Stewart's renaissance

Second Test: England find a hero to boost their morale as Crawley and Knight hint at brighter future

A Hero was what David Lloyd said he was looking for in the England team in the First Cornhill Test at Lord's, but he had to wait until yesterday for the role to be filled. On a day when shortcomings earlier in the Second Test gave England very little margin for error, Alec Stewart produced an innings of the utmost authority and accomplishment to help breathe new life into a team whose season was in danger of fizzling out.

Whether Stewart's magnificent 170 out of a close-of-play total of 373 for five is enough to give England a chance of winning this match and squaring the series is probably doubtful. But it will have done wonders for morale, and with England now only 75 runs short of Pakistan's first- innings total of 448, they have little to fear from the last two days, and quite a lot to hope for.

For a man whose international career looked over last winter, Stewart's comeback this summer has been astonishing. Instead of being damningly and irredeemably consigned to the ranks of the old guard - a fate that looked inescapable when he was left out of the squad for the First Test against India - the 30-year-old Stewart has reasserted himself to the point where he is now central to England's plans, at least through the winter and possibly beyond.

Stewart's eighth Test hundred was almost faultless. Not until he was on 152 did he offer a chance, when Wasim Akram dropped him off his own bowling in a moment that presaged his dismissal 18 runs later. What made it such a great performance was the boldness with which he went after the hittable ball, and the power of his concentration. He produced some beautifully-timed strokes, particularly off his legs, while guarding his wicket with a tenacity reminiscent of Mike Atherton's match-saving innings in Johannesburg in the winter.

Although there was a rare failure on the part of Graham Thorpe, and Nasser Hussain made a disappointing exit when he appeared set for a big score, England could feel further en- couragement in the performances of two of the younger generation on what, overall, was the team's best day with the bat so far this summer. John Crawley's 53 was a gem of an innings and fully vindicated the selectors' decision to bring him in for Graeme Hick, and Nick Knight's unbeaten 51 at the end of the day was another knock that had the future of England stamped all over it.

So much for the terrors of Headingley, the Test ground, more than any other, where the faster bowlers like to think that, for once, conditions will be weighted in their favour. England's all-seam attack never performed well enough to discover the extent to which that might be true. But even though the Pakistanis bowled much better, the ball was reluctant to perform the sort of tricks, either in the air or off the wicket, that they were looking for.

Waqar Younis, in particular, was unrecognisable from the bowler who had terrorised England in the second innings at Lord's, conceding 100 runs in an innings for only the fifth time in his career, although on all four previous occasions he had five wickets to show for his efforts. Here he had just one, and that was a gift, provided by the momentarily confused Hussain. Only twice did he produce really threatening yorkers, but Crawley and Stewart kept them out.

Wasim Akram went through the usual routine of trying to get the ball changed - succeeding once - but very little from the faster bowlers beat the bat until Ata-ur-Rehman put in a fine spell late on. As a result England's toughest test came when Mushtaq Ahmed took up residence at the Kirkstall Lane end through most of a slow but absorbing afternoon session and found enough turn and, more importantly, bounce, to do for Thorpe and temporarily discomfit Stewart.

Heavy overnight rain meant play did not begin until noon, reducing the first session to a single hour. That may have been to England's advantage, for it gave them a not-too-distant staging post to aim for as they resumed a journey which, for all the ground they had covered on Friday, was still looking a long and arduous one.

Hussain hit Waqar for two fours before the bowler decided to switch to round the wicket. The logic of this was not obvious, but within two balls he had his man. The ball, slanting across the batsman, was far from unplayable - but Hussain got himself into a complete muddle, flapped at it and lobbed an easy catch back to the bowler.

Pakistan's ability to turn one breakthrough into two, three or more deserted them. Thorpe, initially subdued, opened out with two fours off Mushtaq before the leg-spinner got one to bounce on him and Shadab Kabir took a bat-pad catch at silly point.

The arrival of Crawley heralded England's best period. As Stewart moved past his hundred with a straight drive off Wasim, Crawley was nearly upstaging him with some gloriously-timed strokes, particularly off his legs. Half an hour after tea Crawley reached his half-century with a four through mid-wicket off Waqar, who was still struggling to make any impact even though the ball was now at its optimum age for his late inswingers.

Two overs after that, however, Crawley drove extravagantly at Ata, and there was just enough movement off the seam for him to edge a catch to Moin Khan at the wicket. Knight then played his part in another productive stand, which ended when Stewart offered a return catch to Mushtaq. But his job was done.