Tim Rice: Rankings all-stars could give Australia run for their money (6 Aug 1997)

Wednesday 6 August 1997

Rankings all-stars could give Australia run for their money

Tim Rice Talking Cricket

SEVENTY-SIX years ago, as one or two readers may possibly remember, Warwick Armstrong`s mighty Australians brushed England lightly aside almost as brutally as they had the previous winter. After the first three home Tests of 1921, England had just lost eight on the trot against the only opponents that mattered then - and in under seven months too. England recovered a little to draw the final two matches, but all in all captains J W H T Douglas and the Hon L H Tennyson, not to mention the other 28 men chosen during the series, were several blindfold jeep rides, or whatever it is that bonds sides together these days, short of a feel-good factor as the autumn drew in.

English honour was, however, restored to some extent by the 49-year-old Archie MacLaren who announced that he could raise a brand new side that could defeat Armstrong`s with an amateur line-up at Eastbourne. The star of the show was the great allrounder, G A Faulkner, in fact South African, who made 153 in the England XI second innings, having taken six for 67 in the Australians` first. Armstrong probably didn`t lose too much sleep over this unexpected reverse, but with luck got a bit of stick from any English adventurers who happened to be on his boat home.

I am sure that there is a team out there today, of players who have not represented England in 1997, that might do an A C MacLaren to Mark Taylor`s side. I would go no further than the Whyte and Mackay Rankings for guidance. These admirable lists, which have brought in nearly -L1 million for cricket in the past three years, focus on England-qualified players in all types of match - performances in all competitions, county or international, one, three or four-day, are taken into account.

The five specialist batsmen to go to Eastbourne at the end of the summer are the top five in the rankings who have not yet caught the three Gs` eyes this year - Middlesex`s Mark Ramprakash, Stephen James and Hugh Morris of Glamorgan, Darren Maddy of Leicestershire and Robin Smith of Hampshire.

The leading all-rounder as per Whyte and Mackay, thus batting at No 6 in this rankings XI, is Mark Alleyne of Gloucestershire, The wicketkeeper must also have batting form to commend him and guess who is the highest-placed gloveman in the batting lists? None other than Jack Russell, just one point ahead of Alec Stewart.

The desperately unlucky Mike Smith is top of the bowling rankings and would have waltzed into the MacLarenesque line-up, but sad to say his trip to Headingley discounts him. Darren Gough at No 2 and Andy Caddick at No 4 are also England-barred, but not so Somerset`s Graham Rose, holding down the No 3 slot, who is listed at three on the all-rounders` list as well and would be a good bet for a half-century at No 8.

Dougie Brown of Warwickshire (ranked five) is having a fine year and would take the new ball with Peter Martin of Lancashire (ranked six). The final bowling position should go to Martin Bicknell (ranked seven) of Surrey who would let no one down, but this does mean that the side is a little short of variety in attack. The first qualified spinner on the list is Peter Such, at No 17. The unavailable Robert Croft is at nine. But rules are rules and Bicknell gets the nod.

Thus we have a team to beat the Aussies, though I must emphasise that I have every confidence in the actual Trent Bridge squad. But if the rankings were to be used this way for the Tests themselves, several advantages would immediately accrue. No longer would selectors be hampered by the fact that they have to take note of what happened last time. In fact selectors wouldn`t even be needed. A fortune would be saved on expenses - phone calls, petrol and sandwiches. Above all, such a clear, fair route to an England cap would stimulate competition in county games as much as any financial inducement.

As far as this year`s MacLaren challenge is concerned, the main problem is that touring teams can`t wait to set off home 20 minutes after the final Test finishes, but if Mark Taylor can persuade his men to hang around for a match against the above Whyte and Mackay XI (captain: Ramprakash), I`m sure a reasonable purse can be found to sweeten the extension of their tour. I`d throw a few bob in for starters.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)