England added the NatWest Series trophy to their cabinet with a crushing seven-wicket win over a demoralised South Africa at Lord’s
The Wisden Bulletin by Freddie Auld11-Jul-2003England 111 for 3 (Solanki 50) beat South Africa 107 (Anderson 3-50, Gough 2-9) by seven wickets
Darren Gough: too good for a distracted Jacques Kallis
England added the NatWest Series trophy to their cabinet with a crushing seven-wicket win over a demoralised South Africa at Lord’s. England’s bowlers skittled a sorry South Africa for only 107 – their fourth-lowest score in one-day internationals and their lowest against England – as what promised to be a classic turned out to be a cake-walk.Michael Vaughan’s decision to field first proved to be a masterstroke as James Anderson and Darren Gough again led from the front for England, making the best of the early bowling conditions in a display fit for any final. The pitch held no demons, but South Africa never recovered from a disastrous start, showing no fight against controlled and disciplined bowling from England – in which even Ashley Giles took a wicket. It was an unworthy display from South Africa, as the pressure and the big-match nerves got the better of them.The tone of the day was set as early as the third over when Smith, who was dropped second ball of the match, edged a beauty of an awaycutter to Marcus Trescothick at first slip (10 for 1). It’s been a nightmare series for Herschelle Gibbs – 117 runs from seven innings, even allowing for a 93 not out – and he again looked as if he had two left feet as his touch and timing still eluded him. And Gough put him out of his misery in the eighth over when he nicked a full outswinger to Chris Read, the wicketkeeper, for 9 (30 for 2).Morne van Wyk, making his international debut, came in at No. 3 and was understandably a touch nervy. And after he gave Anderson a bit of stick, he was cleaned up with a fullish ball which cut back and beat his expansive drive (39 for 3).England had dug South Africa in to a deep hole, and not even South Africa’s man of the moment, Jacques Kallis, could get them out of it. Kallis is to fly back to South Africa tonight for family reasons and his mind looked to be elsewhere in his short and subdued stay at the crease. Gough continued his controlled line in a remarkable opening spell of 2 for 9 from seven overs, and he got one to leave Kallis, who edged it through for Read to take a good tumbling catch (43 for 4). It was a forgettable 12-ball duck for Kallis, and a forgettable start for South Africa.Jacques Rudolph and Mark Boucher did their best to rebuild the ruins and they put together a partnership of 32 – the highest of the innings – before Rudolph was snaffled by Andrew Flintoff (75 for 5). While England had fought hard for their early wickets with attacking, yet controlled, seam bowling, Boucher then gave his wicket away. He played a lazy drive to a wide Richard Johnson delivery to give Read his fourth victim of the innings and leave South Africa in even deeper trouble (75 for 6).And, believe it or not, it got even worse as the middle and lower-order self-destructed with mindless shots when they should have been looking to eek out runs on a good batting track. Martin van Jaarsveld and Shaun Pollock put on a valuable 27 including a few handsome fours from Pollock, and then something of a rarity happened when Giles took a wicket to dismiss van Jaarsveld. Attempting to turn the ball through the on side, van Jaarsveld was undone by a hint of turn and spooned a leading edge back to a delighted Giles, for whom it was only his first wicket of the series, and second one-day scalp of the summer (102 for 7).Andrew Hall, coming in at No. 9 today, has batted in virtually every position during this series, but he self-destructed with a shot that would have shamed a batsman of any ability. Just when Pollock needed some support, Hall tried to pull a full ball from Anderson and top-edged to Vaughan at mid-on (103 for 8). Nel then didn’t do any better with a horrible heave to a straight ball from Giles and was plumb lbw (107 for 9). And Pollock rounded off a dismal batting display when he edged a swishy drive off Flintoff to Read as South Africa crashed to the lowest ODI score at Lord’s and eradicated any hopes of a repeat of last year’s England-India epic.Vikram Solanki and Vaughan then made quick work of polishing off the runs to get their hands on the pot. Makhaya Ntini did make an early breakthrough when Trescothick flashed a flat-footed drive to Hall at first slip for a duck (1 for 1), meaning Solanki was temporarily forced to curb his natural attacking instincts, and it wasn’t until the eighth over that he hit the first of his eight fours.Vaughan also made a cautious start, but picked up the pace in the ninth over with two boundaries in a row off Pollock. The first was a lofted square drive, and the second that old swivel pull. And that signalled the charge for victory from the captain.Smith gave Ntini and Pollock five overs each, after which he turned to Nel and Kallis as the trophy slipped even further away from him. However, they failed to conjure any miracles and Kallis, as he has been all series, was expensive. Solanki, in particular, took a liking to him, smacking him all over Lord’s, including a nonchalant leg-side flick for six, followed by a spanking straight drive on the up to bring up his fifty from only 52 balls.Kallis, however, didn’t take a liking to Solanki, giving him a few words of advice as Kallis – who had a stinker of a final – went for an embarrassing 33 from three overs. Nel did pick up the consolation wicket of Vaughan, who miscued him to Ntini at mid-on for an accomplished 30 (88 for 2), and Solanki chopped one on to his stumps off Andrew Hall (89 for 3) for a dazzling 50, but by then England were home and dry.Click here for the Wisden Verdict