Date-stamped : 08 Jan96 - 02:35 Electronic Telegraph Monday 8 January 1996 S Africa tour: Man at the top cuts lonely figure in a changing world Scyld Berry talks to Raymond Illingworth IT HAS never rained upon England on this tour, always poured. The defeat in the Cape Town Test, and the loss of the series to South Africa, were not the only setbacks which England`s cricketers suffered on Thursday. At lunch on that decisive day at Newlands, lasagne was served, lasagne which had not been adequately heated. The consequences were felt that night by Raymond Illingworth, the tour manager, and by more than half of his players, including captain Mike Ath- erton. It was Friday afternoon before England`s manager could resurface. What if England had been able to carry the match over into the fourth day and been unable to take the field - "lasagne stops play"? Illingworth lay stretched on the sofa in his hotel room. "Interesting situation, that," he said, and sipped some water. Not much has been dreamt about cricket in heaven or earth which has not formed part of his experience, but that would have been a new one. The 63-year-old face was naturally a little wan; or else it was perhaps the score of one-nil that was etched between the lines. He had other immediate concerns as well, being in charge of a party that comprises more than 50 people, who have more than 150 items of luggage weighing 2.75 tons. "Wives and children are a distraction on tour, there`s no doubt about it. I wouldn`t allow them" - and he himself is one of those with a wife here, Shirley, to comfort him. In sickness and in health there is no dissimulation about Illy, no beating about the bush, no hiding behind diplomatic language, which is why Lord`s took so long to take a deep breath and entrust English cricket to him. The thoughts of Chairman Illy are always abundant: they could fill not only a red book but a yellow one too, like Wisden`s Al- manack itself Another difficulty was Atherton - not his batting, of course, for its age-old virtue more than anything has gratified Illingworth since he became manager of the England team last spring, as well as chairman of selectors. No, it was the match referee, Clive Lloyd, who was waiting for Atherton`s report on the fifth Test. "I keep giving Athers a form and he keeps losing it and asking for another one," said Illy. "I don`t know what they teach `em at Cambridge." As a graduate of the Old School of Yorkshire cricket (with a Masters in off-spin, middle-order batting and captaincy), he himself is nothing if not hard-headed and practical. His room, on the 29th floor of a tower-block hotel, overlooks the centre of Cape Town and its port and the ice-cold South Atlantic beyond. His view is not quite elevated enough to see the Cape of Good Hope a few miles south, which is somehow appropriate. England set forth on this tour in high expectation after holding West Indies last summer. They would have climbed to the upper half of the international table if they had beaten South Africa here; and that hope continued until last Wednesday afternoon, when in one mad hour England disintegrated in the face of a last-wicket stand between an old wicketkeeper and a teenager straight from club cricket. It was a reminder of how in this game, as in civilized life, anarchy can take over with awful swiftness. The thoughts of Chairman Illy are always abundant: they could fill not only a red book but a yellow one too, like Wisden`s Al- manack itself. He will always give a most informed and detailed answer. Nobody could have had a more encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, from Adams to van Zyl. Thus: "I`m not sure whether Paul Adams is going to stand it phy- sically. He`s having a few problems with his right knee now - he puts a hell of a strain on that knee if you watch him bowl. If he stays good physically, he`s got a reasonable future. His googly`s still more or less the same, what`s improved since we saw him in Kimberley is his change of pace - he can bowl his chinaman much quicker and occasionally it bounces a lot." About England, and their failure to win the series here, and the improvements they have to make, it might be fair to summarise his conclusions as these: that England`s bowlers need to bat better, and England`s batsmen need to bowl more. After all, they did so when he was captain. that we have to move down the line and give an extended chance to some of the younger batsmen coming in` "We`re a little bit lacking in batting ability lower down. That`s one of the reasons we played six batsmen here until Cape Town, and Jack Russell at seven. Okay, Jack and Richard Il- lingworth did it to an extent in Port Elizabeth but basically we weren`t get- ting the runs from the lower order like we did in Eng- land. That meant we could only play four bowlers, which is never ideal in a hot climate. "Our main batting has been too inconsistent as well, and my own feeling is that we have to move down the line and give an extend- ed chance to some of the younger batsmen coming in. We know that John Crawley has got the right attitude. He wants a little bit of work on his technique but if we can get that sorted out there`s no reason why he shouldn`t go on to be a good Test player. "For a left-handed opener I`d say Nick Knight would very much come into it - he`s a good fielder as well. But what I really want is a bloody batsman who can bowl a bit. I mean, there`s only Jason Gallian among the batsmen who could develop into a third or fourth seamer. Half the batsmen in England, once they get good enough to play Test cricket, they forget all about bowling. "I keep nattering about Thorpy bowling as he could bowl quite useful medium-pace. If you can get a Thorpe and a Gallian, you can probably get one bowler out of them. That`s what Australia do with the Waugh brothers - they get away with four bowlers every time because of those two. "Ideally we could do with a class leg-spinner as well. If we have pitches like Lord`s and Old Trafford last year, you can get away with a finger-spinner, but otherwise you need someone who gives it more of a rip. Quick bowlers and leg-spinners, those are what win Test matches. "But what sort of bowlers do we get in county cricket? I`ve put in my last two reports to the TCCB that county bowling is at a very low ebb, and the variation of bowling is even lower. We`ve got a load of medium-pacers playing the game. The counties have to look at their own set-up and their own coaches." The one question not to ask Illy is whether too much cricket is played, for he cannot conceive of such a possibility. He speaks of the pride which used to motivate players when they returned to their counties from the Test matches. He cannot believe it when he hears players, aged 25, already planning to retire at 35. One can but try to point out that cricketers of his era did not have to tour every winter - that Fred Trueman went on only four Eng- land tours, and Alec Bedser the same. Illingworth says he will take back from this tour happy memories of a couple of golf days, and little more: they could not get out and see any of the country because when they did have a fine day it had to be used for practice. He won`t go on another tour after next month`s World Cup. He wants to see more of his grandchil- dren, and of his Spanish apartment in the winters, but he will do what the TCCB wants of him in summer. "You can get a bit lonely on tour when you`re much older than the players," reflected Illy, and he sipped his water. When I depart- ed, I took the lift down from the 29th floor, leaving a man still ardently devoted to the game, but beginning to feel out of it. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http: www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)