C Randall: 'Investors' depressed by absentee internationals (1 Jul 1998)

1 July 1998

'Investors' depressed by absentee internationals

By Charles Randall

IT is very bad luck on the Balconiers that Surrey, the championship leaders, have travelled to Swansea without six of their Test players to play a Glamorgan team without two of theirs - Waqar Younis and Robert Croft.

The depleted nature of the two teams today is a poor reward for the group of several hundred cricket lovers who put their money where their hearts lay last winter to ensure Glamorgan would not end their association with St Helen's as the county had indicated.

As luck would have it, even Sunday's AXA League match features the two bottom teams in the table, which does promise macabre interest if not a strong-selling event.

The Balconiers, who include Clive Hemp, father of the Warwickshire batsman David, intervened with a £10,000 guarantee when Swansea's city council declined to become involved.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for the connoisseurs on the distinctive high terracing at St Helen's is the expected absence of Saqlain Mushtaq on what is often a spinner's pitch. Surrey's Pakistan off-spinner has been preoccupied with the illness of his father, who has been flown to London from Lahore for liver treatment.

Ian Salisbury is still recovering from a groin injury. He is the leading England-qualified spinner by a long way in a miserable summer for slow bowlers, with 25 championship wickets to his name, nine more than his nearest challenger Min Patel, the Kent left-armer.

At Southampton, Zac Morris is due to make his first-class debut when Hampshire meet Gloucestershire. The left-arm spinner replaces the injured Shaun Udal, who misses only his second match in seven years.

With Alex Morris in Hampshire's side, Zac joins a small band of brothers who play championship cricket together - the Swanns (Northamptonshire), Hollioakes (Surrey) and Newells (Sussex). The Frasers of Middlesex play only one-day games, and the Butchers and Rollins represent different counties.

Adrian Rollins would have been playing against his brother today in Derbyshire's match against Essex if Robert had not withdrawn injured.

John Morris returns to Durham's championship side after a month out with a torn calf muscle, and he is likely to become an opener, the problem position, against Leicestershire at Darlington.

Despite their laudable climb to third place, Durham have not yet beaten a strong side. A win against Chris Lewis's Leicestershire would certainly take care of that reservation, but heavy defeats by Kent and Yorkshire suggest victory might be beyond them.

Northamptonshire are hoping Mal Loye, their prolific batsman, recovers from a viral illness before their game at Worcester.

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