Thorpe leads England home

In modern times English cricket has so often scaled new peaks only to find on the other side new depths into which to plummet that a graph of its progress would resemble an Alpine stage of the Tour de France.

Until yesterday this tour side had struggled along such an inept course that comfort was actually being drawn from the uncanny similarities with the "can't bat, can't bowl, can't field" start made by Mike Gatting's ultimately conquering side of a dozen years ago.

Such unworthy notions have been kicked into a cocked Akubra at the Oval here now and in the fullness of time Mike Atherton's bizarre dismissal at 4.31 on Monday afternoon may be viewed as the moment this touring party came of age.

His departure brought together Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash, each with a point to prove and a game to save, and slightly more than 24 hours later, when the predicted rain arrived to wash away the remains of the final day 40 minutes into the last session, they were still together. They had resurrected England from the depths of 80 for four, with defeat looming, with an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 377 scored at slightly better than a run a minute.

It was the highest stand for that wicket by any side touring Australia and 308 runs came from the 74 overs bowled yesterday; the pair will not find a feather big enough to suit this particular cap.

Thorpe, whose back injury last summer cast some doubt, not least in his own mind, that he might not make the tour, batted for six hours and 20 minutes to finish unbeaten on 223.

It was by a single run the highest score of his career. He hit 23 fours and four sixes and scored 125 in the two hours between lunch and tea in an exhilarating display of attacking cricket that provided a stark contrast to the graft of the morning. He and his partner added 194 in 33 overs.

Ramprakash was less ebullient but by the end, with the game long since safe, he played with real freedom. He batted eight minutes less than Thorpe and scored 140, with 18 fours.

The partnership went some way towards dispelling the notion that English players are clueless against spin. Evan Arnold, a leg-spinner making his debut for the Redbacks, is no Clarrie Grimmett, although his bowling arm is about as low, but on Monday, as Thorpe and Ramprakash set about repairing the damage, he sent down 15 overs for only 25 runs, which according to one newspaper was good news for Warne.

Well the bad news is that Arnold sent down a further 10 overs yesterday and they cost 94 more runs, 20 of them coming from four successive deliveries as Thorpe carted him to and beyond the mid-wicket boundary. The young off-spinner Andrew Cook conceded 79 from 20 overs yesterday. Experiences do not come much more chastening.

Later Ramprakash, in the glow of achievement after the commemorative scoreboard snaps had been taken, said: "The local press have been negative in general so it is nice to prove a point. Just as we did against South Africa we have shown we are hard to beat and we are not just going to roll over."

Thorpe batted while not feeling too well and his innings was not entirely without blemish. Twice, at 148 and 193, Mark Harrity made a mess of catches at mid-on that were only moderately difficult. On 220, Jason Gillespie, who had bowled a beautifully testing spell with the new ball in the morning but had done little else all day, made a botch of a simple return catch. Ramprakash's effort was, to all intents and purposes, chanceless.

With the pitch not just slow but retarded it was the survival of the new ball, available 16 overs into the day, that held the key for England, who had begun the final morning with a lead of 11.

Thorpe and Ramprakash had added 41 by the time Gillespie and Harrity came at them, and the first eight overs with the new ball saw only four runs added. "They came at us hard," said Ramprakash. "It was extremely hard work." It looked it, too.

After lunch, though, the atmosphere changed as the batsmen began a glorious charge, using their feet to the spinners where they had seemed embedded in concrete before and wrenching the game from South Australia.

Thorpe's first century took 252 minutes and 203 balls, his second 91 and 70 respectively. Only when Ben Hollioake appeared on the field with a pair of batting gloves - the universal signal that a message is being brought out - were the pair made aware that they were within 10 runs of a slice of cricket history.

Thorpe's careful single ensured that Wilfred Rhodes and C E G Russell, whose stand of 368 on this same ground 78 years ago was the previous highest by a tour side, were overtaken. Who said the game is not what it was?