Date-stamped : 26 Aug96 - 06:40 England drop Lewis after his late arrival By Christopher Martin-Jenkins Lewis blows his latest chance to prove himself CHRIS LEWIS burnt his boats yesterday. A brilliant natural crick- eter who has been given more than his fair chance to establish himself this season, he was picked for next week`s Texaco inter- nationals against Pakistan, only to be dropped before the team was announced. He arrived 40 minutes late for yesterday`s team practice and his explanation that he had had a puncture was not accepted, partly because, despite having a mobile phone, he had apparently made no attempt to ring the Oval. Attempts to contact Lewis on his phone from the England dressing room elicited only an answering machine message. After a 10-minute discussion between Ray Illingworth, chairman of selectors, David Lloyd, the coach, and Mike Atherton, the cap- tain, Lewis was told that his place in England`s party of 13 would go to Dean Headley, of Kent, who might well have been play- ing for England since the start of the season had he not suffered a hip injury. Lloyd denied allegations that Lewis had been late for practices earlier in the current Test match but he was an hour late for the very first practice of the season, before the first one-day international, also at the Oval. It is clear that this was the final straw. The selectors have stuck their necks out on Lewis`s behalf this season, bringing him back into the side against India after he had missed last season, because of a hip injury, for Not- tinghamshire, who had backed him with a long contract but become disaffected by his erratic form and temperament. Having taken 15 wickets at 23 against India, he has bowled wildly against Pakistan and made no impact with the bat. He had a poor match at Headingley after missing Lord`s with a thigh injury, and it was not until after he had pushed his luck too far yesterday morning that he produced a brilliant piece of fielding to run out Asif Mujtaba and bowled a spell which combined pace with accura- cy. Lewis is not the only member of the current Test team to be left out for this week`s matches. John Crawley and Nasser Hussain, both very effective one-day players for their counties, are omit- ted to make way for Matthew Maynard, the likely captain of this winter`s A tour to Australia, and Graham Lloyd, son of the coach, who gets the place as the "dasher" which went to Alistair Brown against India. Had Brown been in better form for Surrey since his hundred at Old Trafford in the third of the first round of one-day internation- als, he would surely have been retained. Even by the standards of the last decade, when new England crick- eters have appeared and disappeared like new car models, the selectors have been in an experimental mood this season. Already 23 players have represented England in the one-day and five-day games and Hollioake, Headley and Lloyd will increase the number to 26. Ronnie Irani has claimed one of the all-rounder places in the party of 13. The other has gone not to Mark Ealham, just back for Kent after recovering from his rib injury, but to Adam Hollioake, who is the classiest batsmen of the three. His bowling, reduced in pace since boyhood because of back trouble, now relies on shrewd variations. I trust he will be given at least two of the three games, at Old Trafford, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, to show what he can do. Even by the standards of the last decade, when new England crick- eters have appeared and disappeared like new car models, the selectors have been in an experimental mood this season. Already 23 players have represented England in the one-day and five-day games and Hollioake, Headley and Lloyd will increase the number to 26. Only some of the changes have been for reasons of injury. Having established Atherton, Stewart, Hussain, Thorpe, Knight and Craw- ley as the top six batsmen, there would have been something to be said for keeping them together for the last week of the interna- tional season. Hussain has fielded brilliantly in addition to batting well and will not thank the selectors for depriving him of more high-profile matches, even if his county, with their championship aspirations, will. Likewise, Crawley, after waiting the whole season for a reappearance, has had a strange reward for scoring his first Test century. If being a one-day specialist was the prime reason for sticking with some of the Test batsmen but not all of them, there was a case for restoring Graham Hick, with all that his all-round cricket offers, and a plausible one for giving Atherton a rest and allowing Alec Stewart to take charge for a week. As it is, Atherton or Stewart, who will keep wicket, may drop down the ord- er to allow Nick Knight to open. It is the bowling which the selectors need to sort out before making up their minds about the winter tours. Peter Martin makes a welcome return, given the fact that, unlike Lewis, he is reli- able, but Andrew Caddick and Dominic Cork are notable omissions. Cork has lost form and Illingworth said yesterday that he might miss the first half of the winter tour, to Zimbabwe, to undergo a course of leg strengthening exercises, designed to protect his knees from the continued hard work which lies ahead. ENGLAND 13 (for Texaco Trophy one-day series against Pakistan): *M A Atherton (Lancashire), N V Knight (Warwickshire), -A J Stewart (Surrey), G P Thorpe (Surrey), M P Maynard (Glamorgan), G D Lloyd (Lancashire), R C Irani (Essex), A J Hollioake (Surrey), R D B Croft (Glamorgan), D Gough (Yorkshire), D W Headley (Kent), P J Martin (Lancashire), A D Mullally (Leicestershire). Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)