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England's batting disaster brings back some unhappy memories
Men in a daze: Panesar and Harmison
Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}Debate: who's to blame for England debacle? | Humbled England need a firm hand | Captaincy has been making of Chris Gayle | Simon Barnes: victory viewed as birthright for English | Team must take responsibility, says coach | Dumbslog millionaire
Whatever your loyalties, there was something uplifting about the atmosphere at Sabina Park on Saturday afternoon. From the ramshackle Kingston pavilion on the one side of the ground, round past the George Headley Stand, to the thumping sound systems of the “Mound”, there was the unmistakable feeling that something lost had been found. It is too early yet to call the rebirth of West Indian cricket but it was good to be reminded of its potency.
At the opposite end from where the locals cheered as the West Indies players did a deserved lap of honour, sat the shell-shocked England players. As London Bridge is Falling Down reverberated around the stadium, they were digesting some harsh truths from Andy Flower. Flower is not a man to hide from the obvious or from difficult decisions and, unlike Peter Moores, he speaks from a position of strength, knowing as he does what it takes to become the best batsman in the world.
The away dressing-room at Sabina Park is a soulless place; green Astroturf-like flooring, bare white walls and lockers. Yesterday, the England players’ bags were strewn about waiting to be transported to Antigua, while only a couple of crates of empty beer bottles gave a reminder that this was not a place of cheery celebration.
Times Archive, 1887: England's lowest-ever Test score
The match was remarkable for the feeble resistance offered by the visitors to the attacks of the Colonials
Related Links
“Disconsolate” was the word Andrew Strauss used to describe the emotions in the dressing-room. It is a strong word for a cricket captain to use, suggesting as it does disappointment of the most extreme kind. Anything less, though, would have been an injustice. Strauss might have added another couple of words as well: “shell-shocked” and “embarrassed”.
Certainly those were the two emotions that came to mind yesterday, recalling an earlier England collapse of similarly ruinous proportions. Fifteen years ago, in Trinidad, England (my England, I’m afraid to say) were bowled out for 46, just five fewer than England were on Saturday, and it is easy to recall the initial shocked silence of the dressing-room as we ended the fourth evening of that game 40 for eight after just over an hour’s cricket. Then, next morning after the inevitable defeat, the embarrassment that slowly seeped in as the enormity of the defeat struck home.
Watching England’s players on Saturday it was clear that they were shell-shocked, too, long before Sulieman Benn administered the full stop to what was no longer a contest. What was Paul Collingwood doing sprinting for a couple of runs when he had been bowled neck and crop by Jerome Taylor? In that moment, there was the reminder of Mark Ramprakash’s suicidal run-out in Trinidad 15 years before, the surest sign that the situation was about to overpower a group of players who were, mentally, not up to the task. Did you notice the bewilderment on the faces of Stephen Harmison and Monty Panesar at the end of the match? After England’s third lowest total in Test history, he and Panesar calmly shook hands as if they were two salesmen who had just completed a low-key deal. They were in a daze, going through motions that made no sense.
Now, in the aftermath, the players will feel embarrassed — the embarrassment of knowing that you have let yourselves and others down. There is professional shame firstly, which comes from the realisation that you have failed the test utterly. There is no hiding from that. Professional sport is a cruel mirror, reflecting as it does an unanswerable truth. Then there is the shame of knowing you have let everyone else down, a feeling heightened here because the supporters and the players exist in close proximity. Should the players have ventured out after the match, they will have bumped into any number of disgruntled fans. Better not to.
When you win, the support is a wonderful feeling. Five years ago here, after Harmison had taken seven for 12 and West Indies had been humbled for 47, the England team celebrated the night away poolside at the Hilton, mingling happily with supporters and accepting the congratulatory drinks. Freddie Flintoff dived into the pool fully clothed. Poolside at the Hilton late Saturday afternoon was empty of players: there were only a handful of supporters drowning their sorrows and an ageing couple playing chess.
Micheal Atherton is a lucid commentator, making the most telling point in that neither Strauss nor Flower had a say in the composition of the team.However does he strike the correct balance between player and management failure?Can he allow himself to be as tough on the players as he is on the ECB?
Christopher Cotterell, Painswick, UK
Men in a daze: Panesar and Harmison
Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}Debate: who's to blame for England debacle? | Humbled England need a firm hand | Captaincy has been making of Chris Gayle | Simon Barnes: victory viewed as birthright for English | Team must take responsibility, says coach | Dumbslog millionaire
Whatever your loyalties, there was something uplifting about the atmosphere at Sabina Park on Saturday afternoon. From the ramshackle Kingston pavilion on the one side of the ground, round past the George Headley Stand, to the thumping sound systems of the “Mound”, there was the unmistakable feeling that something lost had been found. It is too early yet to call the rebirth of West Indian cricket but it was good to be reminded of its potency.
At the opposite end from where the locals cheered as the West Indies players did a deserved lap of honour, sat the shell-shocked England players. As London Bridge is Falling Down reverberated around the stadium, they were digesting some harsh truths from Andy Flower. Flower is not a man to hide from the obvious or from difficult decisions and, unlike Peter Moores, he speaks from a position of strength, knowing as he does what it takes to become the best batsman in the world.
The away dressing-room at Sabina Park is a soulless place; green Astroturf-like flooring, bare white walls and lockers. Yesterday, the England players’ bags were strewn about waiting to be transported to Antigua, while only a couple of crates of empty beer bottles gave a reminder that this was not a place of cheery celebration.
Times Archive, 1887: England's lowest-ever Test scoreThe match was remarkable for the feeble resistance offered by the visitors to the attacks of the Colonials
Related Links
“Disconsolate” was the word Andrew Strauss used to describe the emotions in the dressing-room. It is a strong word for a cricket captain to use, suggesting as it does disappointment of the most extreme kind. Anything less, though, would have been an injustice. Strauss might have added another couple of words as well: “shell-shocked” and “embarrassed”.
Certainly those were the two emotions that came to mind yesterday, recalling an earlier England collapse of similarly ruinous proportions. Fifteen years ago, in Trinidad, England (my England, I’m afraid to say) were bowled out for 46, just five fewer than England were on Saturday, and it is easy to recall the initial shocked silence of the dressing-room as we ended the fourth evening of that game 40 for eight after just over an hour’s cricket. Then, next morning after the inevitable defeat, the embarrassment that slowly seeped in as the enormity of the defeat struck home.
Watching England’s players on Saturday it was clear that they were shell-shocked, too, long before Sulieman Benn administered the full stop to what was no longer a contest. What was Paul Collingwood doing sprinting for a couple of runs when he had been bowled neck and crop by Jerome Taylor? In that moment, there was the reminder of Mark Ramprakash’s suicidal run-out in Trinidad 15 years before, the surest sign that the situation was about to overpower a group of players who were, mentally, not up to the task. Did you notice the bewilderment on the faces of Stephen Harmison and Monty Panesar at the end of the match? After England’s third lowest total in Test history, he and Panesar calmly shook hands as if they were two salesmen who had just completed a low-key deal. They were in a daze, going through motions that made no sense.
Now, in the aftermath, the players will feel embarrassed — the embarrassment of knowing that you have let yourselves and others down. There is professional shame firstly, which comes from the realisation that you have failed the test utterly. There is no hiding from that. Professional sport is a cruel mirror, reflecting as it does an unanswerable truth. Then there is the shame of knowing you have let everyone else down, a feeling heightened here because the supporters and the players exist in close proximity. Should the players have ventured out after the match, they will have bumped into any number of disgruntled fans. Better not to.
When you win, the support is a wonderful feeling. Five years ago here, after Harmison had taken seven for 12 and West Indies had been humbled for 47, the England team celebrated the night away poolside at the Hilton, mingling happily with supporters and accepting the congratulatory drinks. Freddie Flintoff dived into the pool fully clothed. Poolside at the Hilton late Saturday afternoon was empty of players: there were only a handful of supporters drowning their sorrows and an ageing couple playing chess.
Micheal Atherton is a lucid commentator, making the most telling point in that neither Strauss nor Flower had a say in the composition of the team.However does he strike the correct balance between player and management failure?Can he allow himself to be as tough on the players as he is on the ECB?
Christopher Cotterell, Painswick, UK