ARTICLE: U-19s have defied the gloom... (P.Haigh) 6 Feb 1995

England gain upper-hand in the age game

Under 19s have defied the gloom-mongers in West Indies

By Paul Haigh

Obituarists for English cricket have been having a few  days  off
lately (events in Perth notwithstanding). There would be disquiet
in their ranks, perhaps even wild talk of mass  redundancies,  if
they  knew  what had been going on in the West Indies. An England
team, shipped out, pessimists might have thought,  like  so  many
lambs to the sport's hottest kitchen have decided they don't mind
the heat at all.  In  fact  they've  turned  tigerish.  The  bare
results  show  England  Under 19 have lost the three-match "Test"
series 1-0 with two drawn. But for once not even the most commit-
ted local supporter could contend that the mere results provide a
reliable indication of relative strengths; not even the most man-
ic  doom  merchant could argue that this tour has been a failure.
To say this England team have had odds stacked against them would
be to indulge in irresponsible understatement. No-one goes to the
Caribbean expecting to roll over the opposition. But you can ima-
gine  the consternation of manager Graham Saville and coach David
Lloyd when they found out  that  because  of  a  misunderstanding
about  qualification  dates  the  young  West  Indians  they were
scheduled to play against were not going to be as young  as  they
had thought. The West Indies thought their players only had to be
Under 19 on Sept 1 1993. The English reckoned  it  was  September
'94  and  picked their party accordingly. By the time the problem
came to light it was too late to do anything  about  it,  and  as
Lloyd says in that fruity Lancastrian accent that lends itself so
well to indignation "We haven't played an Under 19 side the whole
tour!"  Just  to compound the difficulty Lord's had decided to go
for a youth policy on the grounds that if these tours were  going
to  serve their purpose of identifying future Test cricketers the
best plan was to go as far as possible for raw talent rather than
experience.    "Most of their boys have played first-class crick-
et," says Lloyd. "Two or three of ours are still only  17  and  a
lot  of  them  have only had the odd second eleven game in county
cricket." Scenes for slaughter do not get  set  much  more  effi-
ciently,  and yet Saville joins in the indignation at the sugges-
tion that the team has done very well to holds its own.  "They've
done a lot better than that. We've beaten every island side we've
played - Barbados, Trinidad, you name it.  We've  comprehensively
outplayed  the  West  Indies for 12 whole days in the "Tests" and
only lost by 30 odd runs in St Kitts because we got caught  on  a
turning  wicket on the last day." One other point: neither man is
prepared to complain about the umpiring, but it has  to  be  said
there  is a joke going around that the real second-innings scores
in the match they lost were "West Indies 220 for 15. England  197
for  seven  all  out". No-one should make the mistake of thinking
Under 19 doesn't matter. Many sage words have been written  about
the  need for an Australian-style School of Excellence if English
cricket is ever going to break out of  its  apparently  perpetual
cycle  of  ritual humiliation. But these tours, which Saville has
been managing since 1980, have already shown dividends. The  most
profitable  so far has been the 1987 tour of Sri Lanka which gave
senior cricket Atherton, Ramprakash, Hussain, Bicknell and  Hegg.
But  graduates from subsequent tours include Crawley, Cork, Chap-
ple, oh - and Gough. This  team  of  adults  can't  speak  highly
enough  of "the terrific fighting spirit" that has been generated
under the captaincy of the formidable Marcus  Trescothick  "who's
got  all the other boys' respect anyway because he's already done
so well in county cricket". Both Saville and Lloyd are so pleased
with  all  their tourists they are loath to single people out but
names for the future include "McGrath of Yorkshire who has played
really well; young Flintoff, who has taken 11 wickets; and Solan-
ki, the off spinner, who has taken 16 - they just don't  seem  to
be  able  to  play  him at all - and is an absolutely magnificent
fielder." They're lucky in that what must be  the  most  pleasant
location  has been saved almost until last. St Vincent would have
to be a finalist for the title "most beautiful place  on  earth".
It's  hard not to warm to an island where traffic stops for a hen
and her chicks to cross the road; where the constables wear snowy
white  pith  helmets  and  the initials RSVP on their epaulettes.
Judging from the sheer size of their opponents, England are going
to  need  all their fighting spirit if they are going to maintain
their success rate in the three one-day  internationals,  two  of
which  are  played  here  this  weekend, the third in Barbados on
Tuesday. England expect to win, which is a rather frightening and
unusual  thing  to  have  to write. But whatever happens in these
three matches Saville reckons the West Indies have been  left  in
no doubt that our young cricketers are in front of theirs at this
stage. David Lloyd even dares to use the word "triumph". The obi-
tuarists aren't going to like it at all.

Thanks :: Sunday Telegraph
 Contributed by Vicky (vigneswa@sisko.ecs.umass.edu)