The Windward Islands defeated Jamaica by four wickets in the second semi-final of the Red Stripe Bowl at Sabina Park, Kingston, on Saturday. They will meet the Leeward Islands in the final today.This semi-final followed the trend of the first, on Friday, which was won by the Leeward Islands by thirteen runs. Again it was very evident that even though there were eleven international players in the Jamaican and the Windward Island teams, the batting, especially from Jamaica, was as atrocious as it had been on Friday when no less than 13 West Indian internationals were playing.Jamaica’s InningsJamaica, led by the West Indies captain, Jimmy Adams, won the toss and elected to bat first on a wearing pitch, the same used in the first semi-final on Friday. That decision was soon to backfire. Jamaica were immediately in serious trouble, after seven overs, wobbling at 9-3. The Windwards had been very positive, with their fast bowlers Nixon McLean and Cameron Cuffy, both West Indian Test players, bowling very quickly and accurately indeed.They had made Jamaica struggle for every run gained, getting two wickets with the Jamaica total on four. Opener Keith Hibbert got a fast leg-cutter from Nixon McLean, the resulting edge gleefully taken by wicket-keeper Junior Murray, another West Indian player. Hibbert made two. Murray also featured in the second dismissal, taking a sharp chance as Cuffy deceived Brenton Parchment with both pace and bounce. Parchment managed one. Captain Jimmy Adams, the big fish, was next to go, with the score on nine, getting a wonderful leg-cutter from McLean which he could only touch to wicket-keeper Murray.Jamaica did fight back somewhat. At one stage, they had progressed to 74-4 in the 26th over. Wavell Hinds, the West Indies number three batsman, was next out after a patient 15, caught by Romel Currency at square-leg when he tried to lift McNeil Morgan over the top. Marlon Samuels, a real senior West Indian team prospect, was playing beautifully then, even though he was badly dropped by Darnley Joseph at slip, when 16. Hinds and Marlon Samuels had put on 46 very valuable runs for the 4th wicket in 14 overs.Marlon Samuels and his older brother, Robert, who has also played Test cricket for the West Indies, took the score to 96 in the 31st over, before Robert tried to lift the Windward islands captain, leg-spinner Rawl Lewis, out of the ground. He was easily caught by Cuffy at long-off. By over 37, it was 125-6 when Laurie Williams mis-read Lewis’s leg-break, the thin edge accepted by wicket-keeper Murray; Williams out for 16.After batting with some aplomb, hitting five crisp boundaries, Marlon Samuels was seventh man out for a well made 52, when he tried to hit off-spinner Shane Shillingford out of the ground, only to be caught by Devon Smith at square leg. Soon it was 155-8, in over 43, when Franklyn Rose, after trying a few lusty blows, holed out to Shillingford at long-on from McLean’s bowling; Rose out for nine. Nehemiah Perry, after playing well for 18, also tried to lash a McLean full toss over the top, the ball only getting as far as Rawl Lewis at mid-wicket; Jamaica 170-9 in 47 overs.Some intelligent batting from the last pair, Denville McKenzie and Ryan Cunningham saw Jamaica to 187 in their 50 overs, but even with the disastrous start that they had, Jamaica, and the spectators, should have been very disappointed not to have gotten to at least 200 runs.Nixon McLean, much improved, bowling exceptionally straight and quickly, was the Windward Islands best bowler, with 4-28 from his 10 overs. With the Windward Islands needing only 3.76 runs per over to win the game, another semi-final upset was very possible.Windward Islands’ InningsThe Windward Islands, through their very young and inexperienced opening batsmen, gave themselves and early chance at getting to their first final for some time. Both Devon Smith, who is still a West Indies Youth team player, and Romel Currency, a Windward Islands Youth representative, looked at home at the crease even though Jamaica’s bowling was spearheaded by West Indies discard, Franklyn Rose.Currency was actually bowled by an inswinging yorker delivered by Denville Mackenzie before he had scored, but it was a no-ball. Currency and Smith then treated the large Saturday crowd to a lovely array of strokes as they pushed the score to 45 in 13 overs. Then, when it looked as if they would embarrass their more illustrious opponents, Smith slapped a rank long-hop, bowled by off-spinner Nehemiah Perry, straight to McKenzie at cover point. Smith out for 25.Two overs later, in the 15th, veteran Darnley Joseph, after spanking Perry for a nice four through extra cover, misread the line of a drifter from the same bowler and was easily out LBW. Joseph out for four; the Windward Islands 50-2.Discarded West Indies wicket-keeper, Junior Murray, especially, and the very organized Currency played with a strange approach to take the score to 94 before the 3rd wicket was lost. Murray had decided to try to hit all of the bowlers into the stands. He actually succeeded in hitting Perry almost over the giant George Headley stand at the southern end of Sabina Park for a massive six before his young, ambitious partner was dismissed. Smith drove at leg-spinner Cunningham without getting to the pitch of the delivery and Jimmy Adams, at short extra-cover, took a tumbling catch to keep his team in the game. Currency out for a very entertaining 30, Windward Islands 94-3 in over 29.John Eugene, who has been out of the Windward Islands team for a spell, joined Murray and the aggressive attitude from the Windwards continued, with Murray hitting consecutive boundaries off West Indies One Day player Laurie Williams. The pair soon rattled up 39, taking the score to 133, in the 35th over, when Jimmy Adams deceived Junior Murray, caught him in two minds, thankfully accepting the caught and bowled chance. Murray out for 41.Another Windward Islands veteran, the aggressive Roy Marshall, joined Eugene and the pair continued to play sensibly, rotating the strike well with singles, perhaps sensing that their team could pull off an upset by beating Jamaica. With ten overs remaining, the Windward Islands, at 144-4, needed 44 runs to win, with six wickets in hand.Then, with the score on 166, in over 45, Roy Marshall decided that he could hit Jimmy Adams out of the ground, only for Franklyn Rose to do a wonderful job running from deep extra cover to get to long off and take a great catch. Marshall made 13 and featured in a good partnership of 33 with Eugene. That dismissal gave Jamaica a chance, even though the Windward Islands only needed 21 with five overs remaining.Windward Islands captain Rawl Lewis joined Eugene and, again taking the singles well, and slugging too; Lewis hit Adams over mid-wicket for six; they took the score to 183 before Lewis was well caught and bowled by Marlon Samuels, a much harder catch than the one he had dropped in the previous over. Eugene was even dropped, badly, by Marlon Samuels, from a skier, at short mid-wicket. Lewis had made 12.Nixon McLean joined the unflappable Eugene to see the game to the end and victory for the Windward Islands, but not before Robert Samuels, this time, had dropped McLean on the long on boundary from another sitter. The resulting boundary brought the scores level. John Eugene then smacked Adams to the cover boundary for the winning score, to finish with 44 not out. The Windward Islands, finally, 191-6 in the 49th over, winning by 4 wickets. Only Nehemiah Perry, with 2 wickets, looked a good bowler for Jamaica.The Jamaicans did one thing better than the Windward Islanders, if it can be called that. The Jamaican fielding was the poorest seen for the weekend, even poorer than the efforts put out by the Windwards. Now, the Windward Islands, so often the also-rans of West Indies cricket, will meet the Leeward Islands in the final on Sunday.

The Orange city provided an ideal batting strip for the Indians totake on Zimbabwe in the second and final Test. Shiv Sunder Das notchedup his maiden century, Rahul Dravid neared his eighth hundred andIndia chalked up a comfortable 306/2 after electing to bat first. TheZimbabwean bowlers simply did not have the firepower to stop theIndians. Everything now depends on Zimbabwe. If they can get their acttogether with the bat, they just might be able to hold on for a draw.When play began, Sadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das were verycomfortable against the Zimbabwean bowlers. Driving through the offside with characteristic ease, Ramesh was soon scoring at a run aball. Shiv Sunder Das at the other end was the ideal foil for Ramesh.Solid as a rock when it was needed, Das treated the bowling on merit.Being a short man proved to be a blessing, as he unveiled the cut shotevery time the ball was short of a length.Just when he looked good for a big score, Ramesh was involved in anunnecessary run out. Playing the ball to the mid on area, Rameshunderestimated Streak’s throwing arm. A good strong throw found Rameshshort of his ground. Ramesh’s 48 included seven hits to the fence.If the Zimbabweans came to India fearing Sachin Tendulkar, they aregoing to leave with nightmares of Rahul Dravid. Cutting and drivingwith precision, Dravid found the gaps with ease and it was no surprisethat he brought up his third consecutive score of fifty or over.Das was in good nick all day, displaying why he is a natural choicefor the opening slot. His shot selection was impeccable on the day,and his persistence bore fruit. After plodding on manfully for overthree hours, Das came down the track to a well flighted delivery fromMurphy and flicked magnificently. As the ball thudded into theadvertising hoardings, Das held up his bat to acknowledge the crowd’scheers. The young opener from Orissa had found the fence on 17occasions on the way to his century.The wicket was so flat that the Zimbabwean bowlers could not pick asingle wicket. Ramesh was run out and Das’ wicket really belonged toumpire Arani Velayudham Jayaprakash. Brian Murphy did what he knowsbest and tossed up a big leg break, Das, trying to play his favouriteshot, the cut, missed the ball altogether. Alright, so the ball wastoo close to the body to cut. But you can’t give a batsmen out forthat. The ball went past the bat, brushed the wicketkeeper’s glovesand went through to Alistair Campbell at slip. After pouching theball, the appeal that followed was neither spontaneous nor unanimous.In the eyes of the man in the middle however, 110 runs was all Das wasdestined to make. Although one has to concede that these things happenin the course of the game, Das’ look of disbelief on being given outtold its own story.The youngster had played well for his 110 runs. Taking as much time aswas required, Das waited for the right ball to hit. On nineteenoccasions in his 252 minute essay he put the ball away. At 227 fortwo, India were still very well placed.Amidst roars from the mediumsized Nagpur crowd, Sachin Tendulkarwalked out to the middle. However, there were to be no real fireworksfrom Tendulkar. Although he showed bursts of aggressiveness, hisinnings of 49 was largely a sedate one. As the day’s play was drawingto a close, Tendulkar opened his shoulders and played a trademarkcoverdrive. This brought the crowd back to life after a series of dullovers. Three balls later the umpires called stumps and that was that.Rahul Dravid on a patient 93, and Tendulkar on 49 were bothirritatingly close to the century and half century marks respectively.Tomorrow, when India resume on 306 for two, both Dravid and Tendulkarwill look to quickly cross those marks and get on with the scoring.

The Orissa slow attack of Sanjay Satpathy and Jagannath Das spun outTripura for a meagre 114 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy tieat the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartala on Friday. Inreply the visitors strolled to 80/2 at stumps with skipper Shiv SunderDas showing the way with an unbeaten 42.After the Orissa opening duo of Debashis Mohanty and Ajay Barick madethe initial breakthroughs, the slow men held complete sway over theproceedings. From a position of relative solidity at 85/2, Tripuralost their next eight wickets for 29. Offspinner Satpathy claimed 4/25and leg spinner Das complemented his efforts to a nicety with a bag of3/36. None of the last seven men reached double figures as the inningssputtered to a close in the 69th over. One-drop RN Ghosh top scoredwith 24.Opener Pradeep Das fell in the fourth over when Orissa got their turnbut his namesake SS Das, playing his first Ranji Trophy match of theseason, and Pravanjan Mullick steadied matters with a 55 runassociation. Although Mullick fell late in the final session, Das camethrough unbeaten in the company of Sanjay Raul as Orissa closed outthe day just 34 behind.

(Up to and including 14th June 2001 v Kent at West End)

BATTING AVERAGES – Including fieldingName                M     I   NO  Runs   HS    Avge  100  50   Ct  StL.R.Prittipaul      3     6    1   265  175*  53.00    1   –    2   -I.H.Shah            4     7    1   264   81   44.00    –   2    –   -J.S.Laney           5    10    1   342   88   38.00    –   3    5   -I.Brunnschweiler    5    10    4   219   58*  36.50    –   2   16   -A.J.Sexton          5     9    0   253   56   28.11    –   2    6   -A.D.Edwards         2     4    2    54   25*  27.00    –   –    –   -J.R.C.Hamblin       5    10    0   240   56   24.00    –   1    1   -G.A.Lamb            3     6    0   131   30   21.83    –   –    1   -J.E.K.Schofield     5     8    1    94   22   13.42    –   –    1   -D.Jackson           2     4    0    42   38   10.50    –   –    1   -Z.C.Morris          5     9    1    75   16    9.37    –   –    2   -J.H.K.Adams         5    10    0    75   15    7.50    –   –    7   -J.A.Tomlinson       3     4    2     6    4    3.00    –   –    1   -J.P.Stephenson      1     2    0   103   67   51.50    –   1    –   -J.D.Francis         1     2    0    91   82   45.50    –   1    1   -R.L.Powell          1     2    0     7    7    3.50    –   –    –   -Name               O      M     R     W   Avge  Best   5w 10w    SRJ.P.Stephenson    14.3    1    57     6   9.50  5-41    1   –   14.50A.D.Edwards       36     10   102    10  10.20  3-14    –   –   21.60J.E.K.Schofield  122.4   37   318    26  12.23  4-20    –   –   28.30Z.C.Morris        61.2   18   204    13  15.69  3-13    –   –   28.30J.R.C.Hamblin    156.3   54   375    22  17.04  5-43    1   –   42.68I.H.Shah          73     16   229     8  28.62  3-77    –   –   54.75J.A.Tomlinson     78     14   259     9  28.77  3-22    –   –   52.00J.H.K.Adams        9      3     9     1   9.00  1-2     –   –   54.00L.R.Prittipaul    11.4    4    34     1  34.00  1-4     –   –   70.00R.L.Powell         1      1     0     0    –     –      –   –     –

Wellington, like all of New Zealand’s cricket associations, were waiting for news from today’s board meeting of New Zealand Cricket in order to get on with planning the next season’s initiatives for the game.While the news of who would be appointed the coach of the national side was the most obvious decision to be made, Wellington chief executive Ervin McSweeney was also looking for some finality on the domestic programmes for next summer and some news following up on the reviews undertaken last summer on cricket at the grass root levels of the game.”We’re keen to know what the board thinks about the work the staff of New Zealand Cricket have been doing and whether anything will come from them.”They are a big thing for the grass roots of the game,” he said.Wellington has been planning its next season to try and build on the success of their Firebirds side last summer with the aim of keeping the standard and quality of play in the association’s senior side as high as possible.”We are also keen to try and re-invigorate the performance of our women’s team.”We’ve spent quite a bit of time on women’s cricket and want to strengthen the whole area of participation,” McSweeney said.He said it was too early to see if the introduction of development officers in the region had made any impact on redressing the declining numbers of players across the secondary school spectrum.”A lot of work has been done by the development officers, but it is still too recent to be able to see a trend.”We want to try and get the numbers to where participation levels are up and we can reverse the trend.”We have to get the bottom of the pyramid safe first, and while I don’t really like to see top teams not making progress we have to look two or three years out,” he said.Some changes have also been made to the structure of club cricket in the capital. Two main options for change were promoted last season, one was to have district cricket, the other was to have a four-tiered division model with promotion and relegation between grades.The preferred option by clubs was for the four tiers. And while clubs may not have two teams in one grade over time they could field teams in each grade.”That provides some encouragement for clubs to find strength throughout their club,” he said.There will be eight teams in each section, and Stokes Valley and Eastern Suburbs had teams promoted to make up the numbers in the Hazlett Trophy Senior Two section next season.

New Zealand One-Day International opener Mathew Sinclair finished the first part of his summer with Yorkshire club Cleethorpes on Saturday with a resounding win which lifted the club to fourth place in the Yorkshire premier league.Playing against Driffield, and bowling first, Cleethorpes dismissed the home team for 61.It took Cleethorpes, and Sinclair and captain Mike Smith in particular, only 9.4 overs to hit the winning runs.Sinclair, who is to join the CLEAR Black Caps in Sri Lanka for the Coca-Cola Cup series with Sri Lanka and India, hit 42 not out off 26 balls as the victory was achieved.Sinclair has scored 1108 runs in his season to date with Cleethorpes.Tama Canning, who is playing for Accrington in the Lancashire League had his game washed out before a ball was bowled at the weekend.Sinclair’s New Zealand team-mate Lou Vincent warmed up for his trip by scoring 78 for his side Esholt in the Bradford league against Bankfoot and taking three wickets for 50 runs from eight overs.It wasn’t enough for a win however, as Esholt fell 46 runs short of Bankfoot’s 206/8.

After a disappointing performance by New Zealand, the Kiwi captainStephen Fleming still remained positive about his side’s chances ofmaking it to the Coca-Cola Cup final."I think we’ve got a good chance. If India lose tomorrow we arethrough to the final. We can put aside this dismal performance andcome back with a good one when we meet India," said Fleming whoseside was comprehensively beaten by Sri Lanka by 107 runs."Very disappointing performance. But once again the Sri Lankansplayed exceptionally well. We didn’t push hard in this game,"reflected Fleming. "We’ve never played on this ground. So we didn’tknow what’s a good score. The partnerships helped the Sri Lankans toput up a good score."The Black Caps so far in the tournament have been struggling againstspin. But this time around the fast bowlers did most of the damage,"The fast bowlers really bowled well. They achieved a lot of movementand took the game away from us. They just destroyed us in the firstten overs," said Fleming.Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya was thrilled about his side’sperformance. "It was a good all-round performance. It was nice to gopast 220 and then the bowlers did very well to restrict them. Thecream of the batting was back in the pavilion by the 10th over."Fleming put Sri Lanka in on winning the toss. Jayasuriya revealed hewould have done the same had he had won the toss. "It was a good tossto lose. I would have bowled first had I won the toss."Jayasuriya was also happy with the way the batsmen played. "All thebatsmen are among the runs. That’s what is important. Only Mahela wasstruggling and now he’s among the runs as well. After this, hisconfidence level was high and this was evident in the field."Sri Lanka are through to the final and when asked as whether theywould rest some of the players to give others a chance, Jayasuriyasaid, "We haven’t decided on the team for the Indian game yet."Man of the match Chaminda Vaas bowled a superb spell of fast bowlingchanging the cause of the game as he sent back three of the top orderbatsmen back to the pavilion in his first spell."I would have loved to bowl first. The conditions were ideal for fastbowling. But things worked very well for me later in the day," saidthe Sri Lankan fast bowler. "I loved the wicket of Jacob Oram. Theball really moved away from the batsman."Vaas who bowled a first spell of 5-1-10-3 did not get any wickets inhis second spell, "I would have loved to end up with five wickets andSanath gave me a second spell as well but it didn’t work."

The first Test of the three match series between Sri Lanka and Indiaat the Galle International Stadium will be played on a pitch conduciveto fast bowling according to ground manager Jayananda Warnaweera.Galle has had a reputation of being a spinner friendly venue in thepast with Sri Lanka tending to bank on their spinners. In fact, thelast Tests played in Galle, against South Africa last year and Englandin February, were dominated by the slower bowlers and both were won bySri Lanka.Sri Lanka though believe that they would be best served by pitcheswith extra pace and bounce against India. After all, MuttiahMuralitharan, the only specialist spinner likely to play, can turn theball on any surface and would also benefit from some extra bounce.Nevertheless, it’s a brave strategy. Sri Lanka came unstuck againstPakistan in Galle last year on a seamer friendly surface when WasimAkram, Waqar Younis and Abdur Razzaq ripped through the batting.Sri Lankan Cricket Board sources have confirmed that the curators ofthe Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy and the Sinhalese Sports Club inColombo, where the second and the third Tests will be played, havealso been asked to prepare pitches with more life than normal.The Sri Lankan selectors have included five fast bowlers in theirsquad and are expected to play three, probably Chaminda Vaas, DilharaFernando and Ruchira Perera. India have four fast bowlers in the squadand are also expected to play three fast bowlers and just onespecialist spinner.Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, speaking after the three-day gameyesterday, claimed to be delighted by the news that the Galle wicketwould be fast bowler friendly."We’ve got some good fast bowlers in Zaheer (Khan) and Srinath. Infact, I was delighted to see Srinath bowling fast in this practicegame after a long time. Then we have Venkatesh Prasad, who is idealfor seaming conditions," said Ganguly.

A sparkling Matthew Maynard century off 94 balls and 4-33 from RobertCroft all but sealed Glamorgan’s promotion to Norwich Union League Division One after a 51-run day-night victory over Hampshire at Cardiff.Maynard’s century helped Glamorgan set Hampshire 245 to win under the floodlights but they fell well short to lose by 51 runs despite a spectacular start by Neil Johnson and James Hamblin.But from 120-1 in the 19th over Hampshire crumbled to 145-6 thanks to the double spin option of Robert Croft, who took four for 18 in 24 balls, and Dean Cosker.After that the run rate increased with Darren Thomas and Andrew Davies sharing the last four wickets to fall as Hampshire found themselves 193 all out with 28 balls to spare.Earlier, Maynard had come to the middle with Glamorgan in the middle of a crisis, but he produced a vintage innings in front of the Sky TV cameras to put Glamorgan back in the driving seat.Despite racing to 51-1 in the eighth over, thanks to a whirlwind start from Keith Newell and Ian Thomas, Glamorgan proceeded to lose three wickets for four runs to collapse to 55-4 in the 12th over.Maynard and Mike Powell nursed Glamorgan out of their malaise with a patient 68 in 18 overs, with Chris Tremlett, named in the England Academy squad, recording first spell figures of 5-1-8-0.When Powell fell to Neil Johnson, Maynard and skipper Adrian Dale set about upping the tempo taking 92 off 12 overs.Maynard, who struck Shaun Udal for a straight six, went to his second 50 off just 30 balls with 11 fours.After reaching his century Maynard wasn’t finished as he took 15 off the last over of the innings from Udal including another six. Maynard finished unbeaten on 116 – from 103 balls with two sixes and 12 fours – out of 244-6.

Back to the original frontier. Back to first principles.Ultimately, they were deprived of the opportunity to complete the 5-0 whitewash that the trend of so much of this series promised. But Australia’s cricketers can return home secure in the knowledge that there has been precious little disruption to the trend of their country’s recent domination of the old enemy.It is salient to note that, with its crushing victory at The Oval yesterday, Australia has now won 25 of its last 40 Tests against England. Over the same period, England has triumphed in just six matches. Even more tellingly, only a single one of these has been won while the fate of the Ashes’ destination (metaphorical destination, anyway) was yet to have been decided.When the history books are written, they will show that there was nothing from the 2001 series to disturb a general pattern of Australian success that now extends all the way back to 1989. The only parts that were disturbing, in fact, were the portents for England in its continuing inability to challenge its most enduring foe.As this tussle began, it had been more than just an extension of its hold on an Ashes urn that Australia wished to secure from its tour. Confidence about its credentials as the world’s best Test team – partially undermined as it had been by events in its last series in India in March – required restoration too. The passions – and the fervour for victory – of a number of its leading figures were also always likely to be stirred by the prospect that this was to be their final visit as players to England.The team’s fielding was possibly not at its sharpest at various moments and Michael Slater and Brett Lee did not enjoy the individual success for which they would have hoped. But it remains difficult to pinpoint any other chinks that were vaguely discernible in the Australians’ armour over the course of the last two months.Its bowling, in particular, was magnificent. Few English batsmen inspired confidence in their capacity to resist the indomitable pairing of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne for prolonged periods. Respective averages of 16.93 and 18.70 from the five Tests they played give a pretty good idea of the duo’s potency. In the early matches of the series, paceman Jason Gillespie was also outstanding. Albeit that they were aligned against a number of batsmen with question marks over their recent form, England’s bowlers never displayed the same skill, commitment or inspiration.This is not to underplay the exceptional all-round contribution of Adam Gilchrist, nor the prodigious accumulation of runs in the middle order from the likes of Damien Martyn and Mark Waugh. That trio’s capacity to overwhelm England’s bowlers was also clearly central to Australia’s triumph.Before this series began, England’s recent successes at Test level had pointed to a potential reinvigoration and revival in the state of the sport within the country’s boundaries. Even to some sort of realignment in the balance of world cricketing power. Yet this had always shaped as the team’s biggest test, its sternest examination in recent memory.A tortured outfit for much of the 1990s, England has clearly made important advances over the course of the last year. Nasser Hussain’s captaincy, in particular, gives it a more positive and engaging outlook than it has enjoyed in some time. Its coaching staff and its administrators also bring to their roles greater professionalism than has been seen at possibly any stage in the past. But the exact magnitude of the turnaround, insofar as it exists, remains difficult to discern.The Englishmen have genuine cause to bemoan the loss of Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan to injury, yet also need to remember that their two best batsmen of the series – Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash – would probably not even have played but for those two absences. New ball pairing Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick struggled consistently; although able to pressurise Slater, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting through the early stages of the series, they were manifestly unable to upset the progress of Australia’s middle order. Opening batting stalwart Michael Atherton appears to have said farewell to Test cricket and, at 38, Alec Stewart can surely not be too far behind.The speed with which the home press in particular jumped off the bandwagon was a measure of the extent of the gulf that continues to separate these two sides. Pre-series pronouncements that Australia would no longer remain the nemesis that it has been for the last decade were disowned with a haste resembling a Maurice Greene dash down the straight. Better measures of England’s current place in world cricket will emerge from forthcoming series against India and New Zealand.For Australia, meanwhile, a consolidation of its position at the head of the International Cricket Council’s Test Championship table is just reward for its performance. It remains the very model of a great Test team, one prepared to sense weaknesses in its opponent, to seize upon small openings and opportunities, to force a rival on to the back foot, and then to ruthlessly maintain control. Some of the heroes of past Australian tours of England are long gone – Allan Border and Mark Taylor chief among them – but the central epithet endures.The entire squad of 17 players that came to the Old Dart for this series can look back proudly on all of the sacrifices which they have made in the name of realising one burning ambition. They have performed their job expertly. Again.