Date-stamped : 22 Dec95 - 06:30
Electronic Telegraph  Friday 22 December 1995

England A Tour - Review: Success amidst the bizarre and bazaar

By Simon Hughes

OF all the major cricketing countries, Pakistan is the hardest to
tour.  Arrangements are liable to sudden change, ground amenities
can be badly neglected, and there is nothing much for  westerners
to do in the evening.

"I don`t think I`ve ever been on a tour where there`s been such a
lack  of  facilities for the players," said team manager John Em-
burey.

But two months of relative deprivation never did a  young  player
any  harm and this group will arrive back in England today with a
better sense of perspective as well as a more rounded talent.

Incompetent groundstaff, lack of practice  areas,  and  the  con-
straints  of  living  in a Muslim country have not deflected them
from their goals, and they return  triumphant in  the  Test   and
one-day  series, remaining unbeaten until they tripped at the fi-
nal hurdle.

After a resounding win in the first Test, and a partial  wash-out
in  the second, England nearly squandered their lead in the third
due to a bizarre sequence of events, not the least of which   was
the  participation  of  the official match referee in a different
game over the road.

That they salvaged a draw,  thereby  clinching  the  series,  was
largely  down  to  the defiance of Jason Pooley and Dean Headley,
two urbane characters not originally selected for the tour.

Headley clutched his unexpected chance with both arms, and so did
Pooley   until   he  damaged one ducking into a bouncer.  Because
of the wealth of competition neither is  a   certainty  for   the
Test  arena,  but  you cannot fault their commitment or aptitiude
under pressure.

There was precious little of that on this tour as it turned out -
England  were too well drilled to be stretched by a talented, but
predominantly naive Pakistan team.

Nasser Hussain regularly exposed their lack  of  knowhow  with  a
number of scintillating innings, at times toying with bowlers and
field-settings, and stood head  and  shoulders  above  any  other
batsman in the series.

If the selectors fail to see that Hussain is one of the six  best
batsmen in the country, then they should visit an optician

Understandably, he was miffed to be passed over when  a  replace-
ment for John Crawley was summoned to South Africa. If the selec-
tors fail to see that Hussain is one of the six best batsmen   in
the country, then they should visit an optician.

His captaincy was not quite so impressive,  however,  and  partly
accounted   for   several   players`  lack of opportunity.  Shaun
Udal suffered from a general assumption that off-spinners do  not
take  wickets  in  Pakistan  and  bowled  less  than  80 overs on
tour; Richard Stemp, too, spent a lot  of   time  twiddling   his
thumbs rather  than  the ball. Because of injury and lack of con-
fidence, Craig White`s tour never really got going until the last
week.

Keith Piper kept beautifully and the liaison between Jason Galli-
an  and  Nick  Knight  formed  an  effective opening partnership.
Knight works hard at his game,  but  Gallian looks  the   tighter
player and his bowling is better than average.

Anthony McGrath certainly created an  impression  off  the  field
with his quirky humour and Emburey offered a positive analysis of
his batting: "He didn`t have a great finish to the tour but  he`s
got  a big future having showed early on that he`s got the talent
to play at this level."

The remainder had their moments but lacked  overall  consistency,
which  was  not  helped by the stop-start nature of some matches.
Bad weather and the whims of  groundsmen  and umpires  cost   the
teams  a  total  of 34 hours playing time during the three Tests.
Luckily, there was always a bustling bazaar nearby selling leath-
er  and handicraft goods at "special low prices", so at least the
players could save money on their Christmas shopping.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http: www.telegraph.co.uk)

<END> Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)