| |
Among the barrage of text messages from a mate seriously on the
syrup watching the last hour and a half of the Second Test last
night came one interesting question... Was that the best Test
- ever?
For England, it probably was. When Geraint Jones took that low,
diving catch to dismiss Michael Kasprowicz off the bowling of
Steve Harmison, it represented this bizarro moment in time when
all stood still, when the Test was won and lost, when the series
was kept alive, all but a few planets aligned and hell didn't
freeze over but became a tad frosty. Had that ball gone a little
wider down the leg side, it would've raced away for four, Australia
would have won, the Poms would be staring at a 2-zip deficit and,
as England captain Michael Vaughan admitted afterwards, it would
have been the end of the series even though there was three to
go. History changes in the blink of an eye. For the England and
Australian cricket sides, it just may have changed on one catch.
Best Test ever? Maybe, maybe not. The greatest have been between
those sides at full strength, where the toss has not decided the
match. Australia made a tactical blunder in sending England into
bat; an errant ball under the ankle of Glenn McGrath robbed them
of their jugular man. But it was up there, no less: it was the
second narrowest margin in Test match history. That Third Test
between Australia and India in 2001 springs to mind, when Laxman
exploded to give Australia an improbable win. Best Ashes Test
ever? Indeed.
What's certain it that this is the greatest test ever put before
arguably the game's greatest ever Test team. Australia is going
to have to win this Test match sans McGrath, under siege like
never before - or since that 2001 series on the sub-continent.
Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison are the key men for England:
two figures who genuinely scare Australia, and they have not had
figures as imposing as that since Ian Botham. As another mate
- a Pom of course - asked in text message form: "1 all, mate.
Game on".
He's right.
What do you think?
Was that the best Ashes ever?
Click your way to our Comebacks
page and tell us.
|
|
