Fraser’s ten, and the gloves

England needed 247 to win the fourth Test at Trent Bridge in July 1998, and made them for the loss of two wickets on the fifth day. The card’s player of the match is Fraser, for five for 60 and five for 62. Atherton is on the card as 98 not out from 277 balls in 353 minutes, and Donald as 23 overs, eight maidens, 56 runs, one wicket.

The match to 247

England put South Africa in and Hansie Cronje made 126 in a total of 374, Fraser five for 60, Darren Gough four for 116. England replied with 336, Mark Butcher 75, Mark Ramprakash 67 not out, Donald five for 109. South Africa were bowled out for 208, Fraser five for 62 and Dominic Cork four for 60, and the target was 247. England were 108 for one at the close of the fourth day, Atherton 43, Nasser Hussain 28.

Full scorecard: England v South Africa, 4th Test, Trent Bridge, 23–27 July 1998 →

The days

The close-of-play lines: South Africa 302 for seven, England 202 for four, South Africa 92 for three, England 108 for one, end of match. Cronje was 113 not out at the end of the first day. The card notes one five-ball over, Cork’s fourth, in South Africa’s first innings. Nothing else in the notes, on any of the five days.

The fifth day

Hussain was caught by Jacques Kallis off Donald for 58 at 192.

Alec Stewart came in and made 45 not out from 34 balls with nine fours, and the match was over in the 87th over. Atherton finished two short of a hundred, with 14 fours. He had batted from the first over of the innings on the fourth afternoon to the 87th on the fifth. The card’s second-innings bowling shows Donald and Shaun Pollock with a wicket apiece, Pollock’s at a cost of eight no-balls.

What the card cannot show

The card’s coverage list carries the headline: the gloves are off. It refers to the fourth evening and to Donald’s spell at Atherton.

What was appealed for in that hour, and what was said between the two men afterwards, is the known story of the match, and none of it is on the card. The card has Atherton not out at the close of the fourth day and not out at the end of the match, and the appeal, whatever it was, left no mark on either line.

That is the point about a caught-behind decision that goes the batter’s way. A wrong out is on the card for ever, as a dismissal. A wrong not out is on the card as nothing at all, and the innings that follows it is recorded as if the ball had never been bowled.

The other guy

Fraser took ten wickets in the match, five in each innings, the only bowler on either side to take five twice. Cronje’s 126 and 67 are the top scores for South Africa in both innings; Fraser got him in the first. The card gives him the award, and on the card’s own evidence the award is right, which is not what the match is remembered for.

Andrew Flintoff was on debut for England, with 17 and one wicket. Steve Elworthy was on debut for South Africa, with 48 and 10. The umpires were Mervyn Kitchen and Steve Dunne, the series line reads level at one all, and it is Test number 1421.

What the card holds

Ten wickets for Fraser and an award. A 98 not out that took 353 minutes. A 45 not out from 34 balls that finished it. Eight no-balls from Pollock in the chase. And a headline about gloves, on a card that has no column for an appeal turned down.

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No. 24 in The Other Guy, a series of 24.

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