by Arthur Crabtree » Thu Aug 27, 2015 1:13 pm
England won the Trent Bridge Test in an excruciating finale, and are five days of rain away from beating Australia for the first time since 1985-6, and holding the Ashes for the first time since the summer of 1989. I was 21 last time England beat the old enemy. I'm now 41.
Australia went past the England first innings score with six wickets left in their second, surviving drops and run out chances. Jones and KP spilled chances again. Trevor Penney was on as sub fielder and bungled a run out. Maybe Gary Pratt was meeting his agent. Hoggy, who is becoming more influential as the series nears its end, got Clarke to edge a widish new ball, and then trapped Gilchrist plumb. Harmi took the most wickets, but Hoggy bowled the best as England toiled a bit in Simon Jones' absence on a good pitch.
Simon Katich batted crabbishly for four and a half hours for his 59, before being sawn off badly by Aleem Dar. I don't normally flicker when the Aussies get a bad one, but Kat had resisted so tenaciously, that I felt sorry for him. He didn't deserve that. Again Warne was defiant. In the series so far, Australia average nearly a hundred for the last four wickets, and he has been key in that. He swung his bat for 45, and with Lee and Kaspa, got the target up to 129 for England to win.
Which is plenty. The pitch had been good for batting, but England don't have Warne in their team, so who really knew? Ponting donated England 32 loony-tunes runs towards their small target before throwing the ball to his spinner. Warne pointed a bit, dry ran a chuckle or two, and then got Tres, bat pad, first ball. Vaughan, who plays Warne better than most, was psyched out for a duck. A veil of fear had descended onto the ground. The crowd was silenced, pretending it wasn't happening. Strauss went for 23, arguably caught on the bounce by Clarke at slip. Then with no runs added, Bell was bounced out by Lee. England were 57-4.
Needing 129 to win is 13 runs per wicket. England were marginally ahead, if you could allow that Harmi and Jones would get their 13, under unimaginable pressure. I sat in the cheap seats, doing my thirteen times table. I still fancied England. Then Freddie and KP did what they had to, they took the attack to the Aussies. Ponting cut Kaspa and Tait out of his plans. Punter wasn't going to gamble on this, it meant too much. An Aussie win meant the Ashes. That was the precipice that England were skirting. Kevin and Freddie took England to within 18 runs of the win, and then they were, within a blink, both out. Freddie, who has been mano e mano with Lee all summer, was clean bowled by a sensational ball from the peroxide paceman. And a panicky Geraint Jones followed. Thirteen needed with three wickets left.
Thirteen. I could manage that number. I'd been counting down by thirteens. I was contemplating ten and eleven scoring these. But by now, with Gilo and Hoggy in the smelter, I was convinced Warne would run right through them, and Australia would win. England were in danger. England was in danger. You can imagine millions of people engaged in the in normal Sunday activities, but gnawed by fear, unable to explain it adequately to their partners, who are asking who is winning... a question with no answer.
But Gilo and Hoggy saw us home. All of us together, engaged in DIY, checking over by over at their weddings, removing ruptured appendixes, fleecing the chancellor, splitting atoms. The relief was extraordinary, and one that only alcohol could suppress. England are 2-1 in the Ashes and only five days of rain stand between them, us, and the old urn.
I always say that everybody's right.