Walsh and Ambrose vs England, round two

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, JUNE 28. From the Lord's press box, high enough above the ground to give a bird's eye view, the pitch for Thursday's second Test between England and West Indies looks benign, almost friendly, but it could settle the course of the match in the first two sessions. Overhead cloud will produce a nasty combination with the pitch which has, according to my pet expert, ``got a bit in it.'' He grinned and added: ``I doubt if anyone will want to bat if they win the toss.''

Particularly England may not want to bat against the power of the four-man West Indies attack, led by those two big friends of ours, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. Walsh, the man of the match, and Ambrose, even tighter, meaner and more economical than ever, left the England batting line-up in tatters. With the exception of the captain Nasser Hussain, who broke his thumb and will miss both the match and the one-day international triangular series, the same batsmen, older but no wiser, will face this formidable pair. Can we expect a repeat? It seems the most likely outcome. England has lost Andrew Flintoff, 18 stones of immense promise, who was daft enough to play on after hurting the vulnerable point in his back against the Minor County Lincolnshire in the second round of the NatWest Trophy and then play in another one-day game two days later.

I thought the purpose of contracts was to protect players from the wear and tear that comes from too much cricket. Not in the lucrative one-day matches apparently. More than 10,000 turned up for a one-day floodlit game at Old Trafford last night and I hear that Lancashire pressure was applied to Flintoff to play in the second game because a big crowd was expected.

Flintoff is to be replaced by Craig White, who mirrors his fast bowling and his heavyweight batting, but who has not played in a first class match since before the first Test against Zimbabwe when he was picked for the squad but not the match. Since then he has had a mysterious fainting fit but come back to take a hat- trick in another one-day game. ``The scans taken after I fainted in the street show there is nothing wrong but it leaves you paranoid,'' says White. He will probably get a place in the lower order alongside Dominic Cork, also newly returned, while England picks between Robert Croft the off-spinner and Ed Giddins, the swing bowler who took five at Lord's against Zimbabwe.

West Indies will be without Shivnarine Chanderpaul who has a strain in his forearm, which means we have the opportunity to see the outrageously talented Ramnarine Sarwan, a right-hander among five southpaws.

England has a theory that as long as it can hang in for the first three matches of the series it still have a chance of winning. It believes that Walsh and Ambrose will be worn out by the fourth Test and it offers as evidence the way both were not used before the series began, the way they have been rested between the first two Tests and Ambrose's decision to stand down from the triangular one-day series. Alec Stewart, back in charge after a year, called for a better performance. ``You're all good players,'' he told the squad today. ``Just try to make up for the disappointing performance at Edgbaston and we'll be fine.''

He is on the path to retirement at the end of the tour and there are many rumours that Walsh will also hang up his boots before he flies home. Don't bet on it. I cannot see Walsh sacrificing so many easy wickets and Brian Lara has asked whether we can be sure that Ambrose will settle for an easy life in the village of Swetes if there is a chance of playing for West Indies again.

So there is additional pressure on the England batsmen to perform as they did in the first Test against Zimbabwe so that they can force a draw.

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