Miracles rarely happen in sport - just ask Tom Watson. Making more runs to win
than any team have made in the fourth innings of a first-class game proved
beyond Australia yesterday. They bowed down not to history, though, but to
Andrew Flintoff.
Flintoff was the plot, the subplot, the chapter headings and the footnotes of
the 21 overs it took England to bury 75 years of Ashes hurt at Lord's.
Bowling unchanged for ten overs from the Pavilion End, as quickly and with
as much hostility as any England bowler has mustered in recent times, he
took three of the last five wickets to fall, giving him his first
five-wicket haul at Lord's.
The sight of Australia batsmen clearly brings out the best in him, as do the
grandest of occasions. It was at the Oval in 2005, when the Ashes were
decided, that Flintoff last took five wickets in an innings of any match and
there has been no grander stage for him since than yesterday morning, with
Lord's bursting at the seams and Australia at England's mercy.
For some reason, even though the touring team began the day five wickets down
and 209 runs adrift, it was felt to be squeaky bum time. They couldn't lose
this, could they? To ease frayed overnight nerves, England needed a strong
start and Flintoff and James Anderson, who bowled a superb opening over to
Michael Clarke, gave them just that, as they had throughout the game.
It took Flintoff only four balls to strike, moving one fractionally up the
hill to find the edge of Brad Haddin's bat, the wicketkeeper unable to add
to his overnight score. A wicket maiden. Nine more Flintoff overs followed,
each as hostile and as threatening as the last. Clarke took a blow to the
back of the head, Mitchell Johnson numerous to the arms, shoulder and body.
A thunderbolt burst through Matt Prior's gloves.
When Nathan Hauritz shouldered arms and heard the clatter of leather on stump,
Flintoff stood in the middle of the pitch, legs splayed, arms raised aloft.
He was mobbed. When, 25 runs later, he castled Peter Siddle with a similar
ball, to ensure that his name would be on the honours board for posterity,
he knelt down on one knee in the middle of the pitch, head bowed, as if
about to be knighted. He was mobbed again. He rose up through the clamour of
his team-mates and saluted each corner of the ground, with a special nod to
the Grand Stand where the WAGs were sitting.
The only surprise was that the winning moment did not fall to him. That
pleasure belonged to Graeme Swann, brought into the attack at the Nursery
End after three overs apiece from Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Swann had effectively sealed Australia's fate when, with his second ball, he
somehow persuaded Clarke to skip down and miss a full toss, the right-hander
leaving the stage - still dazzled from his batting the night before - for
136, and it was Swann who brought the curtain down when Johnson swiped
across the line and was bowled: four wickets for the lead singer of Dr
Comfort and the Lurid Revelations.
The margin of victory, then, was 115 runs, the gulf between the teams even
wider than the margin suggests. Ricky Ponting, gracious and honest in defeat
as he was in near-victory in Cardiff, acknowledged his team's shortcomings
and will be grateful for the nine-day hiatus that will give his team the
opportunity to regroup. He knows that holding the Ashes confers an in-built
advantage (a little like an away goal in football) but that his bowlers will
have to improve substantially if his team are to retain them.
Critics may look to Australia's first innings, when they lost six wickets for
49 runs to concede a huge first-innings lead, in explaining their defeat. In
reality, though, the bowling is by far the bigger problem.
Australia, after all, are yet to win a match on tour: they couldn't bowl out
Sussex in 89 overs second time around, nor could they knock England over in
Cardiff, despite having them five down at lunch on the final day, and they
rarely looked dangerous at Lord's.
Johnson remains the biggest problem, leaking runs with the new ball without
threatening, and will have to play for his place at Northampton, where the
touring team go next. They will hope that Brett Lee and Shane Watson are fit
enough to provide options if Johnson cannot relocate his radar, as Stuart
Clark is said to have lost his nip. Phillip Hughes could do with a few runs
to remind himself that batting can be fun.
England will also be happy for the break, Andy Flower, the team director,
admitting post-match concerns about the fitness of Flintoff and Kevin
Pietersen. Flower said that Pietersen was in constant discomfort and that he
would be unhappy going into a Test match with Flintoff if he could not
guarantee his fitness over five days. Stephen Harmison, who took six wickets
in the shires during this Test, and Monty Panesar will be discussed, as will
Graham Onions's contribution in this match and the Edgbaston pitch.
That is for the future, though. This will be remembered as Flintoff's match.
He began it by announcing his retirement from Test cricket; he finished it
by revealing, if we didn't already know, how much he will be missed.
England First Innings
*A J Strauss b Hilfenhaus (268 balls, 22 fours) 161
A N Cook lbw b Johnson (147 balls, 18 fours) 95
R S Bopara lbw b Hilfenhaus (19 balls, 4 fours) 18
K P Pietersen c Haddin b Siddle (42 balls, 4 fours) 32
P D Collingwood c Siddle b Clarke (36 balls, 1 four) 16
†M J Prior b Johnson (10 balls, 2 fours) 8
A Flintoff c Ponting b Hilfenhaus (10 balls, 1 four) 4
S C J Broad b Hilfenhaus (26 balls, 2 fours) 16
G P Swann c Ponting b Siddle (6 balls, 1 four) 4
J M Anderson c Hussey b Johnson (25 balls, 5 fours) 29
G Onions not out (29 balls, 2 fours) 17
Extras b 15, lb 2, nb 8 25
Total 101.4 overs 425
Fall of wickets 1-196, 2-222, 3-267, 4-302, 5-317, 6-333, 7-364, 8-370,
9-378
Bowling Hilfenhaus 31-12-103-4; Johnson 21.4-2-132-3; Siddle 20-1-76-2;
Hauritz 8.3-1-26-0; North 16.3-2-59-0; Clarke 4-1-12-1
Australia First Innings
P J Hughes c Prior b Anderson (9 balls, 1 four) 4
S M Katich c Broad b Onions (93 balls, 6 fours) 48
*R T Ponting c Strauss b Anderson (15 balls) 2
M E K Hussey b Flintoff (91 balls, 8 fours) 51
M J Clarke c Cook b Anderson (12 balls) 1
M J North b Anderson (14 balls) 0
†B J Haddin c Cook b Broad (38 balls, 3 fours) 28
M G Johnson c Cook b Broad (11 balls, 1 four) 4
N M Hauritz c Collingwood b Onions (36 balls, 4 fours) 24
P M Siddle c Strauss b Onions (47 balls, 5 fours) 35
B W Hilfenhaus not out (14 balls, 1 four) 6
Extras b 4, lb 6, nb 2 12
Total 63 overs 215
Fall of wickets 1-4, 2-10, 3-103, 4-111, 5-111, 6-139, 7-148, 8-152,
9-196
Bowling Anderson 21-5-55-4; Flintoff 12-4-27-1; Broad 18-1-78-2; Onions
11-1-41-3; Swann 1-0-4-0
England Second Innings
*A J Strauss c Clarke b Hauritz (48 balls, 4 fours) 32
A N Cook lbw b Hauritz (42 balls, 6 fours) 32
R S Bopara c Katich b Hauritz (93 balls, 4 fours) 27
K P Pietersen c Haddin b Siddle (101 balls, 5 fours) 44
P D Collingwood c Haddin b Siddle (80 balls, 4 fours) 54
†M J Prior run out (42 balls, 9 fours) 61
A Flintoff not out (27 balls, 4 fours) 30
S C J Broad not out (no balls faced) 0
Extras b 16, lb 9, w 1, nb 5 31
Total 6 wkts dec, 71.2 overs 311
Did not bat G P Swann, J M Anderson, G Onions
Fall of wickets 1-61, 2-74, 3-147, 4-174, 5-260, 6-311
Bowling Hilfenhaus 19-5-59-0; Johnson 17-2-68-0; Siddle 15.2-4-64-2;
Hauritz 16-1-80-3; Clarke 4-0-15-0
Australia Second Innings
P J Hughes c Strauss b Flintoff (34 balls, 2 fours)17
S M Katich c Pietersen b Flintoff (5 balls, 1 four) 6
*R T Ponting b Broad (69 balls, 6 fours) 38
M E K Hussey c Collingwood b Swann (63 balls, 3 fours) 27
M J Clarke b Swann (227 balls, 14 fours) 136
M J North b Swann (25 balls, 1 four) 6
†B J Haddin c Collingwood b Flintoff (130 balls, 10 fours) 80
M G Johnson b Swann (75 balls, 9 fours) 63
N M Hauritz b Flintoff (5 balls) 1
P M Siddle b Flintoff (13 balls, 1 four) 7
B W Hilfenhaus not out (4 balls) 4
Extras b 5, lb 8, nb 8 21
Total 107 overs 406
Fall of wickets 1-17, 2-34, 3-78, 4-120, 5-128, 6-313, 7-356, 8-363,
9-388
Bowling Anderson 21-4-86-0; Flintoff 27-4-92-5; Onions 9-0-50-0; Broad
16-3-49-1; Swann 28-3-87-4 Collingwood 6-1-29-0
Toss England Umpires B R Doctrove (West Indies) and R E Koertzen
(South Africa)
Your Comments
Order By: