With barely time to unpack after the one-dayers, Bell was off again, to Sri Lanka as captain of the touring England A team. On his return to Warwickshire Bell broke the record for first-class runs in April, totalling 480 in four matches. While their checked baggage this morning will not include the famous urn, which remains at Lord's, they travel with the status of Ashes winners. It is not, however, the weight of expectation, nor the security issues, which will be on the minds of Fletcher and his captain, Michael Vaughan, as they take their seats but the question of whether they should also leave behind their attacking approach.. Age has not withered him, indeed it has merely served to increase his variety. Shaun Udal might appear to have been plucked, like a conjuror's coney, out of the electoral top hat, and his selection certainly did raise a few eyebrows, but his form for Hampshire made as pressing a case for the 36-year-old's inclusion as anything The Camberley man has most certainly improved.
His off-spin earned him 44 Championship wickets in the summer at a hugely impressive and extremely miserly 18.90.. It has been a relentless year for Ian Bell. Originally selected for England's one-day series in South Africa, he was summoned to join the Test squad in January as injury cover. England's cricketers will face a huge "mental battle" in Pakistan this winter, the team's coach, Duncan Fletcher, warned yesterday as they prepared to fly to Islamabad. Tonight ace Roy Oswalt, who twice dominated the St Louis Cardinals line-up in the National League Championship series, has to deliver if the Astros are to have a realistic chance.An even bigger worry for Houston, however, is Roger Clemens, who limped out of game one after just two innings with a strained hamstring."We're not counting him out, but this is a day-to-day situation," said the Astros manager Phil Garner..
A soaked crowd stayed on its feet cheering for minutes."I didn't think it would be that quick, or on a homer by him," Konerko said afterwards, laughing in the direction of Podsednik whose normal lack of power is a running joke among his team-mates.For Houston, in their first series appearance in the franchise's 43-year history, it is now do or die. But then Chicago slugger Paul Konerko turned the game on its head in the bottom of the seventh with a grand slam off the Astros' virtually unhittable reliever Chad Qualls.When Bobby Jenks, Chicago's own fireballing closer, took the mound at the top of the ninth, the Astros looked done. But with two on, and two out, pinch hitter Jose Vizcaino lashed a 97 mph fastball into left field for a single that scored both runners.Butthe Sox found an answer, this time in the improbable form of lead-off man Scott Podsednik. In 507 regular season games, he had not homered once, and when he came to the plate this time no one was holding their breath.But with a flat short swing, Podsednik sent the first pitch he saw from closer Brad Lidge soaring into the black night sky.At first, it looked like a harmless deep fly ball, but then the gods of the Windy City took over, and the ball carried miraculously over the centre-field fence.
