Date-stamped : 03 Nov93 - 06:02 England are doomed to a summer of misfortune By Scyld Berry In the Ashes series of 1981 Ian Botham turned the tide. In 1972 it ebbed and flowed in the only 2-2 series England have played with Australia. Since then the outcome of every Ashes series has been virtually decided on the opening day, even in the first two sessions. So how did England approach the pressure- point that was the opening salvo at Old Trafford? They began it by posting two slips and a gully - no short- leg or other close fielder - and sent Australia in to face some anaem- ic pace bowling. On the final day Graham Gooch stood defiantly, but by then he had no more chance than Canute of turn- ing the inexorable tide. Unless there is a miraculous interven- tion of the kind that happens once a decade at most, England are doomed again this summer. It was as if they had never been away. Immediately they picked up from where they had left off in India and Sri Lanka: resigned, exuding non- commitment, misfielding, hoping not expecting, a group of in- dividuals each wanting to do well but without common pur- pose. The Australians show us how to coordinate individual ef- forts to achieve team victory. English cricket is still at the naive stage of thinking that the game is all about batting and bowling; Australians know it is about building partnerships and taking wickets. More techni- cally accomplished as a whole, they do not have to concen- trate on their inner processes but focus on those two objective aims. Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton have learnt to take sin- gles together, but no other English pairing at Old Trafford - not like Steve Waugh and Ian Healy when they mocked England`s slow-footedness. Or, if one ball set the tone of this series, it was when a ball from Phillip DeFreitas hit David Boon on the pad and bobbled to short midwicket. Boon stole a leg- bye while DeFreitas shied at the bowler`s stumps and missed, and Gooch at mid-off conceded two overthrows. Three runs for nothing: not bad cricket from England, but positive, partnership-building batting by Australia. England`s first field of the series demonstrated their attitude to wicket- taking: wait for things to happen, don`t go to the trouble of making them. Michael Slater on his Test debut was never given someone under his nose like a silly point to worry about: England let him attune so easily, almost welcoming him to Test cricket, that he got himself out twice in his first Test through over- confidence. Such enthusiasm as Gooch still has for captaincy is not communicated as it used to be. England went 13 Tests in 1984-85 without a win, and from the players` attitude in the field throughout the game - on the quiet Sunday morning a ringside photographer heard one shout of encourage- ment from one England player in two hours - their idea of winning seems to be to beat their own record, or else to set a new world record of nine Test defeats in a row (they have six). Merv Hughes probably cannot believe the putty he has been given to work on this summer. He not only had the last words but the only words. In theory, of course, he is not al- lowed to verbally intimidate or the ICC Code of Conduct has never been worth what it is printed on. Now that England have let themselves be pushed on to the slide, Lord`s is the last place to expect a turnaround. One victory since 1896, and that in 1934, is a hideous record against Australia. When roistering in the old Tavern one Victori- an evening, W. G. must have shot an albatross. The England Committee, in its finite wisdom, stands accused of wrong strategy or at best of the `mindless optimism` that Capt Blackadder detected in Hugh Laurie. Blessed with what is a pop-gun at- tack on good pitches, England had to hold on until Headingley. They had to pack their side with batting at Old Trafford, ad- ding a left-hander to tackle Shane Warne, and then they might not have failed by 9.4 overs to achieve a draw. The selectors got Peter Such`s selection right, but he should have played instead of Phil Tufnell, not as well. If England`s players at Old Traf- ford were clueless, they took their lead from the very top. Thanks:::Sunday Telegraph posted by Vicky (VIGNESWA@ecs.umass.edu) Contributed by murari (venka@*me.utexas.edu)