da esport bet： Nasser Hussain was not flinging idle praise around when he termedMichael Vaughan’s 197 one of the best innings he had ever seen fromthe blade of an English bat
da fazobetai： Rajesh Kumar14-Aug-2002Nasser Hussain was not flinging idle praise around when he termedMichael Vaughan’s 197 one of the best innings he had ever seen fromthe blade of an English bat. The classical opener’s highest firstclass score was quite definitely an innings that would done the bestof his tribe proud.
Michael Vaughan against all bowlers – England 1st innings at Trent Bridge
© CricInfoVaughan’s shot selection on the day he held everybody in thrall wasadmirable, with his driving off the back foot in particular being ofsuch a high order that former England all-rounder Vic Marks was movedto liken it to that of the great Peter May.The Yorkshireman was helped in no small measure by the Indian bowlers,who played a significant part in the transformation of the 27-yearold, whom many had previously marked as the ideal replacement foranother Michael – the very correct and very stodgy Atherton – into abatsman who tore the opposing attack to shreds.Pitching short and spraying the ball everywhere, India’s bowlershelped the England opener feel at home immediately upon his arrival atthe crease. High on confidence after his hundred in the England secondinnings at Lord’s, Vaughan was not in the mood to miss out on sucheasy pickings.With dozens of short-of-a-length deliveries on offer, the regionbetween point and third man naturally proved a productive one,yielding as many as 43 runs. Another area that provided runs by thebucketful was mid-wicket, where Vaughan creamed as many as 44 throughfine back-foot pulls and front-foot drives. It is also telling thatonly 20 runs out of 197 – a measly 10.15 % – came in the vee betweenmid-off and mid-on. On that Trent Bridge wicket, India should havebeen pitching the ball up much further, allowing it to swing and usethe juice in the wicket. If Vaughan had made 197 with the bowlerssticking to the appropriate length, many more runs would have come offstraight drives.
Michael Vaughan against Harbhajan Singh – England 1st innings at Trent Bridge
© CricInfoThe sole variety in the Indian attack – Harbhajan Singh – wascountered by either staying on the back foot and playing the fineflick, or by sweeping. The pitch afforded only slow turn, enablingVaughan to play the offie on the back foot, something not normallyadvised on more vicious tracks. Harbhajan Singh only helped thattactic along by constantly drifting to leg, unable to bowl the classicoff-spinner’s line just outside the off. The success of Vaughan’sstrategy is best represented by the fact that he scored 27 runs in thefine-leg region and 11 runs to the square-leg against the Harbhajan.Harbhajan also made another fundamental error, not only againstVaughan but against the rest as well. Not once did he succeed inflighting the ball and luring Vaughan into the expansive drive.Ironically enough, then, it was Vaughan who, in India’s secondinnings, reminded everybody of the efficacy of that classic offspinner’s tactic. The ball with which he brought about SachinTendulkar’s downfall was exactly the kind that Harbhajan himselfshould been attempting.
