The Hindu : England will be tough to beat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 19, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

England will be tough to beat

England's 2-0 win over Sri Lanka suggests India will take on a home side bristling with confidence when the Test series gets underway. England will indeed be hard to beat.

This is not a bad England outfit. What I like about the side is the number of options it has. In Alec Stewart the team possesses a 'keeper who can make the eleven as a specialist batsman. And the blossoming of Andrew Flintoff has provided Nasser Hussain's team more depth. So we have two places saved; places where the selectors can fit in additional bowlers or batsmen.

When we had a situation where the side's leading paceman Andrew Caddick was rendered hors de combat, England could still push forward and force a thrilling victory since it had Matthew Hoggard, Alex Tudor and Flintoff as the pace trio, apart from left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, who chipped in with vital wickets.

Even with its pace spearhead down, England had four regular bowlers, without compromising on the batting depth. How one wishes India had similar alternatives!

England appears to have found a stable opening pair as well in Marcus Trescothick, who loves taking the battle to the bowlers, and Michael Vaughan, a technically well-equipped batsman.

And in the top and middle-order, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart have all made runs. The Indian attack, sans its best bowler outside the sub-continent — Javagal Srinath — has a real challenge before it.

Above all, England has in Hussain — who appears to have the knack of extracting the best out of the side — a confident captain who sends the right signals to his men.

I liked the manner in which England achieved the target of 50 runs from six overs in the final Test, with the openers, playing good common sense cricket, providing their side a victory with a lot to spare.

A word of praise is due to the English selectors for persisting with cricketers they had faith in, despite failures. Butcher and Flintoff are classic examples. The selectors realised both had the ability, and picked them despite earlier disappointments.

English cricket was in the doldrums not so long ago, with the game losing popularity rapidly. However, Hussain has obviously managed to turn things around, even with the limited resources at his command.

The notable aspect of England's performance in the last two years is that it has managed to win away from home. England clinched the away Test series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and significantly, the triumphs in both these countries were achieved with the spinners playing major roles. If Giles was the pick in Pakistan, off- spinner Robert Croft enjoyed telling success against the Lankans.

Similarly, England could well have levelled the series in India had rain not intervened in the Bangalore Test. Hussain's men managed to win a Test in New Zealand too, even if the series was finally drawn.

There is a lesson to be learnt from England's performances. If the desire and self-belief are there, then a side can even overachieve.

www.krishsrikkanth.com

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