Scyld Berry: Time to kick the tourists when they are down (16 June 1997)

Monday 16 June 1997

Time to kick the tourists when they are down

By Scyld Berry

LORD`S is the place where Mike Atherton`s men must take a step further in their development if the Ashes are to be won. They have to learn how to keep on kicking opponents when they are down.

England excelled at Edgbaston. They were hot and they caught the Australians predictably cold. Darren Gough grew into an attack-leader, Devon Malcolm became accurate and the catching was sharp though the in-fielders stood too deep. Mark Butcher shaped as though he can settle into a polished batting line-up whose forte is handling leg-spin. The force, like the crowd, was with England, and they made it count.

But England have won single Test matches gloriously before. What they have not done since 1985 is put their foot on the throat of a major opponent and kept it there. Since then, England have not won two consecutive Tests against anybody except the minnows of New Zealand. Even in the Christchurch Test they gave New Zealand a hand-up from the floor before finishing them off in the second half.

It is not essential that England win at Lord`s in the second Test, starting on Thursday. It is essential they stay on top of Australia. For this to happen England have to re-set their sights upwards and aim for three wins in this series, budgeting for Australia to win two of the remaining five. For when Edgbaston flattened and dried out, we saw the taste for big, and rapid, hundreds which the touring batsmen have.

If England do not stay on top in the second Test, we will see the Australians raising their game as they habitually do at Lord`s, and England under-performing there once again. In the first half of 1994, and again last year, England won the first Test handsomely, went to Lord`s and let their opponents off the hook. Against India last year England were sent in on a seaming pitch and made 344 but took 130.3 overs. An aggressive team would have made 250 quickly and backed itself to dismiss India while the ball was still moving. By the series end England had lost the momentum of their opening win.

Numerous Australian cricketers, most eloquently Jack Fingleton, have testified to the uplifting effect of Lord`s. It is like going home to show mum and dad how strong and successful you have become.

On a more earthy level, when Australia last won at Lord`s, their coach Bobby Simpson remarked that the pitches came closer than any others in England to those in Australia. The London Tests are usually drier than those to the north, and Lord`s does not have the unsettling bounce of the Oval.

Still, for England to have defeated Australia only once there since 1896 makes a formidable piece of history. To overcome it, Michael Atherton has to set out the new targets and have his team con- centrate upon them. His Cambridge predecessor as England captain, Mike Brearley, needed no encouragement to kick opponents when they were down and did so with almost sadistic glee. Atherton can remind his players of the humiliations of the last four Ashes series if they need any motivaion to keep on winning.

The Lord`s crowd has a part to play. Edgbaston has long been England`s most patriotic Test ground, Lord`s the nearest to neutral. Since 1982 England have produced one ghastly performance after another - they succeeded in losing to India there in 1986 and having the worst of a draw with New Zealand - and have given spectators ever less to cheer, but the downward cycle was broken in 1995 with a triumphant win over West Indies. This time England need the corporate lunchers to return to their seats before teatime to help express the national will with the enthusiasm of Edgbaston`s spectators.

England will name the same 13, and probably the same 11 for a relaid pitch which should be more consistent in bounce than the old ones. Having Adam Hollioake as 12th man adds to the vitality. The chances of Phil Tufnell playing diminish with every rainy day. One change that England do have to make to their Edgbaston XI is to redefine the role of Andy Caddick, which is not what it should be when he is representing Somerset. When the ball is not seaming or swinging and he is third seamer, his job has to be to keep it quiet for Gough and Malcolm rather than to experiment and spray.

The second main threat to England, apart from their own hitherto lacking hunger for the kill, is the amount of domestic cricket which their players have to undertake. Gough should not have had to make any apology or defensive statement when he chose not to play for Yorkshire at the Oval this weekend. Quite the opposite: it should be assumed that every England player needs to rest between Tests, review his performance and prepare for the next in the way which suits him best. Only if that means a county match should he play in one.

To throw England players into cup semi-finals the day after a Test is to aggravate injury, jade their appetite, force them to pace themselves during Tests and jeopardise England`s chances. Thorpe dropped the dolliest of catches on Tuesday because he was not all there.The two biggest causes of England`s mediocrity in the last decade have been their thoughtless winter itineraries and the domestic cricket which the Test players have been forced to play in summer. It could make the difference between 2-2 and England regaining the Ashes.

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