Toothless
Gooch lashes out at humiliated English bowlers
Posted: Tuesday December 22, 1998 11:33 AM
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Blewett finished with 169 not out in the first innings AP |
HOBART, Australia (Reuters) -- An angry Graham Gooch lashed out at England's bowlers after the tourists suffered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday on the final day of its four-day match against the Australian XI.
After declaring its second innings closed at 199 for three early Tuesday morning, England's bowlers failed miserably to contain the Australian batsmen as they enjoyed a run feast and racked up 376 for victory in just 55.2 overs.
"It was not the loss, but the manner of the loss," said Gooch, the English manager and former opening batsman.
"It was very disappointing. We were totally abject."
Greg Blewett and Corey Richards were the heroes for the Australian XI, sharing in a partnership of 345 runs to give the Australians a nine-wicket win.
Blewett, who also finished with 169 not out in the first innings, made an unbeaten 213 while Richards, the only member of the Australian XI not to have played for his country, made 138 not out.
The victory was set up after England's stand-in captain Michael Atherton, who smashed a career-best 210 not out in his team's first innings of 469-6 declared, declared his team's second innings closed at 199-3 after opener Mark Butcher had reached his century, who finished 103 not out.
That left the Australians, who declared their first innings at 293-4, needing to score 376 off a minimum of 78 overs, a task they achieved with ease, reaching their target with more than 22 overs to spare after scoring at better than a run a ball.
England's only brief moment of joy came when Matthew Elliott played on to a ball from Surrey paceman Alex Tudor.
For the most part, though, England's bowlers were hammered around Bellerive Oval. In all, England used seven different bowlers, none of whom were able to bowl a single maiden.
Blewett, who lost his place to Justin Langer in the Australian test team after failing on this year's tour of India, continued his brilliant return to form to break a host of batting records.
His unbeaten double century lifted his first class record this season to 1,175 runs -- a record for an Australian batsman before Christmas -- at a Bradman-like average of 146.88 and gave him four hundreds from his last four innings.
Against England, who face Australia in the fourth test in Melbourne on Saturday after having already lost the Ashes, Blewett smashed 20 fours and three sixes during his 180-ball, 228-minute innings.
Richards was also in a brutal mood against the England bowling attack, cracking his 138 from 142 balls as he and Blewett piled on 345 runs in just 206 minutes.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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