One day series: Gloomy precedent shadows England (9 January 1999)

9 January 1999

One day series: Gloomy precedent shadows England

By Mark Nicholas

GIVEN that parallels with England's tour of Australia four years ago already exist - same scoreline in the Test series, torture by leg-spin, stages of humiliation during their travels - the omens for the team's chances in the Carlton and United one-day triangular series, which begins tomorrow in Brisbane, are not good.

Despite an impressive performance against Queensland yesterday, memories of last time when Zimbabwe and even Australia A gave Michael Atherton's men a rough ride, remain writ large.

In a four-team tournament, which finished with the two Australian teams contesting the best of three finals, England were woefully off the pace in the field, ran sloppily between the wickets and bowled without discipline.

These embarrassing performances came to a head in Sydney when they needed to beat Australia A in what was effectively a semi-final, and blew it absolutely. That night the name of English cricket was treated with disdain.

In truth, England's limited-overs cricket abroad has not been much better since. They were beaten 6-1 in South Africa and made nonsense of a World Cup challenge on the sub-continent. They were crushed 3-0 in Zimbabwe, drew 2-2 in New Zealand and won only one out of five in the Caribbean last year.

If all of this sounds a bit depressing, it is what happened, which is why the hyped-up optimism of the people over here in Australia, who are licking their lips at the thought of a thrilling series in the wake of England's Test match fightback, may be an exaggeration.

However, let us examine the bright side, because England have some feisty characters in their party and are not to be written off. There are only three teams this time, which should allow England to settle easier and to appraise their opponents better.

Sri Lanka are the other guests, and their myth, cultivated during and since the World Cup, has been diluted somewhat by over-exposure, fatigue and age. The huge Australian grounds may test their outfielding and hard, flat pitches may diminish the effect of their spinners.

The fabled batsmen are less used to the extra bounce in Australia, and Aravinda de Silva, the central figure whatever the power of Sanath Jayasuriya, has never scored so freely in Australia as elsewhere. What is more, he injured a thigh while batting in the five-wicket defeat by Australia A in a warm-up yesterday and could miss much of the tournament.

Finally, the legacy of the unedifying throwing affair of three years ago, which haunted Muttiah Muralitharan, has left a bad taste. Sri Lanka do not swagger in Australia, they close ranks and tend to feel sorry for themselves if things do not go their way.

Australia still swagger, but the new faces in their customised one-day unit make for a rather less daunting opposition. Names such as Dale and Gilchrist, Martyn and Young do not ring the bells of panic in the way that a Healy, a Taylor or a Slater might do. Fancy leaving Michael Slater out of a team - or Stuart Law for that matter. What riches Australia have.

The elevation of Shane Warne to the captaincy, while Steve Waugh is injured, is an amazingly generous and ambitious move by the selectors, which was approved by the Australia Cricket Board in the fastest forgive-and-forget of all time.

It could be that the spotlight may shine upon Warne rather too much for the good of the team. There are physical questions as well. Isn't a month in the hurly-burly of one-day cricket a bit too much to ask of a national treasure after his shoulder reconstruction?

Will his fielding be affected? Can he throw, for example? And what might a frantic slog do to that shoulder if 12 an over were needed on the big Melbourne boundaries.

Though Australia won 3-0 in Pakistan in November, they did not win the Commonwealth Games as they thought they would. Their one-day cricket is patchy - and a number of players are uncertain about their selection.

Batting orders have been random, bowling choices surprising and none of the young all-rounders - Ian Harvey, Shane Lee and Andrew Symonds - have made their mark. Neither have they been selected for this series.

Darren Lehmann and Ricky Ponting are there, but are hardly filling English hearts with terror. The point is that neither Australia nor Sri Lanka are as awesome as they have been previously.

England boast fine opening batsmen and fast bowlers in form. Expect Alec Stewart to have a belter of a series, and a barrage of Australian questions over why Nick Knight was not on the first leg of the tour.

Then the cracks begin to appear. There is no Graham Thorpe, so Neil Fairbrother's presence reflects the need for a playmaker - left-handed ideally - in the early middle order. He played well yesterday, but is Fairbrother fresh enough for the next level up?

Two of the clutch of all-rounders, Mark Ealham and Adam Hollioake, have some pedigree, but Vince Wells and Mark Alleyne are merely replacements for the bit part roles developed for Matthew Fleming and Dougie Brown on the misleading trip to Sharjah over a year ago.

Lancashire's Peter Martin and Ian Austin are oddly on ice and, after Fairbrother, the only reflection of their county's dominance of one-day cricket in England comes with the choice of John Crawley, whose form is all over the place.

The Carlton and United series is not particularly relevant to the World Cup which begins in May, except perhaps to see which players have got a bit about them.

England begin as third favourites for this series tomorrow, but they are more than capable of surprises if they further indicate the mix of discipline, flair and athleticism that is essential in the cauldron of Australia's night cricket theatre.

All but three of the 18 games are day-nighters during a whistle-stop tour round Australia, in which everyone plays each other five times, before the best-of-three finals are played in Sydney and Melbourne from Feb 10-14.

England party: *-A J Stewart, J P Crawley, N V Knight, N Hussain, G A Hick, N H Fairbrother, A J Hollioake, B C Hollioake, M W Alleyne, M A Ealham, V J Wells, R D B Croft, A F Giles, D Gough, D W Headley, A D Mullally.

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