England-A tour: Emburey opts for diplomacy (12 January 1999)
THE name Eddo Brandes should be cropping up again soon, because the Harare chicken farmer, who humiliated Michael Atherton's England team two years ago, has been included in a provisional list of Zimbabwe players selected to contest the five-day
12-Jan-1999
12 January 1999
England-A tour: Emburey opts for diplomacy
By Charles Randall in Harare
THE name Eddo Brandes should be cropping up again soon, because
the Harare chicken farmer, who humiliated Michael Atherton's
England team two years ago, has been included in a provisional
list of Zimbabwe players selected to contest the five-day 'Test'
and three one-day internationals against the England A tourists.
Brandes' hat-trick helped to complete Zimbabwe's 3-0 one-day
series success against England and heaped the final insult on
David Lloyd after the England coach's exasperated verdict on the
drawn Test in Bulawayo that England had "murdered 'em".
England's indifferent diplomacy and a supposedly arrogant
attitude during their short tour surprised their hosts and upset
several of those closely connected with Zimbabwean cricket,
including Alastair Campbell, the captain, but John Emburey,
Lloyd's assistant coach, said yesterday that the whole episode
was a result of a strategy that had backfired.
Emburey, back in Harare as coach of the England A tour, said that
the England of two years ago wanted to present an unyielding
front, and his explanation implied that management policy was to
blame for the furore rather than the players.
He explained: "I don't think people knew about it at the time,
but the big thing was that we decided to concentrate on 'us'.
It's difficult, when the dressing-rooms are next door, to totally
ignore the opposition, especially when they're trying to be
friendly. We went out there to be aggressive, playing hard but
fair. It just didn't work out. Zimbabwe played exceptionally well
and showed us what teamwork was all about."
Emburey guaranteed that the present England A tour under Michael
Vaughan would be "totally opposite" to the Atherton one. He said
his tourists were a young and "very sociable" side.
"They are very much aware of what our responsibilities are as
England cricketers and they also realise what they've got to do
as a cricket team, and that is to win. We'll be mixing with the
opposition and we'll be drinking with them after the game. We'll
go back to some of the older ways."
A rainstorm ruled out England's afternoon practice yesterday,
though they managed some rough and ready nets for a couple of
hours at the Alexandra Sports Club near their hotel in Harare.
Their first match is against a Country District team at the
Harare South ground on Saturday.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)