M Johnson: MacLaurin's optimism could yet be supported by reality (6 Jun 1998)

6 June 1998

MacLaurin's optimism could yet be supported by reality

By Martin Johnson

ON THURSDAY morning, BBC breakfast-time viewers woke up to a programme involving David Lloyd, in which the England cricket coach was chuntering away even more animatedly than usual. Nothing strange about that on the first day of a new Test series, except that this was not a pre-match press conference but - thanks to a technicians' strike - an archive edition of Call My Bluff.

It was then that one or two of those watching on the bedroom TV might conceivably have drifted back off to sleep, and slipped into a vivid dream involving Frank Muir attempting to decipher the true meaning of the word (or on this occasion words) 'England Test team'. "Hmm," says Frank, "well-drilled commando unit. Finally ready to put years of under-achievement behind them, and give the South Africans a damn good thrashing. Yes, I think I'll go with David's definition." At which point, Lloyd reaches for his card, and flips it over. "BLUFF."

Then you wake up, recalling that every summer brings a fresh tide of national optimism, and every summer it lasts roughly as long as the England No 3 has to wait his turn to bat. About five minutes, on average. However, this time there seems to be some genuine substance behind it all - every player fit and available, and a new captain weaned on powdered Duracell. By the end of the summer, Alec Stewart will be keeping wicket to his own bowling, driving the team bus, and even flying the plane delivering the now-obligatory pre-match parachute jumpers.

This optimism even extends to the cricketing hierarchy, fresh from an executive bonding weekend in the Lake District, and creating so many new jobs at Lord's in the laudable pursuit of former glories that the England and Wales Cricket Board's next AGM may have to be held at the Albert Hall.

The most upbeat note of all is coming from the ECB's chairman, Lord MacLaurin, despite all the frustrations of his first 18 months in office. Charged with overhauling the game's domestic structure, MacLaurin's initial efforts ran into such hearty resistance from barnacle-encrusted tradition that, for the former chairman of Tesco, it was the supermarket equivalent of launching a vicious battle with Asda by moving the cornflakes to a different shelf and issuing the checkout girls with a new line in hats.

As MacLaurin settled down to watch the first day's play from the Warwickshire committee-room balcony, he said: "What do you think? Ninety for none at lunch?" This briefly made you wonder whether he was aware that England were batting, rather than South Africa, or that those perennial purveyors of doom and gloom - the press - were, even as he spoke, mortgaging the house, wife, children, and anything else they could lay their hands on - to put on South Africa at 6-4.

However, as England's batsmen settled in to post the kind of first-innings total that has so often proved way beyond them, MacLaurin's confidence proved amply justified. You even suspected him of orchestrating the glitch in the pavilion-end sightscreen - which flicked over into a Wilkinson Sword advertisement with Allan Donald in mid-run-up - just in case Michael Atherton needed any further reminder of the importance the ECB chairman attaches to image.

Atherton, one of the few men capable of looking more dishevelled at the start of a six-hour century than at the end of it, has publicly queried the relevance of razor blades to the business of scoring runs against Donald, but, says MacLaurin, none of the players has taken serious issue with his opinion that England need to smarten up their appearance as much as their cricket.

"I've told the players that I honestly don't mind if they don't shave in the morning, but if they score a century, or take five wickets, and are asked to go on TV, I'd request that they did. Our major sponsors are spending millions to enhance their own image through cricket, and it's important to them that the team presents itself in the right way.

"Having said that, the major ambition for all of us is winning, and I truly believe we are in better shape to achieve that than for a very long time. For once, we have most players fit and available, and if everyone plays to their potential, this looks to be a jolly good side."

MacLaurin's major concern is the workload on Test players - "they play far too much cricket, the strain is terrific" - a view echoed by David Graveney, chairman of selectors, who says: "It's impossible for our blokes to fulfil international and domestic cricket for 12 months of the year." Both men are hopeful that central contracts for England squad members - as is already the case in Australia and South Africa - will not be too long delayed. A committee report on this subject is expected in the autumn, and MacLaurin is, he says, "optimistic".

MacLAURIN is well aware of the growing proliferation of summer sport in England, and that the strong competition means that England - for all the remarkably loyal support they still get from the paying customers - need to start winning more often. "Cricket is not a rich sport, and success is crucial," he said.

"I am, though, hugely optimistic about the future of cricket in this country. We have highly talented players, and the set-up towards harnessing those talents is getting better all the time. If we start winning, then the whole country gets behind us - spectators, press, everyone. If the press give the team a hard time, it's because we don't play well. The players have got to accept that."

However, if MacLaurin was to tell Atherton he would never have to attend another press conference, the former captain would start shaving between overs, never mind matches. Watching Stewart's first pre-Test conference as skipper on Wednesday reminded a few of us of Atherton's inaugural performance, on this same ground in 1993, when he, too, was chipper, talkative, and unaffected by the media scrutiny that goes with the territory.

Towards the end of his captaincy, however, Atherton had become so weighed down by the constant exposure - including one celluloid exposure of his bottom through the Old Trafford dressing-room window - that it begun to spill over into his on-field demeanor. The V sign he offered to Philo Wallace in the West Indies was comparatively trivial in itself, but his refusal to apologise - despite requests to do so from ECB officials - was a sign that the constant bruising had made him lose touch with the game's essential etiquette.

However, Atherton has never regarded Test cricket as fun - if Courtney Walsh is not trying to knock his head off, then some newspaper usually is - and if every England batsmen had his attitude, results would have been a good deal better. He also remains - contrary to one report recently - unfailingly popular in the dressing-room, as the standing ovation he received from his team-mates on Thursday evening bears testimony.

The events of the first two days at Edgbaston have lightened everyone's mood, although with England, it never pays to get too carried away. In every major Test series, they seem to have one really good match in them, occasionally when it is all over, and sometimes - as was the case last summer before the Australians got properly warmed up - right at the start.

Up until now, however, it has been a rare pleasure to watch the cricket, rather than let your mind wander in despair towards some of the artificial devices now regarded as essential to enhancing crowd entertainment. The latest of them is the 'Yellow Pages Speedster', measuring the bowlers' mph, which is marginally less exciting than actually reading the Yellow Pages.

All this optimism is really rather worrying, although just for the moment the growing list of job appointments at Lord's need not quite extend - once the World Cup is over - to a summer contract for Glenn Hoddle's faith healer.

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