Date-stamped : 11 Jan96 - 22:34 Electronic Telegraph Thursday 11 January 1996 S Africa Tour: England lose direction among the crowd By Christopher Martin-Jenkins SIX runs may be a tiny margin of defeat, even in one-day cricket, but it is whether you win or lose that matters. If England cannot reverse their loss in the first one-day inter- national on Tuesday night when they take on South Africa in the second match, again under lights, in Bloemfontein today, that sickening cycle of failure and recrimination will start all over again. Three defeats in a row made Newlands a very unhappy hunting ground for a touring team who, ironically, felt more at home in Cape Town than anywhere else. They had more English sympathisers than anywhere outside the Cape Province from native South Africans; the additional support of some 5,000 holidaying travellers escaping from the British winter; plus their own wives and children, and in some cases also fathers and mothers, in their hotel. Sad to say, that might even be a part of the reason for the team`s apparent loss of focus since Durban. The England team will be away for 17 weeks without a break next winter in Zimbabwe and New Zealand, so this aspect, along with the physiological and psychological effects of touring, which have been the concern on this trip of Dr Philip Bell, will need careful review. He already has his report in mind, even as he issues the first of the prophylactic antibiotics which, it is hoped, will prevent in- testinal infections and malaria in India and Pakistan. It is harsh to expect so long a separation from wives and girlfriends, but this is not the first tour made by England teams, and indeed by those from other countries, during which the arrival of loved ones seems to have coincided with a general loss of concentration on the purpose of the trip. The plain fact is that having been more or less in control of their own destiny for the first two-thirds of this tour, England made bad starts to the Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Tests, lost the last game because of one disastrous hour and lost two limited-overs games when they appeared to be safely in the bag. The captain was disparaging about his own team`s performance, accusing them afterwards of `bottling it` Mike Atherton and Ray Illingworth need to get down to brass tacks quickly. The formula is not working, so there has to be a rethink and it needs to address why Western Province and South Africa were both able to make a late acceleration in the lower middle-order. They must also question why England could not even manage the four runs an over needed on Tuesday once Atherton and Alec Stewart had reached 59 in the first 15 overs and again, after Al- lan Donald`s devastating first spell, when a mere 56 were needed off the last 14 overs with seven wickets in hand. Neil Fairbrother`s loose drive to mid-off in the first over of Shaun Pollock`s second spell started a silly collapse during which Craig White, Dermot Reeve, Dominic Cork and Neil Smith all failed to support Graham Thorpe. The captain was disparaging about his own team`s performance, accusing them afterwards of `bottling it`, and reluctant to give South Africa sufficient credit for the brilliance of their field- ing and the aggression of their bowling. It was not insignificant that the Newlands pitch had rather more bone in it than those which lie ahead. It suited Donald and Pol- lock more than their Warwickshire team-mates (past and future) Reeve and Smith. Still, there will be repeat situations in which a batsman coming in under the lights to tackle Donald or Pollock in full cry will need to do better if England are to get on top in this series. It is time, I believe, that Jack Russell was given a proper chance to show what he can do. It is not the least of his quali- ties that he usually plays an innings suited to the occasion. Russell`s batting average in one-day games for Gloucestershire last season was 75. He made 527 runs from 18 innings, often enough under pressure. Robin Smith seems worth looking at as Atherton`s alternative opening partner Stewart, although he kept wicket impeccably and got a dubious lbw decision on Tuesday, not only had a greatly inferior one-day record for Surrey (364 runs from 12 innings at 36) but is simply not batting at his best at the moment. Robin Smith seems worth looking at as Atherton`s alternative opening partner. He might relish the 15 overs at the start when only two fielders are allowed outside the circle. He has the technique to play a big innings, huge experience, four one-day international hundreds and an average of 40, and the power of stroke to make the most of the open spaces beyond the circle. The experience of Philip DeFreitas the batsman would also have been very handy on Tuesday, so the best 11 to turn things around today might be: Atherton, Smith, Hick, Thorpe, Fairbrother, White, Russell, Cork, DeFreitas, Gough, Martin. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http: www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)