BIRMINGHAM, England, CMC - England retained the Wisden Trophy by completing a 256-run victory late on the fourth day of the Second Test, yesterday, to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Captain Brina Lara was the victim of an umpire’s error when Australian umpire Simon Taufel adjudged him caught at slip off bat and pad off Ashley Giles for 13 after his team had been set another improbable target of 479.
His demise in mid-afternoon was a cruel blow for a team already struggling to achieve any level of consistency, and despite a stroke-filled 82 from Chris Gayle and a typically combative 43 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, yet another collapse in which the last seven wickets crashed for 50 runs consigned the Caribbean side to a heavy defeat.
As in the First Test, Giles proved the chief destroyer, the left-arm spinner taking five for 57 to finish with match figures of nine for 122 and lift his tally from just two Tests to 18.
In any other match it would have been enough to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, but that accolade went to Andrew Flintoff, primarily for his 167 in the first innings that put the West Indies completely out of the match.
With Marcus Trescothick completing his second century of the Test earlier in the day, it meant that for two matches in a row, a batsman achieving the rare feat of scoring separate centuries in a Test had not done enough in the adjudicators’ estimation.
Not that such recognition would have mattered in the least to Michael Vaughan at Lord’s or Trescothick here, for yet again England had showed the all-round team effort and versatility in their bowling department that made a mockery of Lara’s pre-series suggestion that the hosts were too reliant on fast bowler Steve Harmison.
The Man-of-the-Series in the Caribbean earlier this year bowled just five overs in the final innings of the match as Matthew Hoggard (3 for 64) provided the initial burst while James Anderson, who was almost anonymous throughout most of the match, claimed the final two wickets by uprooting the off-stumps of both Corey Collymore and Jermaine Lawson.
In sliding to their 43rd Test defeat in less than seven years and 11th in 16 months under Lara’s second tenure as captain, the West Indies committed the usual litany of errors, which contradicted repeated claims by both the captain and coach Gus Logie that the players were learning from each setback.
Faced with the inevitable questions about his suitability for the leadership of the regional side, Lara chose to deflect those issues by reaffirming his commitment to continue as captain until after the Fourth Test at The Oval in three weeks’ time.
For all the subsequent disappointment, he would have been heartened by the team’s effort in the morning as Gayle claimed his best Test and first-class figures, five for 34, to trigger an England slide from 183 for three to 248 all out in their second innings just before the lunch interval.
The captain was off the field for most of that period of play, getting treatment to a blow on the hand sustained while fielding at slip and in his absence, Ramnaresh Sarwan marshalled the troops well.
The vice-captain actually initiated the breakthrough on a warm, sunny morning, running out Trescothick for 107 with a direct hit from deep mid-off when the burly left-hander was trying to complete a second run at the non-striker’s end.
He had just brought up his hundred with a boundary off Lawson, reaching the history-making landmark in 186 minutes off 154 balls with 14 fours and one six.
With the 131-run fourth-wicket partnership between himself and Graham Thorpe broken, wickets started to fall regularly as Gayle and Lawson, the only bowlers used in the session, maintained a disciplined line.
Thorpe, given a reprieve on his 35th birthday when he edged a Gayle delivery into Ridley Jacobs’ gloves, reached his second fifty of the match before charging the same bowler to be stumped for 54.
Lawson bowled Geraint Jones through the gate and while luck escaped him thereafter, Gayle made merry at the other end with the wickets of Flintoff, Giles, Harmison and Hoggard in quick succession to celebrate his first “fiver.”
Having basked in the glory of the achievement over, he was back out with opening partner Devon Smith to try and defy England bowler’s on a wearing pitch.
Hoggard quickly removed Smith to a catch by Trescothick at first slip but Gayle was already into stride, crashing four boundaries in one over off the same bowler.
Vaughan wasted little time in turning to Giles and, revelling in the atmosphere on his home ground, enjoyed immediate success when Sarwan prodded a catch to Andrew Strauss at silly-point to reduce the West Indies to 54 for two.
Lara arrived to the usual buzz of anticipation, particularly as he was just 20 runs away from becoming only the fourth player to total 10,000 runs in Tests.
Gayle continued to tear into the attack, reaching his third half-century in four innings in the series off just 62 balls with an incredible 46 runs at that stage (ten fours, one six) coming in boundaries.
The vocal West Indian fans in the stands were starting to believe that a glorious afternoon of strokeplay was about to unfold but then came the critical moment of Lara’s contentious dismissal, and at 101 for three, England celebrated as if the match itself had been won while the star batsman stood his ground momentarily in frustration.
Despite that huge setback, Gayle and Chanderpaul continued to punish any wayward bowling in a 71-run fourth-wicket partnership.
However Vaughan switched Giles to the end officiated by Darryl Hair, and as is wont, the burly Australian umpire ruled Chanderpaul LBW offering no shot when he prodded forward to the spinner with his bat well behind his front pad.
That was the spark that ignited the final collapse.
Five wickets fell in just a few frenetic minutes for just ten runs, among them Gayle via another silly-point catch off Giles.
Dwayne Bravo was bowled second ball for a duck and Jacobs completed a “pair” via a fine running catch by Anderson at mid-off off Hoggard in the midst of the mayhem.
Collymore hung around with Omari Banks (25 not out) for some time, yet it was not a question of if but when for England to complete victory, and when Anderson responded to the call from his captain, the hosts had shown a variety of armaments that Lara could only observe with envy.
SCOREBOARD
England 1st innings 566-9 dec. (A.Flintoff 167, M.Trescothick 105;
D.Bravo
4-76)
West Indies 1st 336 (R.Sarwan 139; A.Giles 4-65)
England 2nd innings (overnight 148-3)
M.Trescothick run out 107
A.Strauss c wkp Jacobs b Lawson 5
R.Key c Gayle b Lawson 4
*M.Vaughan c Gayle b Lawson 3
G.Thorpe st Jacobs b Gayle 54
A.Flintoff c Bravo b Gayle 20
+G.Jones b Lawson 4
A.Giles b Gayle 15
M.Hoggard c Smith b Gayle 6
S.Harmison b Gayle 1
J.Anderson not out 8
Extras (b8, lb2, nb6, w5) 21
TOTAL (all out - 65.1 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-37, 3-52, 4-184, 5-195, 6-214, 7-226, 8-234,