Lancashire: Wasim needs to be back to best (1 Apr 1998)

1 April 1998

Lancashire: Wasim needs to be back to best

By Charles Randall

LANCASHIRE started preparing for the summer as the Christmas decorations were coming down, and such early momentum must make this season unprecedented.

The players began their physical training on Jan 5 at the club's state-of-the-art cricket centre, running on the Old Trafford outfield around an abandoned Christmas tree, and their short tour to Cape Town, which started recently, must seem more like a mid-season break than a warm-up.

Training discipline was seen as one of the advantages of the introduction of all-year contracts - instead of seasonal - for Lancashire's staff. The county's increasingly restless membership will be hoping that such preparation will be reflected in their 1998 championship placing.

These contracts have other advantages, such as obligating the players to help to raise the club's profile in Manchester and around the county. There has been more time to focus on vocational courses.

Lancashire have a new chairman in Jack Simmons and a new captain in Wasim Akram, who has a superb chance of restoring his fast-bowling credibility after last season's dŽb °/°°cle when his chronic shoulder injury restricted him to one championship match.

His shoulder operation appears to have been a success, Wasim returning to international cricket with Pakistan during the winter, though there is no sign yet that he has restored his wicket-taking effectiveness. It is too much to hope that in his benefit year he can emulate his 81 wickets in 1995.

Last year, with Wasim out, the county's results were definitely mediocre. Third place in the Sunday League could not compensate for early exits in the two knockout competitions and a tired 11th place in the championship, a tricky first season for Dav Whatmore, their Australian coach.

Mike Watkinson, having given up the captaincy, can concentrate on bedding in the off-spin action he remodelled over the winter.

Lancashire's bowling looks well balanced this summer, with good new-ball pedigree. Peter Martin, one of the country's best cricketers, now has Wasim to share expectations.

Spin is Lancashire's weakest suit, though probably at its strongest for a couple of decades. The new look Watkinson is an unknown quantity, and the left-armer Gary Keedy, 23, needs time to mature.

Jason Gallian, who has signed for Nottinghamshire in a perceived career-enhancing move, is the only significant player to leave.

There is no room for complacency in batting, though runs should flow from John Crawley, the new vice-captain wanting his England place back, and it will be interesting to see how effectively Mike Atherton bats.

Surely Graham Lloyd will not have as daft a season as last year because the England one-day batsman tended to choose either blanks or howitzer shells as his ordnance, with nothing in between.

Alex Flintoff, prominent in England's A tour of Sri Lanka, should emerge as a middle-order force if he can free himself of injury. Last season he followed his maiden championship hundred with a pair, a sequence which, a cynic might think, must make him clear England material. Which he is anyway.

With all-year terms, Lancashire hope, as one official said, that players are contracted "to be professional cricketers" and not paid "just to play first-class cricket".

Only once in 25 years have Lancashire improved on fourth in the championship. Each year it is said that these one-day strongmen should do better. They usually fall well short, but there is no harm in mentioning it again.

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