The Hindu : Centuries by Gibbs, Smith leave England in a shambles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Centuries by Gibbs, Smith leave England in a shambles

By Ted Corbett

BIRMINGHAM July 24. Herschelle Gibbs, batting at a run a ball once he got going, and the South African captain Graeme Smith, content to defend, put on a record opening stand on a pitch without life as the first Test got underway at Edgbaston on Thursday.

Gibbs needed 25 balls to get off the mark but he had scored a century 113 deliveries later. By that time Nasser Hussain, the England captain, could be seen looking round desperately for a way of splitting this unexpected resistance.

Three quarters of an hour before tea the pair passed 200 in the 48th over and those who had been forecasting a 5-0 whitewash by England could also be seen looking round desperately for a means of avoiding bankruptcy.

Others with long memories were looking back to 1989 when England confidently expected to beat Australia who had brought a side that its own supporters were describing as the worst to set off in search of the Ashes.

Instead, the first Test at Headingley slipped away on the first day when David Gower asked Australia to bat and his fielders failed to snaffle a number of half chances. Soon after the end of the series the Australians were enjoying a ticker-tape parade through Sydney and English cricket entered a period of distress that is clearly not yet at an end.

Less than a year ago Australia piled on the agony after Nasser Hussain put it to bat at Brisbane where the second wicket did not fall until 339 were on the board.

One of England's easy bets must have been that Gibbs, who had made an undefeated 93 against Zimbabwe but only 117 runs in total during the tri-series, would be out in double quick time. He needed nine nervous overs to get off the mark and for the first hour a tight England attack kept control.

But once he got into top gear, his trademark square cut tore into the short stuff served up as standard fare by the England attack and at lunch he had made 47 out of 100. His fifty came in 96 balls and his next fifty in only 42; all in boundaries, including 13 out of 17 off an over by Darren Gough, playing in his first Test after missing 20 with injuries.

Gough, like the rest of the bowlers will feel that this slow pitch is responsible for their woes, but that is only half the story.

Gibbs had so much time to play his shots that it seemed as if he could consult his batting partner before choosing the right stroke but as England continued to bowl short so he needed less time to make up his mind.

Only Steve Harmison, exploiting his height, found steep bounce but even that was more Wimbledon than Edgbaston.

Gibbs should have been caught and bowled by James Anderson at 94 as the young fast bowler learnt another severe lesson in his third Test and again by Michael Vaughan at 127 but by then the damage was done and South Africa had a stranglehold on the game.

In the first few overs after lunch a slow handclap rippled round the ground to mark a short period of defensive play but by tea they had to admit that South Africa was much more likely to win the series 5-0 than England.

Smith is said to be in major difficulties as any captain aged 23 might expect. He has lost Jacques Kallis due to his father's illness, Shaun Pollock has been only half the bowler of old and Gibbs is so badly out of form ...well, he can forget that problem now.

He was therefore happy to sit back and enjoy Gibbs innings and yet still reach his own hundred — in his first Test against England — 15 minutes before tea. He had faced 161 balls and hit 16 fours while a combination of slow pitch and crumbling England attack meant he had not given a chance.

Gibbs reached 150 soon after tea off 187 balls — out of 274 — and Harmison gave Gibbs yet another life on 157 when he failed to take a chest-high catch off his own bowling.

It was simply not England's day but South Africa, continuing to score at almost five an over, must have been in some sort of cricket heaven.

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