-day match against Western Australia starting at the Waca this morning, with Michael Vaughan in the team and becoming, in effect, the seventeenth member of the touring party. He will stay on when the Academy players go home on December 22, a clear enough sign that he will be considered for the Test series if he can show sufficient form and fitness.
Andrew Flintoff is recharging his well-worn batteries, but a scan on his suspect left ankle, which was giving him “discomfort” in Adelaide, has shown no change in its condition since it was previously scanned before he was passed fit for the tour.
Dave Roberts, the former England physiotherapist and Flintoff’s friend and physical adviser at home in Lancashire, had suggested a comparison to make sure that bowling on hard pitches was not risking another serious injury.
ECB Chairman’s XI
E C Joyce run out 36
O A Shah c Campbell b Matthews 22
C M W Read c Ervine b Worthington 0
R S Bopara c Worthington b Voges 53
*A J Stewart c North b Matthews 69
J W M Dalrymple c Rogers b Matthews 17
R A Smith c Ronchi b Worthington 20
A J Hollioake not out 38
L E Plunkett run out 0
S I Mahmood not out 1
Extras (b 1, lb 1, nb 1) 3
Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 259
M S Panesar and J Lewis did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-45, 3-69, 4-181, 5-184, 6-213, 7-255, 8-256. Bowling: Angel 9-1-29-0; Dorey 8-0-36-0; Matthews 7-1-38-3; Worthington 7-1-21-2; Ervine 6-0-31-0; Voges 6-0-33-1; Pomersbach 6-0-45-0; Campbell 1-0-24-0.
Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI
C J L Rogers b Panesar 32
L Ronchi st Read b Panesar 89
M J North not out 58
A C Voges c Panesar b Dalrymple 71
R J Campbell not out 1
Extras (lb 6, w 1, nb 2) 9
Total (3 wkts, 40.1 overs) 260
*J L Langer, L Pomersbach, S M Ervine, P C Worthington, B R Dorey, C D Matthews and J Angel did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-137, 3-249. Bowling: Plunkett 7.3-1-46-0; Lewis 7-0-51-0; Mahmood 10-0-49-0; Panesar 10-0-63-2; Dalrymple 4-0-27-1; Hollioake 1.4-0-18-0.
Umpires: P J Loader and D G Weser.
