Hollioake joy for England

Cricket

Australia 269 England 270-4 England win by six wickets

A first appearance at Lord's is an experience every cricketer dreams about, even if, as in the case of Justin Langer and Matthew Elliott, it proves to be one they would rather forget. Not so the 19-year-old Ben Hollioake, who received two standing ovations as he treated the Australian bowlers with a condescension that should amaze even those close to him.

Hollioake's whirlwind 63, which included one six and 11 fours, will undoubtedly invite the inevitable comparisons with Ian Botham. Let us hope they do not overburden him before he is ready.

But if the day was a celebration of youth, and another assured performance by England, part of the credit must go to the selectors for picking an imaginative and mobile side. To beat Australia thrice in the Texaco Trophy one-day series by a margin of six wickets is a drubbing in any language, and the tourists will not find the memory an easy one to shrug off.

For their part, England will have gained a confidence and momentum that should carry through until the first Test at Edgbaston on 5 June. Although they may go into the game with up to half a dozen changes in personnel, key players like Atherton, Stewart, Crawley and Thorpe have all got runs, while Gough has looked at his most incisive since suffering a foot injury three years ago. Nevertheless, before we become punch-drunk with celebration Atherton will do well to remember that England have twice whitewashed the West Indies in this competition only to suffer huge reversals in the Test series.

With just five first-class matches behind him, it should be inconceivable that Ben Hollioake will be one of those picked for Edgbaston. Yet so exciting was his one-day debut here that you would not bet against it.

Coming in at number three after his captain had fallen lbw in the sixth over, Hollioake immediately impressed when he opened his account with a straight driven four off Glenn McGrath. You could tell the bowler had been stung because he immediately bounced one at the tyro's head, an illegal ball in this form of cricket and one coolly evaded by the youngster's neat sway - not an easy manoeuvre to make when you are 6ft 2in tall.

With that first sweet strike, and under the close tutelage of his Surrey team-mate Alec Stewart, Hollioake's confidence snowballed as he set about dismantling the Aussies' firepower. His assault included a soaring six into the Mound stand off Shane Warne.

One audacious drive off McGrath's slower ball was soon followed by a pick-up off Gillespie, a shot that brought his fifty and for the first occasion for Lord's rose to its feet, which it did again when he fell, caught by Steve Waugh as he tried to steer Gillespie away past cover point.

After Hollioake's lead it was something of a Surrey jamboree as first Stewart, in storming form, and then Thorpe contributed telling innings to the cause. John Crawley, in his first game of the series, was in sparkling touch too, as he cut and clipped with a crimper's panache as England waltzed home with an over to spare.

For the third time in the series Atherton won the toss and put Australia in to bat. There was probably little advantage to be gleaned, other than that Australia had made a hash of batting first in the other two games while England had chased successfully and with some comfort.

Both sides made changes, though Australia's were probably the more significant with Steve Waugh taking over from Mark Taylor as captain. Whatever the reasons, the move did not scream either harmony or contentment within the visitors' camp and Taylor will need to score heavily in the forthcoming matches at Bristol and Derby if he is to hang on to the leadership for the first Test in 10 days' time.

The skipper's absence meant that Elliott, a tall left-hander from Victoria, made his debut, opening the innings with Mark Waugh. But if Elliott presumed the early threat lay with his partner's running between the wickets - Waugh had run out Taylor and then himself at the Oval on Saturday - the new ball bowling of Darren Gough has not been far behind.

Gough has been nothing short of a menace to Australia, particularly in his opening salvos with the new ball. Yesterday, he had barely warmed to his task before Elliott, jabbing as only a man short of middle practice can, edged the last ball of the first over to Adam Hollioake at second slip.

Steve Waugh followed next, brilliantly caught one-handed by a fully stretched Graham Thorpe at slip as he tried to force Gough through point. But while England's fielding generally dipped below the heady standards of the previous two matches, the catching - bar one spilled chance by Hollioake senior - was of a high standard.

The same could not be said of the bowling of Chris Silverwood, which was erratic and allowed the Aussies and, in particular, the ever-silky Mark Waugh to go along at a fair lick. Silverwood has been straining for extra pace ever since his return from Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, he includes at least one bad ball an over, a contention more or less borne out after his six overs cost 44 runs.

Waugh, an exhilarating player to watch whatever the circumstance, batted on unperturbed as colleagues fell around him. Putting on 80 runs with Langer before the left-hander ran himself out going for two, Waugh dominated the bowling until Gough, returning for his second spell, nipped one back down the Lord's slope to have him lbw.

A fifth wicket, later in the piece, gave him the Lord's one-day record for an Englishman. Unfortunately he did it on a day when Ben Hollioake wowed a full house with a combination of youthful verve and clean hitting. But if Gough, the man of yesterday's match, has it in him to be one of England's major players over the summer, Hollioake minor surely has it in him to become one in the very near future.

Yesterday's Lord's scoreboard

England won toss

AUSTRALIA

M T G Elliott c A Hollioake b Gough 1

3 min, 6 balls

M E Waugh lbw b Gough 95

142 min, 96 balls, 12 fours

*S R Waugh c Thorpe b Gough 17

30 min, 19 balls, 3 fours

M G Bevan c sub (N V Knight) b Gough 8

12 min, 10 balls, 1 four

J L Langer run out (Silverwood-Stewart) 29

64 min, 44 balls, 3 fours

A C Gilchrist lbw b Ealham 33

56 min, 42 balls, 5 fours

I A Healy c Lloyd b Croft 27

46 min, 31 balls, 1 four, 1 six

S K Warne c Stewart b Ealham 5

8 min, 8 balls, 1 four

M S Kasprowicz not out 28

31 min, 26 balls, 4 fours

J N Gillespie c Thorpe b Gough 6

16 min, 14 balls

G D McGrath st Stewart b A Hollioake 1

3 min, 5 balls

Extras (b2 lb10 w5 nb2) 19

Total (210 min, 49.2 overs) 269

Fall: 1-2 (Elliott), 2-52 (S Waugh), 3-63 (Bevan), 4-142 (Langer), 5- 184 (M Waugh), 6-218 (Gilchrist), 7-228 (Warne), 8-242 (Healy), 9-268 (Gillespie), 10-269 (McGrath).

Bowling: Gough 10-0-44-5 (nb3,w1) (6-0-27-3 2-0-11-1 2-0-6-1), Silverwood 6-0-44-0 (w1) (3-0-21-0 3-0-23-0), Ealham 10-0-47-2 (6-0-28-0 4-0-19-2), Croft 10-0-51-1 (w1)(6-0-33-0 4-0-18-1), B Hollioake 7-0-36-0 (nb2) (5- 0-24-0 2-0-12-0), A Hollioake 6.2-0-35-1 (2-0-9-0 2-0-12-0 2.2-0-14-1).

Progress: 50 32 min, 49 balls. 100 77 min, 105 balls. 150 121 min, 168 balls. 200 155 min, 220 balls. 250 196 min, 280 balls.

M Waugh 50: 77 min, 50 balls, 8 fours.

ENGLAND

*M A Atherton lbw b Kasprowicz 1

22 min, 15 balls

A J Stewart c Langer b M Waugh 79

139 min, 106 balls, 8 fours

B C Hollioake c S Waugh b Gillespie 63

62 min, 48 balls, 11 fours, 1 six

J P Crawley run out (Gilchrist-Gillespie) 52

103 min, 78 balls, 4 fours

G P Thorpe not out 45

63 min, 43 balls, 3 fours, 1 five

A J Hollioake not out 4

13 min, 9 balls

Extras (lb9 w13 nb4) 26

Total (for 4, 203 min, 40 overs) 270

Fall: 1-21 (Atherton), 2-113 (B Hollioake), 3-193 (Stewart), 4-253 (Crawley).

Did not bat: G D Lloyd, M A Ealham, R D B Croft, C E W Silverwood, D Gough.

Bowling: McGrath 9-2-45-0 (nb1) (7-2-37-0 2-0-8-0), Kasprowicz 8-1-40- 1 (nb1,w3) (one spell), Warne 9-0-44-0 (w3)(8-0-39-0 1-0-5-0), Gillespie 10-0-55-1 (nb3,w2) (5-0-30-1 5-0-25-0), Bevan 3-0-27-0, S Waugh 4-0-22- 0 (w3), M Waugh 6-0-28-1 (one spell each).

Progress: 50 50 min, 75 balls. 100 78 min, 114 balls. 150 117 min, 167 balls. 200 146 min, 209 balls. 250 186 min, 280 balls.

Stewart 50: 112 min, 77 balls, 5 fours.

B Hollioake 50: 49 min, 37 balls, 10 fours. Crawley 50: 90 min, 68 balls, 4 fours.

Result: England won by 6 wickets.

Man of the match: D Gough.

Adjudicator: R G D Willis.

Umpires: M J Kitchen and G Sharp.

TV Replay Umpire: A A Jones.

Match Referee: R S Madugalle.

Saturday's Oval scoreboard

England won toss

AUSTRALIA

M E Waugh run out (Croft) 25

(42 min, 25 balls, 4 fours)

*M A Taylor run out (Hollioake-Gough) 11

(37 min, 35 balls, 1 four)

S R Waugh b Croft 24

(60 min, 35 balls, 3 fours)

M G Bevan not out 108

(154 min, 129 balls, 6 fours)

M J Slater run out (DeFreitas) 1

(6 min, 11 balls)

A C Gilchrist lbw b Hollioake 53

(66 min, 50 balls, 2 fours, 1 six)

I A Healy run out (Lloyd-Stewart) 7

(9 min, 7 balls)

S K Warne not out 11

(14 min, 8 balls, 1 four)

Extras (lb8 w1) 9

Total (for 6, 197 min, 50 overs) 249

Fall: 1-35 (Taylor) 2-37 (M E Waugh) 3-94 (S R Waugh) 4-98 (Slater) 5- 211 (Gilchrist) 6-226 (Healy).

Did not bat: J N Gillespie, M S Kasprowicz, G D McGrath.

Bowling: DeFreitas 8-0-47-0 (4-0-17-0, 2-0-15-0, 2-0-15-0); Gough 10- 3-42-0 (6-3-23-0, 2-0-7-0, 2-0-12-0); Ealham 9-2-40-0 (5-2-8-0, 2-0-17- 0, 2-0-15-0); Giles 9-0-48-0 (w1) (6-0-26-0, 3-0-22-0); Croft 10-2-39- 1; Hollioake 4-0-25-1 (one spell each).

Progress: 50: 58 min, 82 balls. 100: 109 min, 163 balls. 150: 139 min, 213 balls. 200: 166 min, 258 balls.

ENGLAND

N V Knight lbw b Kasprowicz 4

(8 min, 10 balls, 1 four)

*M A Atherton not out 113

(200 min, 149 balls, 10 four)

A J Stewart b Warne 40

(53 min, 40 balls, 7 fours)

G P Thorpe c S R Waugh b Bevan 7

(38 min, 19 balls)

G D Lloyd c Warne b McGrath 22

(41 mins, 32 balls, 1 four)

A J Hollioake not out 53

(56 min, 41 balls, 6 fours)

Extras (lb5 w8 nb1) 14

Total (for 4, 200 min, 48.2 overs) 253

Fall: 1-6 (Knight) 2-77 (Stewart) 3-104 (Thorpe) 4-158 (Lloyd).

Did not bat: M A Ealham, R D B Croft, A F Giles, P A J DeFreitas, D Gough.

Bowling: McGrath 9-1-46-1 (w2) (2-0-6-0, 3-1-7-0, 3-0-22-1, 1-0-11-0); Kasprowicz 9.2-0-58-1 (w1) (1-0-2-1, 4-0-26-0, 4.2-0-30-0); Gillespie 8-1-42-0 (nb1 w2) (2-0-20-0, 5-1-15-0, 1-0-7-0); Warne 10-0-39-1 (7-0- 25-1, 3-0-14-0); Bevan 9-0-43-1 (w1), S R Waugh 3-0-20-0 (w2) (one spell each).

Progress: 50: 40 min, 50 balls. 100: 96 min, 131 balls. 150: 137 min, 198 balls. 200: 171 min, 248 balls. 250: 200 min, 291 balls.

ENGLAND WON BY SIX WICKETS

Umpires: J H Hampshire and D R Shepherd. TV replay umpire: B Dudleston.

Man of the match: M A Atherton.