Date-stamped : 02 Dec95 - 06:24
The Electronic Telegraph  Friday 1 December 1995

Atherton decides to dice with history

By Mark Nicholas in Johannesburg

MICHAEL Atherton took two gambles  yesterday  morning.  First  he
left out Richard Illingworth, his only real spin bowler, and pre-
ferred Devon Malcolm, his only real fast  bowler.  The proof   of
that  pudding  had  seemed to come at around 2 o`clock when, with
South Africa settled at 123 for two, Malcolm began the 39th  over
of  the  innings  with  a  single slip to represent his attacking
field.

He had not bowled poorly, bowled pretty well in fact,  but  there
was  nothing in the pitch save for some typical bounce in the new
ball. It was not until close to half past five that he had anoth-
er  opportunity  with  a new ball.  Thankfully he found his range
all right and reminded South Africa of  the ghost  of  the   Oval
past.

It must have been a close thing not to pick Illingworth,  who  is
the  most  improved  bowler  of the tour and who lures batsmen as
gifted even as Brian Lara into errors when they appear set.  Dur-
ing  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  Atherton was regretting his
choice. But it was an equally close thing to leave  out  Malcolm,
Mandela`s "destroyer", on the fastest pitch in the land.  Perhaps
this was a day to do without Fraser.

The second gamble must have been a close thing too, at  least  we
presume  so.  The South Africans have not batted much of late and
maybe Atherton saw a chance to capitalise  on  the  psychological
good that he and his batsmen had forged in Pretoria.

He will have been forcefully advised by his manager, who  is  ex-
pert  on the behaviour of pitches and had the backing of his team
who felt "there would be plenty in it, first thing".

For once Illingworth might have got a  surface  wrong.  The  idea
that  there  was some moisture to complement the good covering of
straw-coloured grass was a red herring. The pitch has  been  get-
ting  harder by the day and Jimmy Cook, who has played his career
on the thing, said firmly that it was for batting.   Cook   added
that  the  small,  supposedly inconsequential cracks would become
wider and the bounce therefore would become unreliable. Gulp.

The Test matches played here since South Africa`s return  to  the
international  arena have been won by the teams who batted first.
The England captain chose to defy recent history with his gambles
and on such gambles, and on the unpredictability of Devon Malcolm
and the continued excellence of Dominic Cork, are the battles  of
cricket lost and won.

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

<END> Contributed by Shash (shs2@cse.ogi.edu)