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Hollioake groin injury stretches squad to limit

By a Special Correspondent in Ruaraka

6 January 1998


BEN Hollioake has been ruled out of England A's three-day match with Kenya here tomorrow to further weaken the tourists' already stretched seam bowling resources.

The 20-year-old Surrey all-rounder sustained a groin injury during Sunday's one-day triumph on a faster scoring rate. It limited his contribution to just two overs.

``Ben's tweaked his groin muscle so he's a little bit wary,'' said coach Mike Gatting. ``He will probably need to rest it.'' It leaves the tourists limited to just strike bowlers Paul Hutchison, of Yorkshire, and Leicestershire's James Ormond following Chris Silverwood's promotion to the senior tour.

Warwickshire's Dougie Brown, who performed impressively during England's Sharjah triumph, arrives on Wednesday to strengthen the squad but will be available only for the final one-day match of their Kenya tour next Saturday.

Until then, captain Nick Knight is restricted to Mark Ealham as his only other seam bowler although both Darren Maddy and Andrew Flintoff have been lined up to share the workload.

Both were due to be pressed into service in Sunday's match following Hollioake's injury, but Maddy got the vote and claimed a wicket with his second ball and added two further victims in his next two overs.

``Darren and Andrew are both useful bowlers,'' said Knight. ``If they bowl it in the right area they will be hard to score against.'' England have still to decide whether Gloucestershire's Chris Read and David Nash from Middlesex plays as wicketkeeper.

Meanwhile, in the West Indies, Mike Atherton intends to play a guessing game over his opening partner in the coming Test series.

There has been speculation the England captain will resume his alliance with Alec Stewart, which flourished on the last Caribbean tour.

England might have lost that series 3-1, but Atherton and Stewart were a major match for the the likes of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh in 1994, scoring two hundreds apiece plus two other scores of fifty or more.

They helped themselves to a century each in the first innings at Bridgetown to set up England's dramatic victory in Barbados.

Atherton averaged 56.66 while Stewart levelled out at 53.00, fine contributions which make them the ideal couple to blunt the new ball on familiar turf.

Stewart would, though, have to be freed from the wicket-keeping duties. They look likely to return to the reliable gauntlets of Jack Russell for the series opener in Kingston at the end of the month.

Statistics prove that the Surrey player scores more consistently when he is picked as a batsman alone. However, it will all come down to the tactical balance of the side.

``You'll find out,'' said Atherton with a grin. ``Alec and I have had some good times playing together. We both had good tours with the bat last time.''

ENGLAND A (from): N V Knight (Warwickshire, capt), S P James (Glamorgan), D L Maddy (Leics), A Flintoff (Lancashire), D J Sales (Northants), M A Ealham (Kent), A F Giles (Warwicks), C M W Read (Gloucs, wkt), D C Nash (Middx, wkt), J Ormond (Leics), D A Cosker (Glamorgan), P M Hutchison (Yorks).


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Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 19:13