Comparing colossi

England’s cricketers came rudely down to earth in the rose-red sandstone of Lahore, and they remain in the old Punjab for another week as they endeavour to pick up the pieces in the one-day rubber which begins today. Less than three months after the heady Ashes parades they began the Test series as warm favourites, but after their batsmen wantonly surrendered a winning position in the first match at Multan they were seldom in the ball park as a suddenly vibrant young Pakistan team, under the shrewd guidance of English coach Bob Woolmer and serenely avuncular captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, grew into men in front of our very eyes. To be honest, the victory gladdened the spirits as it palpably cheered a country beset by so many recent tribulations, not least the ongoing aftermath of a gruesomely savage earthquake. The home players have given their entire match fees to the relief funds — and England, I fancy, might well be donating a few more batting collapses for the cause in this one-day series, for Pakistan with their tails up have always been terrific performers at the shortened game.

The chastened Englishmen will pick up their various individual and collective awards as sportsmen of the year — and why not? 2005 will forever remain a fabled summer triumph. There were even demands by some this week that the bonny, bounding boy of summer, Andrew Flintoff, was so tired — ‘knackered’ was the word — that he should miss these one-dayers and be given a couple of months off before England’s next Test adventure begins in India in the new year. Which seems extreme, even in an age of mollycoddled pro sportsmen. There are some uncannily spot-on comparisons with Flintoff and another so willing that his captains drastically over-bowled him — England’s previous preux chevalier and indefatigable master of the revels, Ian Botham.