Learning how to love Tufnell and Caddick (5 July 1999)

5 July 1999

Learning how to love Tufnell and Caddick

Mark Nicholas

Thank heaven that's over. Another bombardment on the state of the nation hovered over the English game Friday night through Saturday morning. By lunchtime, thank goodness the vultures had flown. There was no carcass to feast upon after all, instead a feisty colt was stretching his limbs and rubbing his eyes in wonder at what a splendid place the world could be.

Probably this was not, on paper, England's best team. But the selectors' initiative to think ahead, to the West Indies at home next summer and the Ashes beyond, allowed a freshness to creep into the play and a degree of fearlessness as well. This did not come exclusively from the new captain who had a seriously testing match on which to cut his teeth well - or from Alex Tudor, of whom Martin Crowe, the man-of-the-match adjudicator, generously said: "It is time for English cricket to welcome a new hero." Nor just from Chris Read or Aftab Habib either but from a couple of old 'uns who rediscovered the spring in their step.

No side, least of all England, can afford to be without their most gifted performers. For years now, Andrew Caddick has been England's best new-ball bowler in English conditions. For even longer, Phil Tufnell has been the most natural, most likely slow bowler in the land. On largely spurious suspicion, both men have been excluded too often, treated as if they were not part of the family. Like all sportsmen who fancy themselves a bit, both have deserved a boot up the backside, but short, sharp kicks, not drawn-out pummellings which would have drained less fragile men and dissolved the Caddick/Tufnell self-esteem.

This Team England thing is all very well but it is no good everyone being prim and proper if they play like pansies. Prima donnas and devils are a part of sporting legacy. Expectation and exposure, from peers and public, strip a man to the bone. Some, the Hussains of this world, grow their own second skin. Others, the Caddicks and Tufnells, need a little TLC and it is to the new captain's immense credit that he realises this. Michael Atherton could not stomach Caddick's fallibilities and because of this refused to nurse him. First Graham Gooch, and then Alec Stewart, were not prepared to incorporate Tufnell's dark side. Sportsmen, and perhaps most specifically cricketers, cannot be switched on and off. Off comes with on, sometimes during the same day, in the same session even, and it is then that good leadership is required to embrace the tricky character rather than banish it.

Caddick is the sort who wants to be loved but knows not how to go about it. He has been prone to silly comments and irritating excuses. Initially, the England team thought he talked too much about New Zealand, which put his commitment under the microscope. Now that he is properly grown up - he has become a force in the Somerset dressing-room, which is a sign - his allegiance is no longer in doubt. If he is made to feel important he will bowl until he blisters for he has stamina and strength. Or, as Tudor put it after the match: "Caddy's got a good engine."

With his combination of height, the braced front leg which uses the height fully and the ability to swing the ball away, Caddick can be devastating. Though his start to the Test was understandably nervous, he relaxed and improved as Hussain looked after him. During his excellent spell after lunch on the first day, he was bowling as he does for his county, with power, accuracy and from close to the stumps.

Middlesex, in the form of Mike Gatting and Phil Edmonds, have been bleating about Tufnell all summer. 'The Cat' is purring, they say, and best of all they claim that he has cooled his lifestyle a little, giving cricket the devotion it deserves before it is too late. Edmonds reckons that the demands of a benefit year have helped Tufnell's insecurity and allowed him to mature without anyone telling him to do so. Gatting has noticed a great interest from Tufnell in his Middlesex colleagues. Golly, how age and responsibility can change a man!

He bowled, said Richie Benaud, "as I would expect a top-class spinner to do", which means with turn and tease and the variations in flight and pace that are prerequisite to the spinner's skill. He did not exaggerate his reaction to triumph, neither did the toys fly from the cot at frustration.

This was Tufnell the finished article. When Darren Gough is fit England will have variety and subtlety, pace and control at their disposal. Hussain already knows this and, because of it and the extraordinary twist in the tale of the first Test, really ought to rather enjoy his first summer as the boss.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph