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If ever there was a photo that summed up a Test match (aside from Flintoff consoling Brett Lee in 2005), Pope and Swift would argue this was it. On first glance, it’s your average ‘Two England batsmen, heading to tea, on the fifth day of a Test match’ photo. Look closer though and you can almost hear what Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell are thinking. In Bell’s steely glare forward, there is an uncharacteristic desire to hang around until the end of the innings, to be the gutsy middle order batsman that many have doubted he could be. Collingwood’s lowered head implies satisfaction in a job done (he surely would have revelled in his marathon knock of 40) but a knowledge that there are tougher times post tea. And the handshake, slightly awkward for the mismatch of glove and hand, is a touching sign of respect for one another, a gesture that says ‘Well played mate, now let’s go on and get that draw’.
They did go on, fighting together amongst a circle of South African fielders for almost two hours in the last session. And their four hour partnership was the most compelling piece of cricket since Colly, with the help of KP in the first innings, scrapped and scraped a draw in the first Ashes test in Cardiff. As then, the swing and miss tailenders will take the headlines for their bravery in the last few overs but the hardwork was done yesterday by messrs Collingwood and Bell. In facing a combined 401 balls, they have once again made the Test match draw one of the most compelling of spectacles in sport.
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