Captain's innings heralds return of runs (16 May 1999)

16 May 1999

Captain's innings heralds return of runs

Mike Atherton

Before the tournament began, I felt good weather and England victories were vital to lift the profile of this World Cup and fire the public's imagination. Fortunately, both came together at Lord's to confound the gloomy forecasts and leave the England team in a contented mood.

With images of England's recent encounter with Sri Lanka fresh in the memory, an explosive encounter was predicted by all. At 10.30am, just after the opening ceremony, helicopters flew overhead, flares detonated and a pall of acrid smoke hung over the ground. In fact, the game turned out to be a tame affair, resulting in an England victory, the ease of which the players could scarcely have imagined.

But before that England had selection dilemmas: Nick Knight or Nasser Hussain at the top of the order? In the end the selectors went with the form choice and omitted Knight. It is difficult to argue against it as Hussain looked in good touch at Chelmsford and Knight is seriously short of form. But I have a suspicion that if England are to win they will need an in-form Knight to lead the charge. Moreover, his one-day record is good but it is difficult to see how the selectors will now fit him in. I would have persevered.

The decision to omit Robert Croft was good, reflecting as it did the conditions on the day, but Angus Fraser's omission was harder to understand. Not that Ian Austin did a bad job. Fraser, however, is a class act, a bowler of nearly 200 Test wickets for whom the conditions were ideal and who would have offered accuracy and incisiveness.

England offered up a choice of three all-rounders in Mark Ealham, Andrew Flintoff and Adam Hollioake. All had quiet, which is not to say, bad days and were stifled of opportunity. Flintoff bowled only two overs and Hollioake six, and those as the Sri Lankan innings petered out. England will have to decide whether they are happy mixing 10 overs or whether they will be prepared to weaken the batting to allow another specialist bowler to play. In the end I believe this tournament will reward the specialists rather than the bits-and-pieces cricketers, though as in all good recipes a good mix is essential.

It was one of those specialists, Alan Mullally, who put England on the road to victory. Bowling with pace, precision and movement, he dragged his team back on track after a number of early extras had betrayed their nerves. He bagged Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lanka's most dangerous players, and returned to dismiss Romesh Kaluwitharana, the one Sri Lankan who showed his true ability on the day.

It was certainly a good toss for Alec Stewart to win and by and large his bowlers tucked in. Only Flintoff looked rusty. Predictably, the Sri Lankans struggled to cope with the lavish movement on offer and they will be hoping for some warm and drier weather quickly, otherwise they really do look short of technique with the bat and firepower with the ball.

All but the last wicket fell to England's eager catchers, the best of which was Hussain at backward point to dismiss Arjuna Ranatunga. Only one half-chance was grassed and generally England looked sharp. To be picky (which is what England must be if they are to win) the ground fielding could have been sharper but equally, in the early stages, they had to contend with a slippery ball and a greasy outfield. Considering this is an area that has caused them some concern, this was an encouraging start.

It was a good day for the England captain all round. Tactically, he had a better day than his counterpart. Every time there was a choice to make he took the aggressive option - anybody walking into the ground halfway through the Sri Lankan innings could have been forgiven for thinking it was a Test match they had come to see with three slips and a short leg waiting in eager anticipation. And when the World Cup holders' last two recognised batsmen were at the crease back came Darren Gough. Wickets were clearly on the captain's mind.

Probably more significant was Stewart's return to form. His push to mid-off from Jayasuriya which brought up his fifty may not have been the most explosive piece of action of the day - who could surpass the opening ceremony? - but it was damn near the most important. It signalled the return to form of a player who must play well if England are to prosper.

Having batted at the other end on many occasions and watched him carefully from the press box on Friday, there is nothing much wrong with his technique. Scoring runs is a habit and one that had temporarily deserted him. I can tell you from experience, the longer it goes on the more debilitating it becomes for the team. He will be glad to have got that monkey off his back.

So England return to their base camp at Canterbury in good heart and the ease with which they brushed aside the holders must augur well.

If, as expected, they turn over Kenya on Tuesday, they will have four points in the bag and will be brim full of confidence. Then they can turn their attentions to the Oval and South Africa, a true test of their pretensions to glory. We will then know whether the Lord's victory was, as Hemingway said of Africa, "true at first light only to be a lie by noon".

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