Cricket: Caddick raises wall of sound

The roars that greeted Andrew Caddick's dismissal of Shane Warne - too late to prevent him helping Australia to pull clear of England's meagre first-innings total - were but whispers compared with the wall of sound raised when he accounted for Mike Kasprowicz, adjudged leg before next ball.

That the hat-trick delivery was just out of Glenn McGrath's reach did not really matter: Caddick had done his bit. While Phil "Cat" Tufnell was shredding Australian batting reputations at the Pavilion End, Caddick was steaming in from the Vauxhall End, still sporting that characteristic action copied from his bowling hero, Sir Richard Hadlee, and giving little away.

However, it was only what the New Zealand-born Caddick has been doing for much of the summer. There was a hiccup around the third and fourth Tests, but a spot of rehabilitation with his county, Somerset, and Caddick was back.

He has now taken 59 first-class wickets this season, including two hauls of five wickets in an innings against Australia. The first of those was in the opening Test of the Ashes series, when he took 5 for 50; the second was at the beginning of this month in the rain-ruined match at Taunton. The figures on that occasion were only slightly worse, 5 for 54.

He may have missed out on a big bag yesterday, but the three he did pick up were important. Warne had begun to look dangerously confident, a six and three fours having taken him to 30 and helped him pass 1,000 runs in Test cricket. But his first wicket was a vital one to secure: Steve Waugh has been making runs with consummate ease in the latter part of the rubber.

Caddick did it in his 11th over. Waugh was definitely beaten. The ball rapped a pad, Caddick appealed and the umpire, Peter Willey, was in no doubt. There was a feeling that Waugh had been a trifle unlucky and that the ball would not have hit a fifth stump, but the decision went against him.

Importantly, it had stopped the tourists in their tracks.

Caddick's contribution may have been more modest in numbers of wickets, but the support which he gave to Tufnell has gone a long way to restoring that confidence which the coach, David Lloyd, feared had deserted his charges after their first-day humiliation.

At least the Australians were kept in check. The onus is on the England batsmen once more.