CMJ: Maynard seizes the moment for maximum effect (22 September 1997)

Monday 22 September 1997

Maynard seizes the moment for maximum effect

Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

THE best team won the County Championship just as the better team had won the Ashes. The manner of Glamorgan`s final victory brooked no argument: 24 points alone guaranteed the triumph and 24 points they got.

The best-balanced attack in county cricket bowled out Somerset twice and two batsmen who might between them have had 10 times their total of seven England caps provided the necessary weight and pace of scoring. There must have been fears that the weather would intervene once more - almost 2,000 overs lost to rain has been Glamor- gan`s recent plea - but the pace with which Matthew Maynard scored on Friday and Hugh Morris, Robert Croft and Adrian Shaw on Saturday made sure that the chance was seized.

Glamorgan, like Kent - beaten into second place by only four points yet earning only -L32,000 compared to Glamorgan`s -L70,000 from Britannic Assurance - won only eight matches, which is fewer than any championship-winning side this century. The rain, however, distorted that picture and Maynard put his side`s success down mainly to the self-belief throughout the team, so evident in the way that the captain himself, as fine a timer of a cricket ball as anyone playing, batted in the last two matches against Essex and Somerset.

"We`ve become much more aggressive this summer, in a positive way," he said, hitting back thereby at Surrey, who had accused them of the opposite. The objective view of that drawn match at the Oval surely had to be that it was Surrey who lacked the aggression for failing to declare after Graham Thorpe had rescued them with one of the finest innings of the season. Their captain, Adam Hollioake, is no Stuart Surridge yet. As for Kent, the final analysis shows that they effectively lost the championship by the one run they failed to get to beat Somerset at Taunton. Sixteen points for a win became eight for a draw with the scores level; and, subsequently, four points in arrears of Glamorgan instead of four in front.

It has been said that Glamorgan do not have the resources to sustain their improvement, but if that was true in 1948 and 1969, the years of their two previous titles, it no longer is. The beautiful ground at Sophia Gardens is now entirely within their control and a major redevelopment is imminent. Under the shrewd guidance of their chairman, the steel executive David Morgan, they also found the money to attract an outstanding coach this season in the quietly spoken, technically wise Duncan Fletcher from Zimbabwe; and the moment that they signed Waqar Younis at the end of last season was the one when the players knew they would have the quality to win. Waqar is believed to have earned some -L80,000 plus a -L20,000 bonus for winning the championship.

The joy of more than 3,000 Welsh at Taunton on Saturday raised again the question of whether artificial boosts to the championship, other than increased prize money all the way down the table, are really needed. As if to prove it, at least half that number were at Hove on Saturday for a match between the teams in 12th and 17th place.

The counties may have been split on two divisions but not on the question of retaining an overseas player. One glance at the successful sides this season shows why. Paul Strang was invaluable for the nearly-men of Kent; Stuart Law superlative throughout for the NatWest winners, Essex; and Allan Donald still irresistible for the Sunday champions, Warwickshire. Surrey, the Benson and Hedges winners, did not have their man Saqlain Mushtaq for long enough to sustain their championship challenge, but Yorkshire`s firm presence in every competition was due in no small measure to Darren Lehmann. Leicestershire, notwithstanding miserable luck with the weath- er, missed Phil Simmons. Neil Johnson was useful but not a matchwinner.

Gloucestershire, like Yorkshire, do not have much to show for their successful season, but Jack Russell was mobbed when he claimed his 1,000th victim on Saturday and he remains the model of professionalism and commitment to all the matches he ever plays in. Mike Atherton was the batsman he caught and I wonder if he thought better of the strategy that has kept Russell out of the Test side for three series as he left the field, ready for a break and the Caribbean challenge to come.

Gloucestershire were another county to invest wisely. The unsung Shaun Young from Tasmania, who won a Test cap only fortuitously, was yet another impressive overseas Australian. Both in county and Test cricket Australia`s high standards were obvious. The man of the season, despite Maynard, Steve James, Mike Smith, Graham Rose and Ben Hollioake, was surely Mark Taylor.

Never was a man under greater media scrutiny than Taylor was at the start of this tour; dogged by his long run of failures with the bat. His conduct in the deepest adversity was impeccable; his cen- tury in the first Test at Edgbaston heroic; his satisfaction when Australia turned the series round profound beyond imagining. They did it by their own excellence, the quality of Shane Warne, Glenn Mc- Grath, Steve Waugh, Ian Healy and the rising stars - Matthew Elliott, Ricky Ponting and Jason Gillespie in particular.

Gillespie`s serious back injury - he is to miss the next six months despite being lightly bowled in England - is a reminder that even the most dedicated and carefully handled young fast bowlers are not machines; and that Dean Headley and Darren Gough are not alone. For them and for England it was a season which flattered to deceive but the high points at Edgbaston and the Oval, following the demo- lition of an underprepared Australia in the one-day internationals, showed that the gap is narrowing.

A few random points, finally: the most surprising result: Sussex chasing 300 plus in the NatWest quarter-final against Derbyshire after 12 months in which they had parted company with six capped players, an entire committee and their coach; and Somerset 2nd XI, who, set 612 to win by Warwickshire, scored 605. The most disappointing international players: Dominic Cork and Robert Croft, both, I hope, only temporarily. The most disappointing teams: England after the first Test - dropped catches lose matches - Lancashire and Derbyshire. Unsung heroes: Scotland, Eastbourne, Caldy, the Bradfield Waifs, Charlotte Edwards of England; Jon Lewis of Durham; and Jon Lewis of Gloucestershire. Departing heroes: Denis Compton and Alan Gibson; Barrie Meyer and Jack Bond; Graham Gooch and Tim Curtis.

The likeliest damp squib: a world tournament next year at Disneyland (financial wrangles have intervened). The most exciting development: professional cricket on long summer evenings - floodlit or otherwise. The largest moral come-uppance: Oatlands Park, a haven of good club cricket in Surrey since 1967, who sold their ground to a developer and wound up the club to gain some -L50,000 for each member, only to find the local council have refused building permission.

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