The bowler was Michael Holding and Gooch standing at the non-striker's end reckoned there were
The bowler was Michael Holding and Gooch, standing at the non-striker's end, reckoned there were no looseners "It was 0-90mph in about 3.2 seconds," said Gooch. "Boycs took several blows to the gloves and ribs before having his off-stump knocked 20 yards back by the last ball of the over."To score runs against them, you really had to be able to deal with the short ball on your body," reckoned Gooch. "If not, your options were virtually nil as they rarely gave you balls to drive or cut."For that reason, Gooch remembers opportunities for victory over them being rarer than Test matches that lasted five days. "Before we beat them in Jamaica on the 1989-90 tour, I reckon we had one opportunity in the previous 14 years to win a Test against them and that was at Trent Bridge in 1980. It was a close match played on a grassy pitch and they eventually won by two wickets."Perhaps more chilling is that the West Indies made it feel personal. Much of their batting, especially by Richards, was as intimidatory as their bowling, and he is the only batsman who regularly put the frighteners on those who bowled at him.Richards was something of an icon for the radical movement sweeping through West Indian society at the time.
He knew there were scores that were expected to be settled against the old colonial "master" and (certainly symbolically) the cricket pitch was as good a place as any to do that. Indeed, it is probably no coincidence that England suffered two successive 5-0 "blackwashes" in 1984 and 1985-86, a period when the "Masterblaster" was at his most destructive.I remember turning up to play in the fourth Test at Headingley in 1988, hoping, rather than really believing, that we could win. Gallows humour prevailed: we were 2-0 down in the series; on our third captain of the summer (Chris Cowdrey); and opponents most of us knew well from the county cricket barely acknowledged us. It was also our first sighting of Ambrose and the only words we heard him utter in the match were "howzat" as he took seven wickets and scooped the man-of-the-match award.Business was meant, and, although not exactly as blatant as Tommy Smith and Bob Hines at the Mexico Olympics with their clenched fists raised aloft, it was delivered in a chilling style that left you with the distinct feeling that there was a lot more to the encounter than mere sport.Success on the cricket field not only gave meaning to the West Indies as a regional concept, it also enriched the lives of those that lived there. In some ways it was nationalism by bat and ball, a way that often exceeded the petty political squabbles that filled daily life.Of course, for those now playing, it has become, along with trying to continue the awesome legacy of the recent past, a huge burden. The depth of bowling and batting enjoyed by the West Indies' sides of that great era is simply not there anymore and England should come away from The Oval in the next few days having won a Test series against them for the first time in 31 years.If they do not, the opportunity may not present itself again for some considerable time. A month ago, at Lord's, the West Indies' players of the future won the Under-15 World Cup..
Hell hath no fury like an off-spinner scorned as Robert Croft demonstrated here yesterday, but the dejected England reject was unable to prevent James Foster scoring a mature half century on his Championship debut for Essex. Hell hath no fury like an off-spinner scorned as Robert Croft demonstrated here yesterday, but the dejected England reject was unable to prevent James Foster scoring a mature half century on his Championship debut for Essex. Croft did the right sort of talking yesterday, with the ball, finishing with an impressive 3 for 83 off 33 overs, but wicketkeeper Foster, who has usurped Barry Hyam as first choice, stole his thunder as he helped to pull Essex round following a dreadful start.After 25 deliveries on the Southchurch Park pitch Essex prospects had looked bleak. Three wickets had fallen in quarter of an hour - to the team which stood a point ahead of them in third place in the Second Division of the Championship, presenting Glamorgan with a valuable first bowling bonus point.Among those to be sent on their way was another Championship debutant, the 6ft 7in William Jefferson, who was the second of Steve Watkin's three victims; at least the 20-year-old rookie had got off the mark.There then followed a lesson to every youngster watching in how to cope when the ball is seaming around. Stuart Law and the Essex captain Ronnie Irani got their heads down and gradually forced Glamorgan heads to drop.Law looked particularly imperious as he passed 50 for the third time in four Championship innings. His pulls bulged with power, the cuts were acute, the drives were uninhibited and invariably unstoppable. The pair had added 111 for the fourth wicket and lunch loomed when the Australian pulled Croft tamely to mid-on where he was caught by the other Glamorgan spinner, the left-armer Dean Cosker.Irani stuck around, though, as he had when scoring an undefeated 168 in a marathon nine-hour stint in the first meeting between these two sides earlier this season.
He brought up his fifty with a straight six off Croft and was on the brink of another hundred when he pushed at a Cosker delivery in the middle of a spell of 41 overs of uninterrupted spin. Croft then struck twice in successive balls to remove the twin threat of Danny Law and Ricky Anderson.After Foster's watchful landmark, Essex were able to exploit the 10 extra overs which the day presented them and nipped out the in-form opener Steve James for 30.. Just over a year ago, Nasser Hussain left The Oval a disenchanted man. The England captain had been roundly booed by cricket supporters following his team's defeat at the hands of New Zealand. It was a desperate moment and it epitomised the depths to which cricket in this country had fallen. Just over a year ago, Nasser Hussain left The Oval a disenchanted man.
The England captain had been roundly booed by cricket supporters following his team's defeat at the hands of New Zealand. It was a desperate moment and it epitomised the depths to which cricket in this country had fallen. But 12 months on, with a new coach and a new attitude from within the domestic game, England find themselves on the brink of ending a 31-year-old sequence of inferiority that would bring the applause of the nation. Going in to this morning's fifth and final Test with a 2-1 lead, Hussain's side cannot lose the rubber. Yet by winning or drawing the match they can do what no England side has achieved for two generations: which is to win the Wisden Trophy. Mind you, if the West Indies manage to win and so draw the series, it will be the 14th time they have retained the trophy, a record for a contest between two countries.It is a marvellous opportunity for England who, under central contracts, have shown steady improvements and one that, if successfully negotiated, will boost the game's profile at an important time.