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| Sunday, 13 March 2005 |
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To improve, all countries must play away Tests more frequently- David Graveney by Srian Obeysekere English cricket has turned a new curve from a dark age to a potential force to be reckoned with in both forms of the game. The strong point in the game is on youth as the once masters of the game the 2007 World Cup, according to its Chairman of Selectors David Graveney. A fact best echoed by Graveney that the very purpose that: "I'm here is to have a first hand look at our 'A' team between age 19 and 20 in that build-up." In an interview with the Suday Observer, the 52-year-old former Gloucestershire, Somerset and Durham cricketer in 1970-'90, while granting that it was no mean task stopping world beaters - Australia's super reign in both forms of the game over the last decade, struck a chord for England when he said that "all good things have to come to an end." "Australia is a very fine team, but like in any sport nothing is impossible. Every cycle comes to an end," reasoned the England Chairman of selectors whose 27-year old guiding influence since 1977 in the hot seat is credited for a growing resurgence that has begun to bloom with the insulation of dashing opening batsman Michael Vaughan in the captaincy after some experimenting. If Nasser Hussein was the steadying influence at that level, it is under his successor Vaughan that the seeds have borne fruit. England has glowed with recent away Test triumphs over South Africa (2-1), Sri Lanka (2-1), Pakistan (1-0) and the West Indies a resounding 3-0 clean sweep in breaking a 40-year long jinx in the Caribbean. It is something that their Chairman of Selectors has reason to crow about, tucking into that sweet rhapsody of England taking the first ever 3-match series against Sri Lanka having lost the first Test. England is today ranked No. 2 in Tests and No. 3 in the One-Day International arena. But Graveney, hailing from a family of cricketers where Gloucestershire was like their backyard - his father Ken has to his credit 10 wickets in an innings for Gloucestershire in 1949 while his illustrious uncle Tom yet regarded as one of England's most stylish copybook right-hand batsmen, now heads one of the covenants in the game there - the Marleyborne Cricket Club (MCC), believes that for improvement, all countries should play each other more frequently away at Test level. The ODI format had also improved on the same lines, but England's drawback was that they did not play the same volume of ODI's as other countries. "We need to restructure our format so that we could play more teams by 2007. But that's just the way we are. But we are beginning to get more fixtures. Of course, a problem in world cricket was weighing quality against quantity," he remarked. Of the new England hopefuls, the Chairman of selectors saw much promise in 'A' team right hand batsman Ian Bell who belted his Sri Lankan counterparts for a century in their 197-run triumph in the first unofficial Test match last week. True, Andrew Flintoff was highly spoken about as the cog in the wheel allrounder. But there was 24-year old South African born Kevin Pietersen from Hampshire who was the latest revelation in their success in South Africa. He scored over 300 runs in his debut series and was as dependant a bowler while debut century maker Andrew Strauss added muscle to a strong line-up headed by their captain Vaughan together with Marcus Trescothick with Graham Thorpe quite the old soldier for solidity coming with experience. As to the prospect of breaking the long jinx against arch foes Australia, Graveney said, "They don't want to be the side to lose the ashes. But as I said every cycle has to end. Of course, our immediate goal is the World Cup where selections would be based on peaking by 2007." He did not think that having a former Aussie great Rodney Marsh as a selector and coach meant using someone from the other camp to use their tricks against them. It simply boiled down to eleven against eleven in the middle. What mattered was to be more positive and not make mistakes backed by big
totals to mount pressure on the opposition. |
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