Sat, Aug 21, 2004 page18

• Flintoff, Bell save England's day

  AGGRESSIVE BATTING After early setbacks, England marched back into the fourth Test against the West Indies with tenacious batting by Ian Bell and Andrew Flintoff

  • AFP
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  A typically aggressive 72 not out from Andrew Flintoff tipped the balance in England's favor on the first day of the fourth Test against the West Indies at the Oval on Thursday.

  At the close England were 313-5 from 90 overs with Geraint Jones partnering Flintoff on 22 not out.

  

  England batsman Ian Bell smashes his way to 70 runs in his Test match debut against the West Indies in the fourth and final Test at the Oval cricket ground in London. Bell was eventually caught by Carlton Baugh off the bowling of Jermaine Lawson.

  PHOTO: AFP

  England survived a wobble at 64-3 but debutant Ian Bell scored 70 and captain Michael Vaughan, in his 50th Test, 66 as they shared a partnership of 146 for the fourth wicket to turn England's innings round.

  Flintoff marched to the wicket with England at 210-4 and hit a half-century for the eighth consecutive Test match, passing the landmark with two fours from Dwayne Smith, having faced 51 balls and hit 10 boundaries.

  West Indies captain Brian Lara was aware that his side have to dismiss Flintoff as early as possible yesterday to stay in the game.

  "We wanted to restrict them to three runs an over but if Flintoff is still batting he can accelerate so we need to get him out early. But our guys bowled well and stuck to their task," Lara said.

  Flintoff was joined by Jones, with whom he has shared some profitable partnerships this summer, with England on 236-5 but the wicket-keeper only contributed nine of the first 50 runs they put on for the sixth wicket.

  Flintoff was severe on anything short and drove powerfully as he treated an 18,500 sell-out crowd in the newly rebuilt Oval to his full repertoire of shots.

  Dwayne Bravo, fresh from taking 6-55 in the last Test at Old Trafford, was the pick of the West Indian bowlers taking 2-48 from 17 overs whilst Jermaine Lawson, who returned to the side in place of Pedro Collins (back injury), took 2-84.

  Bell, who has had a prolific season in the English domestic game, had to endure a baptism of fire before he got off the mark.

  He survived a big appeal for leg before first ball from Dwayne Bravo and when he edged Fidel Edwards over the slips for four he had spent 11 fruitless deliveries at the crease.

  Bell said: "It was a bit tough at the start but I was not too worried about being on nought for a long time. At Warwickshire [captain] Nick Knight has told us to take each ball as it comes and I really enjoyed it."

  Nasty Knock

  He took a nasty knock on the shoulder from Edwards before scoring but after treatment from the England physiotherapist he soldiered on and gained confidence with every one of the 10 boundaries he hit.

  And he claimed facing short bowling from the likes of South Africa's Nantie Hayward in the English County Championship prepared him for the task.

  "I expected them to come at me pretty tough, with it being my first game. I expected it and was able to build on it.

  "I'm not worried about getting a couple of bruises for England -- that's the next step up and the longer I stayed there the better I became.

  "It was brilliant to have experience at the other end [Vaughan] to get me through it," said Bell, who was eventually fourth man out when he was caught behind off Jermaine Lawson, having spent 130 balls at the crease.

  Vaughan looked set to record his 14th Test hundred until he tamely edged Bravo to Brian Lara at slip and with England 236-5 at that stage, the West Indies were looking to bowl England out for less than 350.

  However, Flintoff's belligerent innings changed all that and the West Indies will be keen to get rid of him early yesterday morning before he bats them out of the match.

  Earlier Andrew Strauss played a poorly-judged pull shot to mid-on and Marcus Trescothick, who found runs hard to come by after lunch, clipped Edwards off his toes straight to Ramnaresh Sarwan at square leg.

  Robert Key, whose place on England's tour to South Africa is under pressure following Bell's innings, scratched around for 10 from 41 balls before he edged one to the keeper four balls after Trescothick had departed.

  England lead the four-match series 3-0 and a win would see them win seven consecutive Test matches for the first time since 1929.

  Kallis on Form

  In Colombo, Jacques Kallis top scored with 74 as South Africa set Sri Lanka a stiff 264-run target in the first one-day international yesterday.

  Kallis, promoted to number three, stroked five fours and two sixes in an 85-ball knock after South Africa won the toss.

  The 28-year-old, dropped on 33, added 77 runs in 78 balls with skipper Graeme Smith (38) and then 48 with Jacques Rudolph (22) for the third wicket.

  After Kallis's departure, Mark Boucher kept the innings going, scoring 52 runs with Shaun Pollock (30) and a short flurry with Lance Klusener (15) before being caught in the deep for 58.

  Chaminda Vaas prevented an all-out South Africa assault in the final slog overs, taking three wickets in his second spell to finish with four for 33 from seven overs.

  Earlier, out-of-form opener Herschelle Gibbs struggled for 21 minutes without scoring before being trapped lbw for a duck by an inswinger from Vaas.

  Kallis's arrival at the crease jump-started the innings and after a cautious opening spell South Africa reached the end of the first 15-over fielding restrictions on 86 for one.
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