England v West Indies, 2nd Test, Headingley, 2nd day

Sidebottom and Pietersen lead crushing display

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan

May 26, 2007

West Indies 146 (Sidebottom 4-42, Plunkett 3-35) and 22 for 2 (Gayle 9*) trail England 570 for 7 dec (Pietersen 226, Vaughan 103, Prior 75) by 402 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A long wait: Ryan Sidebottom led the England attack with a four-wicket haul in West Indies' first innings © Getty Images

England added 204 in 37 overs - Pietersen and Matt Prior joining forces for 160 - before Michael Vaughan ended the mayhem mid-way through the afternoon with more than one eye on the poor weather forecast. After West Indies toiled through 122 overs it took England only 37 to blow them away. They couldn't summon the patience - or more importantly the skill - to combat the moving ball, in conditions very similar to their two-day defeat on this ground during their last visit in 2000. The absence of Ramnaresh Sarwan, who may not take any further part in this match, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul showed the hollowness of what remained and West Indies conceded their second-highest first-innings deficit.

Sidebottom began the slide with the 17th ball of his opening spell, claiming his first Test wicket when he trapped Chris Gayle with an inswinger. He pitched the ball full, something England failed to do last week, giving it every chance to move under the overcast skies. In his next over he removed Daren Ganga who offered no shot to a delivery which would have taken the top of middle.

It was simple and effective, showing that pace isn't everything. In his third spell he ended Dwayne Bravo's resistance as the batsman moved too far across and lost his leg stump. Sidebottom swung the new ball at the start of the second innings too, bringing an edge from Gayle which was dropped by Prior, before he nailed Ganga again. The final ball of the day, another inswinger, removed Powell, who beat Ganga's unwanted double by falling twice inside a session.

Harmison and Plunkett struggled to repeat Sidebottom's accuracy, but after tea produced enough decent deliveries to bring edges from flailing bats. Harmison mixed the wicked with the wasteful and his confidence was clearly lifted after Sylvester Joseph flashed a flat-footed drive to first slip. Harmison's fortunes took a further turn for the better when Runako Morton was given out. Although the ball didn't make contact with the bat, it provided Prior with his first Test dismissal.

Kevin Pietersen struck England's largest individual innings for 17 years © Getty Images

Plunkett improved as the afternoon progressed, his kiss-the-surface style perfectly suited to the conditions. Devon Smith was smartly caught in the gully by Alastair Cook, Denesh Ramdin edged with static feet and Powell's prod to second slip was only a matter of time. England shouldn't kid themselves that all is suddenly well with their attack. West Indies' batting has been as abysmal as their fielding effort was earlier, but the success will boost fragile confidences.

No one can ever say Pietersen lacks self belief, and his first double century felt inevitable from the start of the day, but it was another hurdle removed after he'd fallen three times on 158 - twice against Australia and once against Sri Lanka. This time he had few problems against an insipid attack, bringing up his double off 250 balls. When he was finally held at deep cover - a rare moment of solid fielding - his innings was the largest individual effort by an England batsman since Graham Gooch's 333 against India, at Lord's, in 1990 and an important step for a side that is criticised for not converting hundreds into doubles.

Only Ganga will know why it took him 11 overs to take the new ball, and by the time he did West Indies' chance had gone. Prior lost nothing in comparison to Pietersen during their 35-over stand, his power and placement was as impressive as it had been at Lord's, with his fifty coming off 72 deliveries. The sixth-wicket partnership grew quickly as the bowling became increasingly ragged until, out of nowhere, Powell produced a beauty which pitched off and hit off.

However, nothing was going to stop Pietersen, who brought out his one-legged flick through midwicket, and with a declaration imminent he began to tee off with some powerful, clean striking and launched the first two sixes of the match. Plunkett enjoyed the chance for a pressure-free innings, speeding past his previous best of 28 and added 81 in 12 overs with Pietersen.

Having chased leather for more than four sessions, lost their captain to injury, and made to feel miserable by the chill conditions it was little surprise when West Indies' batting was blown away. The weather is still set to play its part in this match, but even two days of rain might not be enough to save them.

Andrew McGlashan is a staff writer on Cricinfo

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