23 May 1999
Ealham answers Stewart's call
Mike Atherton
This was as good a time as any for England to play the tournament
favourites: two relatively easy victories over Kenya and Sri Lanka
gave them the confidence missing after Sharjah. Moreover, to win the
World Cup England will have to know themselves under pressure, and
much better to find out early rather than too late. South Africa
pushed them to the limits early on and questions were answered.
England were under the cosh for the first time in the tournament.
Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten gave South Africa a dream start,
posting 111 for the first wicket. Angus Fraser, rightly recalled to
the team, had a rude awakening in his first World Cup start at the
age of 33, as he was hoisted high over long on for six by Gibbs. When
can his first seven overs have last gone for 44 runs?
At the first drinks break the creases on the England captain's face
would have been deep and furrowed, and had Gibbs and Kirsten been
wired up to the South Africa coach, no doubt they would have heard
him purring with pleasure. In truth, though, England had not bowled
badly, but they were looking at a South African score in excess of
250 and wickets were desperately needed.
Would Alec Stewart look to Darren Gough for the breakthrough or rely
on containment and frustration to build pressure and bring their
rewards? In the end it was the underrated Mark Ealham who answered
his captain's call.
There is nothing spectacular about Ealham, except that consistently
he does what is required. Through a mixture of wicket-to-wicket
bowling and clever changes of pace he brought England back into the
game. He probably has the best slower ball in the England team, due
to the fact that there is no discernible change of hand action, as he
merely drags his hand down the back of the ball.
You could sense the pressure building on Gibbs. Keen to attack, he
almost couldn't understand why he could not dominate this
unremarkable English seamer. Ultimately it was his downfall; he swung
another frustratingly straight ball from Ealham down Graeme Hick's
throat at square leg. England had the breakthrough and were on their
way.
No doubt Stewart's initial plan had been to bowl Fraser straight
through. Showing his flexibility, he whipped Fraser out of the attack
and brought back Alan Mullally. The breeze by this stage was helping
his inswing and the biting wind of the morning had gone as the sun
warmed up the arena. Suddenly the ball, which had done nothing,
started to swing and the South Africans, as we saw last summer, are
vulnerable to the moving ball.
Ealham removed Kirsten with an inside edge, after which Mullally
produced a gem to dismiss Jacques Kallis. Daryll Cullinan then lofted
Mullally's last ball to Fraser. All of a sudden, the upper order had
gone and England had the ascendancy. At no stage again did South
Africa dominate proceedings: Andrew Flintoff made his first real
contribution of the tournament, dismissing Hansie Cronje, and Gough's
continued excellence at 'the death' made sure Ealham's good work was
not wasted.
The turnaround inspired by Mullally and Ealham answered certain
questions and will have ramifications. It is all very well seeing a
team on top, as England had emphatically been against Sri Lanka and
Kenya. Here we were seeing their reaction to adversity, and no team
win a one-day tournament without having to come through difficult
periods.
This was the best wicket we have seen so far in the tournament and
therefore the sternest examination of England's bowlers. In the last
World Cup we really struggled to take wickets mid-innings to slow
down the rate and this was the danger here - that on a good wicket,
after the opposition had got a good start, England's back-up bowlers
would wilt. That they did not, and restricted South Africa to an
eminently gettable 226, augurs well.
Kallis, taking the new ball, dismissed Stewart and Nasser Hussain
before England had 10 on the board. This brought Graham Thorpe to the
crease for his first innings in this tournament and he immediately
looked in good touch, working Shaun Pollock, who is having an
ominously quiet time, neatly off his legs, before Allan Donald caught
him on the crease.
England, perhaps, were paying for their convincing earlier victories
as this was a difficult situation for Thorpe, Fairbrother and
Flintoff to be having their first knocks for a fortnight.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)