ILLINGWORTH_QUITS_27MAR1996

Quiet end to Illingworth experiment

BY CHRISTOPHER MARTIN-JENKINS, CRICKET CORRESPONDENT

IT was formally confirmed yesterday that Ray Illingworth voluntarily opted out of his managerial role with the England cricket team during weekend conversations with Dennis Silk, chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board.

Thus ended a year`s experiment with a "supremo" ushered in with the following words, delivered last March, by A. C. Smith, chief executive of the TCCB: "We believe we have to look elsewhere for a man to rekindle the pride and passion in playing cricket for England, a motivator, who is also an expert cricketer, somebody who will raise team spirit and get the best out of individual players and the team as a whole. Our choice is Raymond Illingworth."

If only words won Test matches and World Cups. They do not and the mood was more cautious at Lord`s yesterday when the Board`s executive committee discussed who should take on the coaching role this summer, narrowing their decision down, it may safely be assumed, to the two most probable candidates, David Lloyd and John Emburey.

Lloyd leaves on Lancashire`s pre-season tour to Jamaica today. On Thursday, Emburey goes to Johannesburg in his new capacity as Northamptonshire`s coach. How quickly an announcement is made will depend on how free either man is to give at least some of his time to the England team this season, and on how long it takes to negotiate terms with the relevant county. Illingworth is believed to prefer Emburey as his successor, believing him to be a sound and cool thinker on the game, but it must be to some extent an embarrassment that he is starting a new job as a county coach (and would-be player) just when an even more important role is in the offing.

No doubt one of the Acfield conclusions will be that the captain should be given more freedom than Illingworth was prepared to allow Atherton.

The new man, whether he is Lloyd or Emburey, will only be appointed for this season`s six Tests and six one-day internationals and his designation will be coach not manager, at least until the Acfield Working Party have made their recommendations in late July or August. The odds must be, however, that the coach will carry on next winter and beyond.

Illingworth and the coach will select teams this season with three others: the captain - Illingworth has already said that he intends to reappoint Mike Atherton - plus two other selectors. The Board are now asking their 20 members (the 18 counties plus MCC and Minor Counties) for nominations for these two posts to be submitted soon before holding a ballot, if necessary. The whole process will take about a fortnight.

No doubt one of the Acfield conclusions will be that the captain should be given more freedom than Illingworth was prepared to allow Atherton. There was a time when a captain was sufficient, but the realities of life with the modern media makes some sort of managerial or coaching help essential, even at home.

The task, first officially undertaken by Micky Stewart in 1986, has proved thankless, simply because England have too few worldclass players. The best of them are inconsistent partly because they are worn out by too much cricket and further jaded by the mental trauma of failure.

When, in 1989, Ted Dexter took over as Stewart`s "running mate" in the role of the first paid chairman of English cricket, he expressed the view that his whole life hitherto had prepared him for that role. He resigned in 1993, while England were losing a series to Australia for the third time in five years.

Only last March, a fourth Australian triumph prematurely ended Keith Fletcher`s "five-year" appointment as manager/coach. Illingworth replaced him halfway through his contract because England had lost 15 times and won only five matches under his control.

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