Date-stamped : 21 Dec95 - 02:33 Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 20 December 1995 England A Tour: Emburey delivers new dimension to management Simon Hughes on the driving force who will finish the romp through Pakistan as 12th man A DILIGENT enthusiast recently highlighted the similarity in the careers of John Emburey and Fred Titmus. Both bowled off-spin for Middlesex and England through three decades, took thousands of wickets, played a comparable number of Tests and were unexpected- ly recalled at the age of 42. Their England batting average were almost identical (22) as were their highest scores. Both are now involved with the England heirarchy but this is where their paths are likely to diverge. Titmus is on the nation- al selection panel but, unsurprisingly for someone of 63 is gra- dually getting out of touch. He goes on scouting missions but has trouble identifying players. Last season, for instance, he went to see Glenn Chapple in action and was soon crowing in appreciation until someone told him the bowler was actually Peter Martin. This was not an isolated in- cident. Emburey is 20 years younger and despite a detached retina in 1994 and an ear infection this month, is certainly not losing his faculties. Today he completes a second stint as supervisor of the England A team on tour in the Asian sub-continent. The unpre- cedented success of both trips suggests Emburey can look forward to many years at the hub of cricket management. He brings to the job all the qualities he had as a player with hardly any of the drawbacks. Always direct, he voiced his displeasure at colleagues if they were unprofessional He was always meticulous and paid great attention to detail as a bowler. Now he painstakingly discusses field settings and stra- tegies with young bowlers as well as filming their actions and monitoring technique. In the dressing room he had a laconic wit which diffused tense situations. He uses it these days to boost dejected players` spirits or help them see things in perspective. Always direct, he voiced his displeasure at colleagues if they were unprofessional, and he has not been afraid to crack the whip on this A tour if slackness crept in. His legendary whinging and sentences of expletives sometimes became tiresome. Without the peer audience they have now almost disappeared. Significantly he has added new dimensions to the traditional role of team coach. To illustrate a point he uses a video camera rath- er than old fashioned rhetoric; he organises regular group analysis of the day`s play and writes detailed dossiers on indi- viduals. He wanders round the ground relaying ideas to fielders on the boundary, rather than waiting until an interval when it could be too late. Dean Headley was bowling fractionally too short in the second Test. Emburey pointed it out to Headley during his spell and he finished up with six wickets. Influenced by the success of Warwickshire`s man management, he seeks to perpetuate players` confidence rather than damage it with a reproachful list of do and don`t. "I think Warwickshire`s positive approach is very much the yardstick we should follow. It`s fear of failure which holds players back. We must encourage them to be confident and demon- strate the flair we know they have." The best thing about Emburey is his accessibility To that end he has had quiet, constructive words with the promis- ing Yorkshire batsman Anthony McGrath after a succession of low scores, and even faxed an encouraging message to Mark Ramprakash in South Africa recently. The best thing about Emburey is his accessibility. He mixes well, joining in card games or table-football matches, will offer any- one his honest opinion on subjects ranging from snake-charmers to skiing and enthusiastically takes part in sight-seeing trips to mountain ranges or gun-making tribal villages. At Faisalabad he enthusiastically took on the job as emergency scorer for a while and with only 11 fit men left for today`s fi- nal one-day match the team will probably make him run around as 12th man. There`s no respect these days. "I`m probably a bit too close to some players - people I`ve played with at Middlesex like Pooley and Headley," he admits. "They still take the piss out of me, which is fine, but sometimes it becomes a bit harder to make a serious criticism. Ideally I think I need two years to establish a suitable distance." The A team captain, Nasser Hussain, thinks the world of him. "With the amount of Test cricket he has played he could easily have tried to run the show here," he said "but he has been fan- tastic; allowed me to do it as if I`ve been captain for 10 years. He says `What time do you want to get to the ground, Nass` . . . `D`you want nets today Nass?` and leaves me to decide." His affinity with younger players at Middlesex, who tend to con- fide in him, rather than Mike Gatting, helps bridge the gap between juniors and seniors. He is inclined towards disciplined people, and ultimately seeks the same thing as Ray Illingworth - players with character. It helped both of them disguise their limited ability after all. "We`ve got to assemble a team that believe they can win. And if you can`t win, make sure you don`t lose," Emburey said severely. His lighter side is never far away though. Making conversation on the pavilion balcony during one of the numerous delays on this tour, I mentioned how frightening I`d found Jurassic Park on TV the previous night. "You ought to look in the mirror - now that`s frightening," he retorted, smirking. Even after remarks like that you have to salute the man. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http: www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)