FROM THE ARCHIVES
A look back at a memorable moment in sporting history
T
here are some runs in this
photograph. Four hundred
and eighty to be exact, and
only one of the smiling
batsmen was out in
England’s second innings of the first
Test in Brisbane in November 2010.
That was the captain Andrew
Strauss, who made a mere 110. His
opening partner Alastair Cook made
a monumental unbeaten 235, while
Jonathan Trott was undefeated on- Those two put on 329 after the
openers had made 188.
A flurry of records were broken,
not least that this was the first time
that an England top three had all
made centuries in an Ashes innings.
Indeed, it was only the second time it
had happened in an England Test
innings, the previous occasion having
been against South Africa at Lord’s in
1924, when the men in question were
Jack Hobbs (211), Herbert Sutcliffe
(122) and Frank Woolley (134 not
out).
The match was drawn, after
England had trailed by 221 on the
first innings (which included a Peter
Siddle hat-trick), but if ever a draw
felt like a victory this was it. By the
final day there were barely any
Australian supporters left at the
Gabba, as a scarcely believing Barmy
Army taunted the home side with
chants of “Are you in England in
disguise?”
That second innings set up
England for their 3-1 series victory,
with Cook enjoying a series from the
heavens as he racked up 766 runs at
127.66. It set the tone. When England
declared on the last day with 26
overs and the final hour remaining
for Australia to bat, the scoreboard
read, with 37 extras, 517 for one —
517! At the “Gabbattoir”, remember,
where Australia had not lost since
1988 (India ended that sequence in
January this year).
This was stunning stuff. As my
colleague Mike Atherton wrote in his
match report of that final day,
“Dreaming? Drunk? Delusional?
Those tuning in to the coverage of
the Ashes in the freezing, small hours
of yesterday morning might have
been forgiven for wondering.”
Graham Gooch, the batting coach,
was so excited that he went over to
take a personal photo of it. “It’s
perfect. That’s what every scoreboard
should look like,” he told the team.
“Yeah, as long as we aren’t fielding,”
replied wicketkeeper Matt Prior, as
laughter filled the England dressing
room.
That had not always been thecase during the match. For one thing
Andy Flower, the head coach, had
missed days two and three because
he was in hospital undergoing
surgery for skin cancer. Flower had
been urged to get the growth under
his right eye checked by the team’s
security adviser, Reg Dickason, even
though it had previously been given
the all-clear in England. Dickason
probably saved Flower’s life because
the growth was found to be a
cancerous melanoma and immediate
surgery was required.Nothing on the field compared to
the emotions Flower must have been
feeling but the first ball of England’s
second innings provided a heart-in-
mouth, pivotal moment.
Strauss had made a duck in the
first innings and he could so easily
have made a pair, surviving a
perilously close leg-before shout
padding up to Ben Hilfenhaus’s first
ball.
The umpire, Aleem Dar, gave it not
out and Strauss survived the review.
Crucially England survived the 15overs on that third evening too, and
then Cook and Strauss went to work
on the fourth day.
That Cook was still doing that
calm, unfussy work of his, along with
the equally unflappable Trott, until
near tea on the fifth day was quite
remarkable. Australia simply had no
answers.
“Clueless” screeched one headline
above captain Ricky Ponting’s head
the day afterwards. How the present
England team will wish to elicit a
similar reaction this week.2010 ENGLAND TOP
THREE PILE UP 517
FOR ONE AT GABBATIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLANDSteve James24 1GS Saturday December 4 2021 | the times
From left, Trott, 135 not out, Cook, 235 not out, and Strauss, 110, led England to an extraordinary draw in the first Ashes Test of a series that they would win 3-1G
olf’s money men are obsessed
with the best players, which is
why they contrived bonus
payments for social media activity.
Yes, you can now make millions of
dollars from getting someone to post
fifth-form gags for you. It is all aboutevent in his fifth start. That victory,
at the Mauritius Open in December
2019, involved a birdie on the last to
force a play-off and made him the
third youngest winner in European
Tour history.
He was already a Junior Ryder
Cup player at that point, playing
alongside twin brother Nicolai, and
was the first player born in the 21stcentury to graduate from
qualifying school.
In August 2020 he
won again, at the ISPS
Handa UK
Championship. A
year on and he won
the European Masters
with a final round of- A week later Nicolai
got his first European
Tour win as he fended off
Tommy Fleetwood at the
Italian Open.
At the time of writing Rasmus is
hovering just inside the world’s top
100, with Nicolai at No 102, but they
are still just 20.
They could feasibly end up as
Ryder Cup team-mates and, while
you might suspect Danish bias, the
assessment of the former Europe
captain Thomas Bjorn was
unequivocal last year.
“They are some serious talent,” he
said. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen
two players this young with such a
complete package to be successful.
Technique, physique, belief and
attitude. The next 25 years will be
fun to watch.”
THE NEXT
BIG THING
Rasmus Hojgaard
5th
Hojgaard won his first
European Tour title at
the age of 18 in only his
fifth tournamentRick Broadbentthe top and Rory and DJ
and that bloke with the
flat cap and a GCSE in
science.
Few outside golf will
realise that Sam Burns,
Abraham Ancer and
Harris English are top 20
players, but dip down
another level and thereare more players bubbling
under and waiting to break
through.
Rasmus Hojgaard is on his
way. He hails from Legoland,
or rather the home of the
original park in Denmark, and
has been building a reputation.
He was only 18 when he
won his first European Tour6 Born March 12, 2001,
in Billund, Denmark
6 Twin brother of fellow
pro Nicolai
6 The twins led
Denmark to a first
Eisenhower Trophy, the
world team amateur, in2018, beating a United
States team that
included two-times
major champion Collin
Morikawa
6 Mentored by Thomas
Bjorn, the winning 2018
Ryder Cup captain6 First
player
born this
century to
win on the
European Tour.
He now has
three titleswHojgaard in action last year and, left, with his first title in 2019*