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| November 14, 2001 | Wednesday | Shaba’an 27, 1422 |
England fly out on an Indian mission
LONDON, Nov 13: One thing Nasser Hussain’s England Test squad will certainly not declare when they arrive in India this week is a surfeit of hope.
If they were to do so, Mumbai’s immigration officials would probably take pity and wave them through without further questioning.
Rarely has England’s attack been so light on wickets in recent years, or their batting so short of appropriate experience.
Rarely, too, has an England tour been launched in such inauspicious circumstances.
If skipper Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher fail to convince the 16-man squad to leave their safety concerns behind at Heathrow when they flew out Tuesday morning, the next month could prove very long and very, very arduous indeed.
“I’m taking a young side away, yes it’s full of inexperience, and it’ll be bloody hard,” Hussain said. “There is no harder tour.”
India, with its low slow pitches, packed ranks of fanatical supporters and searing conditions, is always a daunting place to go. Only two touring sides, South Africa and Pakistan, have won there since England’s last success in 1984-85 under David Gower. World champions Australia lost 2-1 earlier this year.
A full-strength England would have struggled against the wide bats of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and Vangipurappu Laxman, and the mysterious wiles of leg-break bowler Anil Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
England, without the tenacity of the recently retired Michael Atherton and the experience of Alec Stewart, as well as the 409 Test wickets of stay-at-home pace bowlers Darren Gough and Andy Caddick, look dangerously exposed.
“Everyone will find out about themselves...whether we can compete against the likes of Tendulkar and Ganguly,” Hussain said.
If England are to prosper, it is likely to be though sheer bloody-mindedness. It will take some dogged, back-to-the-wall batting for the tourists to have any chance of stealing a result.
That would be unlikely to make for enthralling watching. Neutrals will surely be waving the Indian tricolour.
You can almost hear the licking of the Tendulkar lips from London.
Hussain and Fletcher, though, are quick to point to 2000-01 and England’s unlikely series victories in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“Everyone was sceptical last winter about our chances and are questioning them now. But give yourselves a go, that’s what I’ll be saying to my team, give yourself a go,” the captain said.
“Take on the challenge and see what happens. “Character and determination and team spirit will be absolutely key.”
Fighting talk, and you would expect nothing else, particularly with so many young players’ nerves jangling over the events in nearby Afghanistan, concerns which will not have been eased by the announcement of the crash of an American Airlines plane at virtually the same time as Monday’s pre-tour press conference.
Left-hand opener Marcus Trescothick confirmed his emergence in Sri Lanka last year with a century, while the technically-correct Michael Vaughan suggested an international career with three figures at Old Trafford against Pakistan in June.
Squad: Nasser Hussain (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Mark Ramprakash, Usman Afzaal, Warren Hegg, James Foster, Craig White, Ashley Giles, Martyn Ball, Richard Dawson, James Ormond, Matthew Hoggard, Richard Johnson.—Reuters
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