Caught Out - Shocking Revelations of Corruption in International Cricket. Brian Radford
to chance. Every available means of winning this Test match had to be grasped if England were to earn the urn. Tactical discussions continued well into the eve of the first day’s play, with the ‘think tank’ plotting and planning every strategic move, including one that was to cause an ugly row between England’s coach Duncan Fletcher and Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting in full view of the shocked crowd, and the millions of viewers transfixed to television sets all round the world.
England welcomed a major boost when Glenn McGrath, potentially the best bowler in the world on a traditional Trent Bridge pitch, was again ruled out through injury, this time to his elbow. Australia dropped the out-of-form Jason Gillespie, leaving them with a seam attack of Brett Lee, Michael Kasprowicz and Shaun Tait, who was playing in his first Test.
Winning the toss, England elected to bat, and openers Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick raced to a 100 partnership before Strauss, on 35, swept Shane Warne onto his boot and Matthew Hayden took a straightforward catch in the slips. Lucky Trescothick escaped when bowled by a no-ball from Lee, and England went to lunch at 129-1.
Rain washed away all but 3.1 overs in the afternoon, and England immediately lost two wickets when they resumed after tea, with Tait exploiting heavy cloud cover to swing the ball and cause serious problems. Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen each survived a dropped catch, and were moving along smoothly when captain Ponting did the unthinkable and brought himself into the attack with gentle medium pacers.
But the brainwave worked and Ponting incredibly removed Vaughan for 58, and England ended the day on 229-4. Pietersen edged a Lee out-swinger to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist next morning, but Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones took England to 344-5 at lunch, so there was much to smile about over a full-blown salad and crisps. Trent Bridge apparently serves up exceedingly good food!
Evidently well nourished, Flintoff went on to complete his century before Tait trapped him lbw for 102. Geraint Jones continued undeterred and looked all over another centurion when Kasprowicz destroyed his ambition on 85, taking a comfortable return catch. England’s innings ended on 447 at tea, boosted by a stubborn last-wicket partnership of 23 between Hoggard and Simon Jones.
Now the real testing time had arrived. How much serious swing could England’s dynamic quartet find to destroy the Australia top batsmen? Hoggard soon provided the answer. He was devastating. How he managed to achieve so much more swing than any of those highly rated Australian bowlers was a magical mystery. Surely sucker Trescothick was not making such a mammoth difference so quickly?
Australia’s best batsmen found him embarrassingly unplayable, and three wickets fell in 11 balls as Ponting’s baffled top order found themselves in disarray at 99-5 at the close of the second day. Next morning Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist decided that attack was the only way to emerge from their deep hole and progress, and they had added 58 in 8.5 overs when England burst into life and grabbed four wickets for a measly 18 runs, leaving Australia quivering on 175-9.
Simon Jones was now literally in full swing. He removed Katich and Warne in successive balls, and then bowled Kasprowicz. But Lee remained unperturbed and clouted 47 in 44 balls, including three colossal sixes, to lift Australia to 218 before he was caught to give the devastating Jones his fifth wicket of the innings.
Australia trailed by 259 runs, and Vaughan promptly asked them to bat again. It was the first time that Australia had followed on in 17 years. Little went right for England as Australia strove to bring some crucially needed authority and composure to their second innings. Strauss dropped Justin Langer on 38, Geraint Jones missed a stumping chance, and the dynamic Simon Jones left the field and was taken to hospital for a scan on an ankle injury.
Yet all these troubles were soon completely and dramatically eclipsed by a furious public confrontation rarely seen on a village green let alone in the middle of a key Test match during an Ashes series.
It had become apparent that the England ‘think tank’ had devised a shrewd way of improving their all-round fielding skills, which meant taking players off at regular intervals and replacing them with far more athletic, and fresh, substitutes. It seemed, too, that pace bowlers in particular were being rotated for rest periods, and that the unflattering cliché ‘win at all costs’ had sprung to mind again.
By now, many highly respected commentators were voicing strong disapproval of fielders being switched so frequently, and the more critical even accused England of not playing in the spirit of the game. Trescothick’s mints were plainly not enough to secure victory, and England unashamedly sent the practically unknown Gary Pratt onto the field as their latest tactical substitute.
Pratt was not England’s official 12th man, and he had never been considered good enough even to figure in their international squad at any time. In truth, he was a promising young batsman, learning his trade with Durham in the first-class championship, and was light years away from being a Test match candidate.
Hardly anyone among the crowd packed into Trent Bridge that day had heard of him, and questions buzzed around the ground, like ‘Who is he?’ and ‘What’s he doing here?’ In a short time they would find out… and witness one of the most dramatic and bitter moments in world cricket.
At the Durham club, colleagues and fans knew all about the mercurial Gary Pratt, whom they rated as one of the best fielders in championship cricket, and they praised his speed, agility, and a throw that was fast as lightning and straight as an arrow.
Pratt incensed the Australians when he sprinted out as another weary bowler trudged off, though it was ironic that when the proverbial bomb exploded, he was genuinely on the field for Simon Jones, who was in an ambulance heading to the local hospital for tests and treatment.
It all took off when batsman Damien Martyn prodded the ball into the covers and called Ponting for a quick single. Ponting is world renowned for being one of the sharpest batsmen between the wickets, and he and Martyn had played together often enough to know each other’s running capabilities.
Maybe in most cases the single would have been achieved. But this time the ball was heading to the nimble Pratt, who swooped and threw in one amazingly swift move. The ball smashed into the stumps before Ponting, sprinting at his fastest, could reach the crease and ground his bat. In the context of the match it was a gigantic wicket for England, as Ponting looked secure and in fine form and ready to steer Australia to safety, and ultimately to retaining the Ashes.
Pratt was an instant hero. Some presumptive optimists were hailing him as the man who had won the Ashes for England, even though there were still two days left of this Test, and The Oval game still to come.
All eyes were on Ponting as he stormed off. He was blatantly livid, though not with himself or with his partner Martyn, but with the England ‘think tank’ for using the quicksilver Pratt as a specialist substitute. Ponting deliberately looked towards the England dressing room as he charged up the pavilion steps and launched a ferocious verbal attack in the direction of coach Duncan Fletcher. At close of play, Australia were still 37 adrift but had six wickets in hand.
Ponting’s tirade inevitably took the focus away from the actual match situation, and later in the evening he released a statement to apologise for his conduct, saying: ‘I was disappointed with my dismissal, given that it was at a crucial stage of the game and I’d worked hard to get to that position. I let myself down with my reaction, and for that I apologise to those who see me as a role model. My frustration at getting out was compounded by the fact that I was run out by a substitute fielder, an issue that has concerned us, and one we raised before the series.’
Fletcher, who was on the dressing-room balcony when Ponting was dismissed, said: ‘I don’t know what he said. I haven’t spoken to my players about it, but there’s always some sort of chat out there. I don’t say “Hold on, what are you talking to the Aussies about?” I saw him [Ponting] mumble about something, but I don’t know what he said.’
Referring to England’s use of substitutes, Fletcher said: ‘What we try to do is… every game we go to a county which doesn’t have a county game, and say “Can you supply your best fielders to us?” Australia brought it up with the match referee during the