England awoken by unpleasant reminder

Thirteen summers ago, a young Yorkshireman by the name of Darren Gough strode onto the English cricket landscape to begin an international career which would prove to be the best from a Yorkshire bowler since arguably England's greatest ever quick, Fred Trueman. Gough was an all-action figure - slower balls, yorkers, reverse swing and a big heart worn proudly alongside the three lions on his chest whose hopes rested too long on his broad shoulders.

Fortunately for all concerned, England did not have to wait long for their next Yorkshire-born seamer, with the career of Matthew Hoggard emerging as Gough's faded into a procrastinated sunset. Hoggard, on the surface, appears to posses few of Gough's extrovert tendencies, and indeed spent the dying moments of his Test debut, the thrilling 100th Test at Lord's against West Indies in 2000, nervously chewing his bat handle as Gough and the like-minded Cork squeezed England home by two wickets - West Indies are still waiting for an away Test victory.

Hoggard's promise was always apparent, crystallised in the early years by performances in helpful conditions, such as his 7 wickets on a seaming wicket in New Zealand. Still, the realisation that good outswing at medium fast takes you only so far was brought home to bear painfully on the last but one Ashes tour, as his deliveries swung gently into the much less forgiving hitting zones of the Australian left-handers. Such as chastening experience might have been terminal for one of lesser moral fibre, and indeed Hoggard lost his place as the English fast bowling unit stumbled uncertainly into a world without Caddick, Gough and Cork.

But Hoggard endured, and by 2004, he had seen of the challenges of Kirtley, Johnson, Ali et al. to secure his position as England's primary new-ball propeller. With the more glamorous trio of Flintoff, Harmison and Simon Jones, it was easy to forget Hoggard, a constant threat with the new ball, and and an accurate purveyor of line and length , capable of long spells, when nothing was in his favour. It was only when the seam attack was cut to the bone that his value was truly measurable; with the confidence of Harmison and the totally un-prepared Anderson shot to pieces at Johannesaburg, Hoggard rallied to single-handedly win the match which clinched England's series victory in South Africa, a feat previously managed by only Australia since South Africa's readmission in 1991. 6 first innings wickets at Nagpur on his second visit to India proved his ability as a bowler for all conditions, while in more familiar climes the following summer, the procession of left-handers dismissed early by his arching in-swing was not far short of comical. His return to Australia was another unhappy experience, though Hoggard achieved some personal redemption, with his third seven wicket haul in Test cricket coming at Adelaide. Hoggard's response, "I just closed my eyes and wanged it down." With Flintoff's ankle permanently on the edge of ruling him out, Harmison's confidence at an all-time low and England's 2005 Ashes hero Simon Jones in the first stages of a tentative county come-back, Hoggard has now established himself as England's heartbeat, the exact same words once used by former England coach David Lloyd to describe Gough.

Perhaps it was no surprise then that England suffered a much more difficult than anticipated day at Lord's today after Hoggard limped off in his eleventh over. With Harmison struggling horribly, despite his red-hot county form and the glowing accolades of both colleagues and opponents; Plunkett proving that he has the potential to be a good Test player, if not yet being able to realise it and Monty Panesar forced to shoulder the burden on a pitch not suited, England's bowling was ragged. True, Panesar gained significant reward for his consistency with four wickets, but England were made to pay for being reduced to two front-line seamers, one of whom did not bowl anything like well enough to merit being called one.

Just as West Indies scraped past the follow-on target before the close, England did about enough to ensure that only an equivalently poor showing or worse will allow the away side to mount a serious challenge to their first innings total. Adelaide has become a dirty word in the language of English cricket, but should the West Indies do as Australia did, and somehow achieve parity, then England will have to do what they so comprehensively failed to on that fateful morning. Only time will tell whether Andrew Strauss will become the second England captain in six months to wonder how 550 became a losing first-innings score.

This remains an outside bet, although the likelihood of an English victory is increasingly headed that way, with the follow-on averted and the pitch flattening. Assuming they can bat well second time around to set West Indies an insurmountable target, while leaving enough time to win the game, England will be hard pressed to do just that, with the services of one and a half seamers, a spinner sure to be over-bowled and a fourth bowler whose lone success today doubled his tally of Test wickets.

It was desperately unfortunate for England to lose Hoggard when they did, and it looks set to be the factor that denies them victory. Still, it serves as a prescient reminder to his value, and to the fact that it cannot always be him to save the day when others flag. Now shorn of their sturdiest trooper, England may well find that they are in it for the long-haul.