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Giles spins England to victory
July 26, 2004 21:01 IST
Spinner Ashley Giles took five wickets as England crushed West Indies by 210 runs in the first Test on Monday, their seventh victory in eight Tests. Giles completed match figures of nine for 210 to help dismiss the touring side for 267 in their second innings, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul left unbeaten on 97 after his second defiant knock of the game.
The 31-year-old Giles was delighted to earn a place on the Lord's honours board following his man-of-the-match performance.
"I was dying to get on the board. It is nice to be up there and something we all dream of," he told a news conference.
Captain Michael Vaughan was equally pleased with his spin bowler.
"I am delighted with the way it came out of his hand and it put them under pressure," he said. "I batted on that and knew how difficult it would be to get 20 wickets."
Vaughan also claimed his place on the honours board with a century in each innings, only the second England batsman after Graham Gooch to accomplish the feat at the home of cricket.
"We are playing well, winning games and thriving off each other," Vaughan added.
Giles had struck the crucial blow in the morning session when West Indies captain Brian Lara was bowled for 44 by a delivery which spun sharply out of the foot holes, the slow left-armer's 100th Test wicket.
Debutant Dwayne Bravo (10) then gave Giles a simple return catch and four balls later seamer Matthew Hoggard tempted Ridley Jacobs (one) to edge a catch to Graham Thorpe in the slips.
Giles had Tino Best and Pedro Collins stumped to complete second-innings figures of five for 81, and with Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff grabbing a wicket each England polished off the tail quickly.
LATTER STAGES
Chanderpaul, who made 128 not out in the first innings, farmed the bowling in the latter stages but was left three runs short of emulating Vaughan's achievement.
West Indies captain Brian Lara said his team should not be too disheartened, referring to England scoring 391 for two on the first day as the crucial part of the match.
"The first day really cost us but the next three days we played some good cricket and fought with bat and ball, especially Chanderpaul," Lara said.
England beat West Indies 3-0 earlier this year, their first series win in the Caribbean since 1968, and completed a 3-0 victory over New Zealand on home soil last month.
They remain in second place in the ICC Test championship behind Australia.
The next test in the four-match series starts at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Thursday.
Scoreboard:
England first innings 568
(R.Key 221, A.Strauss 137, M.Vaughan 103; P.Collins 4-113)
West Indies first innings 416
(S.Chanderpaul 128 not out, C.Gayle 66; A.Giles 4-129, A.Flintoff 3-25)
England second innings 325-5 declared
(M.Vaughan 101 not out, A.Flintoff 58)
West Indies second innings (overnight 114-3)
C.Gayle b Harmison 81
D.Smith lbw b Giles 6
R.Sarwan lbw b Hoggard 4
B.Lara b Giles 44
S.Chanderpaul not out 97
D.Bravo c and b Giles 10
R.Jacobs c Thorpe b Hoggard 1
O.Banks b Harmison 0
T.Best st G.Jones b Giles 3
P.Collins st G.Jones b Giles 2
F.Edwards c G.Jones b Flintoff 2
Extras (b-5 lb-9 nb-3) 17
Total (all out, 79.3 overs) 267
Fall of wickets: 1-24 2-35 3-102 4-172 5-194 6-195 7-200 8-203 9-247
Bowling: Hoggard 14-2-65-2, Harmison 21-2-78-2 (nb-3), Giles 35-9-81-5, S.Jones 8-3-29-0, Flintoff 1.3-1-0-1
Result: England won by 210 runs
Second Test: July 29-August 2 - Edgbaston, Birmingham
Third Test: August 12-16 - Old Trafford, Manchester
Fourth Test: August 19-23 - The Oval, London