Thorpe fires warning for jubilant England

Almost everyone expected England to crumple again in 1994 after their Trinidad humiliation. But although they lost that series 3-1, their immediate response to 46 all out was to secure a stunning victory in Barbados.

"It's important not to get too down when you lose or too high when you win," said Thorpe as hundreds of England supporters began partying in the Sabina Park stands.

"We can enjoy this. You should celebrate whenever you win. But when we get to Trinidad later this week we must start preparing all over again.

"There will be tougher days ahead, that's for sure, and we can expect another battle in the Second Test. What we have to do is stop the West Indies from getting back the initiative."

Thanks to a dream-like spell of fast bowling by Harmison, a top-class supporting performance from Matthew Hoggard, a couple of outstanding catches and a bit of good fortune, England stormed to victory at a bewildering rate of knots.

But until the West Indies lost 10 wickets for 34 runs in 18 overs on the fourth morning, this opening match of the series had been a real contest.

Young home batsmen Devon Smith and Ryan Hinds bailed out their vastly more experienced colleagues in the first innings, then the new tearaway twosome of Fidel Edwards and Tino Best gave England's top order some heart-stopping and bone-threatening moments with 90mph-plus deliveries.

In the end, with Edwards sidelined by a back strain, Vaughan's men managed to claw out a 28-run lead which proved so psychologically important. But no one could have forecast what followed.

Harmison was almost speechless after finishing with seven for 12 and England looked nearly as stunned as their opponents.

"It was just one of those barmy days," said Thorpe. "We've bowled out the West Indies cheaply at home on a couple of occasions, but we've been on the receiving end over here and it was incredible to see the wickets keep falling."

England, of course, cannot expect Harmison to reproduce yesterday's results on a regular basis.

For a start, the Sabina Park pitch was bouncy from the outset and probably at its quickest on the fourth morning. On top of that, as the Durham paceman admitted, just about everything went right for him from the moment Chris Gayle flashed hard and Thorpe held a terrific, head-high catch at third slip.

What England will hope, though, is that Harmison can consistently trouble batsmen by regularly hitting the right line and length and then allowing his pace and lift to do the rest. He barely wasted a delivery yesterday whereas his biggest fault in the past has been giving batsmen too many free balls.

Harmison's attitude has also been questioned, as recently as in Bangladesh before Christmas when he quit the tour with a back injury. But if the 25 yearoldcan adjust to different pitches around the Caribbean then there is no reason why he shouldn't remain a real handful for the rest of this series.

The pitch in Trinidad, where the Second Test starts on Friday, will be slower and less bouncy than the Sabina Park surface. But, as Thorpe knows, it is perfectly possible for big fast bowlers to enjoy themselves there.