Both also had successful tours with the A side last winter in the West Indies.The left-handed Ward has had a strange career. He joined Surrey in 1992 as a 19-year-old and was sacked at the end of a moderate season but being the tenacious customer he is, he did not give up hope.For the next four years he played club cricket in Surrey and worked as a coach at the cricket academy in East Molesey run by Alec Stewart's brother, Neil. To keep the cash flow ticking over, he cleaned jumbo jets at Gatwick Airport.Then, out of the blue in 1996, the telephone rang and it was Mike Edwards, Surrey's cricket development officer, asking him back to The Oval for a net. The coach then was Tony Pigott, who was impressed by what he saw. In a practice match the next day Ward made a century which clinched it.He is a patient and highly focused batsman who, according to Mike Gatting, who has worked with him, is desperately keen to do well and knows and plays within his limitations. This fierce dedication served him well on the recent A tour, when he batted in all for 42 hours scoring three hundreds and four fifties.Yesterday he batted in his first Test with great composure. One lovely drive through extra cover off Wasim Akram might have been played by Graham Thorpe, and there can be no higher praise.
Like Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan, Ward clearly has an excellent temperament and I shall be surprised if he does not soon become a permanent member of the side.Sidebottom, who bowls fast left-arm over the wicket, learned his cricket in the North under the tutelage of his father, Arnie, who played once for England, against Australia in 1985 although his father's influence is no more than limited. Arnie has been complaining for some time about the extreme length of Ryan's flowing locks, but to no effect.Sidebottom really came to notice last year in the middle of the season with 22 wickets in four games. Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, was impressed by him and made sure he was selected for the A tour.In the West Indies he topped the bowing averages with 16 wickets at 16.81 but even so he had only taken 83 first-class wickets before this Test match.It was ironic that he owed his place in the side at Lord's to the injuries to his two county colleagues, Craig White and Matthew Hoggard, who are both contracted. When he came on in place of Darren Gough at the Pavilion End, he was obviously a little nervous and bowled a couple of bad balls. But he soon settled down and kept to a good line at a lively pace. He may easily turn out to be a better bet than Alan Mullally.. Reduced to two days, Essex and Yorkshire squabbled over bonus points and quite rightly so they may be vital come September and two more wickets in the final session would leave Yorkshire either joint top or replacing Essex in second place.
Cricket, of course, does not need a result to make it exciting or interesting, that is part of its charm, but the possibility of one does add a little spice to proceedings and that was missing yesterday. Reduced to two days, Essex and Yorkshire squabbled over bonus points and quite rightly so they may be vital come September and two more wickets in the final session would leave Yorkshire either joint top or replacing Essex in second place. Cricket, of course, does not need a result to make it exciting or interesting, that is part of its charm, but the possibility of one does add a little spice to proceedings and that was missing yesterday. There was still plenty for the cricket lover to savour, however, not least another sublime innings by Stuart Law. It is a rare thing to say in a game that is based on statistics, but it is not really the amount of runs that he scores, although it is consistently high, but the manner in which he makes them. His cover drive for example is worthy of a picture postcard but, unlike many players who excel in one area of batting, he remains elegant on both off and leg sides and off both front and back foot.Law's fifty came off 64 balls and contained eight fours, all of them crisply hit. In fact he hardly played a false shot, playing each ball on its merits and defending as assiduously as he attacked.Sadly for the home crowd the introduction of Gary Fellows precipitated a collapse.
