Date-stamped : 16 Jan96 - 02:16
Electronic Telegraph  Tuesday 16 January 1996

What Malcolm said

DEVON MALCOLM claimed in the Daily Express that  Ray  Illingworth
swore  at him and ordered him to leave the nets on Christmas Day,
the eve of the fourth Test in Port Elizabeth, because he was dis-
tracting fellow fast-bowler Darren Gough.

He said: "If Illingworth had come up to me and said `You`re here,
fine,  but I won`t be needing you for the Test series` I wouldn`t
have been happy, but at least I`d have said  `OK, you`ve  got   a
different  plan`.  But  all that abusing was unfair and no way to
treat anybody.

"Once you go out there to play cricket you want  to  be  able  to
think  cricket  and work your batsmen out - not spend 80 per cent
of the time worrying about your chairman."

Malcolm recounted how, after an uplifting opening  week  when  he
met Nelson Mandela, he was humiliated and sworn at by Illingworth
and he was upset by the  public  "cricket nonentity"  jibe   from
bowling coach Peter Lever.

Last night Malcolm, the only black player on tour,  defended  in-
troducing racist innuendo. "I only asked a question," he told BBC
Radio 5 Live. "As the only black man, there were a lot of  things
I  had to do, and the manager could have given me a lot more sup-
port.

"I was thrown in at the deep end at press conferences and  things
like  that.   I  thought in the early stages that it would be the
first two or three weeks of the tour."

Malcolm outburst highlights major clash of styles

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

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