- The Observer,
- Sunday April 27 2003
The season is properly under way. After a freakish start in the first round of Championship matches when sweaters were shed and the sun shone, normality has returned. A forlorn pair of selectors travel miles in their attempts to dodge the showers but end up monitoring Teletext. There is good news: Darren Gough has finally completed a game for Yorkshire unscathed, Jimmy Anderson continues taking wickets. And bad news: Paul Collingwood has dislocated his shoulder and is out for a minimum of three months, and where is Mark Butcher?
The falling rain inevitably heralds the arrival of the first tourists of the summer. The Zimbabweans arrive this week. They will be doughty, as they always are, but they are a shadow side, who should not threaten England. Just think who might be there: Andy Flower, Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson, Henry Olonga, Steve Elworthy and, if we really want to rewrite history, Graeme Hick. In their absence, Heath Streak and his men can only battle for survival and respectability.
But the selectors must treat them seriously and they have some decisions to make. Expect the announcement of England's new one-day captain this week and expect Michael Vaughan to be given the job. This will be a minor snub for Marcus Trescothick. Trescothick is more experienced in this form of the game and his record easily surpasses that of Vaughan, who in his 26 outings has rarely excelled (he averages 23). But Vaughan's status has soared in the last 12 months while Trescothick has been preoccupied with his technique, though as he purred to 60 against Durham this week there did not appear to be too much wrong.
It is correct to ignore the claims of Adam Hollioake as England's next one-day captain. It is time to find out more about the post-Hussain generation. With Vaughan's elevation he will become the heir apparent for the Test captaincy even if there are selectorial protestations that his appointment does not necessarily imply that he will be the long-term successor.
Also anticipate a couple more players to be recipients of central contracts - just two since the financial constraints in the fall-out of the World Cup fiasco are affecting every level of the game. Anderson and Steve Harmison are likely to be the lucky duo and could well join Andrew Caddick in a three-pronged pace attack for the first Test match. Understandably, Gough's renais sance will be treated warily. If he can stay on his feet for six weeks then perhaps he will return to international duty when the one-day matches commence in June.
These are relatively straightforward decisions. However, the selectors will be looking on anxiously at proceedings at The Oval on Wednesday when Surrey entertain Warwickshire. In Surrey's first Championship match - against Lancashire - there was one notable absentee in Mark Butcher.
Butcher, a centrally contracted player, was given clearance to play by the ECB, but was not selected by Surrey. This was not necessarily sheer bloody-mindedness on Surrey's part. Who of their regulars should they have omitted to allow Butcher a place. Ian Ward? He was prolific last year, averaging 62, and he duly hit a century against Lancashire. Mark Ramprakash or Graeme Thorpe? We know their capabilities and Thorpe, despite expressing his renewed international ambitions, is more likely to be a regular in the Surrey side this season than the England team. Ali Brown? He averaged 50 last summer and is a potential destroyer of county attacks. Adam Hollioake? He's the captain; he picks the team.
If Butcher does not get a game for Surrey next Wednesday then the selectors have a problem. He is England's resident number three, who is surely pencilled in for the first Test against Zimbabwe at Lord's on 22 May, and he needs some cricket. But if Surrey continue to shun him where is he going to get some?
The obvious solution, though a bizarre one, would be to use the redundant loan scheme that has been available for the past two seasons but which has never been taken up by the counties. Butcher would be excellent value for one of the 17 counties who would be interested in his services. They would not have to pay a penny since Butcher, as a contract player, now receives his wages directly from the ECB. If this solution was forced upon Butcher and the selectors then he would probably have to play for a second-division Championship side so that he would be able to turn out for Surrey later in the season. Butcher, strolling out to bat for Derbyshire or Durham? It seems unlikely, yet it could still happen if he is sidelined next Wednesday.
This situation highlights the fact that the loan scheme, which was not designed for the likes of Butcher but for younger, less exalted cricketers unable to command a first-team place, has proven to be a non-starter, however noble the intentions. Perhaps the restrictions on player movement should be eased even further so that it is possible to transfer a player from one county to another in the middle of the summer rather than waiting for the end of the season. In the meantime Butcher can only strum his guitar and await the decision of the Surrey hierarchy.
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