da doce： It didn’t take long – less than an hour of a gentle workout for South Africa to polish off England’s resistance on the fifth morning at Headingley
The Wisden Verdict by Steven Lynch25-Aug-2003
Differing emotions: James Anderson and James Kirtley trudge back as South Africa celebrate their comprehensive victory
It didn’t take long – less than an hour of a gentle workout for SouthAfrica to polish off England’s resistance on the fifth morning atHeadingley. They did what England signally failed to do yesterday,admittedly in less helpful conditions: Mark Butcher was despatched inthe first over, Andrew Flintoff didn’t last much longer, and the tail wasdocked with all the precision of the local Yorkshire vets that JamesHerriot made famous. In contrast England’s clumsy attempts toremove South Africa’s tail would have had the Canine Defence Leagueon the phone in no time.There was time today for Jacques Kallis to show England’s five-manpace attack how to bowl on this Headingley pitch. Kallis is a somewhatreluctant bowler these days, but he bowled at the stumps, on a goodlength (with the occasional short one to keep the batsmen honest) andfinished with match figures of 9 for 92. Compare that with MartinBicknell (4 for 125), James Kirtley (5 for 145), Kabir Ali (5 for 136) andJames Anderson (2 for 119). Only Flintoff put the ball consistently in theright place, and ill-luck contributed to ordinary match figures of 4 for118. Horses for course? This lot were selling-platers.The turning points of the match mainly hinged on England mistakes.Flintoff’s marginal overstep that led to a wicket off a no-ball – GaryKirsten added 102 more runs after that in the first innings. If Kirstenhad gone then it would have been 70 for 5 at lunch on the first day, andwithout the wise counsel of the player one newspaper called “thedome-headed veteran”, it’s hard to believe that Monde Zondeki wouldhave hung around long enough to make his 59. Upshot: South Africa,who should have been bowled out for about 142, made 200 more thanthat.Next was England’s dubious decision to go off on the second evening,at a time when they were creaming the ball around. The walkoff gavethe South African think-tank a chance to sit their bowlers down andaddress their faults. It stopped the batsmen in full flow. And, with bluesky looming over “Will’s Mother’s”, as they say up north, it was justabout guaranteed that England would be back out there soon. Theywere, Marcus Trescothick departed immediately, Butcher soonfollowed, and South Africa never looked back.Then there was the black comedy of the fourth morning. Quick wicketsfor England would have set up an intriguing finale – a target ofbetween 220 and 250 could have led to a classic. Instead one feared thatBilly Bowden would suffer RSI after signalling a succession of fourswith that arm-waving arrangement straight out of the Last Night of theProms. Yesterday South Africa helped themselves to 201 runs at fivean over on a helpful pitch … and the eventual winning margin was 191.Overall England were outbatted and outbowled at Headingley – andmore damagingly they were out-thought. It doesn’t bode well for The Oval. England need a strike bowler, a spinner, and a middle-order batsman likely to manage more than a flashy fifty (and if NasserHussain is unfit, now that his poppadum fingers have tuned into twiglettoes, make that two). It’s time for the selectors to swallow theirmisplaced pride and recall Graham Thorpe. Ashley Giles willpresumably return, although Jason Brown might worry South Africa’sleft-handers more. But the strike bowler? It could be a long meeting …Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden CricInfo.The Wisden Bulletin: Kallis grabs six as England go down with a whimper