Hectic schedule planned for England in India

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, MAY 11: Three Tests will be squeezed into only 20 days at the end of the England tour of India next December so that the players can return home for Christmas with their families. It is a unique piece of back-to-back programming and yet another example of the way England's contracted players have used their power to control how and when they play matches overseas.

Despite this concession - which has necessitated an England and Wales Cricket Board representative flying to Delhi to help iron out the final details of the programme - several England players are known to be considering whether they will make the trip. Darren Gough, now one of the leading quick bowlers in the world and expected to be a major force in the coming Ashes series, Alec Stewart and Mike Atherton are all said to be wondering whether they can tour, but now that the trip begins in mid-November and ends on Christmas Eve, they may be persuaded to go.

The first Test will be played in Delhi - soon after India return from South Africa - from December 3-7, after a three-day pause the second will take place in Ahmedabad from December 11-15 and, after another three-day break the sides will meet again in Bangalore for the third Test from December 19-23. England will fly home the following day for their Christmas break but return to India to play five one-day internationals on January 22, 25, 28, 31 and February 3. Those venues have not yet been decided.

First England play Pakistan and Australia in seven Tests and ten one-day internationals this summer and just how far their recovery has gone will be severely tested by both sides. I watched Pakistan at Derby this week and saw nothing terrifying about their attack; although their new captain Waqar Younis, bowling well within himself, looked just as potent as ever and will undoubtedly give England a fiery reception if he finds a damp pitch when the first Test begins at Lord's on Thursday.

He greeted the arrival of Dominic Cork with a snarl and a few short balls and then put his arm round his shoulder while they laughed about this old-fashioned moment of antagonism. Cork's determination to be a hero is legendary and he will want to wrest the main all-rounder's role from Craig White. At his best Cork is a wonderful swing bowler, a determined batsman and a natural fielder and England have been wrong to ignore his talent. He is also a match-winner, impatient at his own lack of glory and a plain-spoken believer in his own ability. And why not? Team mates, coaches and selectors have grown tired of his prancing ways and seem ready to write off his exuberance as self- glorification too easily but I like the man and wish England had more of his calibre.

Now that the minor dispute over the new contracts has been settled there is little for the selectors to decide this week-end before they announce their first team of the season on Sunday. The tall, strong Matthew Hoggard, a Yorkshire fast bowler who swings the ball away consistently, is recovering from a back ailment and the left arm spinner Ashley Giles will not be fit from ankle and knee troubles that have regularly blighted his attempts to turn promise into a substantial England career. He has not played so far this cold and wet summer which means that England will probably rely on Gough, the in-form Andrew Caddick, Cork and White for wickets at Lord's next week-end and leave the batting to Atherton, who will open with Marcus Trescothick, Stewart, the captain Nasser Hussain, the newcomer Michael Vaughan and their strongest batsman Graham Thorpe.

That leaves one place to be decided so there may be room for the off-spinner Robert Croft, the all-rounder Andrew Flintoff or Surrey's Ian Ward, a run-machine in the Caribbean with the A team this winter. But there will be no room for Graeme Hick, for all he has, after being given no contract, already proved he can still make runs at county level this spring. What an irony if, now that England have finally lost faith in him, Hick had another memorable run harvest.

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