The insistence that they should all wear the same type and colour of cap and helmet is long overdue and the party of 15 players looked smart and unified in practice yesterday for the first of the three matches against Australia for the Texaco Trophy, which begins at Headingley today. But the passion for secrecy remains. England's XI will not be named until the toss is made this morning.
An educated guess might be that John Crawley, Dean Headley, Ashley Giles and Ben Hollioake will be the four left out. Despite a good deal of rain in these parts of late and not an excess of warmth, the pitch looks dry but in the expected fine, chilly weather Robert Croft will probably be the only slow bowler and it is a fair surmise that both the Yorkshiremen, Darren Gough and Chris Silverwood, will join Phillip DeFreitas as the main fast bowlers, with Mark Ealham and Adam Hollioake in support.
Having made a blazing double hundred here in April, Graham Lloyd will presumably be preferred to Crawley at five, behind Mike Atherton, Nick Knight, Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe. Any doubts about Knight's damaged finger, although it is still protected, were cleared by the comfort with which he was plucking the slip catches out of the air in practice. Silverwood is no longer the baby of the team and most of the cameras yesterday were being pointed at Ben Hollioake, whose first appearance might come on Saturday on his home ground. He is taking all the publicity in his stride.
Australia will make a final choice between two bowlers in their nominated 12. Andy Bichel will not be risked, so either Brendon Julian or Mike Kasprowicz will join Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne, with Greg Blewett, and perhaps the Waugh twins, acting as fifth bowler.
In another sense, this is the end of an era. Next year we shall see the first triangular tournament to be held in England and it is a safe bet that there will never be another summer here with only three one-day internationals. Until now these matches have either been like those tasty little appetisers which chefs like to offer their guests at expensive restaurants before the main course; or the enticing pudding which follows. Such is their attraction, however, to youngsters and the floating voters - the television followers whose interest in cricket waxes and wanes - that the ECB are planning to stage more, and to play more overseas.
There is, too, a bit more at stake over the next four days than merely the hope on both sides that a psychological advantage might be gained for the Ashes series. For a start, the winning team in each game will receive £8,500 and the winners of the series a further £12,000. More than that, individuals will be challenging for marginal places in their Test team and, in some cases, for their World Cup team in two years' time.
Australia beat South Africa 4-3 in the recent internationals which makes them warm favourites, comparing that form with England's desperately bad performances in South Africa a year ago. When they are able to choose one-day specialists from the wide circle of county cricket, however, England tend to do better. They have won the Texaco Trophy five times in the last three years: against New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, India and Pakistan. But Australia have been superior in these games as they have in the Tests in recent years: since 1985 they have won six of the nine encounters on English soil, with one match tied.
There will be 16,500 at Headingley today and Yorkshire have produced a few initiatives in their annual battle to stop the exuberance which is invariably evident on the western terrace from turning into riotous behaviour. Sid Fielden, a retired police officer, headed a sub-committee charged with sorting out one of the problems which threatens the ground as a Test venue.
They stopped short of recommending a complete ban on alcohol but have prohibited spectators from bringing their own bottles or cans to the terrace (they are allowed up to four cans elsewhere) and ordered bars to remain closed before noon. In addition a different security company, Special Projects, who have worked successfully at Manchester's football and cricket grounds, have been appointed. They will provide more than 200 stewards, experienced in crowd control.
Finally, a prediction: Ladbrokes were offering 7-2 yesterday against M Walsh being Australia's top scorer in the match. It was a clerical error - Mark Waugh opens the batting in these matches - but since Mike Walsh is the team's official scorer it is probably the safest bet ever made.
England (from): * M A Atherton, N V Knight, - A J Stewart, G P Thorpe, J P Crawley, G D Lloyd, A J Hollioake, M A Ealham, R D B Croft, D Gough, P A J DeFreitas, D W Headley, C E W Silverwood, B C Hollioake, A F Giles.
Australia (from): * M A Taylor, M E Waugh, S R Waugh, M G Bevan, G S Blewett, M J Slater, - I A Healy, S K Warne, M S Kasprowicz, J N Gillespie, G D McGrath, B P Julian.
Umpires: P Willey & R Julian.