England 'A' Tour: Vaughan must prove he can bridge the gap (8 January 1999)
THE DOOR to Test cricket has been opened for Michael Vaughan, who departs with the England A tour party for their two-month tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa tomorrow evening
08-Jan-1999
8 January 1999
England 'A' Tour: Vaughan must prove he can bridge the gap
By Charles Randall
THE DOOR to Test cricket has been opened for Michael Vaughan, who
departs with the England A tour party for their two-month tour of
Zimbabwe and South Africa tomorrow evening.
Vaughan, captain at the age of 24, has been handed a chance to
sharpen his diplomacy skills and, more importantly, to advance
his status as an established opening batsman for Yorkshire in the
knowledge that England will be assessing candidates next summer
for the Test side.
The air in Harare is thin at 4,000ft above sea level and the
African sun is draining. Nevertheless, England's ill-fated senior
tour of Zimbabwe two years ago should have been successful on
sound, slow pitches, but "murder 'em" they did not.
David Lloyd, as England's coach, found the drawn Test series
frustrating and the 3-0 one-day defeat embarrassing. England A,
with John Emburey as coach, will have to avoid at all costs the
tetchiness that left a trail of hurt feelings during the senior
visit.
Vaughan, on his third England A tour, seems well equipped to deal
with bridge-building during the six weeks in Zimbabwe, and he is
well aware that England's selectors need to establish batting
alternatives for Mark Butcher, Steve James and Nick Knight, who
have failed to make unanswerable cases to open. And Michael
Atherton's career cannot have very long to run.
The dearth of class players of Vaughan's age - there was nobody
aged 21-26 when the Ashes party was announced last September -
illustrates a problem identified by the England and Wales Cricket
Board. The 'closed' nature of the county circuit focuses
development effort on too many fully professional players at too
young an age.
All too often international under-19 players fail to advance to
the Test fringes. Vaughan must prove he is one of the exceptions
of his era. He captained England Under-19s on tour in Sri Lanka
five years ago and led them during the summer series against
India in 1994.
Since then only two of his team-mates have scented a chance of
Test cricket - Chris Silverwood, with one cap, and Richard
Johnson, the Middlesex seamer who was chosen for England's
1995-96 tour of South Africa before withdrawing injured.
Two of Vaughan's former under-19 colleagues, Melvyn Betts and
Darren Thomas, appear on this A tour. Robert Key and Graeme Swann
are the only players from last year's strong under-19 World
Cup-winning team in South Africa.
The Harare-bound party gathering at Gatwick for the 10th England
A tour are the weakest yet in terms of international experience.
Andrew Flintoff, with two caps, is the only Test player, and
Darren Maddy made his England one-day debut last summer. They are
the only names in the World Cup possibles list of 37 announced
last August.
England A face three five-day matches, but the opposition is
unlikely to be strong. So style and tempo, as much as weight of
runs, should be the judge of the stronger batsmen.
Wickets, and not simply containment, will be expected from the
bowlers, most notably Paul Hutchison, Yorkshire's left-arm
seamer, who swept all before him on England Under-19s' tour of
Zimbabwe three years ago. He is the most intriguing swing bowler
to emerge for years.
With Emburey as coach and Phil Neale as manager, all the players
should extend their learning curve in alien conditions but, as
with all England A tours, the exercise might prove to be more to
do with weeding out the flawed players than advancing careers.
England A tour of ZimbabweSquad
*M P Vaughan (Yorkshire) D L Maddy (Leics) R W T Key (Kent) M B
Loye (Northants) A Flintoff (Lancs) M G N Windows (Gloucs) V S
Solanki (Worcs) ^C W Read (Notts) G P Swann (Northants) S D
Thomas (Glamorgan) P M Hutchison (Yorkshire) M M Betts (Durham) J
D Lewry (Sussex) S J Harmison (Durham) D A Cosker (Glamorgan)
Coach J E Emburey Manager P A Neale Physiotherapist A Brentnall
Itinerary
Jan 16 Country Districts (Harare)
18 Select XI (Harare)
20-23 Mashonoland (Harare)
26-29 President's XI (Kwekwe)
Feb 2-6 First 'Test' (Harare)
9-13 Second 'Test' (Bulawayo)
16 First one-day international (Bulawayo)
18 Second one-day international (Harare)
20 Third one-day international (Harare)
Feb 22 Arrive Johannesburg
25-28 Gauteng (Wanderers)
March 4-8 President's XI (venue to be decided)
10 arrive London
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)