A constant feature of English cricket has been the lack of a Test-winning slow bowler who has turned the ball a long way and been able to flush out stubborn tails like New Zealand's. The England Cricket Board are fully aware of this historic deficiency. The trouble is that the only big spin which they are producing is what they put on their pronouncements on England's latest failure.

Thus the ECB's chief executive Tim Lamb, in the wake of the series defeat by New Zealand, kept giving us the job-saving party line that 'English cricket is very healthy apart from the shop window'. County cricket - a system dedicated to four one-day competitions from next season and saved by subsidy from extinction - 'very healthy'? Ho, ho, ho.

The next piece of evidence we were given, so that we will believe everything in the garden is rosy, (apart from the shop window), is that the England A team have not been beaten for 29 matches. Well, that is not a damned lie but it is a statistic. On two of their last three winter tours England A have not played a Test at all, and have instead pitted themselves against the likes of the Zimbabwean Up-Country Farmers XI. Were the ECB ever to arrange A Tests in England, other countries would be a lot more willing to host them in return.

England under-19s, like the A side, are a good outfit without being the megastars. They did indeed win the last Youth World Cup of one-day cricket, but it was not quite one long trail of glory. They began slowly when they defeated Namibia by three wickets, lost to Bangladesh and India, but they beat Pakistan and Australia, then squeezed into the final on run-rate where they beat New Zealand for a second time.

In 'Test' cricket England under-19s have improved enormously since 1995, up to which point they had won 10 and lost 19 'Tests', an appalling record considering they have for the most part been professional county cricketers playing against amateurs. In the last four years, however, they have beaten Pakistan under-19s home and away. If they win their final 'Test' of this summer against Australia under-19s they will level their 'Test' score at 22-22.

The old ethos of enjoying all the delights of expenses-paid touring and never mind the cricket has been banished. Before their tour of New Zealand last winter the team made a collective vow not to drink alcohol during matches and imposed their own curfew, a mature approach to self-discipline which the senior team has yet to adopt. For the first time in four series against New Zealand they at least managed not to lose.

In the course of last winter England unearthed a gem. One fifth of under-19 players go on to play for England but most will naturally become no more than county stalwarts, while of the youth World Cup-winning side, Jonathan Powell of Essex has already fallen by the wayside and Giles Haywood was released by Sussex last week for not fulfilling his batting talent. But an England batsman in the making, given all the provisos, is Ian Bell of Warwickshire, who turned 17 in April.

Short, slight and freckly, Bell occupies the same place of affectionate awe in the under-19 team as the young Sachin Tendulkar did in India's. Even at his age though, and size, it is the eyes which count, and Bell's have the unwavering gaze of the champion-batsman. ``My goal this year is to play a couple of games for Warwickshire first team,'' Bell said while rain washed out the second 'Test' against Australia at Bristol. ``They have told me that if I make runs in this series they will give me a chance - I guess in the county championship.''

Bell, from Rugby (town, not school), had been an opening batsman since first representing Warwickshire at the age of nine, but had to learn how to await his turn when he became a No 3 in New Zealand (''I just relax and have an occasional look''). Patience all round is what the under-19 coach, Neil Foster, would advocate for his charges in batting and bowling, along with greater strength in legs and torso.

The pitfalls ahead of Bell are as numerous as the Sirens, and no doubt some will be as alluring. There will be sweet-talking agents, too, promising the sort of six-figure contract which Andy Flintoff is seeking on the strength of his potential.

The demands on young pace bowlers are still so intense, in spite of the ECB directive of a maximum of seven overs in three spells per day, that several have been unavailable to England under-19s this summer, just as with the Test side. The ephemeral glory of one-day cricket is another hazard. Said Morris: ``Whether a youth World Cup every two years will disrupt our cycle of under-19 'Test' tours is something to look at.'

The Morris men have organised a sound age-group system to help young players up the ladder to under-19 level, but more has to be done in two ways. One is that the next rung on the ladder will not exist if the ECB lets A 'Tests' die out, as David Graveney reiterated this week. If county cricket cannot help players bridge the gap to Test level, the counties must release them for A 'Tests' each summer, not play dog in the manger.

The second gap is that England's under-age teams are drawn from the 38 county boards, whose development officers concentrate on clubs and cricket-playing schools. England's under-19 side contains one player of Afro-Caribbean origin, none of Asian. To identify and coach talent outside the mainstream, the ECB has to create a team of former internationals - England and other - to tour our inner cities and find the one fast bowler or mystery slow bowler which would make the whole project worthwhile. In this way the ECB might finally produce the desirable sort of spin.

Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian captain, is struggling with a career-threatening back problem. Tendulkar, 26, was sidelined as his team lost to Australia by 41 runs in the three-nation event in Colombo - the world champions making 252 for eight and dismissing India for 211. India must now beat Sri Lanka today to reach the final.

``The pain is coming back and is making it difficult for Sachin to take a decision,'' said a source close to the Indian team. Tendulkar, 26, who has suffered from back spasms since early this year, said he would not return home before the tournament ends, and hoped that his doctors would be able to resolve the problem.