RAIN_WREAKS_HAVOC_27JUN1997

Friday 27 June 1997

England ready to give Lord`s eleven another vote of faith

Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

THE return to the sort of June weather which was considered almost typical in the days before scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer has created serious problems for the Australian touring team and a few, too, for the England selectors.

They had a preliminary meeting with the England captain and coach, Mike Atherton and David Lloyd, in Birmingham on Wednesday and were hoping for some county cricket between now and their final selection meeting tomorrow night to sort out bowling options for the third Test at Old Trafford next week.

Nasser Hussain had a cortisone injection on Tuesday to combat his persistent elbow injury and Adam Hollioake will therefore be needed again as cover, but there is certainly a pos- sibility that England will play an unchanged eleven for the third time in succession. If so, it would be the first time since the 1984-85 tour of India, when David Gower`s team came back from being a match down, a rare feat which the Australians remain hopeful of emulating this time.

England used only 12 players in that series in India, Neil Foster changing places with Richard Ellison for the last two games. The other nine were Graeme Fowler, Tim Robinson, Mike Gatting, Allan Lamb, Chris Cowdrey, Paul Downton, Phil Edmonds, Pat Pocock and Norman Cowans.

Vice-captain then and one of the selectors now, Gatting will recall how stability and success went hand-in-hand.

If there is stability in Australia`s team this season, it will have something to do with the weather. Normally touring teams to the UK have every chance - as England teams abroad, with many fewer fixtures, do not - of giving all their players plenty of cricket, be they in the current Test team or on the fringe.

But several of the current team are seriously short of match practice. Jason Gillespie, for example, was due to confirm that his injured hamstring had mended by playing against the British Universities at Oxford but even if there has been a totally unexpected change of weather, their three-day match will now be reduced to a single day`s play today.

It is much more likely that they will go to Southampton tomorrow to play Hampshire with a continuing problem. Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist were all due to play against the universities, along with three men short of runs, Mark Taylor and the Waugh twins, but instead of giving the sponsors of several marquees in The Parks some cricket to watch they and their colleagues were confined to a morning in the gym with their former Royal Australian Navy fitness instructor, Steve Smith, followed by indoor nets. That has been the programme for two days running.

Mark Ilott`s success at Southend yesterday was not strictly relevant to England`s deliberations but apart from sustaining Essex`s championship challenge it was a reminder to his former captain, Graham Gooch, that he is not prepared to be pushed further down the list of available left-arm-over bowlers. Mike Smith, of Gloucestershire, remains top of that particular tree but he, in common with the great majority of cricketers up and down the land, had to watch the rain coming down.

Curiously enough, it fell less extensively in Manchester than it did in most other parts but the Old Trafford groundsman, Peter Marron, described the temperature as "absolutely freezing": a genuine case of marron glac. After a brief break in the clouds had enabled Marron to uncover the Test pitch for the benefit of the chairman of selectors, David Graveney, both men said that they were quite satisfied, provided there is some sunshine between now and next Thursday to dry the turf.

Graveney said the pitch was in accordance with the in- structions to all groundsmen to prepare "the best possible pitch with an even covering of grass". The whole square at Old Traf- ford this year is greener than normal and Marron is hoping for a true surface which will allow some turn later in the game, adding that if the sun does not dry the moisture he would have to squeeze it out by rolling even more thoroughly than normal. "The trouble with that," he said, "is that it tends to reduce the pace."

If it does look like being a slow pitch, the selectors will obviously consider Phil Tufnell in place of their two under-used bowlers at Lord`s, Devon Malcolm (seven overs) or Mark Ealham (no overs at all).

Alternatively, they may want to call up Smith as a swing bowler or, more likely, Dean Headley, who is fit again and bowling well. The weather forecast being what it is neither man looks likely to have much chance to press a claim before Graveney, Mike Gatting and Graham Gooch meet again tomorrow night somewhere between Gooch`s match at Southend and Gatting`s at Headingley. Smith is in the Gloucestershire side at Luton; Headley will play tomorrow against Cambridge University at Canterbury.

The Australian manager, Alan Crompton, was bound for Cambridge yesterday, hoping to see his home club, Sydney Univer- sity, in action. "The team remains very positive," he said. "The belief is that good teams overcome these problems."

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