da cassino： If it looked like a commanding victory by England, it didn’t feel like it
da pinup bet： Daniel Brigham at Edgbaston28-May-2006
Kevin Pietersen was one of only three England players who really clicked at Edgbaston © Getty Images
If it looked like a commanding victory, it didn’t feel like it. Grumblingafter a six-wicket win over three days (with the rain taken into account)may look like an extreme act of negativity, but England were sufferingfrom a lack of urgency and intensity at Edgbaston. It will be satisfyingfor England after throwing away their chance of victory at Lord’s, but theunsettled nature of the side caused by injuries may be taking its toll.Since England won the Ashes with a settled side (only 12 players wereused) that clearly felt at ease and entirely comfortable with one another,the eight following Tests have seen England field 19 men. Not only that,but a temporary captain has emerged while Michael Vaughan struggles withthe increasingly worrying knee injury. No one knows just how temporaryFreddie’s reign is. It’s almost as if England are in limbo, waiting for areturn to the camaraderie that infused their dominance of the last twoyears.Although injuries have allowed us a glimpse of some real talent and awonderful future, the short-term doesn’t look so bright when you lookforward to the Ashes. Alastair Cook, Monty Panesar, Owais Shah, SajidMahmood and, especially here, Liam Plunkett have shown that there is anucleus of a side that should have been pushing the members of England’sAshes-winning side over the next three years. But not this early. IfEngland have to play more than three of the newcomers throughout theseries this winter, it’s hard to see England retaining the Ashes. Englandare in need of their absent friends.At Edgbaston, and in the first Test at Lord’s, there were worrying signsthat tend to accompany unsettled sides. Sessions when everything seemedflat, dropped catches, a tendency to let things drift and a lack of akiller instinct. Only three players gave the impression of everything clicking:Matthew Hoggard (as always – just when did he become such a dangerousbowler?), Kevin Pietersen (hundreds in each of his last three innings onEnglish soil – all of them magnificent) and Liam Plunkett.Without Pietersen’s logic-defying innings, Plunkett would have been a deservedman of the match. Because we are becoming used to Pietersen’s thunderousperformances, it was Plunkett who was England’s biggest plus of this Test.He was fluid in both innings, bowling a good full length and rarelystraying from it. He already has the consistency, all he needs now is morewicket-taking deliveries and an extra yard of pace.It was Plunkett, rather than the usual suspects of Andrew Flintoff orMatthew Hoggard, who provided the impetus in both Sri Lankan innings.Twice he took two wickets in one over; his breakthroughs today, removingChaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekara in successive deliveries, decisivelyswung the match in England’s favour when Sri Lanka will have been hopingto set a target approaching 150.
Neither Andrew Flintoff or Geraint Jones looked like capitalising on Pietersen’s brilliant hundred © Getty Images
England should never have let Sri Lanka get to that position. England’sbatting failed to show the patience that the slow pitch asked for. But,with KP making the crowd duck and gasp, everything was rosy. At 290 for 5,the chances of England batting again looked slim. It also covered overthat the top three made starts without going on to make anything over 30.But the fall of Pietersen sucked the life out of the innings. NeitherFlintoff or Geraint Jones really looked like capitalising on his excellentwork, and five runs later, England were out and the opportunity to killthe game had gone.England bowled well that evening, with plenty of purpose. Hoggard andPanesar shared two wickets; they could have had more. When play eventuallygot under way on the Saturday, the buzz of the previous evening had gone.Panesar and Hoggard bowled well enough but never really looked like takinga wicket. Neither did Freddie. With Plunkett unable to bowl because of ashoulder injury, throwing the ball to Mahmood or Paul Collingwood justwasn’t the same as giving it to Steve Harmison or Simon Jones. Again,absent friends were keenly felt.Perhaps the biggest absence is Vaughan. Flintoff, criticised atLord’s, captained well here, and England have won two of their last threeTests very comfortably. He rotated his bowlers, was constantlyenthusiastic and set get good, imaginative fields. But his bowling andbatting felt inhibited. He seems to have lost a bit of pace from lastsummer, and is struggling to get into his deadly rhythm. There was nothingfrom him that approached his memorable over against Ricky Ponting at thisvenue last year. This time, he rarely bowled more than three overs in aspell.His batting was also introverted, although he did have the excuse ofplaying the straight man to KP. Captaincy doesn’t seem to have affectedFreddie’s batting results – prior to this Test his scores had been 43, 70,51, 50, 50, 33 not out. But, and it’s probably best to whisper this, hiscaptaincy does seem to have turned him into a less charismatic, brutalbatsman.If this shows he is taking his role as captain seriously, then fine. Butit’s hard to imagine him showing so much restraint if he had been battingunder Vaughan; a blazing Freddie innings would have taken this game out ofreach of Sri Lanka. In a week when an English sportsman’s foot injury madefront page headlines, let us also pray with as much vigour for a speedyrecovery for another English sporstman’s knee injury. Here’s to absentfriends, and their swift return.
