England's spirit is willing (10 January 1999)

10 January 1999

England's spirit is willing

By Scyld Berry

THIS was not like any other England defeat since 1990. Here they lost 'well', as Graham Gooch's side did in the West Indies nine years ago. Often England punched like middleweight champions but they lost because they were up against the world heavyweight champions on home ground and blessed with most of the luck.

In recent times England have scrapped only when they have been up against the ropes, when they have fallen behind in match and series and have had nothing left to lose. This time, for once, England began strongly over the first three days in Brisbane: this is the main basis of hope for the future. At the outset, when the initiative was there to be won or lost, England's bowlers and fielders performed, until the Hand of Mullally intervened. The batsmen performed too, rattling up 299 for four by the end of the third day. Here was the intensity which county cricket never knows, a very un-English enthusiasm.

Conditions were overwhelming in Perth when the pitch started damp, and in Adelaide, where the temperature passed 60C out in the middle, and the disintegrating pitch - like Sydney's - was made for Stuart MacGill after Australia had taken their fill on the opening day. England had to restructure their side too once Dominic Cork could not hold down the No 7 spot and make the ball swing; the overlap between Gooch's tracksuit management and David Lloyd's coaching needed restructuring too and must not be allowed again.

So while it was not readily perceptible, the culture of this England side was healthier than at any time since Mike Brearley, and it showed at last when England had a fair crack in Melbourne and the toss was not overly significant, and when the third umpire did not make any misjudgment.

Provided they can bottle this spirit which they have shown out here and bring it home, England should defeat New Zealand by a margin of two Tests this summer after the World Cup.

The best means to recreate the passion back home is the fielding - fielding which fires the admirable pace bowling England now possess. England's spirit was so good under Brearley largely because he had, in addition to excellent slips, Derek Randall and David Gower to swoop from cover and mid-wicket. Nasser Hussain, once he had made over second slip to Graeme Hick and gone to gully, Mark Ramprakash at cover and Mark Butcher as a utility fielder helped to recreate this tension. If Graham Thorpe's back does not improve, Ben Smith of Leicestershire will be worth a look as a middle-order back-foot batsman and the quickest cover in the country.

Exceptional catching, which takes a couple of wickets a game, is also a way to make good England's lack of an attacking spinner. The two main errors of selection, discernible in September, were glaring by the end: a reserve wicketkeeper who wouldn't make Test runs in Australia, and a superfluous second off-spinner.

The two men who should have gone, Paul Nixon and Ashley Giles, are not the best wicketkeeper and spinner in the land but they are scrappers who at numbers seven and eight would have been the best insurance against the tail-end collapses. Nixon is a poor 'keeper to spin, but in the next 20 months spin isn't going to be especially prominent as England host New Zealand, tour South Africa next winter, then host West Indies in 2000.

Apart from taking Dean Headley off when there was still a last chance in Sydney, Stewart proved an elder-statesmanlike leader, as good an England captain as any since Brearley, even if that doesn't say very much. At least his conventional captaincy errs on the up-and-at-'em side.

Beyond the next 20 months, if England want to become more than a decent mid-table side, the players must want to improve, not just maintain their places, and England have to plan for the Test tours of the sub-continent which they will be undertaking after far too long a gap. England's batting against attacking spin, in particular their almost complete inability to drive it off the front foot, remains deplorable.

It would be unwise to think any reform of the county championship or the introduction of regional cricket will provide the right domestic nursery for future Test players. A two-division championship will increase the intensity to some degree, but will never offer them the variety of experience they need if England are to compete in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000-1 and India in 2001-2.

The best grounding has to be playing 'A' Tests in Australia and South Africa, India and Pakistan. That is the only way to replicate the conditions at Sydney and Adelaide, and on the last day at Brisbane, where England were so ham-footed and vulnerable to quality spin. England's two highest scorers in this series, Hussain and Ramprakash, were their two century-makers in the 'A' Tests in Sri Lanka in 1990-91. So the ECB have to entertain 'A' tours by those countries in return, and properly, not fob them off with a few below-strength counties.

And if 'A' team cricket becomes the nursery, county cricket can do what it likes, and need no longer feel bound to stage four-day matches on sterile pitches at empty county grounds in the vague hope of replicating Test cricket. It could be played on more natural surfaces on the many attractive out-grounds England and Wales have, and return to the community where it belongs.

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