TO have shaken India in the second match of the Hero Honda Test series at Motera in Ahmedabad, by having much the better of the drawn game was a big achievement for Nasser Hussain's England. Last year, across the border, Hussain's men had begun the three-Test series in Pakistan with a win in the first Test at Karachi. They drew the second and third Tests and returned home triumphant.
Early this year, England's players showed that they had an iron will. After losing the first Test by an innings and 28 runs to Sri Lanka, owing to what they alleged was poor umpiring, in Galle, they won the second and third Tests by three and four wickets respectively.
England basked in the glory of this double strike, but the Ashes series at home put things in perspective. England came second best to Australia again, though a remarkable knock by Mark Butcher saw England pull back a Test in the most adverse circumstances and against a most difficult adversary. The Ashes result was more or less expected with England handicapped at times by the absence of Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Craig White.
England had marked its winter itinerary to India carefully. Its confidence bolstered by the fact of having outwitted both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, England believed that it could beat India, too, to bring about a sort of a miracle in the sub-continent. Hussain's team might have succeeded, too, had it not been for the decisions of Alec Stewart, Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick not to travel to India for various reasons and the decision of Michael Atherton to retire at the end of the Ashes series.
England stumbled at Mohali. Even before its batsmen could read and assess the spinners, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, they surrendered 15 wickets to the duo to be outplayed. The fact that the pitch at the Punjab Cricket Stadium did not raise a 'dust storm', raised questions about the England batsmen's skills against the spinners.
But Hussain's team was mentally prepared to face the spinners on a flat deck at Motera. The last Test match here between India and New Zealand had ended in a glut of runs with Sachin Tendulkar scoring his first Test double hundred and Sourav Ganguly and Sadagopan Ramesh, too, helping themselves to centuries. So the signs were very clear of the surface favouring the batsmen. Had Mumbai-based Nadeem Memon been given a free hand, the pitch might have been a sporting one, but somehow things led him to make a flat track.
Graham Thorpe pulling out of the scheme of things the night before the Test must have been a big setback for England. Thorpe, considered to be the best player of spin bowling in the squad, cited 'personal reasons'. He was homebound soon to sort out marital problems. But England recovered from this blow rather quickly with Hussain winning the toss and the left-handed openers Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher raising 124.
This was, indeed, good going for a team that was dismissed for less than 250 runs in each innings in the first Test at Mohali. Butcher, though uncomfortable against spin, made a half century (51, 175m, 130b, 9x4). Trescothick, tipped to take over as captain from Hussain in the future, followed his 46 and 66 at Mohali with a 99, so near and yet so far from a century.
England's visits to India are so infrequent - this is just its third visit in 15 years - Trescothick would have treasured a century in only his second Test match on Indian soil. Trescothick must have spent a most nervous 20 minutes at tea time on the first day, placed as he was at 99. Then Kumble, who would regard his over after tea as his best of the match, made the ball do his bidding.
It was an extraordinary over. Trescothick (99, 244m, 156b, 11x4, 1x6) appeared to be a nervous wreck and he succumbed to the fifth ball, clipping Kumble into the hands of Deep Dasgupta. Everything looked rosy for England when Butcher and Trescothick were on song, but their dismissals 20 runs apart from each other (124 and 144) saw a temporary decline. England subsided to 180 for five wickets, both Kumble and umpire Ian Robinson, having a hand in reducing the visitor to this sorry state of affairs.
Things had happened much against the run of play, and this manifested itself again, but in England's favour on the second day when Craig White (121, 343m, 265b, 12x4, 2x6) rode his luck (reprieved three times in the 40s and 60s by Dasgupta and Kumble). He and James Foster raised 105 for the seventh wicket which enabled England to reach 400 plus, a performance that conveyed that it was determined to counter the home team's spinners, among whom Kumble was the most successful, taking seven for 115 in 51 overs.
The England bowlers matched their batsmen colleagues. Hussain had talked of a game plan before the commencement of the Test for each batsman and bowler. He worked towards implementing that when he was on the field, his main bowlers being the two seamers Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles (playing his first Test in seven months). The result of their resolve was that India was bowled out for less than 300. Tendulkar (103, 254m, 197b, 12x4, 1x6) took his century tally to 27 with Venkat Sai Laxman (75, 297m, 192b, 9x4) turning out to be an able ally in the stand of 118 for the fifth wicket.
Hussain said after the match ended in a draw that, "This is as well as the team can play. Should we play anything less than this, we will come second best at Bangalore." Though England gained a first innings lead of 116 runs, it was not in a position to force a win because of its inability to raise a sizeable second innings total well inside the fourth day to declare and apply pressure on the home team. Butcher became the second England batsman to miss a century in the match. He was brilliantly held by Rahul Dravid (at slip) off Harbhajan Singh, who took five wickets, for the second time in two Tests.
England might have been in an awkward situation had the Indians accepted all the chances. Dasgupta missed quite a few. But even in the draw Hussain saw a remarkable revival in the batting form of Butcher, Trescothick and White and the bowling display of Giles. Hussain got a raw deal from umpire Robinson in the first innings, but made a fifty in the second, the same umpire negating a confident leg before appeal when he was a few runs short of the half century mark.
India's captain Ganguly defended his team's approach on the last day saying: "It was a slow turner and it would have been very difficult to score the runs at 4 plus an over. I would not blame Nasser Hussain for not declaring and for setting a defensive field on the fifth day."
Well, England was pleased with its showing. White took the 'Man of the Match' award of Rs. 35,000. This meant that Match Referee Denis Lindsay did not reckon Kumble's 10-wicket haul as being worthy of the award. There was no performance that helped a team win the match, Lindsay said. He had summoned Ganguly (for a mild reprimand perhaps) at tea time on the fourth day and Hussain too for a supposedly 'pleasant' exchange of words. Evidently, Lindsay wanted the fifth day's play to be played in the same way as the first four days were. It turned out to be a very ordinary, nay a dull, drab and dreary day, whatever one wants to call it.
The scores: England 407 (M. Butcher 51, M. Trescothick 99, M. Ramprakash 37, C. White 121, J. Foster 40, Kumble 7-115) and 257 (M. Butcher 92, N. Hussain 50, M. Vaughan 31 n.o., Harbhajan 5-71, Kumble 3-118) drew with India 291 (S.S. Das 41, S. Tendulkar 103, V.V.S. Laxman 75, Giles 5-67) and 198 for 3 (S.S. Das 58, D. Dasgupta 60, R. Dravid 26 n.o., S. Tendulkar 26).
IT is not without reason that England rate Craig White very high. His displays with bat and ball might be a far cry from those of the legendary Ian 'Beefy' Botham, whose performances were nothing short of the spectacular. But cricketers of White's ilk still command a place in the broad canvas of the cricketing world. White has done sufficiently well in the last 18 months to merit plenty of encomiums; his first century in a career of 23 Tests came against India at Motera in Ahmedabad and he described it as "fantastic."
White was reluctant to travel to India because, like many England cricketers, he thought that the American bombs dropped in Kabul and Kandahar were too close for comfort.
The alarm bells stopped ringing as soon as England landed in Mumbai. Some of the players might have even believed that the security ring thrown around them was unnecessary and disgustingly inhibiting. White, like his team-mates, would have had the sense of satisfaction that apart from playing cricket he could enjoy the pleasure of being in the historical cities of Hyderabad and Jaipur.
White would have an interesting story to tell when he returns home to celebrate Christmas and New Year; about the typical English bulldog spirit and the Yorkshire grit he showed while making his maiden Test century on a slow turner at Motera when Anil Kumble was on the prowl.
"It has not sunk in. I get a fantastic feeling. This has made up for the century I missed in Pakistan last winter," said White, who was dismissed for 93 in the third and final Test in Lahore. White (174 runs) played his part in the three Tests and finished third behind Michael Atherton (341) and Graham Thorpe (284) in run-aggregate. In terms of averages he was second at 59.33 to Atherton's 68.20. The Yorkshire allrounder also took nine wickets in the three-Test series.
When England toured Sri Lanka early this year, White was marked as one of the key players in the side by captain Nasser Hussain. The first Test in Galle turned into a disaster, with relations between the two teams breaking down, but after camaraderie and sanity were restored with rounds of beer before the second Test in Kandy, England hit back and squared the series. In a low-scoring match White's contribution was an undefeated 21 in the second knock. He made 39 in the first innings and took two wickets in each innings. England knew that India would be an altogether different cup of tea. In Mohali, its batsmen had no clue against Harbhajan Singh and Kumble, both looking to make amends for their failures in South Africa. White fell to Kumble and Harbhajan for 5 and 22 and as a bowler took just one wicket for 56 runs.
But in less than a week, in Ahmedabad, after Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher had put up a century stand for the first wicket, White occupied the centrestage, coming to bat at No. 7 when England's first innings had declined to 180 for five. He had slices of luck like a missed stumping and a dropped catch as he stretched his innings to nearly six hours to make 121 with a dozen fours and two sixes.
White defied Kumble and Harbhajan and on occasions danced down the pitch. He did not mind if he was batting with the lower order batsmen. He went about the business like a true professional, trusting the abilities of James Foster, with whom he added 105 runs for the seventh wicket. He was the last man out, bowled by Harbhajan. That he had batted for 343 minutes meant that he had occupied the crease for a much longer time than any other England batsman in the two Tests.
White's partners were Mark Ramprakash (6th wicket), Foster (7th), Ashley Giles (8th), Richard Dawson (9th) and Matthew Hoggard (10th). The last five England wickets added 227 runs. The Indian bowlers had to wheel away for a little over 87 overs after they had removed Andrew Flintoff at 180. Kumble took seven wickets, but White stuck it out in the middle. He was let off once in the 40s by 'keeper Deep Dasgupta and twice in the 60s by the 'keeper and Kumble.
Match Referee Denis Lindsay was matter of fact while announcing his choice for the 'Man of the Match' award. "Nobody has contributed well enough to win the match" and hence "taking into account the spirit of the game and a major contribution I have picked Craig White" he said. This was a great honour for someone who replaced the injured Andrew Flintoff against the West Indies 18 months ago.
White's success, as a bowler in home conditions, was noticeable at The Oval (five for 32), Leeds (five for 57) and in Manchester (one for 18 and two for 67). But in dusty Pakistan and India, it was his bat which did the talking. His century did not help England win the second Test, but earned it the acceptable result of a draw. At the end of it all Nasser Hussain said: "Fair enough".
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