Tardy England selectors allow captaincy issue to drift

Jul 6 2008 By Jack Bannister

England go into a tough four-match Test series this week against South Africa with uncertainty growing about the captaincy.

This has been caused by the curious decision of selectors and management to leave unnamed the captain of the 30-strong preliminary squad for the ICC Champions’ Trophy in September in Pakistan.

Every squad named, be it for Tests of ODIs, carries the bracketed small “c” following the name of the chosen one. This omission nearly slipped under the radar until the question was put to chairman Geoff Miller. His answer was that he and the others spent so much time on other matters that it was not discussed.

“Other matters” more important than the captain? The growing problem is caused by the Paul Collingwood suspension. The 30-man squad has to be reduced by half within five weeks. but England only play four Tests in that period with an ODI against Scotland on August 18 preceding the one-day games against South Africa in the following fortnight.

Collingwood’s suspension means he missed the Scotland game, a Twenty20 against South South Africa and the first of five games against the tourists. He will be eligible to play in the last four ODIs of that series on August 26,29, 31 and September 1.

Presumably Kevin Pietersen will be in charge prior to that, unless he is not leading the side in the Champions’ Trophy. If he goes back to the ranks, then who leads in Pakistan? The odd thing about such a crucial decision is that there is no one-day cricket before the die is cast in mid-August.

A possible explanation is that Collingwood’s performance at The Oval concerning the run-out has done for him If so, why not say so? Or could it be that if Andrew Strauss makes the cut for Pakistan, he is given the job he should have had two years ago in Australia?

Strauss was not in the recent squad against New Zealand which is why Pietersen stood in for Collingwood for the last game at Lord’s. All this indicates that the selectors and management are in a real pickle about the captaincy which, because of Michael Vaughan’s much-operated-on right knee, they decided to split last year.

It doesn’t work, with the dressing room getting the worst of both worlds, despite the party line about the close friendship of both captains helping rather than hindering.

Bull points here are that it only took Nasser Hussain a matter of hours to sense the difference in dressing room spirit when he returned after Vaughan had led the one-day side, and few other leading sides in international cricket make two appointments.

Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith toss up in all formats, as did Daniel Vettori in the interminable back-to-back series against England. India have experimented with wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni in limited overs, but that was because of politicking in Test cricket concerning Rahul Dravid. Sourav Ganguly and the then injued Sachin Tendulkar.

Collingwood’s appointment followed the decision by Vaughan to retire from one-day cricket because of that right knee, and the plot thickens even more with a recurrence of swelling and stiffness a week ago. He was “rested “ from a Yorkshire Twenty20 game, namely he could not risk further aggravation in 80 minutes in the field, or a similarly short time with the bat.

He played in the following four-day game, but sat out the final day with ice-pack treatment and a lubrication injection to help greater movement. The authorities insist he will play on Thursday, but keep an eye open for any lack of freedom of movement in the field – easily hidden at mid-off – or, more pertinently when he is batting. The sudden swivel needed for pulls and hooks will tell a story.

The condensed four-match series starts and finishes with back-to-back Tests, with his only rest a nine-day gap between second and third contests. Vaughan then disappears until a series in India in December, and has a further six- week break before the tour of West Indies next February and March.

The captaincy question needs a clear answer now, with an official vice-captain named instead of the armband being passed around whenever the captain leaves the field. For some reason, Miller and Peter Moores are reluctant to do that, but they will soon have to in both formats. And so much the better if one man does both jobs – ideally Strauss.

The England top six batsmen have understandably come under fire for under-achievement in a period when they have remained unchanged in what will be a record six-Test span this week. Statistics rarely lie in Test cricket, and the blunt truth is that in a period in which they beat New Zealand in four out of five games, the only batsman to improve his over 40 average was Strauss, with the other five declining.

Criticism has been levelled at all of them, but none so scathing as that of Ian Bell by a distinguished broadsheet cricket correspondent who played the game with great success for Glamorgan, and less so in a brief career for England.

Steve James has the same sort of thoughtful approach to writing that marked his batting, but he let Bell have both barrels.

“As for Ian Bell, patience is wearing thin. A double hundred against Second Division opponents with two bowlers on loan says nothing. Bell was not rediscovering form; he had never lost it. He just needs to prove his mettle. Pretty cameos do not sustain an international career.”

Allan Donald dropped a similar hint last week in an interview. “I would love to get him inside a locked room and find out if he has a problem. He doesn’t say that there is, and he is such a good player.”

The trumpets are ready to be blown on Thursday, with South Africa and Donald convinced England can be blown away by sheer pace. Dale Steyn’s 78 wickets in the last 14 months at an incredibly low cost of 16 apiece make him the main danger, with Morny Morkel’s average pace in the early 90s, and both supported by the indefatigable Makela Ntini.

They form the best pace trio in world cricket, with a contrast of high speed bounce from Steyn and Morkel, and the skiddy awkward angle of Ntini.

Jacques Kallis offers more than any fourth England seamer and if Paul Harris is allowed to tie down one end, Smith can rotate his pace men in short spells.

England could have many problems to solve in the next two months, but none more important than that of the captaincy.