Steve Harmison: 8 wickets and 36* on day two

Stumps, Day 2
England
470ao (Flintoff 72, Bell 70)
West Indies
152 (Lara 75, Harmison 6-46)
84/2 (Gayle 59*, Harmison 2-14)

Scorecard

Stephen Harmison has bagged his 100th Test wicket on his way to a stellar day two performance in the fourth Test against the West Indies at the Oval in which he captured eight wickets, made his highest Test score and - more importantly - saw England to an almost impregnable position to whitewash the series.

An evening cameo from Chris Gayle, who became the first man to hit six fours from a six-ball over in Tests, could not remove the limelight from Harmison, whose late-order hitting and brilliant bowling allowed him to lead the team off the pitch at every interval.

It was the West Indies, incidentally, who tasted the first success of the day when Corey Collymore removed Geraint Jones and Fidel Edwards did likewise to danger-man Andrew Flintoff within overs of the resumption.

The sprightly start failed to daunt Ashley Giles or Matthew Hoggard, who combined to add a quickfire 87 for the eighth wicket and add to the West Indies’ frustration.

It would only get worse, however; when Giles and Hoggard fell in quick succession Harmison showed no intention of a meek surrender, clouting three sixes and three fours on his way to 36 not out and a 60-run last-wicket stand with James Anderson (12).

It was the first instance since Australia performed the feat against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1992 that every batsman made double-figures in a completed innings, and only the tenth time in Test history.

Statisticians were sent hunting for the record books; Giles, Hoggard, Harmison and débutante Ian Bell all recorded their highest Test scores, and the inability of the West Indies to finish off the innings only added to their mounting frustration under captain Brian Lara.

The reply soon enough fell flat on its face. Chris Gayle nicked Harmison to Jones, Sylvester Joseph found Giles at gully and Ramnaresh Sarwan fended a Flintoff delivery to Andrew Strauss. The West Indies had slumped to 26/3, 444 runs in arrears of England’s first innings of 470 and already staring at a humiliating whitewash.

Lara and Shiv Chanderpaul, the likely saviours, set about their task of re-building the innings, but were soon halted in their progress. It would be fair to suggest that Chanderpaul was not expecting the paradoxical athlete Robert Key to dive full-stretch to his left at short fine leg and snare a one-handed screamer - but the new England has arrived.

With Chanderpaul on his way for 14, Dwayne Bravo and Lara tried to up the aggression but their efforts only resulted in the loss of Bravo for 16 when he became Harmison’s third victim for the innings.

Lara took it upon himself to score the bulk of the runs to avoid the follow-on, with mixed success. As he crashed boundaries and passed his fifty, Harmison chalked up the wickets of Carlton Baugh (6) and Corey Collymore (4).

He persisted with mixing his lengths to Lara, who was looking to score at every opportunity; a brilliant cover drive was followed by a top-edged pull that had enough momentum to reach the square leg fence. The next ball did not quite get up as high as Lara had anticipated, and in adjusting the stroke to which he was committed he could only top-edge another pull - only this time he picked out Bell at fine leg to perfection.

With Lara dismissed on the stroke of 5pm and Dwayne Smith in hospital having scans on a side strain, the West Indies had next to nilch chance of avoiding the follow-on. A brilliant piece of fielding from Hoggard at mid-on knocked down the stumps at the non-striker’s end to run out Fidel Edwards by such a margin that Darrell Hair had no need for consultation with the third umpire.

Having only bowled 36.5 overs - light work even in ODI terms - Michael Vaughan had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on. What did follow will stay in the memory of those who were at the Oval and those privileged enough to watch it for quite some time.

Beginning the third over of the innings, a fired up Hoggard saw his first ball flicked elegantly through mid-wicket for four, and the next promptly dispatched through the covers by Gayle’s gliding blade. The next ball, although hit slightly uppishly, was wide enough of mid-on to race away towards the sight-screen. A drive through mid-on, a fine pull shot and another crashing cover drive later, and Hoggard had become the first bowler in Test history to have been hit for six fours in an over.

Gayle’s dumbfounding ability to score rapidly in the second innings - particularly in back-to-the-wall situations, which are not too uncommon to the West Indies nowadays - also earns him his fair share of critics. How can a batsman so naturally talented with an intuitive feel for willow on leather have scored only five centuries in 47 Test matches?

Although he will be hoping to add to that short list of centuries tomorrow morning, his record in recent times must raise questions. His recent second innings performances of 59*, 42, 82 and 81 are far better than his first innings’ 12, 5, 7 and 66.

The satisfying aspect of today’s innings was that despite his flamboyance he had no trouble facing any of England’s attack, Harmison included. The same could have been said for Joseph until Michael Vaughan threw the ball to Harmison with only a few overs remaining in the day. A short lifter had Joseph taking semi-evasive action while leaving his bat in the vicinity of the ball. This recipe for disaster was cooked to perfection from England’s point of view as Jones snaffled another catch.

In the fading light, Sarwan’s lack of footwork saw him slash a Harmison delivery into the gully region where Ian Bell threw himself to the left and completed a Key-esque catch.

Lara accepted the responsibility of seeing his side to stumps and did so, with Gayle slowing after bringing his 50 up from 36 balls.

There is a lot to like about this English side, and certainly a lot to like about particular West Indians. The distinction between the fabric of a side and its players, however, is significant - and the scoreboard reflects such.