So England have done it

The Paper Round by Freddie Auld04-Apr-2004

Man of the Match Graham Thorpe leads the post-match celebrations© Getty Images
So England have done it. They’ve conquered the Caribbean for the first time since 1967-68, and while the timing of their win will not have been ideal for the Sunday papers in Britain, Michael Vaughan and his merry men still found their way onto most of the back pages this morning.England’s win is sure to trigger plenty of praise in the press over the next week. As Scyld Berry, among many others, pointed out in , this was England’s first series success in the West Indies for 36 years, only their third ever over there, and the first time that they have ever won three Tests in a series in the Caribbean.”In each match West Indies have been in a position of some strength, on a par with England, only for their batting to disintegrate,” he wrote. “Yesterday they reached 45 for 2 before Matthew Hoggard’s hat-trick transformed their total into 48 for 6, beyond recovery.”Not surprisingly, Hoggard hogged the headlines. “Hoggard’s hat-trick relives swinging Sixties as England make history in the Caribbean with a demolition job on Lara’s men,” marvelled the . “England created their own significant slice of cricketing history last night by securing a Test-series victory in the West Indies, their first in the Caribbean since 1968. Back then, only one of the squad – Nasser Hussain – had been born,” enthused Stephen Brenkley. “The 12,000-strong English contingent at Kensington Oval maintained a cacophony of largely unmelodious noise as soon as it became clear that England were destined to win.”Angus Fraser, writing in the same paper, provided his own appreciation of Hoggard, a bowler who so resembles Fraser as the hard-working and hangdog bowler. Understandably, Gus was only too chuffed. “Before yesterday’s remarkable events in Barbados, Matthew Hoggard had been the un-sexiest of England’s quartet of fast bowlers,” he said. “Surrounded by bigger, faster and more sensitive bowlers he is often the one who is asked to do the donkey work. Harmison and Jones, England’s two quickest bowlers, will always want the wind or the slope in their favour and it has been Hoggard’s job to try to support them from the other end. This can be a thankless task and Hoggard has performed it admirably.”He continued: “Hoggard is not very good at hiding the way he feels and sometimes this has worked against him. He is a simple man. Like all fast bowlers, he wants to be respected and appreciated, but he does not enjoy or go out looking for the celebrity status that some of his team-mates yearn for. A perfect day for him would consist of a five-wicket haul, a couple of pints and a good walk with his dog.”Then it was Vic Marks’s turn to ham up Hoggy in . “The potency of England’s bowling attack here has been stunning,” he said. “Yesterday their workhorse became their champion, their wonder horse. On a muggy morning in Bridgetown this unassuming Tyke was the hero. No-one can begrudge Hoggard his success. And none of his peers will. These England pace bowlers pride themselves on the way that they operate as a unit. They hunt as a pack. They revel in each other’s success. And it was Hoggard’s turn to reap the statistical rewards.”

‘Oggy, Oggy, Oggy! Out, out, out’© Getty Images
The unsurprisingly went for the blunt and the bold. “Hoggy, Hoggy, Hoggy”, roared the headline, adding “Matt-trick seals series win” underneath for good measure. Keeping with the theme, David Norrie opened with, “Oggy, Oggy, Oggy! Out, out, out. A stunning hat-trick by Matthew Hoggard inspired England’s cricket heroes to an eight-wicket win.”From one end of the spectrum to the other: Simon Wilde, in the , observed: “It was Hoggard’s remarkable intervention that put England on course as he ripped the heart out of the West Indies second innings in the third Test,” as the West Indian batsmen “rose and sank like ducks on a funfair rifle-range”.He also had a word for poor old Brian Lara, who he noticed “slumped on his backside on the outfield, too shattered to any more endure the sight of 15,000 Britons jumping around in the stands”, commenting that “Lara’s future as West Indies captain now looks precarious. A home defeat to England, plus his eccentric tactics in the field, will surely bring repercussions.”So what did the West Indian press make of it all? Garth Wattley, writing in the , didn’t hold back. “The bigger they come, they always say, the harder they fall,” he fumed. “Just a decade ago, there was no bigger, more mighty team in the cricket world than the West Indies. But no more.”He went on, “Yesterday at Kensington Oval, once the fortress for the Caribbean team, a place where no opposition dared even think of winning, a few more rafters in the once-magnificent structure tumbled to the ground. Crash, crash, crash. Their faces as joyless as the conditions, the West Indies players, some with heads hung low, endured the post-match ceremony before disappearing quickly into their dressing-room. That was the only place they could find any comfort. Outside, the throngs of England supporters chanted themselves silly over ‘mighty, mighty, England’.”Ancient Babylon fell more swiftly to Cyrus the Persian, but the fall from grace has been far more painful for the Caribbean team. Yesterday’s humiliation was effectively set up by yet another batting display that shamed those who were supposedly defending a great legacy. The inability of the Windies batsmen to cope with the moving ball had left the innings in another shambles at 45 for 5. It was like a case of dead men walking to and fro.”And Wattley, as much as it must have pained him, summed it all up: “It had been too easy for England. Once more their discipline and focus were no match for a Windies side patently lacking both.”