Tresco guides hosts to emphatic win

England v Australia, NatWest Challenge, Headingley

NatWest Challenge, Headingley: England 221-1 beat Australia 219-7 by nine wickets

Marcus Trescothick struck a commanding 104 as England won the opening match of the NatWest Challenge against Australia by nine wickets at Headingley.

Michael Vaughan admitted England’s biggest-ever victory over Australia in one-day history would do their confidence no harm ahead of the Ashes.

England took a 1-0 lead in the NatWest Challenge, the inaugural contest under the new regulations which include substitutes, by the gaping margin of nine wickets, the largest in 83 limited-overs contests between the countries stretching 35 years.

Marcus Trescothick put down an important marker for this summer’s bigger challenges with a match-winning innings against Australia to help England complete a comfortable victory in the historic opening match of the NatWest Challenge.

Everything went the home side’s way as the world champions were restricted to 219 for seven, Collingwood taking four wickets with his medium-pacers.

Trescothick, caught off a no-ball on five, was still there when England won with four overs remaining. Skipper Michael Vaughan began to regain form with an unbeaten 59. Australia had made what seemed a useful 219-7 on a difficult pitch, Mike Hussey smashing four fours and a six as 30 came off the final two overs. Vaughan had struck a timely early blow when he won the toss on an overcast morning.

The use of ‘powerplays’ - easier scoring opportunities for the batsmen - failed to have a great deal of significance in their first appearance in an international match.

Both captains simply opted to use both additional five-over segments with the fielding restrictions immediately after the first 10.

However, the toss soon proved to be telling as the pitch proved problematic, batsmen finding it extremely difficult to judge the variable pace and bounce.

England failed to capture a breakthrough until the scoreboard read 62.

Geraint Jones provided the inspiration for England, diving full length to his right to cling onto an inside edge from Gilchrist, who had hit a bright 42.

The left-handed Trescothick then scored 104 not out as England won with four overs to spare. It was his 10th one-day hundred and his first against Australia.

In the next over Matthew Hayden, who had struggled for 47 balls for his 17, mis-timed a short one from Flintoff to mid-wicket.

The slower pace of Paul Collingwood then paid dividends as he accounted for Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke cheaply.

When Simon Jones completed a respectable 10-over spell that saw considerable seam movement, he was the first player to be replaced by a substitute, as England opted to bolster their batting for later in the game, Vikram Solanki coming into the match.

Damien Martyn had made a watchful 43 with four fours when he cut a short one and the ball brushed the glove, Jones taking another excellent catch standing up to the stumps, to give Collingwood 4-34 from his 10 overs.

But Hussey cut loose in a stand of 51 with Brett Lee that came in the closing five overs.

He smashed three consecutive fours in the penultimate over of the innings from Flintoff.

Then in the last one bowled by Gough he launched a massive swipe that went deep into the stands at mid-wicket, Lee adding a brutal four through the covers.

Most significantly, conditions changed as England came out to bat, the skies lifting to bright sunshine, and the ball did not seam around in the same fashion for the Australians.

They could, however, have accounted for both England openers with less than 20 on the board.

Andrew Strauss had made only one when he edged to Gilchrist, but the keeper could not hold a low catch diving to his left.

Trescothick then cut Lee to third man where Glenn McGrath took a neat low catch, only for the celebrations to be cut short as a result of Lee over-stepping for the fourth time.

Strauss brought up the fifty in the 14th over with a pull for four, but with his confidence increasing he attempted a reverse sweep off super sub Brad Hogg and was expertly caught by Gilchrist.

Hogg had been introduced as Australia’s sub when Shane Watson suffered a thigh injury, the tourists opting to technically replace Hayden but allowing the opener to stay on as a fielder for Watson, to enable Hogg to bowl 10 full overs if necessary.

Vaughan’s return to form came at the expense of the out-of-sorts Gillespie, hit for successive boundaries by the England captain, who advanced down the wicket to loft one over mid-off.

Vaughan won the match in fine style with a dismissive pull to the boundary off Lee, who sent down a total of seven no-balls, some almost a foot over the crease.

Australia thought they had dislodged Trescothick on 82 when Gilchrist confidently claimed a catch at the stumps as the Somerset left-hander tried to cut, but umpire Koetzen was unmoved.

Trescothick also hit the unfortunate Gillespie for consecutive boundaries, and combined delicate strokeplay with brute force in one Hogg over, with a late cut for four followed by a towering six over mid-wicket.

SUBSTITUTIONS

The game, the first of three one-dayers before the Ashes and which followed the teams’ dramatic tie in the final of a triangular one-day series, saw the introduction of substitutions for the first time, as well as 20 overs of fielding restrictions rather than 15.

Headingley in the gloom has always favoured swing and seam. Thursday morning was played out under a thick blanket of cloud, to be replaced by blazing sun in the afternoon before the cloud returned in the final stages

The world champions, put in, enjoyed a 62-run opening stand but that was all.

Adam Gilchrist, having played and missed half-a-dozen times, adapted cleverly by replacing straight-bat shots with cross-bat pulls and shovels to leg. Simon Jones was pulled for six, as was Darren Gough.

But Gilchrist’s good fortune ran out after he had made 42 off 51 balls as an attempted glance off Steve Harmison ended in Geraint Jones’s gloves.

Matthew Hayden, never fluent, followed six runs later as a half-hearted pull off Andrew Flintoff found Kevin Pietersen at mid-wicket.

Ponting and Damien Martyn hauled the score to 107 before three more wickets fell for 13 runs, all to Collingwood. The batting all rounder, who became the first England player to take six wickets in a one-dayer last month against Bangladesh, revelled in the conditions.

Ponting mis-timed a pull and was caught for 14 by Pietersen in the deep. Andrew Symonds edged to the slips while Michael Clarke’s expansive drive was beaten by a delivery nipping back through the gate.

If it had not been for the excellent Martyn and Hussey, things would have been even worse. Martyn made a hard-earned 43 before he was caught behind to make it 159 for six in the 42nd over while Hussey ended on 46 not out off 52 balls, hitting three consecutive fours off Flintoff in the penultimate over, then flat-batting Gough for six as 30 came off the last two overs.

The substitutions’ rule also favoured England. They opted for a batsman in Vikram Solanki. If England had lost the toss he would probably not have got on the field but instead Vaughan was able to call on him to bolster the batting and fielding after Simon Jones had been bowled out after 31 overs of the Australian innings.

The second match is due to take place at Lord’s on Sunday, with the third and final game at The Oval on Tuesday.

NatWest Challenge, 2005, 1st Match
England v Australia
Headingley, Leeds
7 July 2005 (50-over match)

Result: England won by 9 wickets
Series: England leads the 3-Match series 1-0

Toss: England
Umpires: MR Benson and RE Koertzen (SA)
TV Umpire: NJ Llong
Match Referee: RS Mahanama (SL)
Man of the Match: ME Trescothick

SCOREBOARD

Australia innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4 6

+AC Gilchrist c GO Jones b Harmison 42 68 51 5 2
ML Hayden c Pietersen b Flintoff 17 75 47 3 0
*RT Ponting c Pietersen b Collingwood 14 49 30 2 0
DR Martyn c GO Jones b Collingwood 43 104 71 4 0
A Symonds c Trescothick b Collingwood 6 9 10 1 0
MJ Clarke b Collingwood 2 6 9 0 0
MEK Hussey not out 46 74 52 4 1
SR Watson c Strauss b Harmison 3 13 13 0 0
B Lee not out 15 19 19 3 0

Extras (b 2, lb 12, w 15, nb 2) 31
Total (7 wickets, 50 overs, 218 mins) 219

DNB: JN Gillespie, GD McGrath.

FoW: 1-62 (Gilchrist, 15.3 ov), 2-68 (Hayden, 16.3 ov),
3-107 (Ponting, 27.2 ov), 4-116 (Symonds, 29.5 ov),
5-120 (Clarke, 31.3 ov), 6-159 (Martyn, 41.1 ov),
7-168 (Watson, 44.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W

Gough 10 1 50 0 (1nb, 2w)
SP Jones 10 1 28 0 (2w)
Harmison 10 0 39 2 (3w)
Flintoff 10 0 54 1 (1nb, 5w)
Collingwood 10 0 34 4 (2w)

England innings (target: 220 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4 6

ME Trescothick not out 104 197 134 8 1
AJ Strauss c Gilchrist b Hogg 41 110 84 2 0
*MP Vaughan not out 59 86 65 7 0

Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 3, nb 11) 17
Total (1 wicket, 46 overs, 197 mins) 221

DNB: KP Pietersen, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, +GO Jones,
AF Giles, VS Solanki, D Gough, SJ Harmison.

FoW: 1-101 (Strauss, 24.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Lee 9 0 48 0 (7nb)
McGrath 8 1 26 0 (1w)
Gillespie 10 0 66 0 (1w)
Watson 3 0 16 0 (1w)
Symonds 10 0 32 0
Hogg 6 0 30 1

Australia full substitute: GB Hogg (ML Hayden, England innings, 22.0 ov).

England full substitute: VS Solanki (SP Jones, Australia innings, 31.0 ov).

England: Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Vikram Solanki, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison.

Australia: Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath.