England let their hair down

It was 21 months ago that crowds swarmed, and in the case of Flintoff and some others literally swam, to greet the Ashes-winning England team. In the period since, it appears, metaphorically, they have struggled to emerge from their stupor. They have won only one series, at home against a weak Pakistan side, since, winning just 4 and losing 7 out of fifteen completed Tests in the absence of captain Michael Vaughan.

The Lord's Test against West Indies will not live long in the memory, unless your name happens to be Matt Prior. While England batted well, they produced what must rank as one of their worst seam bowling performances in recent times. But a week, or less, in this age of back-to-back games, is a long time in most vocations, not least cricket. After almost two years in which so little has gone right, they have enjoyed two days at Headingley which have approached perfection.

Two returning Yorkshiremen have grabbed the headlines; Michael Vaughan, the real one that is, that which cannot be reproduced in coloured clothing, re-established himself as the darling of Headingley and England with a dashing century; Ryan Sidebottom, in from the cold after an even longer absence had a day in which he could do no wrong. Brought in to knock together the headless chickens of Lord's, Harmison and Plunkett, he was both accurate and incisive, swinging the ball both ways and constantly maintaining a length full enough to extract the maximun benefit from a pitch which, in true Headingley style, looked flatter than the proverbial pancake while Pietersen and Prior rollocked along and started spawning gremlins as soon as someone started bowling properly. Andrew Strauss, who along with the rest of the slip cordon caught well, barring one breakdown in communciation, must have reflected that he would have liked someone bowling like Sidebottom when he was tearing out his hair and probably shifting his gaze at slip from the edge of the bat to the ball out of the bowler's hand. But that is the knack of Vaughan; he has had his great misfortune with injuries, but when he gets on the field, he both possesses the 10% of skill Richie Benaud dictates a good captain must have as well as a goodly portion of the 90% Benaud ascribed to luck.

West Indies, their batting woes compounded by injury to their rock Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the evidently Yorkshire-born advertising hoarding which refused to budge in the wake of a tumbling Sarwan and injured him to such an extent that he did not bat today, and, barring a great recovery, won't have to again, were exposed by the swinging ball, unsure when to leave and when to play. Inevitably, with everything going against them, they left the ones that Sidebottom tailed back and tried to go calypso on those which Harmison and Plunkett got to move away. Still, it was skilful bowling from Sidebottom, who repeated the dose when West Indies followed on, and has given the England selectos a big problem for the Old Trafford Test, should Hoggard and Flintoff return.

With the tide in England's favour, Harmison, his relief palpable, and Plunkett joined in the fun, sharing half the wickets between them. Both bowled better than at Lord's, perhaps galvanised by the thought that the Yorkshire crowd at fine-leg might not be as forgiving as the North London one, but were still patchy and lacking in consistency. Harmison's troubles are well documented, and Plunkett, who has the innate ability to swing the ball late and trouble good batsmen, still does not have a good enough idea of where the ball is going. The likelihood is that, in the short term, at least one will have to go, and Plunkett, who will benefit more than Harmison from the experience at county level, is favourite, although his returns have been better and his batting at 8, as evidenced by a useful 44 today, would be missed. Monty Panesar, limited to a single over today, will not miss the irony that he was so crucial at Lord's where many called for him to be overlooked and the match after, acclaimed as the key component of the four man attack, his services were not required.

Heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow and Monday, but the West Indies are already two down, three if you count Sarwan, and, amazingly, over 400 behind. When teams follow on having been fired out first time around they often do significantly better when they start again. However, there was not much evidence of this, with Ganga, brow beaten by a punishing spell as captain in lieu of Sarwan, fell lbw to Sidebottom for a second time and now nothing short of three solid days of rain can save the West Indies.