The Beginning
Every fan of every sport has a day, a moment, a match, when they fell in love with their sport and their team. My story with the England cricket team begins on 27th August 2010 at Lord’s, on the second day of the final Test match between England and Pakistan, that just twenty-four hours later would be thrust into turmoil.
For that day, though, cricket shone in a tightrope act between bat and ball, with majestic swing met first with obdurate resistance, and then grace and elegance as Stuart Broad and Jonathan Trott forged a partnership for the ages against a fired-up Pakistan attack seeking a level series. The day itself was cold and dank, a low cover of white cloud and high humidity creating conditions that any swing bowler would jump at.
England began the day at 39-1, with only ten or so overs having been possible on Day 1 due to rain. My dad and I arrived late at the stadium, by which time Alastair Cook had been dismissed and Kevin Pietersen had been and gone after a single delivery from Mohammed Amir. Thus it was that the introduction of my twelve-year-old self to English cricket was to see Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan dismissed for twin three-ball ducks, as the team slumped to 47-5. What happened next was extraordinary, and has been sadly overshadowed by the spot-fixing scandal that broke on the third day. Here, I’d like to place the phenomenal achievements of Jonathan Trott, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann in context and give them the recognition they deserve.
Day 1
The end of the English summer was giving way to the English autumn, with attendant dampness, as England's final Test match before an epic mission to Australia for the 2010-11 Ashes began. There were players under pressure - Kevin Pietersen had a poor summer, while Jonathan Trott had hit three figures just once since his debut - a magnificent 226 at the Home of Cricket, albeit against Bangladesh, who were hardly considered a top-class opposition. Eoin Morgan scored his maiden Test hundred in the series, but had not really locked down a place in the side, while Alastair Cook resisted calls to be dropped and finally came good with a hundred in a losing cause at the Oval.
The series was alive, too - England blew Pakistan away by margins of 354 runs and 9 wickets in the first two Tests, but the tourists fought back in the third Test to remain in the contest.
Only a few overs were possible on the first morning, as inclement weather frustrated players and spectators. The story of that day was Andrew Strass’ continuing poor form, dismissed for just 13 by Mohammed Asif. Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott hung around until the players were forced off and Day 1 came to an early end.
Day 2
Resuming with Trott and Cook, Pakistan prised the partnership open early on the second day, courtesy of a magical bit of bowling from Mohammed Amir, who took six of the seven wickets to fall before Trott and Broad came together. Unlike some members of England's middle order, no criticism can be made of Alastair Cook's shot. He did everything right in getting his head and weight over a beauty from Amir, angled to take the top of Cook's off stump before pitching and leaving the batsman at high pace, clipping the outside edge on its way. On a day when the ball hooped round corners, it was the balls that moved just a fraction less that got their reward, as Amir's control of length and variation of release point over the wicket ripped the heart out of England's batting in the first session.
England made four ducks in the series, and three of them came within [x] balls of each other in this innings. First, Kevin Pietersen - exactly the man you would want walking to the crease at 39-2 in a deciding Test - was dismissed by teenage sensation Mohammed Amir, for a golden duck. Under leaden skies, the left-armer bowled over the wicket to Pietersen, whose starting position left his back foot on leg stump. The ball was full of length and angled across, but a hint of swing helped it hold an awkward line. Pietersen, whose movement at the point of delivery brought him across his stumps, planted his front foot on off. From here, he was prepared to clip a full ball on his pads away for four, or drive through mid-on if Amir missed his length. Instead, there was just enough swing away, just late enough to convince England's most destructive player to have a go through the covers. Pietersen, however, had not stepped far enough into the ball, and so threw his hands at it in a booming drive. There was the trademark flick of the wrists as the ball kissed his outside edge on its way to Kamran Akmal behind the stumps. KP, in need of runs, was undone by a perfect bit of swing bowling, out first ball. From an overnight 39-1 (creditable enough, given the conditions on the opening day), England had slumped to 39-3.
And Amir grabbed another in the over as Collingwood managed to get bat on only one of the three deliveries he faced. Amir bowled straight and trusted the movement through the air to do the job. Again bowling over the wicket to the right hander, he found his radar - first on off, then off Collingwood's pads down the leg side, and finally evading the inside edge to thump Collingwood, who had planted his front foot apparently expecting the ball to continue across him, on the pads. 39-4.
At the other end, Trott found a couple of boundaries to get England up and running on Day 2, the second driven well through the covers, in contrast to Pietersen's airy drive. All too soon, Amir had the ball back in his hand and Morgan back in the shed. Morgan had made his first Test hundred in the series but had not yet done enough to nail down an Ashes berth. In truth, he did little wrong on this occasion. Amir, still over the wicket, angled the first ball of the over at off stump. It was full, and Morgan failed to get a big stride in, but unlike Pietersen played with his hands close to his body. There was no extravagant follow-through on the drive, but he put enough into the shot that, when the ball seamed after pitching to take the edge, there was plenty of carry to Yasir Hameed at second slip.
That brought Matt Prior to the crease, and a beautiful demonstration that we can't trust our memories. I could have sworn Prior made a swashbuckling 70-odd to wrest back the momentum, but the scorecard reveals he made 22, albeit off 72 balls. This was an important innings, as he accompanied Trott to drag England's score above three figures. Imagine if Broad had come in at 40 or 50 for 7, instead of 100-7. Prior only hit one boundary in anger, but he and Trott ran well and, after a couple of initial edges, reined themselves in and stabilised the innings. The threat of swing was still present - Pakistan reviewed an LBW shout when Trott missed an inswinger - but the game became more of a battle between bat and ball, as the innings ebbed and flowed. Trott and Prior took England through to lunch, accumulating steadily.
If England had hoped the afternoon session would be smoother sailing, they were proved wrong after three overs. Amir came back on and was again Pakistan's chief threat. Bowling over the wicket from a relatively wide angle, he hit the perfect length again as he got one to deck across Prior, whose dismissal - pushing his hands wide without taking a big step towards the ball - was in the same vein as Pietersen's. The ball pitched on middle and off stump and carried on with the angle as Prior's weight was pulled left as he threw his hands right. Amir had five and was on the honours board, commemorating his bowling in a match remembered for less celebrated actions.
Just two balls later, he added a sixth, too good for Graeme Swann. Like most of England's other right-handers, he was done by one that went across him from Amir, taking a thick outside edge and flying to backward point. Swann was no specialist batsman, but playing such a shot second ball showed no appreciation for the application it took to be successful on that wicket and in those conditions. England were 102-7 and looking like getting bundled out for under 150. In the lower tier of the Edrich Stand, my dad turned to me and said he expected we'd see England start their second innings that day. Not even the most optimistic of England fans could have foreseen the record-breaking partnership that was about to begin.
Stuart Broad
Broad does not have the look of a natural batsman, and this partnership shows it. Trott’s innings was built on compact defence and controlled aggression, a smaller man generally staying in line with his own body and playing an innings perfect for the conditions. Broad, while possessed of a certain elegance a la Moeen Ali, lacks that control. When he throws his hands at the ball, his arms swing freely at their fullest extent, and while glorious when it comes off, it looks horrible when it goes wrong.
Broad has the look of a Zak Crawley - taller than your natural batsman, and his shots (aesthetically pleasing, to be sure) carry an attendant risk far greater than most top-order batsmen. When it comes off, it’s glorious, brilliant fun. Every chance he takes seems to come off, and you lose any fear that he might nick off or splice one in the air; but it still looks incongrous. Even his celebration on going to his hundred looks just off - his arms long and lithe, rather than compact and powerful. When backing up, he has to crouch over his bat at the non-striker’s end, and he doesn’t look like he has the time Trott does.
I don’t say this to understate Broad’s innings - quite the opposite! The conditions were so tough, it was never by blind luck that he survived. Instead, he understood his strengths and limitations, and played a perfectly-judged innings in a perfectly-judged partnership. Graceful and aggressive, he was lithe and flowing against Trott’s compact power, and boy are the highlights a sight to see. I’ve criticised England’s middle order for playing some poor shots, but Broad managed risk and reward, knowing perhaps that he was under no pressure following the batsmen’s failure. Prior and Trott had both edged through the slip region - no batsman could offer a chanceless innings under the conditions.
Broad opened his account with a fabulous drive for an all-run four (as with Trott the day before). Asif showed the danger of missing your length, overpitching a delivery that swung, but presented little danger to Broad. At the other end, Trott accumulated runs with some uncertain moments of his own, edging with soft hands to third man for four. Pakistan continued to look for wickets, and Broad and Trott took full advantage of anything loose as the ball began to age. The spin of Saeed Ajmal offered little threat off the pitch, and with no variable bounce, he was negotiated straightforwardly. As the afternoon progressed, there were fewer and fewer false shots, and the Pakistani change bowlers were nowhere near as potent as Amir and Asif. While the scoreboard showed England seven down and in some danger, the cricket in the middle told a different story. Broad and Trott were in.
Jonathan Trott
IJL Trott is one of England’s most under-appreciated players of the last fifteen years or so. He was the glue that held England’s batting lineup together as they became the best Test team in the world, bridging the Strauss-Cook partnership and the exciting attacking talent held in the middle order. The likes of Bell, Pietersen and Prior
Trott's great strength on Day 2 was his discipline. He only played a couple of drives, but when he did he went at the ball with his whole body, contrasting Pietersen's wicket. One sumptuous drive off Mohammed Asif to a ball that moved prodigiously, reiterates Amir's skill at getting the ball to move just enough to challenge the batsman - in such helpful conditions, too much swing can turn a good ball into a bad one. Trott also took to batting out of his crease, getting closer to the bowler and therefore limiting how much the ball could do. Negating the threat through the air made batting much easier - the pitch was true of bounce and pace. By holding an end, Trott ensured that Pakistan never had two new batsmen to bowl at, and gave Broad some licence to take a bit of initiative back when he came to the crease.
Amir was reintroduced when the score was 174-7, changing the angle by coming around the wicket to the right-handed Trott. Possibly because the ball wasn’t swinging as much in the afternoon session, he didn’t feel he could threaten both edges of the bat from over the wicket. He bowled a bouncer over the wicket to Broad, who played that most classic of Broad shots: head ducked, he jabbed his arms across the line of the ball and deposited it in the Mound Stand for six. While he took his eyes off the ball, this was still a genuine stroke, rather than the wild swiping of latter seasons. These were small but significant victories for England: Pakistan, despite taking two wickets in the afternoon session, had allowed a partnership to develop and were forced to try new plans to get the batsmen out. At tea, the partnership was worth 83, of which Broad had 46. England, though they didn’t yet know it, had already put up a score greater than Pakistan would manage in either innings.
Record-breaking
As the evening session began, there was no doubt which side was in the ascendency. Searching for wickets, Pakistan’s seamers bowled full and straight, and Trott’s trademark leg-glance was applied to anything that drifted onto his pads. England scored at 3.4 runs per over in the final session, without losing a wicket. Broad brought up his fifty with a delightful leg-sided drive off Ajmal, who obligingly bowled a long-hop on the stumps. Trott started getting more adventurous as he entered the nineties, playing at a few outside his off stump, while Broad drove uppishly through the covers. Shots that would have been fraught with danger that morning were now bringing England reward as the ball stopped swinging and the sun began to shine.
Trott’s third Test century, and second at Lord’s, came up with a single worked through the leg-side. His first had helped England win the Ashes a year before; his second was an imperious double-hundred, but this might have been the most deserved of all - standing alone as his team crumbled around him in the toughest of conditions, he not only took care of his own score, but built a magnificent partnership with Broad. England had a number three who could score big runs under pressure - his place for the Ashes, and a second line on the Honours Board, were secure.
A mark of Strauss’ England team at their best was that, when they took the advantage in a game, they rarely surrendered it. Trott, who had taken England above 200 from 50-5 and 100-7, was determined to press on ruthlessly. At the other end, Broad was seeing them better and better, flaying a short, wide offering from Wahab through point, before getting his weight forward and hitting a glorious on-drive down the ground two balls later.
Asif and Amir took the new ball with England 251-7, but if they had hoped for a repeat of the kind of swing bowling that tore England open in the morning, it was not there. Yes, there was some swing, but Trott was alive to it and the hard new ball shot off the bat even harder. Amir asked questions of Broad, squaring him up as he edged through the slips and evading a scything drive, but Broad survived and moved into the nineties. Finally, Broad got one on his pads and dropped his hands on it. The ball rolled out towards the midwicket boundary as the batsmen came back for two and Broad, helmet off and arms outstretched, could revel in the glory of his achievement. A hundred? At Lord’s? Rescuing his team from a poor position? Broad had achieved what batsmen as good as Ponting or Tendulkar never could.
Both batsmen continued, grinding Pakistan into the ground. Pakistan, physically tired and emotionally drained by their day in the field, just couldn’t muster another sustained attack on the batsmen in the session, and they wasted a review on a long-shot LBW against Stuart Broad. Three hundred runs were scored for six wickets in the day, but that was only half the story. England expected to bat for a bit on Day 3, before being bowled out or declaring with enough time to knock Pakistan over twice. As it was, Broad went on to make 169 and Trott 184, and their eventual partnership of 332 still sits as the highest partnership by any team, in any Test match, for the eighth wicket. And I was there. A little more than twenty-four hours later, however, a story would break that put (most of) the on-field action on the back burner.