Adams misses century; England gasping for breath

By Ted Corbett

BIRMINGHAM, JUNE 17. After Jimmy Adams had batted six hours and a half and then missed out a century, England was again put under pressure by the West Indies fast bowlers in the first Test at Edgbaston today.

It began its second innings 218 behind and lost opener Mark Ramprakash immediately. Two chances went down in the first five overs that should have put Hussain back in the pavilion - by Lara at first slip off Ambrose and by King at mid-wicket off Walsh - and with the ball keeping low regularly 218 looked a distant target. Lara has enough to think about at the moment and King is not one of the great fielders but those chances were simply evidence of the pitch that had no mercy for any batsman who was not at the top of his form.

When Hussain gave a third chance at eight he edged the ball to Jacobs, who took his fifth catch of the match, from Walsh who gained his seventh victim. In the following over, with the innings only 45 minutes old and only 14 scored, Graeme Hick was given out - TV replays suggested the ball missed everything - also caught behind the wicket. It was the first pair of his career. Stewart played on, much as he had in the first innings; at four for 24 Atherton, defending as stoutly as Adams, had six. Atherton and Nick Knight batted merrily for half an hour for 36 before Atherton chopped the ball on to his stumps and gave them a slap with his hand for good measure.

The Jimmy Adams show continued for almost another two hours today and the style of his innings did not change. It may have been unattractive, it may at times have been as the crowd sometimes let him know ``boring, boring'' but it was the innings of the most unselfish batsman. If only England had someone with his stamina and determination. It has in Hussain, but that poor man can hardly get the ball off the square at the moment.

Rose helped Adams for a while with more flourishing strokes before he was lbw to Gough two short of his fifty. He demonstrated to those England players who were watching closely that the pitch was far from a minefield and that bold strokes were possible. When he was eighth out at 354 Reon King blocked for an hour. Not a sight to fill the grounds round the world but an effective aid to his captain who took runs when they were offered.

Adams was still six short of his century when Walsh, the great not out batsman, arrived to guide him through to three figures richly deserved. England played cat-and-mouse with the fielders but it is only a few weeks since Adams fought for his life in Antigua and he was not about to embark on foolish singles. He seemed to have the four he needed with a soaring hit off Croft but the ball stuck like an iron shot at golf and when Walsh engineered the strike for him he hit a blazing shot which Flintoff saved at cover point and another which Flintoff caught ankle high.

So Adams was out for the first time - in a Test at any rate - in 12 hours and eight minutes. In his first innings which won the final Test of the Pakistan series in Antigua he batted 337 minutes and failed by two runs to reach fifty; in the second he batted 391 minutes and missed a century by two runs. Gough had taken five wickets for the seventh time in Tests but for the first time against West Indies.

Only a determined and dedicated man like Adams could have played such innings but we must not forget that at the same time he was captaining a Test team and talking to, nagging at and urging on his lower order colleagues. The West Indies is far from a one-man band but the conductor is a very remarkable man indeed.

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