England team leaves for India

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, NOV. 13. England left the signs of approaching winter behind last night as it flew off to start its six-week tour of India. Every member of the squad promised that he was leaving his doubts behind too and that he was fully committed to the trip and fully focussed on his cricket; but frankly the team's hopes of winning the three-Test series are small.

The Englishmen will have to play as far above themselves as a much-stronger team did in Pakistan and Sri Lanka last winter if they are to stop an Indian team which is being outplayed in South Africa and likely to return to India, where it is always an unrecognisably better side, desperate to salvage reputations and even careers.

Without Mike Atherton, England's most experienced batsman, the regular wicket-keeper Alec Stewart, outstanding bowler Darren Gough, his new ball partner Andrew Caddick and the country's only Test-hardened off-spinner Robert Croft, there will be such a lack of international understanding that it is difficult to rate England as highly as outsiders.

So much depends on Nasser Hussain, the captain, that England will be glad it is playing on India's more peaceful pitches where at least his vulnerable fingers should keep out of trouble. His spirit is never in trouble of course. He may have lived only five years in Madras before the family moved to England but he has all the upbeat determination of men from that city.

He proved it in the first ten seconds of his departure press conference. It was interrupted by news of the crash in New York but Hussain would have no thoughts of turning back. ``All the talking has been done and it is all sorted out. We are going to concentrate on cricket - simple as that.'' Like all great leaders Hussain has the gift of the right words at the moment of crisis and it is England's good fortune that his father believed there were better opportunities for the family in Essex.

Hussain was also big enough to admit to his own doubts about making the journey in the wake of the September 11 atrocities. ``I'm like each player. I had to think about my family. but I am also England captain and that's not something you take lightly. Once I knew the feeling among the team and the management that the tour was going ahead I wanted to be part of it.''

So England will be forcefully led and there is no question that it has young cricketers with talent. The two Yorkshire bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Richard Dawson have a wonderful opportunity to capture the headlines. I have liked Hoggard since he first came into the side at Lord's a couple of years ago and dropped his first ball on a length and swung it towards the slips. He is big and strong and quicker than you think. Dawson has been bowling his off-spin in first class matches for only six months but as a batsman, bowler and fielder he has, at 21, the air of a well-taught player, the sort Yorkshire used to have in such quantities that it exported most of them to other counties.

The batting that will be under the severest scrutiny. For the first time in eight years - since the 1993 Ashes series after the last tour of India in fact - there will be no turning to Atherton unless it is to catch a glimpse of him in the Press Box or on the TV gantry. Without his steady grind, without Stewart's dash and with Hussain searching for runs at this level there will also be a heavy burden on the shoulders of Graham Thorpe and Marcus Trescothick.

So once again, as in the sub-continent last winter, much will be down to each man's ability to fight his corner. As usual Hussain found the right words: ``Character and team spirit will be the key.''

lTour itinerary: Nov. 18-20, 2001: England vs Mumbai President's XI, Mumbai; Nov. 22-24: vs Board President's XI, Hyderabad; 27- 29: vs India `A', Jaipur; Dec. 3-7: 1st Test, Mohali; 11-15: 2nd Test, Ahmedabad; Dec. 19-23: 3rd Test, Bangalore; Jan. 22, 2002: 1st one-dayer, Calcutta; Jan. 25: 2nd one-dayer, Chennai; Jan. 28: 3rd one-dayer, Kanpur; Jan. 31: 4th one-dayer, New Delhi; Feb. 3: 5th one-dayer, Mumbai.

The England squad will return home after third Test before travelling back to India for the one-day internationals.

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