Signposts For The Ashes At End Of Gruelling Tour (8 Mar 1997)

8 March 1997

Signposts for the Ashes at end of gruelling winter

Christopher Martin-Jenkins end of tour report

MIKE ATHERTON: The captain was on the thinnest of ice when the New Zealand leg started with his team playing poorly and his batting desperately out of touch. True to his philosophy, he kept cricket in perspective, worked hard and emerged in a stronger position than ever at the start of his benefit season. His 118 at Christchurch was crucial.

NASSER HUSSAIN: At the heart of everything and a loyal and astute vice-captain, he was brilliant in the field throughout and brought a necessary calmness and confidence to England`s batting, which is still inclined to lack stability. Australia will try to exploit his open-faced off-side strokes but they will find him a tougher cricketer now.

ALEC STEWART: A colossus. His wicketkeeping was competent and frequently brilliant and he is the ideal No 3, able to dictate to all but the most demanding bowling, his head as still as a rock in attack and defence. Memorable 73 off 76 balls in the Test run chase in Bulawayo and lordly 173 in Auckland. The Gaffer is in his prime.

NICK KNIGHT: Returns home with a finger broken in three places and a Test career still hovering on the brink. His fielding anywhere was superb and his one-day batting smacked of a freebooter with a cutlass between his teeth but the lavish strokes outside the off-stump need to be much more circumspectly used if he is to open in the Ashes series.

GRAHAM THORPE: Should return to No 4 in the order against Australia, where his left-handedness will help him against Warne and his assertiveness against McGrath. Like Atherton, he struggled on Zimbabwe`s slow pitches, nagged from within by personal anxiety, but successive Test hundreds in Auckland and Wellington underlined his value. Fielding first-class throughout.

JOHN CRAWLEY: In Zimbabwe, he had a Test average of 83, getting his head down with the determination he showed in South Africa. On New Zealand`s true pitches, batting at No 6 gave him less chance and being run out by his partner in Auckland might have cost the game. His coolness in a crisis in Christchurch emphasised his quality.

JACK RUSSELL: Fifteen months after becoming the first man to take 11 catches, in Johannesburg, his Test career looks finished after 49 games in which he has been a credit to himself, his profession and his country. He will remain first reserve after what he calls his toughest tour: drinking tea, painting, keeping fit and killing time. Would that others cared so deeply.

RONNIE IRANI: The brightest of spirits but predictably he did not justify being chosen as the best all-rounder. Further modified his action to overcome the back pain which afflicted him in Zimbabwe and he bowled straighter than most in his one-day internationals but his confident batting needs more thought and technical tightness.

CRAIG WHITE: His long winter started with a successful A tour in Australia, briefly took in a Test and one-day reverses in Zimbabwe and turned the wrong way when he was made the scapegoat for England`s failure to take the last wicket in Auckland. Snappy bowler, fine fielder and gracious character, his batting still flatters to deceive.

ROBERT CROFT: Outstanding: 18 wickets in five Tests and a matchturning 11-7-6-3 spell on the fourth evening in Wellington. Mature performances in one-day games and some sturdy innings, too, though his scores do not yet reflect the quality of his timing. A rounded character, he equates playing for England at cricket with representing the Lions at rugby.

PHILIP TUFNELL: One set of front-page headlines for an incident he strenuously denied represented a significant improvement for a maverick who tried hard to be a responsible team member. A runout with a fast, flat throw must have pleased him as much as 14 Test wickets but he will need to be at his best to keep out Ashley Giles.

DARREN GOUGH: A most encouraging tour, especially in New Zealand where his nine wickets in Wellington proved that he will mix it with the best on a pitch with some pace in it. Happier coming on first change, he has many ways to get batsmen out but he could not break the last-wicket stand in Auckland. Needs to work seriously on his batting.

ANDREW CADDICK: Epitomised the whole tour by failing in Zimbabwe but coming good in the land of his birth. Three wickets at 42 in Zimbabwe, 14 at 24 in New Zealand but still not quite the bowler he once promised to be. He has relaxed a bit socially and fitted better into the team.

CHRIS SILVERWOOD: A promising first tour. He was cheerful, level-headed, industrious and fazed by nothing. He is strong and will get a yard quicker yet but he needs to do so without sacrificing his accuracy if he is to become a dangerous Test bowler.

ALAN MULLALLY: A chastening tour. He lost the venom which makes him so effective for Leicestershire at Grace Road, failing to control the swing of the new ball and losing both rhythm and confidence. The selectors gave up on him after nine successive Tests without a five-wicket haul.

DOMINIC CORK: Seven Test wickets at 40 represented failure after missing Zimbabwe to sort out his home life. His rhythm has gone, along with his inswinger. His hero, Ian Botham, has been unable to help and his sillier shows of aggression serve no useful purpose. The greater maturity of his batting saved his tour and he remains a cricketer of quality.

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