England News Round-up (1 October 1998)

1 October 1998

England News Round-up

By Peter Deeley

John Buchanan, Middlesex's former coach, expects England to be "competitive" in the Ashes series, despite the county system producing standards "well below" those in Australian first-class cricket.

He said in Brisbane: "England have got infrastructure problems that they're trying to address, but again it seems the county system is working against that, because they're protecting their own self-interests."

His coaching methods, based around computer analysis, succeeded in Australia, but were rejected at Middlesex last summer, and Buchanan said that Mike Gatting and Mark Ramprakash, the captain, had been the staunchest in their resistance.

He felt England's selectors had picked the best players for the tour, though he disagreed with the omission of Phil Tufnell as a spinner.

Leeds City Council have given outline planning application for a £30 million upgrading of Headingley, which should affect Yorkshire's plans to develop a site near Wakefield for their headquarters.

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