Faultless display puts Vaughan in elite company
England 336-2 v India
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Your support makes all the difference.It is hard to believe that Michael Vaughan could play a more sublime and accomplished innings than the 197 he scored against India earlier this summer. On that Saturday of the second Test at Trent Bridge he batted with a style to suggest he could go down as an English great. Vaughan emphasised that potential here yesterday during a glorious, faultless display of batting that left him on 182 not out and England in total control of this series-deciding fourth Test.
By the close of play the Yorkshire opener had propelled his side to the daunting position of 336 for 2, a score which has given England the chance of enjoying an Indian summer and India little prospect of bringing to an end their abysmal 16-year record outside Asia.
For Vaughan, however, a fairer description of this summer would be Asian. Against Sri Lanka and India he has scored four hundreds, a feat previously achieved by only four Englishmen. When the 27-year-old found out he had been added to an élite list of legends – Denis Compton, Herbert Sutcliffe, Allan Lamb and Graham Gooch – he must have had a smile as wide as the one with which he left the field yesterday evening. Acknowledging the standing ovation of this full-house crowd, Vaughan looked tired but like a man who knows that life does not get much better than this.
As well as lifting England's chances of winning their second series of the summer, Vaughan's fifth Test hundred deflated Sourav Ganguly's side as quickly as the level sank on the gas-holders that dominate the skyline of this famous old ground. By the end of play, the Indian captain, like his team, were out of gas.
Yesterday they were appalling. This without doubt was the biggest day of the summer for India, a chance to show everyone that they do have the nerve to win matches of such importance. However, only one side turned up. India's bowling was ordinary and their fielders failed to give them any sort of support as they fluffed and fumbled their way through the day.
Such diffidence did not bother Vaughan. Until this summer, he has only given fleeting glimpses of his talent since his debut in Johannesburg in 1999. There has always been a touch of class about him, as witnessed during his first Test hundred against Pakistan last year, but prior to the visit of Sri Lanka and India he has failed to turn this into big scores.
After starting his summer by knocking up his second Test century against Sri Lanka at Lord's, however, he has gone from strength to strength and yesterday's innings highlighted just how his confidence has grown. Vaughan has always had a sound defence and a technique as well as a demeanour that has drawn comparisons with Michael Atherton, but since that hundred he has shown a range of shots that must have even impressed the "little master", Sachin Tendulkar.
When he strides to the wicket – as he did yesterday with the fit-again Marcus Trescothick, following Nasser Hussain's successful call at the toss – he now has a real presence about him. Gone is the nervous starter, scratching around and attempting to survive. Now there is real purpose about Vaughan's batting. One can sense that he now realises he is good enough to be out there dictating the day's play – and that is just what he did.
The right-hander now has the belief to go for his shots. Far from reckless, he plays straight and in the V. His driving was superb, especially against Anil Kumble. On a pitch supposedly made for slow bowlers, four times he struck the leg-spinner down the ground to the boundary and on each occasion the ball never left the grass.
In form like this, the quicker bowlers have nowhere to hide either. Pulling anything remotely short through midwicket and driving on the up through extra cover, Ganguly was left having to use Kumble in the controversial way Hussain used Ashley Giles in India during the winter.
Yet bowling down the leg side and into the rough failed to perturb Vaughan. His response to these negative tactics was to stride down the wicket and clip Kumble over the leg side for four. Not only did this prove what control over and disregard for the bowlers he had, it also showed his trust in this perfect batting pitch.
Helping him on his way in an opening partnership of 98 was Trescothick, who, after worryingly ducking into an Ajit Agarkar bouncer, then proceeded to show how correct the England selectors were to install him back in the side so soon after his broken thumb.
The Somerset left-hander smashed his third ball for four and never looked back until he miscued a hook to deep square leg shortly before lunch. It was a wicket India desperately needed but the last they were to get until the final session, when Mark Butcher was unfortunate to be caught off the back of his bat while sweeping.
This was not before he and Vaughan had added 174 for the second wicket. In fact, the closest the tourists had come to breaking this partnership, once Butcher had overcome a nervous start, was when a misunderstanding nearly led to a run-out. But, once again, a sloppy piece of fielding wasted the chance as the diving Vaughan made it back to his crease.
This was a day when this series could not be won but lost. England are in the box seat and, while Ganguly may have laughed off the pressure Hussain suggested he was under on Wednesday, he may not have slept too well last night.
OVAL SCOREBOARD
England won toss
ENGLAND First Innings
M E Trescothick c Bangar
b Zaheer Khan 57
99 min, 76 balls, 9 fours
M P Vaughan not out 182
366 min, 266 balls, 27 fours
M A Butcher c Dravid
b Harbhajan Singh 54
194 min, 145 balls, 6 fours
J P Crawley not out 16
71 min, 58 balls, 2 fours
Extras (b8 lb12 w1 nb6) 27
Total (for 2, 366 min, 90 overs) 336
Fall: 1-98 (Trescothick), 2-272 (Butcher).
To bat: *N Hussain, ÝA J Stewart, D G Cork, A J Tudor, A F Giles, A R Caddick, M J Hoggard.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 15-1-49-1 (nb5, w1) (4-0-17-0, 4-0-13-1, 3-0-8-0, 4-1-11-0); Agarkar 15-1-72-0 (nb1) (5-0-28-0, 5-0-24-0, 2-0-6-0, 3-1-14-0); Bangar 14-3-31-0 (5-0-15-0, 6-2-13-0, 1-0-1-0, 1-0-2-0, 1-1-0-0); Harbhajan Singh 22-3-76-1 (4-0-17-0, 2-0-2-0, 11-2-34-0, 5-1-23-1); Kumble 20-7-80-0 (5-3-12-0, 7-2-18-0, 3-1-15-0, 3-0-23-0, 2-1-12-0); Ganguly 2-0-4-0 (1-0-1-0, 1-0-3-0); Tendulkar 2-0-4-0 (1-0-3-0, 1-0-1-0).
Progress: First day: 50: 44 min, 9.5 overs. 100: 107 min, 24.3 overs. Lunch: 113-1 (Vaughan 42, Butcher 2) 29 overs. 150: 155 min, 37.4 overs. 200: 239 min, 58.4 overs. Tea: 201-1 (Vaughan 92, Butcher 35) 59 overs. 250: 277 min, 69.2 overs. 300: 319 min, 79.3 overs. New ball taken after 80 overs at 305-2.
Trescothick's 50: 90 min, 67 balls, 8 fours.
Vaughan's 50: 133 min, 92 balls, 8 fours. 100: 252 min, 195 balls, 13 fours. 150: 307 min, 230 balls, 21 fours.
Butcher's 50: 179 min, 130 balls, 6 fours.
INDIA: S B Bangar, V Sehwag, R S Dravid, S R Tendulkar, *S C Ganguly, V V S Laxman, A B Agarkar, ÝA Ratra, A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan.
Umpires: E A R de Silva and D L Orchard.
TV replay umpire: N A Mallender.
Match referee: C H Lloyd.
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