Cricket: Thorpe and Vaughan elevate England on second day

By DEREK PRINGLE

MANCHESTER - It is not often that England come from behind to upstage an opponent, but Old Trafford has seen it all over the past two days.

Now, after "Inzamam the Incredible Hulk", comes the England duo of Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan, a high-wire act with a nice line in suspense after both were left dangling short of their centuries when rain cut short the second day's play.

The pair, who came together with their side ailing at 15 for 2, added an unbroken 189 for the third wicket.

England, who trail Pakistan by 199 runs are by no means out of the woods, but the follow-on ­ the most likely route to defeat ­ has at least been avoided.

Thorpe and Vaughan: the coalition actually sounds like a no-nonsense builders' outfit from Swinton. The reality though was more master and apprentice, with Thorpe, now at the apogee of his craft, being matched virtually stroke for stroke by a man in only his 11th Test.

Thorpe, who opened his scoring with a six slashed high and wide over third man off his old Surrey colleague Waqar Younis, was in sublime form for his 98 not out.

Although Pakistan did not bowl badly, anything off the optimum line or length was put away with clinical perfection and a lot of timber behind the ball.

For the most part, Vaughan was not found wanting as boundaries came regularly, 11 of them to him, 13 to Thorpe. The Yorkshire player, who passed his previous highest Test score of 76 just before tea, got bogged down after the break, but if he was frustrated he kept it out of is body language, an important skill at this level.

Spending the best part of four hours together at the crease, the pair epitomised England's recently discovered resilience and confidence. In isolation, they show that England's selection process has only just become enlightened.

Indeed, 18 months ago, when Vaughan made his debut in the lion's den of the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Thorpe was languishing at home, a disillusioned figure taking an extended break from a team caught in a endless cycle of despondency and loss.

Times and fortune have changed since then. Thorpe has rediscovered both his appetite and his form while Vaughan, incredibly kept on the margins as Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash were given their umpteenth chance to establish themselves, has done so in a fraction of the time, grasping his promotion to No 3 with gusto.

Before David Graveney and his selection panel pat themselves too firmly on the back though, let it be remembered that Vaughan, born five miles from here in Eccles, has missed nine Tests since his debut, fewer than half of them to injury. People talk of Darren Gough as a talisman, but in the last seven Tests in which Vaughan has played, England have won six.

In possession of a calm temperament, Vaughan has taken his game forward by increasing his repertoire of strokes. When he made his debut, only one or two trusted shots were used.

Buoyed with the confidence of a good start to the season, he unveiled several more including some fine hooks off Waqar and Wasim Akram. For a man who spent most of the winter on the sidelines, he also played Saqlain Mushtaq's off-spin better than might have been expected.

On a pitch as true as this, the new ball is vital and Wasim, in his last appearance on this home from homes, tore in against the wind. Thirty-five tomorrow, the sustained pace of his 1992 pomp, when he and Waqar ruled the world, has gone, but the Speedster machine still clocked one ball at 152 kph, a velocity only likely to be threatened this summer by a fit Brett Lee.

Some of the supreme skills were evident too and the ball which accounted for opener Marcus Trescothick, pitched middle stump and clipped off, a near-unplayable delivery despite the batsman's minimal foot movement.

In the next over, Waqar briefly wound the clock back as well, squaring-up Atherton with one that took the edge as it swung away. It left England contemplating ruin, a dilemma quickly calmed by Vaughan and Thorpe and their neat line in escapology.

With scarcely a false stroke between them, the only scare came when Thorpe guided one off Wasim just wide of Inzamam-ul-Haq at slip.

The first day's hero, Inzamam stood at slip in the near polar conditions as statuesque as an Emperor penguin and it would have had to land in his lap for him to take it.

Earlier in the day, at the resumption of Pakistan's first innings, England were again guilty of some slipshod fielding, when Nick Knight put down Saqlain at slip in the opening over.

Probably England's best catcher, it was the second occasion Knight had spilt a chance in the match, a ratio that raises more than an eyebrow since Duncan Fletcher improved standards.

With Rashid Latif running himself out a few overs later for a Test-best 71 as Trescothick swooped at gully and thrown down the stumps, it did not prove disastrous, except that Saqlain survived to hoick Caddick for six, a blow that did little for the tall fast bowler's ego.

He finished with 3 for 111 and when Gough ran one back into Waqar's pads, he joined Caddick and Matthew Hoggard as members of the three-wicket club.

Sharing nine wickets between your three specialist bowlers is a heartening statistic, but their cost will have to be reduced if Australia, whose bowlers are notoriously niggardly, are to be kept in within reach.

Pakistan 403 (Inzamam-ul-Haq 114, Rashid Latif 71, Younis Khan 65).

England 204-2 (G. Thorpe not out 98, M. Vaughan not out 84).

- INDEPENDENT