CMJ: Malcolm back in England fold (02 June 1997)

Monday 2 June 1997

Malcolm back in England fold

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

TWO of the old-style England caps, the ones with a crown rather than a coronet above the three lions, will be taken to Edgbaston when the England team gather there at lunchtime on Tuesday. They will be presented by Mike Atherton in front of the pavilion on Thursday morning to Mark Butcher and Adam Hollioake, assuming both are in the XI who start the first Test match against Australia. Butcher is certain to play, Hollioake not.

They are the two `new` caps amongst the 13 announced yesterday and their selection is no less significant than the recall of Devon Malcolm, perhaps the fittest and fastest 34-yearold ever to play for England, although no-one could have predicted that he would bowl for his country again when he walked mis- erably off at Newlands in Cape Town 17 months ago with match figures of none for 68. Soon after came the dressing-room showdown between himself and Ray Illingworth. Malcolm was not the only culprit but even he could not deny the element of truth in the criticism made against his bowling that day.

His concern now must be to forget the trauma of his 36th Test appearance for England and to make his 37th, if it comes, an altogether happier one. Whether it was wise for David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, to incur Derbyshire`s wrath by withdrawing him from the current game against the Australians is questionable. Before the game started he had bowled more overs than anyone in county cricket and 34 wickets at 19 are testament to his form.

Malcolm will be kept on his toes by the presence in the nets on Tuesday of the Surrey fast bowler, Alex Tudor, 19, who will join the team to get a feel of things. It is a clear indication that Tudor may get his chance before the season ends on quicker surfaces than Edgbaston is likely to provide, although there will be much agonising over the pitch before the balance of the final XI is decided on Thursday morning. Unless Alec Stewart opens and Holliaoke bats at six, the choices will be Hollioake or Mark Ealham and Malcolm or Phil Tufnell.

Ealham is one of four players in the 13 who did not tour Zimbabwe and New Zealand. His second first-class hundred, a brilliant catch and some wickets in Kent`s match against Nottinghamshire sealed his selection. Graveney called him yesterday "a very tidy cricketer - one to depend on".

The two Surrey batsmen have been promoted after their success in Australia with the A side managed by Graveney and coached by one of the other three selectors, Mike Gatting. They saw Butcher making seven hundreds in 14 innings there. His batting philosophy was to put bat to ball as little as he had to during the first 30 overs of an innings, which is patience of a high order. It is a trifle worrying, however, that he should have been leg-before four times in his seven first-class dismissals so far this season.

Vulnerability to inswinging balls of full length, of the kind in which Glenn McGrath and Mike Kasprowicz specialise, was one reason for the omission of Nick Knight, whom Graveney reassured with several kind words yesterday. He described him as "a fantastic team man" who needs only to spend more time at the crease. It was a straight choice between the two since Butcher is also a left-handed opener and specialist slip. His batting technique is tighter, his catching not quite in Knight`s class.

The other choice between a New Zealand veteran and a rising A teamer involved the second spinner. Tufnell had a good winter tour and has been preferred to Ashley Giles, although, like Malcolm, he knows he has to perform. The Australians will respect both but fear neither.

England Squad

age caps M A Atherton (Lancs, capt), 29 67 M A Butcher (Surrey) 24 0 A R Caddick (Somerset) 28 11 J P Crawley (Lancs) 25 17 R D B Croft (Glamorgan) 27 5 M A Ealham (Kent) 27 2 D Gough (Yorkshire) 26 17 A J Hollioake (Surrey) 26 0 N Hussain (Essex) 29 17 D E Malcolm (Derbyshire) 34 36 A J Stewart (Surrey, wkt) 34 63 G P Thorpe (Surrey) 27 37 P C R Tufnell (Middlesex) 31 27

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