Ted Dexter: Tighter rein on Lloyd would benefit England (24 May 1997)

Saturday 24 May 1997

Tighter rein on Lloyd would benefit England

By Ted Dexter

THE first selections of England`s new committee under chairman David Graveney are not only made but on view in the one-day series. This is the honeymoon period when Graveney, quite rightly, will be given the benefit of any doubt, but if results continue to go as at Headingley the portents for that honeymoon to blossom into a happy marriage appear excellent.

Win or lose the one-day series, there will be changes for the Tests, which is when the serious reckoning begins.

However, the one name which will not change is that of Michael Atherton - already given the backing of selectors for the full season, which is the kind of confidence vote I tended to prefer in my time at the helm.

So if I now have doubts about the role of the longest- serving (or surviving) England captain it is because of the relationship established over the past year with the England team coach David Lloyd. They are both Lancashire born and bred, but Graham Gooch and Keith Fletcher were equally solid sons of Essex who failed to deliver the goods. When the going got really tough it was Gooch who resigned after the 1993 Headingley Test - against Australia.

Since then Michael Atherton has survived while two chairmen of selectors, two team managers and one press relations officer have been sent packing.

I, Raymond Illingworth - as selector and manager - Fletcher and Ken Lawrence have all been held to account for England failures while the team captain blithely sails on.

Is this coincidence? Is it the strength of the Atherton personality? Or is it that The Management and captaincy of the team has become so blurred into a kind of committee endeavour that the man on the field is not considered that important? Someone has to do all that arm-waving, shrugging and looking suitably pensive in a crisis, so it might as well be good old Michael.

Looking back to March 1991, it was Tony Lewis who challenged the whole ethos of the then England committee: "Offthe-field management may be tolerable at England level but is it a formula which inhibits captaincy? Cricket teams have never been successfully run from the pavilion balcony. Micky Stewart [then team manager] is diligent, knowledgeable and patient, but his role should be as coach organiser, to facilitate the cricket wishes of the captain and to help individual players; not to dominate the work schedule, deal with the media, and give the appearance of running the show."

There have been times in the past year when Lloyd has been cast in all three of these roles. At the time I defended the England committee`s actions and Stewart in particular to a full TCCB board meeting. It was point 18 in my notes under the heading `Deal with the media`:

Throwaway line for a major problem.

Sharing the task essential.

Most of the Stewart effort to protect Gooch.

In retrospect it was a mistaken view, as particular events during the winter proved. We saw Lloyd becoming the focus of attention, appearing to enjoy it, pushed along into a management rather than an assistant role by an everwilling media.

It was reported that Lloyd, not the captain, read the riot act to the England players after the second one-day international against Zimbabwe in Harare. Much good it did them because the following match saw England play even more poorly.

WHAT then should we expect of Atherton? A good series with the bat would certainly help, and it is a surprise to me that the better footwork and balance we saw at the end of the New Zealand tour has not produced better results in England. Obviously it is easier to lead a side when doing well personally, which is a factor that may yet undermine the Australians under Mark Taylor.

What I hope to hear is plenty of straightforward cricketing comment and explanation to the media from Atherton himself, with Lloyd only allowed the platform on matters related to his specific role, namely training, fitness, practice and actual cricketing technique.

I trust that it will be Atherton, not Lloyd, who involves his team in any kind of sports psychology, if indeed anyone really needs it. Imagine putting the late, much idolised Denis Compton through such an indignity.

Some off-the-cuff comments from Graveney, Gooch and Mike Gatting suggest to me that the Lewis blueprint for the team coach will indeed be impressed on Lloyd and it will take a week or two of Test cricket before we can assess whether there has been a change of style.

The fact that a full-time press officer will accompany England tours from now on is a step in the right direction. Had there been the right man doing the job in Zimbabwe, Lloyd might have been saved from some of his own indiscretions - with great benefit to the status of the captain and the confidence of the England players.

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