Martyn rubs salt in England's wounds

By Ted Corbett

LEEDS, AUGUST 17. The second day of the fourth Ashes Test was spent anticipating the final disintegration of England, 3-0 down already and seemingly heading for defeat in this match and a 5-0 wash-out by a week on Monday. We should be sad, not angry as we accept the fact that the side is not good enough to match the best and that injuries have made bad far worse.

How the selectors set about restoring the morale and the strength of the side in time for the tour of India in November is far from obvious, particularly with the suggestion that the struggle over Alec Stewart's retirement has developed because there is no ready-made replacement among the 20 or so wicket-keepers in the championship. There used to be half a dozen Test-class keepers waiting to step into the shoes of Alan Knott, Godfrey Evans and Les Ames. Now the youngsters don't measure up to the selectors criteria apparently.

The bowling of Darren Gough and the bravery of Mike Atherton and Marcus Trescothick blunted the impact of the Aussie run mountain between lunch and tea although Trescothick might have been out twice before he reached 20 and Atherton caught at short leg on 11. By tea England had not lost a wicket, while scoring 50 from 18 overs but with 248 needed to avoid the follow- on there was no easy escape. The Australians had a stranglehold on the game and were unlikely to let go.

Comparisons with Hitler's blitzkrieg against France in 1940 are too trite but the effect has been similar. England, like France, thought it had adequate defences until the storm troopers went into action and the worst of the last three months has been in the realisation that England and its faithful few - yes, I am one of that number - were only too willing to be fooled. Wins in Pakistan and Sri Lanka are worthy results but they prepare no side for this Australian broadside.

They were all out soon after lunch, having scored 447 in 100.1 overs; almost 4.5 in a Test is hard to credit in any circumstances. Australia has only just played a full day by that time, and only a day and ten overs by another calculation. England congratulated itself on Darren Gough's five wickets at the end but it was a meaningless statistic as he produced his only good spell in 25 overs to return five for 103. Most of the England bowling was appalling as Glenn McGrath showed immediately he got hold of the ball and put one delivery after another in the same spot.

He will call himself unlucky to have been denied a catch off Trescothick, who guided the regulation McGrath off stump rising ball towards Mark Waugh's gentle hands at second slip. The immediate reaction was that Waugh had taken a clean catch but TV replays indicated the ball had bounced and Trescothick was given the verdict. In the old days he would have been out, don't doubt it. The disintegration of England began as soon as play resumed and was complete - so far as the cricket was concerned - by lunch when another 120 runs had been added, Damien Martyn had made his second century in successive matches and the match was so far beyond England that it was also-rans already. Added to the 200 thrashed around in the long session at the end of the first day and 320 runs had been scored in two sessions.

Martyn, who made 99 runs today, was a delight to watch. His bat is straight, he plays late and, on the offside in particular, his timing is so good that when he is in this form runs come in floods. He began on 19 and by the end he had 118, with 18 fours, some as good as you might want to see in a lifetime. The rest was a side show. Simon Katich helped Martyn add 73 and looked a more solid, better organised batsman, but similar in every other way to Ian Ward, who has been rejected by England.

Adam Gilchrist bombarded four boundaries in 20 balls and then Gough, with the new ball, mopped up the tail. No wonder he is referred to around here as Tail End Charlie.

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