Hussain tipped to be new England skipper (17 June 1999)

17 June 1999

Hussain tipped to be new England skipper

Ivan Corea

Nasser Hussain is tipped to be the new England captain replacing Alec Stewart who has been sacked by the ECB according to media reports in London. The other contenders are Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash. The England & Wales Cricket Board will formally announce their choice early next week together with the name of the new coach. Fletcher, Whatmore and Birkenshaw have all been interviewed at Lord's. The Zimbabwe-born coach is the front runner. A fourth candidate, Bob Woolmer, has pulled out of the race stating he needed time to rest.

The ECB have been praised for acting swiftly - looking at the future captaincy of the England team and coach at the same time. Sri Lanka, the present World Cup holders who will relinquish the title at the end of the week will also have to make hard decisions as to the captaincy and the new coach. Sri Lanka has been advised to look overseas for a coach to stop the sliding fortunes of the island's cricketers who won the World Cup in 1996 in Lahore. There is a school of thought who are suggesting that the new BCCSL appoint Sanath Jayasuriya as captain and Mahela Jayewardena as vice--captain in the interim period. Marvan Atapattu's name has also been mentioned as a successor to Arjuna Ranatunga.

The name of everyone's lips is Mahela Jayewardena who is held in high esteem by England cricket writers. They feel he has tremendous potential. Mahela will be a great captain in the future - but he needs to win 'his spurs' and must be given a taste of leadership and responsibilities.

British television once again discussed Sri Lanka's exit in the 1999 World Cup on Channel 5's television news program. Jim Laker commented that 'anyone can be beaten in the one day game'.

Source :: The Daily News