The Hindu : Vaughan delays the inevitable

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 30, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Vaughan delays the inevitable

By Ted Corbett

MELBOURNE Dec. 29. The talk on the trams as we sped back to the city centre on Sunday night was of an England team that had at last shown what the Aussies call `ticker' and the rest of us call heart or courage; of the classical batsmanship of Michael Vaughan, the highest scorer in 2002, above Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Shivnarine Chanderpaul; and the certainty of yet another victory for Australia when the fourth Test ends on Monday.

Australia began its dash for victory after England had batted all day and allowed the smallest crowd of the game to see that it has thoroughly professional cricketers, albeit less talented and confident than its opponents. By the time its grinding innings had finished it had totalled 387, leaving 107 for victory.

The romantics thought an extra half hour might bring their fourth win in less than five days — you could bet at 66-1 on 5-0 with no need for the fifth day at the start of the series — but Steve Waugh decided that the weather would stay fine and that they had no need to hurry.

They never lost control although the three and a half bowlers — Glenn McGrath spent time off the field with a sore back and has never been fired up during the match — needed patience; and Vaughan was magnificent.

How can we measure his worth? He is the best batsman to appear on the England scene since Graham Thorpe and in many ways his superior. He has time to play his shots, which are many and varied, he plays the ball on its length and, tell me if I am dreaming, he reminds us of Len Hutton, the greatest of all modern England batsmen.

Unlike Geoff Boycott, his admirer, he can bat freely when he needs and he went to his century with 36 runs in 21 balls, mainly off the toiling Stuart MacGill. He pulls and hooks with relish; his offside play is exemplary and, like all the greats, his leg glance is so fine that the wicket-keeper smells the ball as it passes.

He hits powerfully as his three sixes and some of his 19 fours showed. But he can defend too. He leaves the ball on both sides without a flourish. If you want your lad to be a cricketer show him Vaughan and tell him: "if you are ever as good the whole world will be at your feet.''

His 145 lasted 15 minutes less than five hours and he faced only 218 balls. He was the master on this day; not the Master Blaster like Viv Richards but the master of his craft like the old-time joiners, stonemasons and builders who served their apprenticeship, learned their trade and then became eligible to join the guild.

One-day cricket people will all know his greatness; at the moment all we can say is that he has scored six centuries and 1481 runs in a year — more than any other England player and just one hundred short of Richards and Aravinda de Silva — and that, at 28, he has more to give than his seven hundreds in 27 Tests. Nasser Hussain battled for 23, Robert Key stood his ground for 52 and John Crawley showed an elegant touch or two for 33 but 342 for five slipped to 387 all out, while MacGill became the first Australian bowler to take five wickets in an innings this series, leaving England still wondering where to turn next in its search for men of character to build into a Test team.

Vaughan, Hussain, the newest injured Craig White, the surprisingly improved James Foster and the explosive Steve Harmison might be the basis but the rest are vulnerable and certainly not good enough to unhinge Australia.

Just as England was in showing some fight, the rest of the English cricket village was fighting. Government has said a trip to Zimbabwe for the World Cup is dangerous, setting off a chain reaction of backbiting and in-fighting that might earn a slap for a troublesome child. The whole public relations process has been so badly organised that it makes this England tour look competent; and we know what chaos that has been.

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