Wickham's musings from Chalke

 

Flintoff and Warne

Kevin Pietersen

England were 2-1 up going into the final Ashes Test at the Oval. The fourth day had been dismal and dark and England had managed some good swing bowling to get Australia out for 367, 6 less than England’s first innings total, before bad light was offered to the England batsmen in the late evening. There was some controversy about this because Australia needed all the time available to the end of the match to bowl out England and then chase the runs themselves. After taking off the pace bowlers Ricky Ponting had expected to be able to continue using his spinners but the umpires still offered the light to the batsmen when it was not really dark, nor dangerous batting against spinners. Umpire Koertzen said it was “unfair”, a word not seen in the rules. When England had been fielding several balls had been lost in the gloom and potential catches not picked up soon enough so it could be said to be unfair to both sides, but not dangerous.

Andrew Strauss was out late on Sunday evening to a good ball from Shane Warne and at the start of the final day with good weather it looked a difficult task to bat long enough to secure a draw. Just before lunch when Flintoff was out England were 126 for 5 and looked dead and buried. Vaughan, Bell, Trescothick and Flintoff were all out to good balls, not their mistakes.

Pietersen was having difficulty just before lunch against Brett Lee who was bowling fast. Pietersen obviously wasn’t seeing the ball properly; you can always tell when a batsman hesitates then crumples as the ball hits him or whizzes past. He was dropped three times early in his innings and on his first ball, the third of a potential hat-trick, he fended off a high ball which just missed his gloves and hit his shoulder to be caught at slip but luckily umpire Bowden’s eyesight was good.

On one occasion he snicked a ball straight at Warne’s left ear and Warne dropped it. A real sitter. Warne got his hands there in plenty of time and is normally cast-iron safe. He must have taken it a bit casually. Comments had been made that Pietersen had dropped six catches and if we lost the Ashes, he would be said to have “dropped the Ashes”. Now it can really be said that Warne, despite a brilliant bowling effort taking 40 wickets in the whole series, had dropped them because Pietersen made the most of his chances.

After lunch Pietersen did all the wrong things – he lashed out at Lee but connected, every time. Three overs from Lee went for 37 runs. Pietersen kept hooking sixes and fours while Lee bowled 97mph balls, mainly short on leg stump and Pietersen is a leg-side batsman, not too good driving outside the off-stump where Lee should have been aiming. At such a critical stage most people would have advised him to settle down and play carefully but it is not in his nature and fortune favoured the brave. He sailed past his 50, then 100, then 150, hitting seven sixes and breaking two bats.

At lunch when England were 127 for 5 I thought we needed to get about 250 runs ahead and survive to tea, both of which seemed unlikely. Pietersen carried on with good support from Collingwood and Giles. At tea England were 221 for 7 with 49 overs left for Australia to chase runs – still enough time for them to win. After tea England moved into clear water. Pietersen went to a good ball from McGrath and Giles carried on getting 59 and England finished with 335 leaving Australia needing 342 to win in about an hour and a half.

Australia came out to bat and Harmison let fly two bouncers at Langer and umpire Bowden said that was his “two for the over”. Harmison’s fourth ball was short and fast and caused Langer to duck, but not a true bouncer and it went for four leg-byes. The umpires met to consider the light, although it was still good. There was a feeling that batting on when neither side had any chance of winning was pointless and perhaps a way should be found to end the match.

Langer and Hayden didn’t know whether it would mean the end of the match or just a delay and hesitated. Vaughan went to talk the Hayden, then to the umpires. Eventually the batsmen walked off and the crowd was quiet because no one knew what was happening. The umpires met the match referee to discuss the situation. The rules state that the umpires should consider the light at regular intervals but cannot call the match off at that stage. After the eighth over in the final hour the captains can meet to call the game off but the game had not quite reached that stage. After about quarter of an hour common sense prevailed and the umpires walked out to the middle, solemnly removed the bails and the celebrations started.

The series was always close after the first Test, right up to tea on the final day of the final Test. England did lose the first Test but it was interesting. Seventeen wickets fell on the first day. In the second Test Australia needed three runs to win with their last wicket pair but Harmison got Kasprowicz caught behind by Geraint Jones. In the third Test it was Brett Lee again in a last wicket stand but this time he survived with McGrath to force a draw. In the fourth Test England forced Australia to follow on for the first time for a decade or more and had plenty of time to get only 129 but started losing wickets fast. Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard were batting and Giles got the winning runs so we won by three wickets. In the final Test we got 373 and Australia got 367 so it was still close until Pietersen drove us ahead in our second innings.

So many of the players are good friends that the games were played hard but in good spirit. Warne and Pietersen both play for Hampshire and are buddies so there was a private battle there. Warne got Pietersen out in the first innings of the final Test cheaply but Pietersen got one over Warne in the second innings. When Brett Lee was not out with 43 runs in the second Test and Australia lost Freddie Flintoff consoled him. There were many other such scenes.

In the victory parade from St Pauls to Trafalgar Square today there were hundreds of thousands of people, more even than when we won the Rugby World Cup.