Stewart, Gough drop out of winter tours

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, AUG. 28. There are two surprise selections are among the 16-strong England squad to tour India this winter. They are the Essex wicket-keeper, James Foster and the Yorkshire off-spinner, Richard Dawson. There is also a recall for Lancashire's wicket- keeper Warren Hegg.

They get their chances, for what David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, described as a ``tough test for our young players'' because of the retirement of Michael Atherton and the decisions by Alec Stewart and Darren Gough's to drop out of the winter tours. Dawson has taken 28 wickets for 29.10 and Foster has decided to suspend his course in sports management at Durham University to concentrate on his Test career. His No. 2 will be the one Lancashire star of the season Warren Hegg who has been ignored since the Australian tour three years ago.

Graveney explained: ``James Foster performed well on the 'A' side's tour of the Caribbean last winter and is an outstanding prospect who is also being fast-tracked by Essex to be a viable wicket-keeper batsman at the highest level.

Giles has to prove fitness

Ashley Giles has been included in the Test squad subject to him satisfying the selectors of his fitness ahead of the tour departure and he will be one of three spinners with Robert Croft and Dawson, who has played a key role in Yorkshire's championship side this summer. We are excited by his potential.

We have named a squad to cover both the tours to India and New Zealand, but we will review the selection at the end of the India Test series and may make alterations to account for the different conditions in New Zealand.''

Nasser Hussain, born in Madras, will lead the party and Usman Afzaal, born in Rawalpindi, will be the junior batsman. Although he has not scored heavily in the Ashes series, Afzaal, who has scored 849 runs with an average of 36.91 in first class cricket this summer, had impressed the management with his willingness to learn.

Giles, the left-arm spinner who has missed the whole of this season to have an achilles tendon operation, is expected to be fit by mid-November. Michael Vaughan is likely to be Marcus Trescothick's new opening partner now that Michael Atherton has announced his retirement.

In view of the difficulties they faced in deciding how to treat the refusniks Gough and Stewart, the selectors have produced a balanced side although everything depends on their assessment of Foster, 21, as the wicket-keeper of tomorrow from a limited list. The press conference at Lord's this morning reached surreal heights when Graveney suggested that however Gough played, if he were chosen for the one-day series, he would not be considered for the New Zealand Tests because he had declined to play in India.

Graveney and Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, were also cross-examined at length about the tour of Zimbabwe which is only six weeks away, a country with increasing political violence. Lamb defended the decision to continue with the tour by saying that if there was danger to the players it would be cancelled.

The board had contingency plans but there was no deadline. ``We have taken advice and decided that the players, whose safety is our paramount concern, will not be in danger,'' he emphasised.

Lamb has recently returned from discussions with the Indian Board of Control about the fixtures for the tour and confirmed that the Tests will now be played in Mohali, Ahmedabhad and Bangalore. The one-day internationals will be at Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi, Kanpur and Mumbai. ``We were concerned about accommodation for players, Press and the thousands of supporters who now travel with England,'' Lamb said.

Atherton calls it a day

Atherton is to retire from both international and county cricket at the end of this season. He said: ``The Oval Test Match was my last for England and I now intend to fulfil my commitments with Lancashire before retiring from cricket at the end of the current season. I have enjoyed 15 wonderful years in cricket and would like to thank all the players and staff I have been involved with at Lancashire and England since I first came into the professional game.''

The squads:

India tour: Nasser Hussain (captain), Usman Afzaal, Mark Butcher, Andrew Caddick, Robert Croft, Richard Dawson, James Foster, Ashley Giles, Warren Hegg, Matthew Hoggard, James Ormond, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan and Craig White.

Zimbabwe tour (five one-day Internationals): Nasser Hussain (captain), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Paul Grayson, Matthew Hoggard, Ben Hollioake, James Kirtley, Nick Knight, James Ormond, Mark Ramprakash, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Jeremy Snape, Marcus Trescothick and Craig White.

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