New ball upsets Vaughan's hard work
Centurion: New England coach Duncan Fletcher had predicted the day before that his side was about to face what he thought would be the tours sixth Test
Trevor Chesterfield
19-Nov-1999
Centurion: New England coach Duncan Fletcher had predicted the day
before that his side was about to face what he thought would be the
tours sixth Test.
By the end of the first day he would have no doubt wished he had not
gazed too deeply into the crystal as having shown the sort of batting
backbone often missing from modern England teams the tourists innings
was suddenly undone by the second new ball late in the afternoon.
In the end they struggled to reach a passable first days total of
238 for six having at one stage been placed on 218 for three against
the combined Northerns/Gauteng XI at SuperSport Park.
Just as Fletcher must have been seriously thinking of acknowledging a
good day?s performance against a near Test bowling attack, he saw
the innings crumble. While one of the six to fall was Andy Caddick,
who although hardly a rabbit was sent in as night watchman, the ploy
failed as he became one of three lbw victims.
It was David Terbrugge, who five days ago help destroy Sri Lanka
As batting at the scenic Centurion venue, chipped in with two late
wickets and Steve Elworthy finally bagged Michael Vaughans wicket
for 85, the second of the three late wickets to fall, who shared the
spoils. And this after Greg Smith was finally rewarded with Mike
Athertons wicket with a yorker for 81.
The tourists would have been in a worse plight had Chris Adams not
been dropped off the bowling of Terbrugge shortly after the new ball
was taken with the England XI score at 218 for four. It may be a
costly error as at 225 for four and the new ball only a couple of
overs old, the soft underbelly of the batting order may have been
seriously exposed.
At first England?s tourists could not have asked for a better stage
where to put together a fairly convincing batting performance on a day
of unfolding drama and where early on the bowlers did not have a lot
of luck, especially Elworthy and Smith.
The lads who did what they could to take the micky out of the bowling
attack, though were both born in Manchester yet play for opposing
counties with more than a century of rivalry: Mike Atherton and
Michael Vaughan regarded as Englands main tour batting prop on
this second England tour of South Africa since readmission.
As Vaughan, bidding for his first Test cap, explained, both he and
Atherton had to dig in and rebuild the innings after the first two
wickets fell in the first hour. And with the sort of bowling which
refused to be dominated, the two northerners had their work cut out to
bat through a difficult period.
Vaughan, being a Yorkshireman, is also big enough to acknowledge the
important role which Atherton played in helping him build his
innings. His calm assurance and composed style may not please every
one but it came at a time the innings was in trouble and needed
someone to assert a form of mastery over a bowling attack which relied
on swing and seam to upset the batting equilibrium and put Vaughan on
trial.
``It was tricky out there,'' he said. ``There was movement and steep
bounce at times. Not at all easy to bat and then expect to
dominate. It just was not on.''
The 25-year-old Yorkshire opener who normally opens the batting for
his county has batted at four so far on his tour and his innings of
five hours yesterday would do him any harm either: 10 fours, a couple
of them sweet drives, had the class expected of a Yorkshire batsman.
No one could really grumble about Athertons effort either: a shade
over four hours for 81 before falling to the Smith delivery. Yet it
was a day luck deserted the seamers Elworthy, Smith and Terbrugge and
although there may be a grumble in the England XI dressingroom about
Vaughan?s decision, the hard, honest work of the bowlers lacked the
rewards they deserved and Elworthy is no doubt wondering why a return
of one for 67 should really have been four for 50.