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A truly surprising England squad

By Ted Corbett

LONDON May 17. For once, the England selectors have produced a truly surprising squad. For the first Test against Zimbabwe which begins at Lord's on Wednesday their new ball attack will be one of the most inexperienced to play for England but the events of the last six months have forced them to make changes and they have worked hard at their homework.

They have consulted retired Test players, brought Rod Marsh into the panel in place of Nasser Hussain and watched as many youngsters as possible. It has been a purposeful response to a wretched winter. They have made bold decisions and deserve success for their initiative; and been pragmatic in retaining Alec Stewart, 40, and clearly so near the end of his career that he is unlikely to be given a new contract in September.

David Graveney, chairman of selectors, said that the discussion over the wicket-keeping position was "lengthy'' and appeared to be adding that the difficulty in choosing between the youngsters Chris Read and James Fletcher was a factor. In every other department they have been decisive and looked to the future.

I don't often write in praise of selectors but Graveney's gamblers have taken the opportunity provided by a poor Zimbabwe team to give three players their first Test caps and make a distinct stride towards a new-look England by the next Ashes series and the next World Cup.

They have named James Anderson, the 20-year-old fast bowler who has already taken a hat-trick for Lancashire this summer, to lead the attack in the absence of both Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick who are injured and out of both Tests in this series.

Anderson is not the new Fred Trueman that so many English writers want him to be but he is quick, cool and gaining in confidence with each delivery. "The speed with which things have happened to me has been an advantage,'' he said. ``I have not had time to be worried or nervous.''

Anderson's progress is not such a shock after his one-day international performances in Australia and South Africa this spring but the call-up of James Kirtley, the Sussex quick bowler with a suspect action, and Andrew McGrath, the Yorkshire captain, are old-fashioned selections, since no-one has forecast their choice.

Kirtley, 27, first came to notice when he captured seven England wickets in a tour warm-up match in Zimbabwe — while he was playing for Mashonaland — six years ago and has been in and out of the one-day side ever since. He has undergone modifications to his action in the last few years but there are still experts who believe he should not be allowed to bowl his faster ball in the way he does.

After the Jermaine Lawson problems in West Indies this week, Kirtley will be under the microscope from his first ball. McGrath — whose name is pronounced in full and not in the way abbreviated way of Glenn McGrath's — has been Yorkshire captain for only a few weeks but he has made an impressive start and his promotion has brought the best out of his batting and bowling.

He toured both Pakistan and Australia with the A team between 1995-97 as a highly promising teenager but, apart from his brilliant fielding, has been unnoticed in the Yorkshire sides since.

Now Darren Lehmann's absence on Australian Test and one-day duty has given him the captaincy of his county, aged 27, and the injuries to Gough and Caddick mean the selectors want him to share the fifth bowling duties with Mark Butcher, especially if Andrew Flintoff has to be left out with a neck injury.

The final selection will depend on Flintoff's fitness. "Players sometimes wake up with a stiff neck, as Andrew has, and find it goes just as suddenly,'' said Graveney. "We will keep him with the squad in the hope that he is able to play. He is a richly-talented lad and we want him in the side if possible.''

The squad: Nasser Hussain (Essex) captain, Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Mark Butcher (Surrey), Robert Key (Kent), Alec Stewart (Surrey), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Anthony McGrath (Yorkshire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Steve Harmison (Durham), James Anderson (Lancashire), and James Kirtley (Sussex).

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