Tony Becca, Contributing EditorLONDON: THROUGHOUT THE first three matches of the npower Test series, England, unlike the West Indies, always seemed to find a saviour or two whenever they were in trouble, and yesterday, on the first day of the fourth and final match, they did it again.
Three-up after victories at Lord's, Edgbaston and Old Trafford, England came to The Oval gunning for a victory that would hand them a crushing whitewash victory, and although, with four days to go, it is far too early to call, with the scoreboard reading, England 313 for five at stumps with Andrew Flintoff on 72 and Geraint Jones on 22, with the West Indies losing the first Test by 210 runs, the second by 256 runs and the third by seven wickets, the betting must be on England to win.
Once again, however, England owed their good position to two things to a solid fourth-wicket partnership and to a West Indies team that once again failed to follow through after a promising start.
At Edgbaston, the man who answered England's SOS call when the West Indies batsmen were going well at 221 for two was Flintoff, and at Old Trafford, the men who did, first when they 40 for three and when the West Indies were 88 for one and leading by 153, were Graham Thorpe and Flintoff.
Yesterday, the two who rose to the occasion, the two who lifted England against a set of bowlers and their fielders who were good for half the day and disappointing for the other half, the two who set the stage for Flintoff to preen himself during an innings that has so far lasted for 92 deliveries and in which he has stroked and smashed 13 fours, were Michael Vaughan and newcomer Ian Bell.
With England winning the toss, going to bat in overcast conditions, and losing Andrew Strauss at 51 for one caught by Fidel Edwards running from mid-on to mid-wicket when the left-hander miscued a hook against pacer Jermaine Lawson, Marcus Trescothick at 64 for two the left-hander stroking fast bowler Edwards off his pads to Sarwan at square-leg, and Key at 64 for three the right-hander going back, cutting at medium-pacer Dwayne Bravo and edging a catch to wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh, England were in a spot of trouble when Bell joined Vaughan 30 minutes after lunch.
CONFIDENT BATTING
In a lovely, well calculated counter-attack, however, Vaughan the 29-year-old the England captain, and Bell the 22-year-old debutante from Warwickshire, defended stubbornly, almost totally defensively, before, with the sun in all its brilliance after tea, confidently stroking the West Indies bowlers to all parts of the ground.
In a partnership that lasted for 152 minutes, the pair of right-handers posted 146 off 228 deliveries for the fourth wicket with Bell scoring 70 before, after batting 152 minutes, facing 130 deliveries and stroking 10 boundaries, he went back to Lawson and nicked a catch to wicketkeeper Baugh at 210 for four in the 64th over, and with Vaughan scoring 66 before, after batting for 184 minutes, facing 118 deliveries and stroking nine boundaries, he drove at Bravo and edged a catch straight to Lara at second slip to make it 236 for five in the 69th over.
After a late start due to overnight rain, England were 53 for one off 21 overs at lunch, and 86 for three off 35 overs 80 minutes after lunch as Vaughan and Bell fought for survival against some tight if far from deadly bowling by Corey Collymore who at one stage boasted figures of 10 overs, three maidens, 10 runs and one wicket, Lawson who at tea had figures of one for 38 off 10, Edwards who at tea had figures of one for 30 off 11, and Bravo whose figures at tea read one for 16 off seven.
Between then and Bell's dismissal 105 minutes later, however, England scored 124 off 28 overs as the same bowlers, with the exception of Collymore, who were treated with such respect earlier on were dispatched to the boundary with some elegant strokes and particularly so Lawson.
Vaughan, a beautiful front-foot driver through the offside, started with a flowing drive to the left of cover off medium-pacer Dwayne Smith and went through the covers time and time again.
The shot that had the full house cheering for a long, long time, however, was a back foot square-cut off Lawson the right-hander, on 56 at the time, going forward and then back and rolling the wrist as the ball sped away to the backward boundary.
The real batting treat came from Bell, however. After surviving an early assault from Edwards, Bell was as good as Vaughan if not better.
Bell's drives through the offside through extra-cover, were just as polished as Vaughan's. Apart from standing in the breach with his captain, however, what won him a standing ovation as he left the field were some of the strokes he paraded a back foot cut, on his toes, to the backward boundary off Edwards, a hook to square-leg off Collymore, a front foot drive to long-off followed by a back foot drive to cover off Collymore, and just before he was cut down - a lovely ondrive off Lawson past the right of long-on. With the West Indies bowling looking more and more like a club attack as the day went on, Flintoff walked out, stood tall, and simply smashed the ball all over The Oval.
