EW Swanton: Benaud's Wise Words Offer Prudent Solution (7 Jan 1997)

7 January 1997

Benaud`s wise words offer prudent solution

by E. W. Swanton

THE first leaders of the new England Cricket Board, Lord MacLaurin and Tim Lamb, chairman and chief executive respectively, did not need the dire happenings in Zimbabwe to strengthen their determination to ensure a revival in the morale and techniques of English cricket.

Cricketers themselves, they have been in Harare watching England taught basic lessons by their unconsidered but not inconsiderable opponents. No wonder Ian MacLaurin has been saying: "the national team must be the focus".

Yet, with respect, the England XI can only reflect the quality of their sources, and they are the much-maligned counties. We have seen several England regimes functioning under the fierce eye of the media and some foolish things said and done. There is however a limit achievable by international coaches and managers. What matters most is the material they inherit.

In his recent book The Appeal of Cricket Richie Benaud, in the light of his long experience, sets out the Australian philosophy: ". . . my main desire was that New South Wales should win the Sheffield Shield, and the natural run-off from that would be that NSW would also be preparing cricketers to play for Australia. I cannot think of any time when my first thought was for myself and other NSW cricketers to get into the Test side." There, players play their hearts out for their State, and Test selectors on that evidence make their choices.

Few of those writing and broadcasting today can match the experience or judgment of Australia`s great captain. He has cast a benevolently critical eye on the ups and downs of our game over 40 years or so, and I would suggest that his chapter "A new structure for English cricket" should be required reading for all concerned.

Benaud demolishes the "simplistic" notion of a two-tiered Championship: "The better answer, surely, is to have all the cricketers in the 18 teams play much better and harder and with spirit within the current system."

As I have advocated more than once, the Board, from their annual surplus, could afford to offer graduated financial rewards on a considerably higher scale right down the championship. It would surely, too, be worthwhile to hold top-level seminars in the crucial areas of leadership and coaching. May prudence reign and panic be avoided.

The fact is that Zimbabwe made the very best of their limited resources. The spirit and courage of the side were shown in the excellence of their fielding and the resolution of their batting. There was quality in the opening attack of Streak and Brandes and high promise in the all-round skill of Paul Strang. What English county would not be strengthened by the presence of a wrist spinner with a Test hundred to his credit?

I will not add a second-hand version to the post mortems on England`s individuals except to underline the respective merits of John Crawley and Robert Croft. Crawley has been consistently undervalued ever since, aged 21, he made a hundred for Lancashire against the 1993 Australians, which they rated as the best innings played against them on their tour. I hope that Croft may confirm first impressions.

Not the least displeasing aspect of the ill-starred Zimbabwe tour was the lack of appreciation until the very last day by both the press and the England hierarchy of Zimbabwe`s performance.

Finally we must hope that in New Zealand John Barclay can bridge the almost unprecedented impasse in press relations. I must add that the ridicule heaped on the team in some quarters by my fellow-members of the Cricket Writers` Club has gone someway beyond fair criticism.

The one redeeming feature of the winter so far has been the success in all aspects of the England A team in Australia, managed by David Graveney and coached by Mike Gatting.

While the tour was in progress, a significant Board decision affecting Graveney was made whereby the area of discipline was removed from the brief of the 1997 chairman of selectors. It was the potential conflict of interest as regards discipline with his job as secretary of the Cricketers` Association that the association considered a bar to Graveney`s chairmanship.

Talk of selectors and of international relations leads me to say how universally Sir Alec Bedser`s knighthood in the New Year honours will have been applauded by all who have followed his career since it started in earnest in 1946. Who has better exemplified the virtues traditional to cricket?

And at what better moment could we be reminded of them?

A WORD about the Eton XI, who have just returned from South Africa, enables me at least to end this New Year contribution on an upbeat note. Their three-week tour began against three famous schools at the Cape and continued into Eastern Province and Natal against development teams of mixed African, coloured and white young players drawn from the provincial coaching schemes.

The results were respectable considering that the matches were limited to 50 overs a side, a form of cricket with which Eton were relatively inexperienced.

The captain Hugo Loudon topped the batting, and the most effective bowlers were the spinners Sunil Patel and Alex Loudon, who captained the under-15 England side last summer. Patel has Derbyshire credentials, the Loudon brothers happily are Men of Kent.

The tour was managed by John Claughton, who after 11 years is now handing over Eton cricket to Simon Doggart, son of Hubert. Claughton shared the umpiring with John Rice, Eton`s popular professional. It was neither of them, though, who in the match against Langa township called the last ball of the last over a no-ball, thus enabling the locals to win by one wicket. . .

The boys so greatly enjoyed the experience that they are keen to return.

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