Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Ashley Giles, pounded by the batsmen and pilloried by the crowd in his opening spell, returned to bowl bravely at the end and become a hero as England defended a large total with bull dog spirit. England abandoned the frantic early approach of the MCG match, after Alec Stewart won the toss and batted on a pitch that was being used for the second time. Hick and Nasser Hussain responded well and Hick for the most part utilised his power, hitting many pull shots and the odd drive to post a much needed half-century. Hick doesn’t have a good conversion rate — two centuries is not good enough for his ability and it was time to improve that percentage. His partner Hussain amazingly didn’t have a half-century coming into this game, but he quickly got that monkey off his back.
Too many times on this tour England batsmen have made a start and not capitalised, but neither Hick nor Hussain erred on this occasion. The had added a record breaking 190 and in doing so caused the Australians to make a few uncharacteristicerrors in the field. In addition to a drop in fielding standard, the return of Steve Waugh brought a more predictable form to the captaincy.
England: N.Knight c Gilchrist b McGrath 0, A.Stewart c Gilchrist b Fleming 17, G.Hick lbw Fleming 108, N.Hussain b Fleming 93, N.Fairbrother (not out) 17, A.Hollioake (not out) 22. Extras (b 4, lb 5, w 9, nb 7) 25 Total (four wkts, 50 overs) 282
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-39, 3-229, 4-245
Bowling: McGrath 10-0-56-1, Dale 10-0-26-0, Fleming 10-0-64-3, Lehmann 4-0-20-0, Warne 10-0-57-0, Bevan 3-0-26-0,Blewett 3-0-24-0.
Australia: A.Gilchrist c Hussain b Gough 6, M.Waugh c Croft b A.Hollioake 85, R.Ponting c Hick b Gough 6, D.Lehmann b Mullally 76, S.Waugh c Gough b A.Hollioake 0, M.Bevan (not out) 45, G.Blewett b Giles 32, S.Warne (not out) 6. Extras (b 4, lb 9, w 5, nb 1) 19. Total (six wkts, 50 overs) 275
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-36, 3-151, 4-152, 5-203, 6-263.
Bowling: Gough 10-2-40-2, Mullally 10-0-45-1, Ealham 10-0-52-0, Giles 5-0-40-1, A.Hollioake 10-0-48-2, Croft 5-0-37-0.
Result: England won by seven runs
