CRICKET/Pakistan v England: In cricket, the sweep shot has always been regarded like Marmite: you love it or hate it. In his most pompous Daily Telegraph pomp, EW Swanton would pontificate regularly on "that infernal stroke".
England coach Duncan Fletcher, on the other hand, sees it as the key to playing spin on the dusty turners of the subcontinent. But as with the violin, if it is going to be played at all it is better it were played well.
England tried but did not manage that yesterday, and it got them into trouble on the first day of the final Test after Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan had overcome a testing start against the new ball to register their sixth opening partnership of a hundred together.
Both made half-centuries, Vaughan scoring 58, 40 of them in boundaries, with a fluency that has been lacking of late. He looked pleased to be back in the position where he has made 10 of his 15 Test hundreds.
Trescothick made exactly 50, a little more measured, before he fell to the dreaded stroke.
So too did Ian Bell, particularly naively in his case, given he had not long been in and was there to capitalise on the start. Later, Geraint Jones essayed a heave across the line that should only be aired on television after the watershed.
It left Paul Collingwood, one of three Durham players in the side after Liam Plunkett was given an unheralded debut, to bat out the day. He did so in an uncomplicated fashion, finishing unbeaten on 71 after three hours at the crease.
This was the sort of innings he manages in one-day cricket, with licence to work the ball around. He did so with particular aplomb off his legs, but played some stout strokes as well, hitting 11 fours, including three in an over from the off-spin of Shoaib Malik, the most successful of Pakistan's bowlers, and enjoying some luck on 54 when he appeared to get an inside edge to Shoaib Akhtar, whose subsequent histrionics demonstrated that Kamran Akmal's slick catch behind the stumps was good enough to send him on his way.
Umpire Darrell Hair disagreed and Collingwood survived, as did Shaun Udal, who was playing instead of Ashley Giles, who after all the fuss leading into the game was declared unfit.
And at 248 for six England, who won the toss and batted (there was enough early movement for Naved-ul-Hasan to indicate that bowling first would not have been a disaster had they done the opposite), will feel they have let a good position slide.
Collingwood, who had trouble picking Kaneria's leg-spin from his googly, did not indulge himself excessively in the sweep, which is perhaps instructive.
Not since Dick van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins has the sweep been played with so little attention to detail. Executed properly, it is a productive stroke and disconcerting to the spinner. In 1987, Graham Gooch's single-minded determination to sweep the left-arm spin of Ravi Shastri into oblivion brought him a wonderful century in Mumbai and a place in the World Cup final.
No one has played the stroke better than the former England wicketkeeper Alan Knott. He believed in using the shot accumulatively, staying low, with his head down and steady and manipulating the ball around the field.
England's approach is more aggressive, the battle-axe compared to the epee; finding the boundary is the primary intent.
So Vaughan in his brilliance swung hard and unerringly found Mohammad Yousuf at square leg. Bell paddled more sedately but found the same fielder placed at short fine leg for just such an eventuality, and Trescothick, going for broke, succeeded only in edging the ball on to his boot from which it bounced in the air for an alert Akmal to dive and slide a glove under.
A good start was wasted, for as well as Naved bowled the ball struck the middle of Vaughan's bat as it has not done for months. And while his partner took until the 10th over to get off the mark (27 balls in all), he began to collect boundaries.
Mohammad Sami conceded five to the pair in the space of eight deliveries mid-morning. After the interval, three wickets having fallen for 14 runs, it was down to Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen to repair the damage, which they did with a stand of 68.
They almost made it to tea, but Pietersen, on 34, and having hit the only six of the day over midwicket, was unable to keep the last ball of the session down as he glanced Naved. Akmal, who had an excellent day, took a one-handed catch away to his left.
Andy Flintoff contributed two boundaries before his top-edged hook was taken at fine leg by Shoaib, although not without some early misjudgment. That he made more of a meal of it than it warranted was only in character: Shoaib Actor to the last.
Guardian Service
Australia cruised to a seven-wicket victory in the third and final Test against the West Indies in Adelaide to complete a 3-0 series sweep.
Chasing 182 to win, the Australians raced to their victory target 16 minutes into the middle session of the fifth day at Adelaide Oval after resuming on 76 for two.
Opener Matthew Hayden finished 87 not out, narrowly missing the chance of becoming the third player in history to make hundreds in five successive Tests.
England First Innings
M Trescothick c Akmal b Malik 50
M Vaughan c Yousuf b Malik 58
I Bell c Yousuf b Malik 4
P Collingwood not out 71
K Pietersen c Akmal b Naved-ul-Hasan 34
A Flintoff c Akhtar b Naved-ul-Hasan 12
G Jones b Kaneria 4
S Udal not out 10
Extras (lb2 nb3)5
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Total (6 wkts, 77 overs) ... 248
Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-114, 3-115, 4-183, 5-201, 6-225.
To Bat: L Plunkett, M Hoggard, S Harmison.
Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 14-4-29-0, Naved-ul-Hasan 17-3-62-2, Mohammad Sami 14-2-53-0, Shoaib Malik 14-1-58-3, Danish Kaneria 18-2-44-1.
