A WINTER OF DISCONTENT
A review of England’s fluctuating fortunes during the winter.
England arrived in India on a raft of optimism, despite recently suffering a Test series defeat to South Africa, a defeat that prompted Michael Vaughan to resign the captaincy. His replacement at the helm was Kevin Pietersen and England immediately responded to their new skipper’s enthusiasm by claiming the final Test of the series at the Brit Oval.
Sadly, they would encounter an Indian side at the peak of its powers. Whilst England’s attack never lacked for endeavour, they simply could not find a way to stifl e India’s formidable batting line-up during the ODI series, and, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, they found themselves 5-0 down with two games to go. However, the series was brought to a halt in the most horrific of circumstances when terrorists conducted a series of calculated raids across the city of Mumbai. Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, the one-day series was promptly, and rightly, abandoned.
It was touch and go whether England would return for the two scheduled Tests. But Pietersen rallied his troops and England arrived in Chennai in full force, to the delight of cricket fans everywhere. England put their poor limited-overs form behind them to dominate much of the first Test, with Andrew Strauss recording a century in each
innings to help set India an imposing target of 387. However, an inspired, unbeaten 103 from Sachin Tendulkar guided India to a historic victory.
Inevitably, the final Test could not live up to the magnificence of the first, a lifeless pitch blunting both strokemakers and bowlers alike, and the game eventually wound down to a dull draw. India thus claimed the spoils and England returned home for a period of consolidation before setting off to tour the Caribbean in January.
Sadly, an unfortunate clash of personalities resulted in Pietersen being dramatically stripped of the England captaincy and Peter Moores being dismissed from his role as England coach, with the ECB installing Strauss and Andy Flower, formerly England’s batting coach, as interim captain and head coach respectively.
Worse was to follow. An inspired spell of fast bowling from Jerome Taylor dismantled the English batting line-up during the first Test at Kingston. England started the match brightly enough, with Pietersen putting his captaincy woes behind him to record a flamboyant 97, but the West Indies responded in kind and then Taylor, who was irresistible as he picked up fi gures of 5-11, skittled England for 51 to hand the West Indies a memorable innings victory.
England were understandably chastened and anxious to make amends, but they were denied the opportunity to do so at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua as the second Test was astonishingly called off on account of a dangerous outfield. A replacement fixture was hastily organised at the Antigua Recreation Ground, which saw the West Indies defy intense English pressure to salvage a draw.
The series moved on to Barbados, but yet again England were to be frustrated as an utterly lifeless pitch stymied every bowler on display, prompting a turgid, high-scoring stalemate. Strauss’ team thus entered the final Test in Trinidad knowing that nothing other than victory would suffice, but the hosts bravely clung on for the draw and recorded their first series victory for five years.
A disappointing defeat in the sole Twenty20 International followed, leaving England with just the ODI series from which to salvage something from their tour. They were handed an unexpected bonus during the rain-affected first match at Guyana when Windies coach John Dyson called his side in prematurely, effectively awarding England a one-run victory. Dyson’s troops fought back to secure a 21-run win at the same venue two days later, and took a series lead following an abject English batting performance (117 all out from 41.3 overs) during the third ODI. Strauss’ side levelled matters at Bridgetown, thanks largely to some miserly bowling from Dimitri Mascarenhas (3-26).
So the teams headed to St Lucia, where Andrew Flintoff was at his talismanic best – picking up figures of 5-19 whilst securing his maiden international hat-trick – as England romped home by 26-runs and claimed a cathartic series victory.
As the dust settled on a frenetic winter, England could, perhaps surprisingly, look to the future with a degree of optimism, despite some disappointing results. With Strauss flourishing in his new role, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad toiling manfully in inhospitable conditions, and the likes of Graeme Swann (19 Test wickets at 24.05) and Ravi Bopara (a maiden Test century at Barbados) injecting fresh vigour into the side, the basis of a new, vibrant team was visibly coming together.
