JACK RUSSELL, England's wicketkeeper of recent standing or squatting, can stay off his lead. Gerard Elias, QC, has decided that the new book Jack Russell Unleashed does not have to be referred to the England and Wales Cricket Board's discipline advisory committee, of which Elias is chairman.

Russell's case was stronger for the fact that the book gained Gloucestershire's approval after ``a couple of small changes not worth mentioning'', according to Russell's agent, Jim Ruston. The ECB would have found it difficult to discipline Russell after that.

But while the rest of the book was passed by Gloucestershire, it has not met with the approval of everyone in the England hierarchy, especially Russell's assertion that Mike Atherton should have stood up more against Raymond Illingworth during England's 1995-96 tour of South Africa.

Perhaps justice would have been best served by a fine of £2,000 for upsetting Atherton, and a reward of the same amount for upsetting Illingworth, whose distance from his players while England manager is becoming more apparent with every disclosure.