England A Tour: Betts struggles after selectors blunder (3 March 1999)

3 March 1999

England A Tour: Betts struggles after selectors blunder

By Charles Randall in Cape Town

A DAY off for the England players, spent mostly at Cape Town's spectacular Clifton beach, must have seemed hollow for Melvyn Betts in the knowledge he had been ruled out of tomorrow's final match of the South Africa tour at Newlands.

This setback reduced the tour to a virtual wipe-out for the Durham seam bowler, who a tore a groin muscle last August and was dogged by a related injury in the same right leg during England's trip.

Betts, 23, flies out with his colleagues at the end of the tour next Tuesday, having played in three matches and bowled a mere 35.4 overs in two months. This sort of productivity would usually have accountants calling a crisis meeting, and in any case England's selectors should be given a final warning.

David Graveney and his panel made a few inspired decisions last summer - picking Vikram Solanki for this tour was one - but selecting Graham Thorpe, barely recovered from a serious back injury, for the Ashes series and Betts for southern Africa were blunders that could easily have been avoided.

Thorpe returned home after one Test against Australia in his 10th consecutive winter tour with his World Cup chances in unnecessary jeopardy; Betts, whose summer ended abruptly with an operation, was never fully fit from day one and he did not play at all in the second half of the tour. His ability was never doubted.

John Emburey, the England A coach, said that Betts could not have lasted the five-day match against the UCB President's XI at Newlands. "I feel sorry for him," he said. "He came out here wanting to prove to everyone what he could do.

"We decided to keep him out here bowling in the nets because the heat and the climate would be good for his injury."

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