Wickham's musings from Chalke

 
England got 568 and 325, West Indies 416 and 267 so England won by 210 runs.

It was dull and cloudy on the first morning and Brian Lara put England in to bat hoping for some quick wickets. It was a mistake as the sun came out quite soon and it was good weather right through until Monday evening.

England got going well in their first innings with Robert Key finally showing some form for England. He has always looked nervous in the past but is presently top of the county batting averages and got a superlative 221 in this test’s first innings.

Andrew Strauss also looked solid and got 137 then Michael Vaughan got going and scored 103.

Flintoff came in when Graham Thorpe was out in the last over before lunch on Friday. Geoff Boycott was commentating and was incredulous that Lara was spending so much time with Banks over the field placing. He said it was obvious they should pull everyone in around the bat as Flintoff would just play carefully until lunch. Flintoff straight drove his first ball over the bowler’s head for six and Boycott said he should have known Flintoff would be different. Flintoff cut the next ball onto his stumps and Boycott said he had been right; Flintoff should have played for lunch.

The West Indies suffered two bad umpiring decisions by Rudi Koertzen in their first innings. Gayle was given out when he wasn’t and so was Lara when a ball snicked his pad but not his bat on its way to the wicketkeeper. Boycott said he was in favour of nearly all decisions going to the third umpire to check the television replays and I agree. If the West Indies had got a big score in their first innings the outcome could have been very different. Instead they were on the back foot from then on.

Chanderpaul got his head down and scored an unbeaten 128 runs but the West Indies fell short at 416.

Robert Key was getting going again in England’s second innings when Vaughan called him for a run but he was a bit slow, Vaughan hesitated, Key hesitated then Vaughan continued and Key ran on to be easily run out. Commentators blamed Key even though Vaughan was the first to hesitate because Key was ball-watching rather than watching Vaughan and he wasn’t totally committed to the run.

Vaughan went on to get his second century of the match with 101 not out; a feat not achieved at Lord’s for many years. Vaughan and Thorpe needed to get as many runs as possible on Sunday afternoon to get an unassailable lead and pushed on with frequent quick singles which are Thorpe’s trademark. When Thorpe was out Flintoff got a fast 58 including two big sixes.

In the West Indies’ second innings Chanderpaul was blatantly out when the ball hit the middle of his glove before being caught by Key but Rudi Koertzen gave him not out. It was too late in the game to make much difference even though Chanderpaul went on to get 97 not out so that he was unbeaten in both innings.

Ashley Giles left the off side temptingly open and got Lara out with a beautiful ball. Lara took two steps out to drive Giles through the covers but got bowled middle stump through a wide-open gate. The West Indies had a remote chance of getting the runs and Lara in particular likes to push along and not be defensive. After that they had to play for a draw.

Tino Best, one of the fast bowlers, has a reputation for saying nasty things to the batsmen and staring at them and had given Flintoff some stick. When Best was batting he took a wild swipe and missed completely. Flintoff came up behind him and said “Mind the windows, Tino!” The television cameras and stump microphones give a brilliant account of the game nowadays. A few balls later Tino took another wild swipe and was stumped by a mile. Flintoff wasn’t just laughing; he was guffawing like a teenager.

The last two wickets were very slow to get. A huge dark cloud was coming but the wind was very light. When there was only one wicket to fall it looked as if the game might be called off as a draw because of bad light but Flintoff got the last wicket before the cloud reached the ground. If Tino Best had batted sensibly they might have forced a draw.

Batting averages: Key 118, Vaughan 103, Strauss 86, Flintoff 32, Trescothick 30.5, Thorpe 28.5. Bowling averages: Giles 5 for 81 and nine in the match. He was man of the match.

I’m amazed that the US has managed to keep people arrested in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for so long without giving them access to lawyers or the courts. They have been held for over two years now. A few have been released to Britain but the British authorities had to assure the Americans that they would be arrested here. They were arrested but immediately released. No doubt the Americans realised this would happen but didn’t want to appear to be freeing them.

The freed men told of bad treatment and torture of inmates and I don’t think charities or aid agencies have been allowed to see the inmates much. Contact with relatives has been minimal, if at all. They have been kept in seclusion like animals in a cage. The UN has been generally quiet except for very mild criticism. No doubt the UN is very aware that it depends on the US for money and resources so it can’t be too critical.

Most countries have a law which only allows authorities to hold a person for a short time before he has to be brought to court except in the case of terrorism when indefinite arrest is possible but the Americans have taken it too far. The UN should make all countries aware that trials should always begin within a few weeks in these situations. If there is no immediate evidence people should be released.

What do the Americans think will happen in the long run? Even if they sentence all detainees to prison for long periods these men when released in many years time will still be terrorists and will have a big incentive to carry on fighting. They must also realise that there is little evidence against many prisoners who will have to be released. These people will have a real grudge.

It must be true that holding suspects for long periods without trial just encourages others to become terrorists and sets a bad example. The Americans had some justification for fighting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan but have looked like bullies throughout the whole Iraq affair and in the treatment of prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Only now have lawyers managed to start an action in the US courts to determine whether the detentions are justified. The actual trials of detainees haven’t started and don’t seem to be imminent.