Caddick gives England late lift
England 221 Western Australia 3
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Andrew Caddick provided the inspiration for England's first display of intent since their arrival in Australia and masked the struggle for form from their leading batsmen in the build–up to the start of the Ashes series.
Still smarting from their opening 58–run defeat in the traditional match at Lilac Hill and disrupted by injuries to such an extent they have already been labelled the "Walking Wounded" by the Australian media, the tourists had hoped to settle down and gain valuable practice during the two–day match against Western Australia at the WACA.
Yet despite facing a WA line–up missing eight regular players, England's troubles continued with part–time window cleaner Callum Thorp claiming three wickets inside his first nine overs to reduce the tourists to a worrying 48 for four.
Thorp, who is yet to play a first class match for WA, ensured that useful batting practice was wasted by removing Robert Key, Mark Butcher and captain Nasser Hussain cheaply and deny them the opportunity of occupying the crease for long periods and become accustomed to Australian conditions.
Only Marcus Trescothick and Alec Stewart, who both fell just short of half–centuries, among the batsmen adapted to the conditions and looked anything like comfortable leaving England in danger of being humiliated by WA's second string line–up.
They may have been denied the batting practice but as an exercise in simulating conditions similar to an Ashes Test match, with England in trouble and in danger of being dismissed for a lowly total, it could not have been bettered.
For that alone coach Duncan Fletcher and Hussain will have been encouraged by the efforts of Caddick, who finished unbeaten on 62 and shared a determined 79–run ninth wicket stand with Matthew Hoggard which spanned 22 overs, before England were dismissed for 221.
"The batting wasn't an embarrassment," insisted Caddick. "You have to remember we're used to the wickets in England and we've been on tours to the sub–continent for the last 18 months.
"These wickets bounce a lot more than we're used to the ball did quite a bit this morning and hey know their wickets a lot better than we do and I'm sure we'd have bowled if we'd have won the toss.
"Unfortunately, because we haven't played on these kind of wickets before, we didn't pile on the runs we should have."
That certainly was not a problem for Caddick, who felt so comfortable during his 109 minutes at the crease he lofted Beau Casson, Australia's under–19 left–arm leg–spinner, over mid–wicket for six and hit eight fours in his innings.
Even Hoggard, a player not renowned for his batting until recently, hit a resolute 33 to give England hope that he may be capable of replicating that resistance with Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie making up the attack.
On this occasion the main threat was from Thorp, whose parents emigrated from Walthamstow to just north of Perth where their son has been helping with the family window cleaning round when he is not bowling for local club Wanneroo.
He has ruled out county cricket as an option and instead intends to battle to establish himself in the WA squad, a dream which came closer to reality after his superb display against England.
"There was a bit of juice in the wicket early on and a few indentations and I'd have loved to have bowled on it," admitted Caddick. "There's not much juice in it now so it will be hard work for us, but I'm looking forward to it.
"I'm still learning on these pitches and I've only bowled here on an A tour in 1993 so it's new to me as well – these conditions are a lot different from anywhere else in the world."
First day of two; Western Australia won toss
ENGLAND First Innings
M E Trescothick c Hussey b Wilson 46
R W T Key lbw b Thorp 4
M A Butcher c and b Thorp 7
*N Hussain c Ronchi b Thorp 1
J P Crawley c Ronchi b Clark 0
ÝA J Stewart c Ronchi b Clark 42
J S Foster b Casson 11
A F Giles c Ronchi b Thorp 6
A R Caddick not out 62
M J Hoggard b Wilson 33
S J Harmison c Goodwin b Wilson 6
Extras (b1 lb1 nb1) 3
Total (87.2 overs) 221
Fall: 1-4, 2-32, 3-39, 4-48, 5-89, 6-112, 7-116, 8-126, 9-205.
Bowling: Wilson 18.2-9-38-3; Thorp 20-6-58-4 (nb1); Clark 18-7-42-2; Harvey 16-5-49-0; Casson 15-6-32-1.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA First Innings
*M E K Hussey not out 0
C J L Rogers not out 3
Extras 0
Total (for 0, 3 overs) 3
To bat: P Wilson, M W Clark, M W Goodwin, K M Harvey, S E Marsh, S W Meuleman, M J North, ÝL Ronchi, C D Thorp.
Bowling: Hoggard 2-1-2-0; Harmison 1-0-1-0.
Umpires: A R Craig and I H Lock.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments