Sport - Cricket

Crawley, Cork come back

By Ted Corbett

LONDON May 12. Two careers that seemed to have ended prematurely were revived by the England selectors on Saturday when they picked their squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka which begins at Lord's on Thursday.

John Crawley, 30, whose career was in tatters last summer when he found it hard to agree with the Lancashire coach Bob Simpson and was in open dispute with the county chairman Jack Simmons, was plucked from his new club Hampshire where he has already made two handsome centuries

this summer.

Even more surprisingly Dominic Cork, also 30, is brought back after several fine spells for Derbyshire on the basis that his medium pace outswing — not to mention his lusty batting — might be an important early-season ingredient because he can take advantage of any dampness in the pitch.

The forecast for next week is rain for the first two days which may green up the Lord's wicket and offer Cork even better figures than his man-of-the-match show in his first Test back in 1995 or his most recent in 2000 when his second innings blitz beat the West Indies. A winter's rest has allowed his injured knees to recover and there has never been any doubt about his determination.

I have always felt that these two were overlooked at England's peril since they won a Test in New Zealand together five years ago with an undefeated stand of 76 for the seventh wicket after defeat had seemed the most likely option at 231 for six. That defiant partnership has never been given the status it deserved and we will see this week if the pair can repeat this unlikely feat.

Every selection has its critics and today Michael Atherton, former England captain and now an all-purpose media pundit, criticised the selectors' failure to bring in 20-year-old Ian Bell, the success of the England Cricket Academy in Adelaide and later called up to the New Zealand squad.

"With Muttiah Muralitharan absent it seemed the ideal chance to bring in a youngster,'' Atherton said. "There is no doubt that he has the quality.''

Naturally, David Graveney, chairman of selectors, was pleased with the balance of the squad. Graveney, said: "We had a lengthy discussion about the choice of extra batsman and looked at Bell, David Fulton and Robert Key — both of Kent — as well as Crawley. Bell has matured a lot as a cricketer over the winter, but we feel that he hasn't played on the best wickets this summer and has been unable to spend time in the middle. Crawley has been in outstanding form this season and has scored a Test hundred against Sri Lanka before. We feel that Cork's bowling suits the particular requirements of Lord's and his action is now back to where it was three years ago.''

With Darren Gough and James Foster missing out through injury, Alec Stewart will keep wickets — and as Atherton reminded us with a grin today "he is just the sort to take advantage of his return to the fold'' — and Alex Tudor comes into the bowling line-up. Tudor also benefited from his tri o the Academy and has gone through five weeks of the season without an injury, a minor miracle considering his track record.

The probable weather means that left-arm spinner Ashley Giles will be omitted and Tudor and Cork will fight over the final place. The Sri Lankans' preparations have been hit by a wet, cold spell — the lot of every tour team which arrives here in spring — and without Murali they are seen as an under-strength outfit. He is likely to join the side after treatment in Australia.

* The squad: Nasser Hussain (capt.), Mark Butcher, Andrew Caddick, Dominic Cork, John Crawley, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Alex Tudor, Michael Vaughan.

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