Austin was seconded for today's Emirates Tournament match against Sri Lanka when Mark Ealham pulled out with a side strain caused by Hampshire's fast bowler Nixon McLean. Austin is renowned for the most ample frame in county cricket, but nobody will mind so long as he can restrain the World Cup holders' powerful pair of pinch-hitters, and even score a few runs as a paunch-hitter himself.
England's selectors went for Austin partly because ``he has been very good under pressure for Lancashire in recent years'', as Stewart said. His experience extends to several cup finals at Lord's, including the Benson and Hedges final of 1996 when he was man of the match.
The second reason why Austin was chosen ahead of other candidates like Matthew Fleming, Vince Wells and Mark Alleyne was that England needed ``a stronger bowler'', according to the selectors' chairman, David Graveney, who added that Ben Hollioake had not been considered for this reason.
England are only too mindful of the need for the best specialist bowling, since the last time they met Sri Lanka was in the World Cup quarter-final, when their bowling was shredded by Sanath Jayasuriya.
So Austin it was, medium-fast, full-length and straight, and in prime form after bowling his 12 overs in the NatWest semi-final for three for 25 against Hampshire, and after hitting 49 in the current Roses match before he was summoned south. He is expected to complete a bowling attack of four seamers and Robert Croft: the re-laid pitch is too close to the new Grandstand, and too likely to offer some pace and carry, for a second spinner.
After losing six of their last eight internationals under Adam Hollioake with too many bits-and-pieces players, England are going for ``proper batsmen and proper bowlers'' in Stewart's phrase. That has to be right as the white ball has extra lacquer which stops it from getting too dark and dirty but keeps it swinging more than the red.
It is also right that England should maintain the successful formula which they discovered in Sharjah, as they have done by Austin's selection: namely that non-Test players bring to one-day internationals an energy which England's regular Test players cannot.
By selecting more than half of today's team from this non-Test category, England should enliven the remainder who have just finished a demanding series. This was something which South Africa could not do on Friday, and it showed as they went down to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener by 57 runs.
Whereas the last World Cup was just one more tedious assignment for some of the Test players, the next one would be the chance of a lifetime for the likes of Nick Knight, Ali Brown or Austin, who has dug graves and delivered beds in his journeyman career. He once got his van stuck under a bridge, pushed it through after much scraping, and found he was in a cul-de-sac.
``Pinch-hitters'', however, is rather a misnomer for Jayasuriya and his partner, Romesh Kaluwitharana. They are a left- and right-handed pair who attack with the confidence of all-rounders and head a batting line-up which is as impressive in its composure as in its strokeplay. It is Sri Lanka's seam bowling which is ordinary, making them the opposite of South Africa, who bowl like Australia and bat like New Zealand.
At England's practice yesterday it was also notable that one or two players threw off-breaks at each other in preparation for today's game (which became a sell-out after Headingley). Apart from Muttiah Muralitharan who has been no-balled for throwing, Sri Lanka have Kumara Dharmasena, who has been referred to the ICC's advisory committee on throwing.
It has been said that ICC have subsequently cleared both bowlers. All the ICC can do, in fact, is to pass on the advice of their committee to the country concerned for its Board to heed or, more often, ignore. It is only true to say that the two bowlers have not subsequently been no-balled.
The law says that if either umpire is not ``entirely satisfied with the absolute fairness'' of a delivery, he should call no-ball. If there is any element of doubt, in other words, he should no-ball. Shame that's only the theory.