England romp home after Harmison’s stunning burst
The Wisden Bulletin by Steven Lynch
March 14, 2004
England 339 and 20 for 0 beat West Indies 311 and 47 all out (Harmison 7-12) by 10 wickets
Everyone expected the first session on the fourth day at Sabina Park to be crucial. But no-one really expected the match to be done and dusted by lunch. But it was: England romped home after demolishing West Indies for an embarrassing 47 – their lowest Test score – and knocking off the 20 runs they needed in just 2.3 overs.
The architect of West Indies’ downfall was Stephen Harmison, who finished with 7 for 12, his best bowling figures, and the best in Tests at Kingston too, eclipsing Trevor Bailey’s 7 for 34 in 1953-54. There’s a hint of Curtly Ambrose in Harmison’s bounding run-up and loose-limbed action, and today he swept all before him like Ambrose at his irresistible, unplayable best, finding just enough bounce and movement to befuddle a series of bewildered batsmen.
Harmison was helped by Matthew Hoggard, who claimed two important wickets of his own. Hoggy’n’Harmo might not quite be up there with Curtly’n’Courtney yet, but today they silenced a sizeable Jamaican crowd, and sent them home searching for a restorative rum hours earlier than they might have expected.
Last night Harmison’s radar was marginally off-beam, and Devon Smith didn’t have to put bat to any of the eight balls he received. But today Harmison was right on target from the word go. His first victim was Chris Gayle, whose healthy edge zoomed towards third slip, where Graham Thorpe took a stinger above his head (13 for 1).
Ramnaresh Sarwan was on a pair, which was duly inflicted when he shuffled across to Harmison and was struck in front. The ball might just have been going over the top, but Daryl Harper had no such doubts (13 for 2). Sarwan’s fellow Guyanese, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, was rapped on the arm-guard by Harmison, then chopped one on – somehow the ball squirmed through his legs – before he’d scored (15 for 3).
In came Lara, far, far earlier than he’d hoped, and as in the first innings he started sketchily. He wasn’t off the mark either when he flashed at Hoggard, and Andrew Flintoff moved smartly to his right at second slip to gobble up the vital catch (16 for 4).
Smith’s departure, driving a return catch which Hoggard did well to hang on to, made it 21 for 5, with the last two recognised batsmen tottering out and a frail tail to follow. Ridley Jacobs bonked three meaty fours, hinting at some sort of revival, then slashed a screamer off Harmison towards gully, where Paul Collingwood – on for Mark Butcher – could only tip it round the post. But Jacobs couldn’t capitalise, and was still on 15 when Harmison’s lifter zeroed in on his glove and looped up to Nasser Hussain at short leg (41 for 6).
Tino Best, an irritant in the first innings, didn’t last long this time, flinching from his second ball from Harmison and helping it through to Chris Read (41 for 7). There should have been a wicket next ball, too: Adam Sanford edged a regulation chance to Thorpe at third slip, and blinked in disbelief as it went down. Thorpe might have been disconcerted by the sheer weight of bodies around him – for a while Michael Vaughan employed an eight-man cordon which, with Hussain lurking at short leg, meant that every fielder was crouching behind the bat. That’s a field indelibly associated with West Indies cricket – but not often with them on the receiving end.
Thorpe’s miss didn’t matter, though. Ryan Hinds was next to go, pushing forward to Simon Jones and edging to Read (43 for 8), then Sanford – after collecting the first run of the innings by a right-hander – snicked low to first slip, where Marcus Trescothick calmly collected the catch (43 for 9).
And fittingly it was Harmison who ended the rout, as Fidel Edwards flicked another one to Trescothick, to complete the fifth duck of the innings and give Harmison his 50th wicket in his 13th Test. West Indies’ meagre 47 was their lowest score in Tests, beating the 51 they scratched together against Australia at Port-of-Spain in 1998-99. Harmison’s figures improved on his previous-best of 5 for 35, set in his last Test, against Bangladesh at Dhaka in October. He was Man of the Match in that one, too.
Vaughan and Trescothick knocked off the runs in less than three overs. Local despair was summed up when Vaughan hoicked Hinds – the left-arm spinner who took the new ball – for a big six over midwicket. It was somehow appropriate, given that West Indies had conceded a massive 60 extras in England’s first innings, that the winning run was a bye: Jacobs’s frustrated shy at the stumps bobbled away beyond the close fielders.
The end was sudden, and stunning. Lara, injured finger and all, has a massive task now to lift his side for next week’s second Test. The Prince of Trinidad will need all his subjects behind him – and he will need vastly improved application from most of his batsmen and most of his bowlers if England aren’t to ram home the advantage they earned on a magnificently memorable morning in Jamaica.
Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden Cricinfo.
© Wisden Cricinfo Ltd
england made a poor start losing tres’ and vaughny cheaply, butch’ and nas’ steadied the ship witha fine 100 century stand but england lost the crucial wiket of butch’ late near the end of day = 2!!!