1st Test: England v New Zealand

[Russian]

Starts Thursday, a bit of early injury news

Shane Bond is out, Michael Vaughan in doubt and Stephen Fleming almost a certainty.

England squad: *Vaughan, Trescothick, Butcher, Hussain, Thorpe, Collingwood, Flintoff, +G.Jones, Giles, S.Jones, Anderson, Harmison, Hoggard

NZ squad: *Fleming, Papps, Richardson, Astle, McMillan, Styris, Cairns, +McCullum, Oram, Mills, Tuffey, Vettori, Bond, Martin

Vaughan doubtful for Lord's Test

Wisden Cricinfo staff

May 17, 2004


England's preparations for the first Test against New Zealand suffered a serious setback when their captain Michael Vaughan was taken to hospital for a scan after sustaining a knee injury during a routine net session at Lord's today.

Vaughan was batting against Zac Taylor, a left-arm spinner from the MCC cricket staff, at the time. Eye-witnesses said that Vaughan slipped and landed on his right knee. Although he initially seemed to be unhurt, a few seconds after standing up he collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony. After being treated by the England physio Kirk Russell and examined by Peter Gregory, the ECB's chief medical officer, he was stretchered off to a car.

Vaughan had surgery on the same knee, to repair a torn cartilage, in September 2002.

If Vaughan does miss the Test, it will be the first one he has missed since taking over from Nasser Hussain last season. Marcus Trescothick, the vice-captain on the recent West Indian tour, is the most likely candidate to take over, with Mark Butcher moving up to open the batting.

Bond ruled out of Lord's Test

Wisden Cricinfo staff

May 16, 2004


Shane Bond has lost his battle to be fit in time for Thursday's first Test at Lord's.

Bond was sidelined for almost all of 2003 with a stress fracture in his back, and his selection for this tour was always something of a gamble. But John Bracewell, New Zealand's coach, was not too disappointed with his progress.

"Shane is struggling with his fitness and so we are staying with our original plan; he's still on target to be right for the second Test," Bracewell said. "He has suffered from fatigue, tiredness and muscle stiffness, but there are no structural problems and that is a huge relief to us."

But New Zealand were boosted with the news that Stephen Fleming is almost certain to play at Lord's.

[fitzmantle]

Dear god, a half decent test match. Cairns and Oram wil destoy England. Is it on Fox?

[VoR]

"Is it on Fox?"

Nope, but the 2nd Test is.

[Russian]

Edits to the Vaughan article

"I ended up on the floor as you sometimes do when you play the sweep shot," said Vaughan. "As I went to stand up my body twisted and I just felt my knee lock. It's very frustrating, especially after doing so well in the West Indies and it looks as if I'm doubtful for Thursday. But you can never say never and I'll be giving myself every chance to try and get the knee right."

Middlesex opener Andrew Strauss was called into the squad as cover, and he could make his debut on his home ground should Vaughan fail to recover.



Those who know a bit more about English cricket, would Strauss come in or Collingwood with Butcher and Hussain to move up the order?

[Russian]

Michael Vaughan and Aleem Dar have been ruled out with knee injuries. Rudi Koertzen will step in for Dar, Marcus Trescothick will captain in the absence of Vaughan

[frankrizzo]

Originally posted by VoR
"Is it on Fox?"

Nope, but the 2nd Test is.


That you zimmy?

And if they scrap the aussie series surely they could show the first test instead?

[BT]

Originally posted by frankrizzo
That you zimmy?

And if they scrap the aussie series surely they could show the first test instead?

You'd hope so, gimmie that over a test vs the Zimbo President's XI anyday!

[silky-smooth]

Drinks - Day 1

New Zealand 0/47

*NZ won the toss and elected to bat


PS: 666th post for me - eat your heart out Richie!

[MRobbo]

Scores at lunch on Day 1 of 1st Test at Lords

Test # 1700
New Zealand in England, 2004, 1st Test
England v New Zealand
Lord's, London
20,21,22,23,24 May 2004 (5-day match)

Toss: New Zealand
Umpires: DB Hair (Aus) and RE Koertzen (SA)
TV Umpire: MR Benson
Match Referee: CH Lloyd (WI)
Test Debut: AJ Strauss (Eng)

New Zealand 1st innings R B 4 6
MH Richardson not out 32 85 5 0
*SP Fleming c Strauss b SP Jones 34 72 4 0
NJ Astle not out 8 15 1 0
Extras (b 1, lb 1, nb 4) 6
Total (1 wicket, 28 overs) 80

To Bat: CD McMillan, SB Styris, JDP Oram, CL Cairns,
+BB McCullum, DL Vettori, DR Tuffey, CS Martin.

FoW: 1-58 (Fleming, 22.4 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Hoggard 8 2 21 0 (2nb)
Harmison 7 1 28 0
Flintoff 7 3 13 0 (1nb)
SP Jones 6 2 16 1 (1nb)

England team:
*ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss, MA Butcher, N Hussain, GP Thorpe,
A Flintoff, +GO Jones, AF Giles, SJ Harmison, MJ Hoggard,
SP Jones.

[Cooldude]

150/1, Harmison getting a reality check, that he's now actually bowling to decent batsman. Astle's comeback continues, he now has 60. "Blocker" Richardson on 44.

[silky-smooth]

LIVE COVERAGE: BBC Sport Test Match Special -
http://www.ecb.co.uk/av/audio/audio.html

Tea Break - Day 1

New Zealand 3-172 (56 overs)

M.Richardson not out 56* (153b, 10x4, 0x6)
S.Fleming c Strauss b S.Jones 34 (95b, 4x4, 0x6)
N.Astle c G.Jones b Flintoff 64 (106b, 11x4, 0x6)
SB Styris c G.Jones b S.Jones 0 (3b, 0x4, 0x6)
C.McMillan not out 4* (26b, 1x4, 0x6)

Bowling O-M-R-W
Hoggard 13-3-42-0 (2nb, 1w)
Harmison 14-3-54-0
Flintoff 14-6-26-1 (2nb)
S.Jones 15-6-42-2 (1nb)

[MRobbo]

Scores at stumps on Day 1 at Lords

New Zealand 1st innings R M B 4 6
MH Richardson lbw b Harmison 93 378 266 17 0
*SP Fleming c Strauss b SP Jones 34 95 72 4 0
NJ Astle c GO Jones b Flintoff 64 107 77 11 0
SB Styris c GO Jones b SP Jones 0 4 3 0 0
CD McMillan lbw b Hoggard 6 53 39 1 0
JDP Oram not out 64 120 75 10 0
DR Tuffey not out 2 6 5 0 0
Extras (b 8, lb 4, w 2, nb 7) 21
Total (5 wickets, 88.2 overs) 284

FoW: 1-58 (Fleming, 22.4 ov), 2-161 (Astle, 47.5 ov),
3-162 (Styris, 48.3 ov), 4-174 (McMillan, 61.1 ov),
5-280 (Richardson, 87.1 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Hoggard 20 6 59 1 (3nb, 1w)
Harmison 24 7 77 1
Flintoff 20.2 7 50 1 (2nb)
SP Jones 19 8 54 2 (2nb)
Giles 5 0 32 0 (1w)

[Dipper]

Originally posted by Cooldude
150/1, Harmison getting a reality check, that he's now actually bowling to decent batsman.


Prick.

[Cooldude]

Originally posted by DIPPER
Prick.

Yes, just a couple of tailender wickets :rolleyes: Brett Lee of England.

[Russian]

New Zealand all out 386.

Richardson 93, Cairns 82, Oram 67, Astle 64, Fleming 34, Extras 24, the rest 8 or less.

Harmison took 4 (at 4.06), Jones 3 (3.57), Flintoff 2 (2.91), Hoggard 1 (3.09)

In reply, England 0/46 after 16 overs. Strauss 23, Trescothick 19
New Zealand 1st innings R M B 4 6
MH Richardson lbw b Harmison 93 378 266 17 0
*SP Fleming c Strauss b SP Jones 34 95 72 4 0
NJ Astle c GO Jones b Flintoff 64 107 77 11 0
SB Styris c GO Jones b SP Jones 0 4 3 0 0
CD McMillan lbw b Hoggard 6 53 39 1 0
JDP Oram c GO Jones b Harmison 67 122 82 10 0
DR Tuffey b Harmison 8 35 20 0 0
CL Cairns c Harmison b Flintoff 82 47 10 4
+BB McCullum b SP Jones 5 5 7 1 0
DL Vettori b Harmison 2 6 4 0 0
CS Martin not out 1 6 0 0
Extras (b 9, lb 6, w 2, nb 7) 24
Total (all out, 102.4 overs) 386

FoW: 1-58 (Fleming, 22.4 ov), 2-161 (Astle, 47.5 ov),
3-162 (Styris, 48.3 ov), 4-174 (McMillan, 61.1 ov),
5-280 (Richardson, 87.1 ov), 6-287 (Oram, 89.5 ov),
7-324 (Tuffey, 95.4 ov), 8-329 (McCullum, 96.5 ov),
9-338 (Vettori, 97.6 ov), 10-386 (Cairns, 102.4 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Hoggard 22 7 68 1 (3nb, 1w)
Harmison 31 7 126 4
Flintoff 21.4 7 63 2 (2nb)
SP Jones 23 8 82 3 (2nb)
Giles 5 0 32 0 (1w)

[Aussie-Basher]

England 132/0 (34.1 ov)

Strauss: 50 on Day-Boo!

[Russian]

An Oram out swinger gets Trescothick caught behind for 86

Butcher joins Strauss who is 11 away from a century on debut

1/190 with 20 overs still to be bowled tonight

[Russian]

A bit of luck for Strauss. Inside edge onto the stumps but the bails weren't dislodged and the ball rolled down to fine leg for four to take him to 95. Then next over Oram dropped him at gully and he took a single to move to 96.

Now he becomes the 15th Englishman (first since Thorpe in 1993) to score a century on Test debut.

Useless stat: Highest score on debut in England is 154* by Ranji (aka Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji) for England against Australia in 1896.

1/219. Strauss 102, Butcher 11. 10 overs to go.

[Brett Li]

Andrew Strauss - 112 on debut.

"Go you good thing"

:rolleyes: :mad:

[MRobbo]

Scores at Stumps on Day 3

New Zealand 1st Innings 386

England 1st innings R M B 4 6
*ME Trescothick c McCullum b Oram 86 232 165 13 0
AJ Strauss c Richardson b Vettori 112 305 215 13 0
MA Butcher c McCullum b Vettori 26 102 86 3 0
MJ Hoggard c McCullum b Oram 15 86 63 1 0
N Hussain b Martin 34 88 56 6 0
GP Thorpe b Cairns 3 15 10 0 0
A Flintoff c Richardson b Martin 63 116 85 8 2
+GO Jones c Oram b Styris 46 78 52 6 1
AF Giles c Oram b Styris 11 36 25 2 0
SP Jones b Martin 4 11 8 1 0
SJ Harmison not out 0 2 0 0 0
Extras (b 4, lb 18, nb 19) 41
Total (all out, 124.3 overs, 541 mins) 441

FoW: 1-190 (Trescothick, 53.5 ov), 2-239 (Strauss, 70.1 ov),
3-254 (Butcher, 78.2 ov), 4-288 (Hoggard, 91.3 ov),
5-297 (Thorpe, 94.3 ov), 6-311 (Hussain, 97.5 ov),
7-416 (GO Jones, 116.4 ov), 8-428 (Flintoff, 121.3 ov),
9-441 (SP Jones, 123.6 ov), 10-441 (Giles, 124.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Tuffey 26 4 98 0 (6nb)
Martin 27 6 94 3 (1nb)
Oram 30 8 76 2 (3nb)
Cairns 16 2 71 1 (7nb)
Vettori 21 1 69 2 (1nb)
Styris 4.3 0 11 2

New Zealand 2nd innings R M B 4 6
MH Richardson not out 46 120 5 0
*SP Fleming c Hussain b Harmison 4 20 16 1 0
+BB McCullum not out 72 100 12 0
Extras (b 1, lb 9, nb 2) 12
Total (1 wicket, 39 overs) 134

To Bat: SB Styris, CD McMillan, JDP Oram, DR Tuffey, CL Cairns,
NJ Astle, DL Vettori, CS Martin.

FoW: 1-7 (Fleming, 4.6 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Harmison 12 6 29 1
Flintoff 10 2 26 0
Hoggard 8 1 23 0 (1nb)
SP Jones 5 1 23 0 (1nb)
Giles 4 0 23 0

New Zealand lead by 79 runs

[GrahamH]

Originally posted by VoR
"Is it on Fox?"

Nope, but the 2nd Test is.

It is live on Fox from tonight, (according to ninemsn website) not sure if it was on last night, but when I tuned into Fox Sports (both) at about 9:00 it wasnt on. Interesting that the ODI between Australia and Zimbabwe WILL be shown on Fox, I thought with the Test series cancelled so were the TV rights.

[Russian]

Jones gets McCullum for 96. Thorpe takes the catch

2/180. Richardson 64, Styris the new batsman

[Russian]

Two in three balls for Giles, both caught at silly point by Hussain. Styris of the bat for 7, McMillan inside edge onto pad for 0. Oram comes in at 6, Astle still not batting. At lunch he is 3, Richardson 72, New Zealand 4/198, a lead of 143.

[DKA]

Russian, forever posting our results/stats - you do a good job.

Who does your allegiance lie with, considering all test playing nations?

I can't pick it.

[Russian]

Originally posted by DKA
Russian, forever posting our results/stats - you do a good job.

Who does your allegiance lie with, considering all test playing nations?

I can't pick it. Australia and whoever's in my fantasy team :p

I'm not really Russian if that's what you're getting at.


Oram run out by Hussain 8th ball after lunch. Astle comes in at 7. He's 10 from 9, Richo 76, 5/213

[silky-smooth]

Coming up to tea

New Zealand 386 & 269/5 (96.2 ov)
England 441

Batsmen: R B 4s 6s S/R
NJ Astle (RHB) 29 75 4 0 38.67
MH Richardson (LHB) 101 291 10 0 34.71

[Russian]

2 in 5 balls for Harmison, both caught behind to balls moving away from the bat.

Left hander Richardson first, without adding to his tea score of 101. Next over it was right hander Astle one short of his 50.

Cairns (1) and Vettori (5) the new batsmen. 7/295, a lead of 240. Should be a good finish tomorrow.

[Russian]

Another one to Harmison and again Jones takes the catch behind the stumps. Vettori out for 5, replaced by Tuffey

8/309. Cairns 14, Tuffey the new batsman yet to score. 18 overs to be bowled today. Harmison has 4 for the innings and 8 for the match. 5 of those including all 4 this innings were catches to Geraint Jones.

[Russian]

First ball after drinks Cairns hits it to Butcher at deep mid wicket who takes a good diving catch. Giles the bowler

Was 9/310 now 9/316. Tuffey 4, Martin 1.

Harmison won't get 10 but could still get 5 for the innings

[Russian]

Flintoff got the final wicket. Martin bowled for 7. Tuffey unbeaten on 14 as New Zealand bowled out for 336

Target of 282 set for England to chase in 95 overs. Trescothick and Strauss opening, Oram takes the new ball

[Russian]

8 runs knocked off by stumps. Strauss 6, Trescothick 1 and Extras 1.

England will need 274 on the last day with their full complement of wickets in hand.

Play resumes at 7:30 AEST

[BT]

All I can say is thank gawd the Zimbo tests were cancelled, this is real test cricket & will make good viewing tonight.

Should be a good finish.

I usually favour the Bowling side in 4th innings chases but the pitch looked ok at the start of play yesterday. HGA might get the poms up.

I thought the Poms were a bit slow on Saturday night, Hoggard batted too long for mine.

[Russian]

Tuffey gets rid of Trescothick caught and bowled. Out for 2, 1/18, still need 264 runs in 86 overs. (RRR: 3.07)

[JUBJUB]

Eng 1/18

[Russian]

Martin gets Butcher with his 3rd ball of the innings. Fleming takes the catch at second slip. 2/35, still need 247 in 76.3 overs. Hussain joins Strauss who is 21.

[alstar562]

England now 2/75 Strauss is now on 50 notout

[Russian]

2/79 in 28 overs for the session

At lunch, England 2/87. Strauss 52, Hussain 15

195 runs still needed, 62 overs to be bowled

2701 posts :D (For 2700 I posted this on the Port board and deleted it - what a waste :()

[JUBJUB]

Eng 2/135

[Russian]

Strauss run out for 83. 2/195 on debut not too bad. Interesting to see what they do if Vaughan is back for the next one.

3/143. Hussain 29* joined by Thorpe

Need 139 in 44 (3.16)

[Russian]

Final session about to begin. England need 113 runs in 34 overs (3.32) with 7 wickets in hand. Hussain 38, Thorpe 12.

[Russian]

Hussain hits a boundary to go to 98. Next ball hits another one to level the scores and bring up his century, next ball hits a single to win the match.

He finishes unbeaten on 103, Thorpe 51.

England win by 7 wickets with 8 overs to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the 3 test series.

MOTM: Andrew Strauss

[Dipper]

This was a great test match, 5 full days, nothing lost to rain, went to the final session, could have been any of 4 results until a bit before tea.

I reckon the Kiwis thought they had our number before the start, difference between the teams was our bowling had more pace & penetration.

They bat further down than us & maybe if the next test at Headingly is played in bolwer friendy conditions they might have a good chance but on a good batting pitch at long last we can actually bowl teams out twice.

We'd be even stronger if we put Anderson in for Hoggard.

Hussain may retire after this match but if not then we've got Vaughan to come back & surely Strauss can't be dropped, so we've either got to drop a batsman (Butcher for me) or play the extra batsman instead of Giles.

Good to see that pie thrower Harmison have the best figures of the match, 8/202, & I believe only 2 of his wickets were tailenders in respsonse to a certain person.

[Cooldude]

It was a good Test Match, but the last two days were filled with negativity. England refused to take the new ball and had Giles bowling that boring over the wicket crap. Then Vettori did the same thing the next day and Fleming set some surprisingly defensive fields. Then of course it's that Blocker Richardson doing the best impersonation of Geoff Boycott ever.

One of the few enjoyable thing out of this test match is Andrew Strauss, Jesus, that bloke can play.

[Cooldude]

Originally posted by DIPPER
Good to see that pie thrower Harmison have the best figures of the match, 8/202, & I believe only 2 of his wickets were tailenders in respsonse to a certain person.

:D Nah nah, couldn't watch him bowl in the 1st innings, but got a chance to in the 2nd when Fox broadcasted the match. He's improved by a long way since those embarrassing moments he had in Aus. I'll retract my statement, he's a pretty good bowler now.

[Dipper]

Originally posted by Cooldude
:D Nah nah, couldn't watch him bowl in the 1st innings, but got a chance to in the 2nd when Fox broadcasted the match. He's improved by a long way since those embarrassing moments he had in Aus. I'll retract my statement, he's a pretty good bowler now.


He's definitely a better bowler, he's surprised me to be honest, I didn't think he was up to it.I don't think he bowled that well in this game so it's a good sign that he can take wickets when he's not firing & it was a good batting pitch.

What p*ssed me off about your original point was that I've seen you slag off England quite a bit, which is often fair enough, but at long last we've got a bowler doing well, high up in the rankings & you're amking out he can only do it against second raters.Just give a bit of credit where's it's due.

[Dipper]

Originally posted by Cooldude
It was a good Test Match, but the last two days were filled with negativity. England refused to take the new ball and had Giles bowling that boring over the wicket crap. Then Vettori did the same thing the next day and Fleming set some surprisingly defensive fields. Then of course it's that Blocker Richardson doing the best impersonation of Geoff Boycott ever.

One of the few enjoyable thing out of this test match is Andrew Strauss, Jesus, that bloke can play.



Well the fact that it was a closely fought test matrch for 5 days without any rain breaks makes it a good one for me.

It was also one of the highest 4th wickiets chases by england, I know they're getting more usual now with pitches that last a lot better than they used to but it's still good cricket.

Not every side can rattle along at 4 an over like australia or have the bowlers to attack incessantly.

The run rate was still over 3 for most of the match which is always fair going IMO.

Dunno that you can expect much more than a match like this, for sure Richardson is a snail but to be honest I don't mind these types so much nowadays that they're the exception, it was different a few years back when every team had one or two of them.He's a limited player who makes the best of what he's got.

Agree with Giles bowling over the wicket, it's crap, but he picked up a couple of wickets doing it which encourages him to do it all the more.As for not taking the new ball on Sunday, Trescothick copped a lot for that off the media,but he stands by it, I could undersatnd doing it while Jones was bowling, because he was bowling some good reverse swing(maybe the best spell of the match) but when he didn't come out after tea it seemed a bit pointless BUT in the first innings at a similar point Chris Cairns went bonkers against the new ball, if he'd done the same again we would have found it hard to win.


Basically for me a full test match that lasts 5 days & gets a result is gonna ebb & flow a bit, at times there's going to be the need to dig in & consolidate & check the oppositions progress.That's what this match was all about, jockeying for position, fighting for dominance & working your way into a winning position.

Kept me pretty interested for the full 5 which isn't always the case.

BTW who does Strauss remind you of?(clue they were teammates)

[Cooldude]

Originally posted by DIPPER
He's definitely a better bowler, he's surprised me to be honest, I didn't think he was up to it.I don't think he bowled that well in this game so it's a good sign that he can take wickets when he's not firing & it was a good batting pitch.

What p*ssed me off about your original point was that I've seen you slag off England quite a bit, which is often fair enough, but at long last we've got a bowler doing well, high up in the rankings & you're amking out he can only do it against second raters.Just give a bit of credit where's it's due.

Bangladesh and West Indies ARE second stringed sides, I didn't see those matches and didn't see him bowl. In this 1st Test in the 1st innings he was wicketless for a while and got a few late ones, but the 2nd innings, he did look a way better bowler than the one he was 18 months ago. Seems to be more confident and more self-assured of himself, he used to be mentally fragile. Now he's actually bowling with good aggression and control.

No in fact I do acknowledge good England bowlers, pretty pleased with the way Simon Jones is going, always thought he was the best of the young England seamers. He can be very good if he stays injury free.

It was still a bit disappointing that the Kiwis didn't put up more of a fight on Day 5, their attack looked so ineffective. They desperately need Bond back.

As of Andrew Strauss, have no idea who he exactly remind me of. He plays for Middlesex, doesn't he. The way he cover drives and cuts the ball reminds me of Vaughan left handed. Who does he remind you of?

[Dipper]

Originally posted by Cooldude
Bangladesh and West Indies ARE second stringed sides, I didn't see those matches and didn't see him bowl. In this 1st Test in the 1st innings he was wicketless for a while and got a few late ones, but the 2nd innings, he did look a way better bowler than the one he was 18 months ago. Seems to be more confident and more self-assured of himself, he used to be mentally fragile. Now he's actually bowling with good aggression and control.

No in fact I do acknowledge good England bowlers, pretty pleased with the way Simon Jones is going, always thought he was the best of the young England seamers. He can be very good if he stays injury free.

It was still a bit disappointing that the Kiwis didn't put up more of a fight on Day 5, their attack looked so ineffective. They desperately need Bond back.

I've gotta say I thought that Jones was going to be better than Harmison but I don't anymore, Harmison seems to be getting to a point where his taking wickets without seeming to bowl that well.Plus he seems to be consistantly quicker than Jones despite having a fairly effortless approach.The juries still out on him to some degree agreed but his current good run started in the final Test v South Africa where he took 4/34 off about 19 overs.
As for the West Indies they may not be up to much but you still expect them to offer something at home & before the series the media here were saying that both teams were stronger in batting & would struggle to knock each other over.There's a few batsmen in their team with better averages than England players.
Anyway I suppose we'll know more about whether he's the real deal after this series & then we go away to SA & then there's a certain other team coming over here next summer.


As of Andrew Strauss, have no idea who he exactly remind me of. He plays for Middlesex, doesn't he. The way he cover drives and cuts the ball reminds me of Vaughan left handed. Who does he remind you of?

A few people were comparing him to Justin Langer(who was at Middlesex), when they said it I could see what they meant, compact left hander not flashy like some of them, doesn't have a waft outside off stump for instance just works the ball around, good defence.Apparently Strauss based a lot of his game on him when they played together.

[Cooldude]

Originally posted by DIPPER


A few people were comparing him to Justin Langer(who was at Middlesex), when they said it I could see what they meant, compact left hander not flashy like some of them, doesn't have a waft outside off stump for instance just works the ball around, good defence.Apparently Strauss based a lot of his game on him when they played together.

He looks way better a player than Langer, he probably has a few more shots than Lang. Defensively they do look around the same

[Dipper]

Bit hard to tell after one test, Langer has done pretty well over a long period of time.

Just noticed also that Hamrison is now the no1 ranked fast bowler in the world!

Don't go much on the rankings myself but still it's good for him, although when you see that Chris Martin is no 10 overall it does make you wonder a bit about the quality out there.