Date-stamped : 24 Aug96 - 10:33 DAY 1 Third Test: Crawley calls the tune with rich repertoire By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval First day of five: England (278 - 6) lead Pakistan THE spin of the coin gained England first use of a hard, true pitch at the Oval yesterday and what can only be described as a glorious innings of 94 not out by John Crawley ensured that the opportunity was not wholly wasted. One by one, however, his col- leagues found ways of keeping a persistent Pakistan attack in the game. The balance which resulted was classical, making for a day`s Test cricket to savour for a 17,329 fortunate and perfectly behaved spectators. That is all that the old ground holds these days, at least until the latest Vauxhall scheme gets off the drawing board. England finished their 90-over quota at 278 for six. Crawley`s innings transcended all else, much as Inzamam-ul-Haq`s had done on the first day of this all too brief series. Coming in at 116 for three and with a confident Graham Thorpe for reassur- ing company, he reached his fifth Test fifty off only 70 balls with six fours. After a hesitant first over, when he twice ducked unnecessarily at Waqar Younis, he played with that rare finesse which has marked his batting from his boyhood. No point of the Oval`s giant circumference was untouched by the time he had passed his previous highest Test score of 72. A streaky stroke past second slip off Waqar in those uneasy first few moments relaxed him and there was nothing false about the scoring strokes which followed: drives though the covers, includ- ing three in one over from Mushtaq Ahmed: the hallmark on-drive; the turn though midwicket, pretty but firm; and, most delicate of all, the latest of leg-glances off Mushtaq to send the fielder at 45 degrees, sweating to the fine-leg boundary in vain. The characteristic bend of the knees as Crawley plays his stroke, to bring the head a little closer to the ball, and the breaking of the wrists to keep it down, are like a pianist`s flourish as he plays the last note of a concerto. This is an artist at work: but also one with much work still to do. If he makes his hundred this morning, or whenever the threatened rain relents, it will mean that all of England`s top six know what it is to see three figures against their name in a Test match. Three of them will have experienced it for the first time this season. Whatever transpires in this game, this should prove to have been an innings of great significance in the longer term. It increases the feeling that England are a team travelling in the right direction, though, of course, it is bowling sides out which is the greatest need, and that will not be easy on a pitch which may only get lower and slower. At least, by playing a balanced attack, England have given them- selves the best chance of testing Pakistan`s confident batting in all areas. It was, however, a surprise when Andrew Caddick, not Chris Lewis, was the fast bowler omitted before the toss. If Lewis bowls as poorly as he did at Leeds he will not deserve to tour, but that is to take the negative view and the selectors have chosen to take the positive one. So did Alec Stewart as he got England out of the starting stalls at a searing gallop on a bright morning. In his present rich form he was more convincing than his captain against the frequent short balls by which Waqar and Wasim Akram attempted to exploit the hardness of the new ball on a quickish pitch. Atherton`s movements were restricted for a time after a nasty bouncer from Wasim had thudded into his right shoulder in the third over, but Stewart dictated the terms with two pulls in suc- cession from fast, short balls from Waqar. It was simply over- confidence which got him out. Having hit nine fours off 50 balls in making 44 out of 64, he tried to work a leg-break to mid- wicket in Mushtaq`s first over and was bowled, middle and off. Nasser Hussain never got going and he might well have reflected, after steering a lifting ball from Waqar to second slip, that he would have been better advised to have played in Essex`s match against Pakistan last weekend. Thorpe immediately brought an air of conviction and he played Mushtaq as if determined to make the most of batting for once on an unmarked pitch. He picked up runs freely through midwicket but Atherton`s was more a dogged than a fluent innings. At 15, despite rolling his wrists, he might have been caught at leg slip, pulling at Wasim, and seven overs into the second session he was bowled leg stump going too far across against the consistently fast and hostile Waqar. Mohammad Akram, tall, strong and with a pleasingly rhythmic ac- tion reminiscent of Michael Holding, had already played a useful part when shortly before tea he persuaded Merv Kitchen to lift his finger as Thorpe, right back, was hit on the pads by a ball which might just have pitched outside leg stump. It was an unfor- tunate end to an accomplished innings, but no more un- lucky than Knight`s. He had been there for 18 overs without mishap and had heaved Mushtaq for six when he padded up out- side his off stump and was bowled off pad and arm. Crawley was then 73 but the fall of Lewis, beaten by low bounce and inswing to give the industrious Wasim a deserved wicket, ob- liged him to bat for the morrow. Wasim claimed the new ball for the final over of the day and for Crawley there is much to do. DAY 2 Third Test: Pakistan take full control as Anwar claims princely 116 By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval Pakistan batsman might reasonably equate the joys it has in store to the experience of batting against England at the Oval. In 1987, Imran Khan`s team scored 708 in their first innings here. In 1992, 380 was sufficient foundation for a 10-wicket vic- tory. Yesterday they made 229 for one to finish the second day of the third Test only 97 runs behind hapless, hopeless opponents. Reckless batting and the failure of a cunning plan which even Baldric might have disowned have given Pakistan complete control. Saeed Anwar reached a brilliant third Test hundred from only 135 balls with a dazzling display of wristy off-side strokes but, with the honourable exception of the tyro Robert Croft, the home bowlers gave him every assistance. The better side are going to win with ease and it will be no more than Pakistan deserve for the aggression and confidence of both their bowling and their batting. A proper cricket pitch, not lightning fast but with sufficient pace and bounce to give every- one a chance, has suited them perfectly. Anwar, having made 54 of a dashing opening partnership before Aamir Sohail drove Croft to short extracover, has so far added 123 with Ijaz Ahmed, who has made batting look no less simple than his partner. These two, and all the main Pakistan batsmen, have had prolific tours and underlined the desperate need to overhaul a structure of county cricket which is failing more clearly with every pass- ing year to produce bowlers of true Test quality. Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram made rapid work of the tail once the rain relented yesterday and their top three batsmen proceeded to make a nonsense of both the theory and the practice of England`s strategy in the field. The pace of events made up for the loss of 23 overs to rain and gave another capacity crowd wonderful, if often slightly bizarre, entertainment. England`s plan was to feed Anwar`s appetite for cover-drives and square-cuts with a seven/two offside field, but it merely played into his hands. Aamir Sohail, though he played less convincingly against the spinners, fed equally voraciously off a liberal sup- ply of short or over-pitched balls fired wide of the off stump. The idea might conceivably have worked on a pitch of less even bounce than this but when conditions suit the batsmen as they are here, the best approach is the simple one of bowling a consistent line and length and making the batsmen work hard for their runs. On the contrary, by the time that the `offside trap` was aban- doned at tea, Pakistan had reached 62 for no wicket in 13 overs in reply to England`s 326 and such initiative as had been gained by John Crawley`s maiden Test hundred and a roistering 24 off 12 balls by Alan Mullally had been surrendered at an alarming rate. Croft, having played an intelligent supporting role as a batsman, found himself the only bowler capable of exercising any control, bowling a 14-over spell of flat but curling, gently deviating off-breaks from the Vauxhall end in the evening session before Mike Atherton gave Ian Salisbury a chance to redeem himself, one which he quite failed to take. Figures of none for 71 from 14 overs tell their own grisly tale as he confirmed his unfortunate reputation for bowling at least one ball an over which any reputable batsman might expect to hit for four. Much the same could be said of Chris Lewis and Dominic Cork, who conceded boundaries at a similar rate by abandoning the princi- ples of line and length and indulging instead in too many theories and variations. For some strange reason Cork, a good bowler to left-handers with his ability to swing the ball in to them and occasionally get it to hold up, was not given the new ball and when he did get a bowl before tea, his second over was battered for 11 runs as the array of slips and gullies waited for the catch that never came. England`s approach was unintelligent from the start. Salisbury, instead of playing himself in and holding an end up for Crawley, as he is perfectly capable of doing, tried to play shots too ear- ly and was caught off the back of his bat at first slip. Cork once again belied his improved form as a county batsman by trying to take the bowling on before he had settled. A flail outside his off stump gave Waqar the first of his two wickets, though he might well have claimed one with an lbw the ball before. Mercifully Croft`s cricketing brain was in better working order and he helped Crawley to reach his maiden Test hundred, appropri- ately enough with his trademark shot, the turn through mid- wicket. He was out in the same over, bowled by a ball which skidded through his hitherto cast-iron defence to hit his off stump, but there was a heady 20 minutes still to come for England, as Mul- lally swung his extra-long blade to remarkable effect for 24 runs off 12 balls before Wasim yorked him. What followed for England was like walking into a freezing cold shower when a warm one was confidently expected. * Coach David Lloyd was critical of the England`s day in the field. "It was our poorest day of the summer. No excuses. We ex- pect discipline when they play for England but here they were poor. "If you go into the England dressing room you will see it is not a place to give out a rollocking. I`ve not written the series off yet, we`ve got three days left. I`m not offering any excuses for our performance." The coach exempted Croft from the criticism. "He showed good pace and discipline, something we didn`t have in other bowling departments." DAY 3 England tactics backfire again Scyld Berry believes absence of Caddick and Gough undermined home side`s chance to level series England 326, Pakistan 229-1 ENGLAND`S bowlers at times in this match have looked so impotent that not even IVF treatment, for all its recent miracles, could help them. But most of them improved yesterday, and with the aid of rain which limited play to 38.3 overs and 110 runs, they checked Pakistan`s headlong rush towards a second victory in this series. A draw should therefore be within England`s grasp, without the need of a match-saver on Johannesburg lines from Mike Atherton. If nothing else, their batting has become more resolute during Atherton`s captaincy and Raymond Illingworth`s chairmanship. But even if England do bat well in their second innings and achieve a draw, they will still have come a poor second to Pakistan, who can rank themselves above West Indies and inferior to Australia alone. Last evening David Lloyd tried his persuasive best to argue that England have maintained a steady improvement through the summer, and cited the growing resolution and technical accomplishment of his side`s batting: "We are pretty decent at saving matches." But when it came to talking about an improvement in England`s bowl- ing, Robert Croft was the only name the coach could mention. Eng- land are improving, while other countries are improving more quickly. Lloyd followed the traditional route of blaming the pitches in part for England`s poor showing in this series, although he did also criticise England`s dreadful bowling in the first session at Headingley. He said he had "politely asked" for pitches more suited to England`s bowlers, and been politely refused, as his predecessors have been. Yet, while it is true that England do not make the use of home advantage that they should, it is also the case that their stra- tegy has been wrong in this match and at Lord`s. Lloyd said that the Pakistanis were enjoying this Oval pitch, but England could have been enjoying it too, if they had chosen the right attack. To leave out Andy Caddick, if he was fit, was not sense; and Dar- ren Gough might have made the ball bounce as well as reverse- swung it. Bounce is the Pakistanis` Achilles` heel: their batting has disintegrated in every Test they have played at Brisbane and Perth since the Seventies, and it might have been the same here if Caddick and Gough had been employed. Devon Malcolm should not have been beyond the pale of consideration. Instead, England set about bowling to Pakistan`s batsmen as if they had been Indians. In early season, it was a good ploy to bowl for gully catches against batsmen who did not get their heads over the ball and opened the bat`s face. But Pakis- tani batsmen are more correct, use their feet and are brought up against pace bowling. Pakistan`s bowlers hit the stumps six times in England`s first innings here. In the whole winter series against South Africa, and in this series against Pakistan, England`s bowlers have hit them five times in total. What was "the corridor of uncertainty" for Rathore and Mongia was an avenue of complete assurance for Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, as the latter made the highest score of his Test career. But how was Lloyd supposed to know, when he was suddenly made England`s coach, without the TCCB giving him any direct experi- ence of Test cricket in the 20 years since his last Test match? Between yesterday`s showers, however, England decided to bowl straighter, though not so penetratingly straight as to threaten the stumps. Pakistan`s bowlers hit the stumps six times in England`s first innings here. In the whole winter series against South Africa, and in this series against Pakistan, England`s bowlers have hit them five times in total. Chris Lewis improved marginally yesterday but he is not the sort who is motivated - quite the opposite - by the spectre of his head on the block. Then to pick two inexperienced spinners, on a flawless pitch allowing only a little and regular turn, was to present Pakistan`s batsmen with a blank scorebook, especially Anwar. When going for his off-side drives, Anwar exhibited wrists so elastic as to be almost liquid. He was quiet in the first hour against Croft and Alan Mullally, England`s two reliable bowlers, and in 68 minutes only two fours were added. But when Ian Salis- bury came on his first ball, a full toss, was timed at 53mph, and Anwar cover-drove it at about 100mph. Salisbury was warmly applauded - when he managed a dot ball, at the fifth attempt. He pressed too hard to redeem himself immedi- ately with a wicket-taking variation, instead of rehabilitating himself with leg breaks. Whereas Shane Warne and Mushtaq are both wicket-takers and con- tainers, Salisbury is neither one nor the other as yet at the highest level. His very presence has become an ill omen for Eng- land here, as they have lost each of the eight previous Tests he has played, except for one, in which Pakistan totalled 505. Croft on the other hand was even steadier than expected, his 12- over spell costing 22 runs as he continued to push the ball through, and to enjoy the combat. Then the second new ball was claimed, and 28 runs spurted in the next five overs, and in this passage occurred the loutish behaviour of Cork. When Stewart fumbled a take off his bowling, Cork ran through to the striker`s end to receive his throw. Never was Anwar in the way, yet Cork pushed Pakistan`s left-hander in the back as if he had been. Admirably restrained, Anwar did nothing beyond speak to the umpire BC Cooray of Sri Lanka, who has had as good a match as any visiting umpire this summer. As the ICC match referee Peter van der Merwe spoke to both par- ties later, Cork apologised, and no further action was taken, but that was not adequate. So combustible has an international crick- et match become that any direct bodily contact of such a nature as Cork`s should be penalised, to warn others and to prevent an insidious spread. The three one-day Texaco internationals could all too easily be games of high tension. The day`s first rain timed itself well to coincide with the lunch interval, so that only 15 minutes were lost. On the resumption the penny finally dropped. England dug the ball in, and both Anwar and Inzamam were caught off mis-hooks in consecutive overs. Inzamam had almost skied to deep square leg in getting off the mark with a hook at Mullally. Once the players had gone off at 2.33pm only 10 balls remained. This was unsatisfactory, as the game had promised so much. It was as unsatisfactory as a three-Test series, a short story compared to the fulfilling complexity of a novel, or as unsatisfactory as England`s bowling. DAY 4 Atherton douses fire as Pakistan keep the pressure on By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval Bottomless pit of snakes which lack real venom HECTIC finishes in one-day cricket have their unarguable place in the scheme of cricketing things, but it would be hard to imagine a more dramatic session than the one with which the fourth day of final Test of the summer ended yesterday. True to his word that Pakistan would play attacking cricket throughout the series, Wasim Akram declared at half-past five with a first-innings lead of 195, leaving England with 23 overs to bat, in the brightest weather of the day. All the red-blooded cut and thrust of the five-day game was in evidence as Wasim and Waqar Younis sprinted into bowl at a speed measured consistently at more than 80mph, mixing searing bouncers with swinging yorkers. Wasim in particular bowled at a furious pace, twice almost decapitating Michael Atherton, a foeman worthy of his steel. While Atherton defended with customary relish for the fight, Alec Stewart, disdaining to drop down the order despite spending the weekend concentrating intensely behind the stumps, met fire with fire, driving, forcing and cutting with stirring elan. By the time that the curtain came down, at 7.18 because of an extra hour added in compensation for the time lost to a heavy shower at lunchtime, Atherton and Stewart had launched England`s second in- nings with a reassuring opening partnership of 74. It did them both immense credit, because an early breakthrough for Pakistan might well have been the prelude to victory. That may yet be the outcome and if the weather is better than has been forecast today Bank Holiday spectators attracted by reduced ad- mission prices of #10 might yet have some fun in store. Much will depend on how Atherton holds things together. As soon as he was out in the first Test of the series at Lord`s, England lost nine wickets for 75 and the series was won and lost. Mushtaq Ahmed`s spell into the rough from round the wicket was the key. The little wizard himself was on as early as the 10th over last night and immediately posed problems for Stewart which the furious pace of the two W`s had not. Both sides could be proud of their efforts yesterday. What might have been a dull day produced constantly interesting cricket, thanks largely to Pakistan`s refusal to sit stubbornly on their one-nil lead. England`s bowlers, vastly improved on their perfor- mance on Friday, made Salim Malik work hard for a cultured 14th Test century, but with late adjustment of supple wrists he worked the ball into the gaps and contented himself with only 10 fours. The ball turned yesterday both for Robert Croft`s off-spinners, which gained him an admirable first analysis in Test cricket of two for 116 from 47 overs, and for Ian Salisbury`s leg-breaks, which earned the less glorious return of one for 116 from 29. It ought to gave been two, but he missed Waqar off his own bowling just before the declaration. Pakistan`s scoring rate, which had begun at five an over against the first new ball, when England threw away their theoretical winning chance by bowling which lacked thought and control, was reduced to little more than three as they moved from 339 for four overnight to 521 for eight. Steadier bowling and heavy showers on Saturday - only 38.3 overs were possible - slowed Pakistan progress as they pressed on from 229 for one overnight. Alan Mullally found a good ball to leave Ijaz Ahmed and the new ball accounted after lunch for Inzamam- ul-Haq, who pulled to square leg after effortlessly laying the foundatons of a big innings, and Saeed Anwar, who spliced a pull to mid- on. The morning session yesterday brought no reward to a bowler but some consolation for the sadly self-wounded Chris Lewis, who swopped on the third-man boundary and sent a swift, raking throw on the run to beat Asif Mujtaba`s optimistic attempt to complete a second run. The ball turned yesterday both for Robert Croft`s off-spinners, which gained him an admirable first analysis in Test cricket of two for 116 from 47 overs, and for Ian Salisbury`s leg-breaks, which earned the less glorious return of one for 116 from 29. It ought to gave been two, but he missed Waqar off his own bowling just before the declaration. Salisbury bowled much better yesterday, initially round the wick- et into the rough, but then over it. He bowled Moin Khan with a second successive googly, proving, I hope not too late, that his wrong`un is as difficult to read as Mushtaq`s. Unless the selec- tors show unusual faith, however, (and it has to be admitted that Salisbury`s earlier bowling has tested it) they will prefer a more economical left-arm spinner as Croft`s winter partner. In the space of one weekend Croft has become a certainty for the winter tour, such is the capacity of Oval Tests to make or break an England player`s international career. Reluctant to give the ball much air- and smacked far over mid-wicket by Wasim when he did, he probed away accurately, with a full pivot of the body and gave Atherton a control which only Mullally of the three fast bowlers could match. His second wicket came with the help of a swift stumping by Stewart as the ball spun away from Wasim`s flailing drive, and also of a television replay which showed that his toe was still on the line when the bails came off. England will need a hundred from somebody, but even if a poor weather forecast proves correct the pitch has lasted so well that it should not be beyond one of the senior batsmen to oblige. For lovers of the ironic the appropriate end might be for Lewis, who began this season`s international cricket with a spell of four for six in 21 balls, to play a match-saving innings. Day 5: Third Test: Mushtaq spins Pakistan to series triumph By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval FIRST, said Brian Bolus when Ray Illingworth asked him on to his selection committee three years ago, "we must stop the bleeding." On the final day of his last home Test, the chairman`s quiet lit- tle boast - the best he could honestly manage - that at least England have become harder to beat, was exploded by the wonder- fully sustained menace of Mushtaq Ahmed`s wrist-spin and the ra- pier thrusts of the fast bowlers from the other end. Mushtaq bowled unchanged from the Vauxhall End from the 10th over of the innings on Sunday evening to its sorry con- clusion at 4.20pm yesterday, taking six for 78. The promised rain never came and Pakistan, despite losing the better part of a day`s play to the rain over the weekend, completed a triumphant nine-wicket win at little after 5pm to complete a 2-0 win in the three-match series. Mushtaq has now taken five wickets in an innings in five of his last six Tests. Until the 1995-96 season he had, curiously enough, never taken more than four wickets in a Test innings. He has bowled for Somerset for three seasons, but English technique against top-class leg-spin seems only fractionally improved since Shane Warne sounded the warning bell with that amazing first ball against Mike Gatting at Manchester in 1993. It is not just English batsmen who struggle against Warne and Mushtaq. They are the best two wrist spinners, certainly, in the last 25 years, and their efficacy has been all the greater for the vacuum which they filled. By his performances in the past year Mushtaq has joined Warne among the finest exponents in his- tory of the hardest of cricket`s arts. Mushtaq has now taken part in 13 Pakistan victories in his 24 Tests. In his last six games he has taken an astonishing 45 wick- ets. He was made Cornhill`s man of the match and also Pakistan`s man of the series, but he was challenged by his captain for both rewards. Wasim Akram has not been at his best as a fast bowler, perhaps, tending to an obsession with the short-pitched ball, but that method worked for him in the end yesterday. He fired out John Crawley and Robert Croft with brutal bouncers before finishing the England innings in spectacular manner, taking his 300th wick- et in his 70th Test, by bowling Alan Mullally first ball. Five wickets tumbled in the afternoon, as Pakistan`s voluble sup- porters roared their bowlers on and the umpires were tested time and again. THE bare bones of yesterday are that England were drawing the game only for as long as Mike Atherton`s wicket remained intact. When he was out at Lord`s, two matches ago, England lost their last nine wickets for 75. When he was out yesterday, Nasser Hus- sain (who had missed Lord`s) and Graham Thorpe held the fort a little longer, but the last eight wickets went down for 76 runs in 27 overs. Atherton and Alec Stewart had extended their resistance admirably for the first part of the morning. The pitch remained hard and blameless and Stewart continued to pierce plentiful gaps in an attacking field with crisp attacking strokes as Atherton`s de- fence remained immaculate. Mushtaq was still bowling over the wicket when Stewart, having reached a sparkling fifty off 88 balls, albeit with a sliced drive past slip, was deftly caught, low at short-leg, off inside edge and pad. The turning-point really came, however, as it had at Lord`s - and indeed in Richie Benaud`s famous Old Trafford spell in 1961 - when the leg-spinner went round the wicket. The catalyst was a pull-driven four by Atherton. Five overs be- fore lunch the captain was gone, also edging into his pad, but this time smartly snapped up at silly point. As at Lord`s the lunchtime position - 158 for two - was deceptive, for all Hussain`s calmness and the occasional classy stroke. Five wickets tumbled in the afternoon, as Pakistan`s voluble sup- porters roared their bowlers on and the umpires were tested time and again. Thorpe went to the googly, caught at slip; Hussain was rather dubiously given out as he padded up to a googly which ap- peared not to have turned sufficiently; Lewis was also lbw, for- ward to an inswinger which could only have grazed the leg stump. Last and most important, after 95 minutes Crawley spliced a catch to short point. Only a few defiant strokes by Dominic Cork held up Wasim and Mushtaq after tea. Cork the bowler was left with an impossible task, the triumphs of Edgbaston in June now but a memory. The one legitimate excuse - the only one from a thoroughly outplayed home team - was Atherton`s: "We seem to have lost the art of preparing traditional English wickets." Only on green seamers are England a match for anyone. Source:: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)