Donald Trelford: Blueprint lands amid Test ashes (29 July 1997)

Tuesday 29 July 1997

Blueprint lands amid Test ashes

By Donald Trelford

IN a propitious piece of timing, Lord MacLaurin`s long-awaited blueprint for the revival of English cricket was handed over yesterday to the game`s ruling body, just as the national team went down to their second defeat in a row.

The counties and the management committee of the England Cricket Board can now be in no doubt that major changes are needed to the structure of the game if we are to compete at international level.

The early-season euphoria, induced by our victories in the one-day internationals, and in the first Test at Edgbaston, has now collapsed like an old tent.

And yet, even on Friday, we seemed to be so close to recovering our self-respect. With Australia at 50 for four, we let them off the hook. Graham Thorpe`s missed catch off Matthew Elliott is now destined to go down as one of the all-time lapses in Test cricket, even though our bowlers and most of our batsmen are just as much to blame for the defeat.

It is hard not to agree with Mike Brearley`s verdict that "our characters enter into our mistakes". The collective loss of morale in the field, abetted by some abject captaincy, and the repeated skittle-like collapse of our leading batsmen, point to failures of temperament as well as technique.

With a few honourable exceptions, we lack the guts of the Australians when the chips are down. We don`t mind so much being beaten, which leaves a gap in our mental defences that the Aussies have exploited ruthlessly.

Escapes from the edge of the precipice - from Peter May and Colin Cowdrey 40 years ago, through Tony Greig and Alan Knott, Ian Botham and Graham Dilley, to Mike Atherton and Jack Russell - have been the hallmark of character in English cricket.

Even in the one-day series, Adam Hollioake, in particular, showed that he has the nerve to take on the Australians and turn the tide. Brother Ben was equally unfazed at Lord`s. That was why I wanted both of them to play in the Tests. Adam`s case is surely now unanswerable.

These have not been the only failures in selection. Andrew Caddick, or Devon Malcolm were clearly better suited to a Headingley pitch which has surely reached the end of its useful life as a Test match venue.

The failure of Mike Smith, following that of last year`s prolific county wicket-taker, Simon Brown, shows up the gap in class between Test and county cricket. Neither of them are "pie-throwers", in Rodney Marsh`s memorable phrase, but too many of our county bowlers are.

Graham Gooch talked good sense about the failures of county cricket, when he retired from it on Saturday. There are too many players, some of them mediocre, he said, and talented young ones are not blooded early enough.

Gooch has not received many plaudits from this column over the years, mainly because of his attitude to David Gower, but his departure merits recognition. Those imperious drives through the offside, those clips off the pads to square leg, will always be remembered by those lucky to see them.

The highest praise I ever heard for Gooch came from Len Hutton, who said he always thought the Essex man was the most likely English batsman to beat his record Test score of 364. Gooch, of course, fell only 31 runs short in 1990.

It will be a curious irony if the month of July 1997 sees not only Gooch`s retirement, but also the end of his successor, Atherton, as England captain.

The Lancashire man is nearly right in so many ways but his woeful demeanour and tactics in the field when things go wrong must finally disqualify him from the leadership role.

A year ago, I would have plumped for Alec Stewart as a caretaker captain. Now I would say that Nasser Hussain is as ready as anyone can ever be for one of the most thankless jobs in British sport.

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