Lloyd: ``We must savour achievement at Melbourne then learn to prosper'' (1 January 1999)

1 January 1999

Lloyd: "We must savour achievement at Melbourne then learn to prosper"

By England coach, David Lloyd

ONE swallow doesn't make a summer. Nevertheless, that result at the MCG was one to savour for all England cricket followers. Test cricket at its very best, with all the heartaches, ups and downs, highs and lows crammed into three days.

When the dust settles you tend to have a cup of tea and think of all the things that went right, and reflect on the areas that need improvement. I go back to the selection of the team and the old question that keeps coming up. Should Alec Stewart open the batting? We decided that he should, which meant him relinquishing the 'keeping gloves and Warren Hegg making his debut.

It also meant we could then play just four specialist bowlers, and we opted for four pacemen. Yes, the team was not balanced, but we reasoned that against Australia at the MCG they were the men most likely to take 20 wickets.

Alec lost the toss for the ninth time out of 10 - it does help to win it once in a while you know - and we were sent in to bat. After losing a couple of early wickets, it was the captain in partnership with Mark Ramprakash, who got us into a decent position.

They both played with freedom and took the game to Australia. I have mentioned it before and I say again, we must take the attack to them and disrupt their game plan rather than allowing Mark Taylor to bowl who he wants when he wants.

With Matthew Nicholson making his debut, it was important we did not let him settle or allow Glenn McGrath to have his necessary rest period between spells.

After Alec's dismissal, we had that all-too-familiar collapse and our innings subsided far too quickly. Yet we fancied our chances of getting into them. We had them reeling at 252 for eight, but Steve Waugh was still there, and he found an ally in Stuart MacGill.

You have to admire Waugh. I think he is terrific. He is undemonstrative and just gets on with things; you have to prise him out. He sells his wicket dearly and gives nothing away. He and MacGill took Australia to a lead of 70. It meant we had to work very hard now, and although Alec, Nasser Hussain and Graeme Hick all scored half-centuries, our lead was only 175.

The highlight of our innings was Alan Mullally's joust with McGrath. Mullally won hands-down in scoring 16, a tremendously significant effort, as we were about to find out.

McGrath reminded me of Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films after Big Al had done with him - completely frustrated. All great fun, but even more fun was to come.

All our chat was about Botham and Willis in 1981, a small target for Australia at The Foster's Oval in 1997 when Andy Caddick and Phil Tufnell got to work, and our win against South Africa at Headingley last summer. All were victories achieved by winning the crucial moments.

With all the vagaries of the match regulations, we were to be in the field for a four-hour session with only drinks breaks as rest periods. It is funny how adrenaline pushes everything else aside and our boys were irresistible.

They believed they could win. I must have mentioned it a million times, but if you believe you can win, you must play like you believe you can win. You can talk all you want in meetings and dressing rooms, but the business area is out on the field.

The key for me - the opening of the floodgates if you like - was Ramps' catch to dismiss Justin Langer. It was a piece of magic that lifted everyone. Even with that, however, Australia still needed only 35 at one point with six wickets in hand and Stephen Waugh at the crease. But I don't know what it is in the make-up of a cricket match. Call it a hunch, a gut-feeling or just plain wishful thinking, but I thought they were never going to get them.

Dean Headley and Darren Gough were getting reverse-swing at top pace - 140-145 kph - quicker than anything else in the match, and Dean just kept coming and coming. Alec knew he could sustain his spell, but he had to rest Darren and Al [Mullally] turned in a top spell before the Yorkshireman came back.

Nicholson was in with Waugh as Australia edged towards their target, but the thinnest of nicks sent 'Jack' on his way, and brought in MacGill, who had tormented us in the first innings. Gough sent his stumps crashing this time though, McGrath was going nowhere and we had won.

As an aside, I did mention to 'our Darren' after the game that MacGill had "just missed a straight full-toss". "Aye," replied the big lad, "A 145 miles per hour, late-swinging full-toss, coach." I didn't have the heart to tell him the Yellow Pages Speedster was registering in kilometres. There were incredible scenes at the end, and once again magnificent support from all our travelling fans out here.

We have moved on to Sydney, and everything is quiet as we prepare for the fifth and final Test. We have a real opportunity to square the series but, as I have said before, we HAVE to be at our absolute peak all of the time.

As for my own position, I believe there has been a certain amount of speculation. Inevitably, this sort of thing goes with the territory and we all - and by that I mean The Management, coaching and back-up staff - just have to get on with the job of preparing the players.

Our structure of preparation is as good as there is in world cricket, but that is not to say we cannot improve. We are learning and seeking knowledge all the time and the one thing we are all so desperately conscious of is the need to win. Results are what all teams are judged by in the final analysis.

PS: Is it too much to ask that we win the toss at the SCG?!

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)