FAMILIARITY HAS bred neither contempt nor complacency. After two summers and a winter as chairman of England's selectors, David Graveney finds life has lost none of its spice. `The job gets no less difficult,' he says. `But it also gets no less enjoyable.' For someone who devours cigarettes and shoe leather while his stress levels soar and dip in proportion to the often inglorious uncertainties of the national team, this is almost akin to admitting a pleasure in masochism.

Selectors are among the great unloved of the sporting world. Nobody mentions them when their teams win, but defeat will bring the scorn of the nation crashing upon their shoulders. Anybody and everybody thinks they can pick a better team than one which loses, and the chairman, by definition, is held accountable, his name to be spat with contempt in a thousand-and-one bar-room dissections of the latest Test-match reversal.

 Graveney knew all this when he took on the job, but for some reason he still took it, and 18 months overseeing the most frustrating of teams – capable of heady heights and terrible troughs – has not exactly inured him to it. A sensitive man, he can be hurt by the barbs of his territory but he has never yet been deflected from the instincts that lead him.

 England may not be a markedly better team than when Graveney succeeded Raymond Illingworth but they are a happier one, which certainly helps. Much of this stems from comprehensive, caring management within the net spread with such enthusiasm by David Lloyd, plus improved communication, which has always been the byword of DA Graveney. Sometimes, his openness grates on those in high places who believe in a cricketing version of the official secrets act, but Graveney has continued to tell his players – and, through the media, the public – what is going on. It is a simple method, one that surely deserves a little of the credit when, at last, something goes right and a series is won.

 GRAVENEY'S SUMMER began in a mood of public disenchantment with a team that had once again failed to fulfil its manifesto. He reflected on his thoughts and deeds as the rollercoaster gathered speed.

`There was a sense of having to start again, Opportunities had been missed in the West Indies and the euphoria that followed the tournament in Sharjah was shattered. There's no point in denying that the start of the season was a bit depressing. The players were tired, another tough challenge awaited them and confidence needed to be restored in certain areas.'

Calm before the storm: Graveney and fellow selector Graham Gooch take the air during the first Test at Edgbaston

And a new captain needed to be found. Or even two. `The process took some time but I like to think it was done well. Athers had handled his resignation with dignity, which is not always the case, but if I could go back and change anything, I would have brought him home from Antigua straight afterwards. He wanted to stay out there for all the right reasons but he should not have ended up carrying the drinks – I should have told him to take a break. I picked my moment to speak to him about his successor. This could have been difficult – it's not the most sensitive thing to ask a bloke who should have his job – but he made it easy.'

 Stewart, not Hussain, landed the main job; Hollioake major the one-day section – at least for a while. `Ian MacLaurin took the two captains and myself to the House of Lords for dinner. It was designed so that Ian could tell them what was expected in terms of presentation, communication etc, but it was also a humbling evening for us all, because alongside us in the dining-room was a large party of World War One veterans, 100 years old and more. It tended to put things in context.'

 Graveney had spent his first few weeks after returning from the Caribbean travelling around each of the county clubs. It was ostensibly done wearing his other hat, as chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, but as an example of how the two jobs do not need to conflict, it was also a useful exercise in intelligence-gathering for selection. All too soon, South Africa were here and the one-day series was under way.

`It was always going to be a hard season for cricket, up against the football World Cup, and the Texaco series drummed this home. It didn't have much going for it. The South African players were mostly familiar to the public, and renowned for dour cricket, there was a lack of big-match atmosphere and we played indifferently. I could sense the pressure building on Adam, with Sharjah becoming an ever more distant memory.'

Edgbaston briefly lifted the spirits. The first Test was not won, but we could all convince ourselves that it would have been but for the fifth-day washout. Even here, though, nothing was straightforward …

`Athers was always going to play. He hadn't been in form and I even read that we should not pick him again, but we were adamant that he is our best player and he proved it on the opening day. Butcher had only narrowly been preferred to Maddy, but this was the start of an influential opening pair. I still don't know how we got through two sessions without losing a wicket, though, because conditions were so good for bowling.

Broken spirit: Darren Gough needed Graveney's sympathy after his finger injury

`When we lost Goughie with a broken finger, he was distraught, tearful, and took a lot of resurrecting, because he felt he'd spent more time injured than fit recently. And it meant our best seam attack was broken up again, before they'd even bowled together. As the summer went on, I warned people against the use of the Dream Team label, because things like that come back to haunt you, but this was a sad start.'

Cap happy: Graveney welcomes Andrew Flintoff into the England fold

 SADDER WAS to come, at Lord's. It was a shambles, for England, from start to finish. `On Wednesday morning I was wandering around the Nursery ground speaking to all and sundry on my mobile phone. Butcher said he would be all right, but his finger didn't look good to me, and Stewie had turned up with a back problem – for him, we needed more than one replacement.'

 Stewart came through to play in what was the low point of England's summer. A collapse on Sunday evening backed up the general fears surrounding a Test at HQ, but Graveney has an interesting theory. `I don't think it's a phobia, I think it's the pitches there that suit overseas attacks more than ours. They are harder than of old, suiting pace and wrist-spin and making sure the ball gets scuffed quicker and so reverses, too. But once again, we missed a chance to take control and South Africa jammed it down our throats.'

 Graveney was not often evident on the team balcony at Lord's. `I hadn't abandoned ship but, when things get bad on that ground, I go and watch on the television from one of the ECB offices.' He was there during the worst of the collapse. `There was no attempt at counterattack. As a generalisation, English players prefer to be bowled playing a forward-defensive stroke than caught at long-off. It's a symptom of fear and it's something we must change.'

In the days that followed defeat, Graveney's mailbag swelled. `It was an avalanche. Some of them were quite nasty but I reply to all those brave enough to put an address, and I've kept every single letter.' The way things were going on the first three days at Old Trafford, Graveney's postman was doubtless taking weightlifting lessons, but suddenly …

`It was a game played in a strange atmosphere, for the main part, and I was uneasy about it. There will always be selections and omissions that live with a chairman and, for me, they involve Mike Smith last year, and Steve James after Lord's. Both were left out after one Test, and I understand how badly they feel about it.

`We actually solved nothing by excluding James. Our batting on the Saturday was pitiful and I felt the need to front up to the press and say my piece. The crowd had booed us and I could understand that – it wasn't good enough. But Stewie and Athers decided the buck stopped with them, so the Monday became the first of many high-tension days. I had gone home on the Sunday night, and I watched the climax with a television crew camped on my doorstep. They'd come for the wake, expecting us to lose. I made them wait and they had to change the script.'

 TRENT BRIDGE not only provided England with their first win of the summer, it also brought the simmering umpiring controversy to a head. A string of errors – evident only through TV replays – led to strident calls for more use of technology. South Africa intend to extend the third umpire's duties in domestic cricket, and Graveney says he will watch with interest `to see how long the delays are'. But he adds: `Steve Dunne and Javed Akhtar, the international umpires who stood in the last two Tests, were placed in a very difficult position. The constant changing of an overseas umpire is counter-productive, because he has no chance to get used to the feel of a series and the angles of the bowlers.'

As Atherton and Donald duelled on the Sunday evening, Graveney was gripped in isolation. `I sat alone under the flowerpot on the balcony and in a cloud of smoke. That session of cricket will live with those who saw it for years to come.' The following day, as victory was secured, he had other engagements – first addressing the country's best under-15s at the Bunbury festival, then driving to Heathrow, from where he was due to link up with his long-suffering family in Spain. `I heard the moment of victory from my car in the long-term car park. It's a very good job Stewie played as he did or I might have missed the plane.'

A few days with wife and children, constantly interrupted by calls on his mobile phone, led to Headingley, where a year earlier he had been accused by the Australians of taking an unethical interest in pitch-preparation. `This time, I made sure I wasn't within 100 miles of Leeds for a month before the game … I think Yorkshire's players felt I was ignoring them.'

And what a game it was, from the tenacity of Butcher to the familiar collapses to the `unbelievable concentration' of Hussain to the final, joyous union of Gough and Fraser. On the final morning, Graveney, an early riser, found he was not alone. `Nasser was wandering around reception at the hotel, tense and desperate for the game to start. As it wasn't long after seven, he had a fair wait.'

 Graveney watched the concluding balls with Lord MacLaurin. `We were in the viewing area, behind glass, and for company we had two chefs and three waitresses. All very odd. There was joy, certainly, but mostly relief that we'd finished the job. I'm getting worse and worse at watching.'

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