England maintains winning team for 2nd cricket Test

By Vic Mills

LONDON (JP): After its comprehensive nine wicket win over Australia in the first cricket Test of this Ashes summer, England, not surprisingly, has chosen the same squad for the second Test starting at Lord's today.

The routine re-selection of the 13 from the Birmingham Test did not even warrant a meeting of the selection panel. The chairman, David Graveney, simply contacted colleagues Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting by telephone. But this is not to imply that the same team will take the field today.

The top six in the batting order will remain the same, which means Surrey's Mark Butcher will not suffer the one-cap fate of his father, Alan. In the process of making two low scores at Edgbaston, Butcher displayed enough to suggest he has the necessary technique and temperament for the Test arena.

If there is to be change to the England XI, then it will come in the balance of the bowling attack. The weather and state of the pitch hold the key for the likes of fast bowler Devon Malcolm, medium pacers Alan Ealham and Adam Hollioake, and left- arm spinner Philip Tufnell.

Chosen for his speed and hostility, Malcolm displayed very little of either at Edgbaston. Yet on his day he can bowl as fast as anyone in the world. But as countless England captains have found such days are few and far between.

England captain Mike Atherton, is believed to favor a return to two specialist slow bowlers at Lord's, a selection that allowed him both scope and control during the winter tour to New Zealand. Operating in tandem, Tufnell and off-spinner Robert Croft played lead roles in the victories at Wellington and Christchurch.

The more unsettled the weather, the less likely Tufnell is to play. The England think-tank will also need persuading that Thursday's wicket, a relaid surface, used only twice, will respond to spin more than other new pitches at Lord's.

If a case can be made for a turning wicket, then the likelihood is that Tufnell will replace Malcolm. The gamble would be to play both and dispense with the services of the Kent all- rounder Mark Ealham. This would be a little hard on Ealham following his fifty and three wickets at Edgbaston.

To replace Ealham would also necessitate moving Croft to No. 7 in the batting order.

This would not be beyond the confident Glamorgan player whose enthusiasm alone has made him an integral part of the England team. It will not have gone unnoticed by the selectors that Croft has been promoted into the top six by his Welsh county.

Balanced attack

A balanced England attack will go a long way to stopping the tourists playing their game.

In recent series, Australia has sought to post large totals and then relied upon wrist spinners Shane Warne and Michael Bevan to weave their magic. To disrupt this pattern, England must bowl Australia out for relatively accessible totals.

England was assisted by Edgbaston by an Australian side woefully short of both match practice and acclimatization to conditions. The situation has not altered much since the first Test with the tourists finding a wet English June far more difficult to cope with than the opposition provided by Nottinghamshire or Leicestershire.

Nor is the pattern set to change as the modest playing schedule outside the Tests offers little opportunity for those out of form or hoping to press for selection.

As at Edgbaston, there will be those in the Australian top order who will look to run into form during the Test itself. No easy task against the disciplined bowling of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick.

While the Australian top order is unlikely to be changed, injuries to Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel - the latter set to return home - has forced them to send for Paul Reiffel to augment their bowling resources.

Despite taking 19 wickets in the final three Tests of the 1993 Ashes tour, Reiffel was omitted from the original 17-man squad named in April. The questionable fitness of the slimly built Victorian was seen as too much of a risk for such an arduous tour.

With frontline bowlers Glenn McGarth and Michael Kasprowicz failing to bowl the required line and length in the first Test, the arrival of Reiffel, every inch a bowler for English conditions, may just be the spark to ignite the Australian pace attack.

Unlike the first innings at Edgbaston, the Australian bowlers will be looking for some support from their top order batsmen. The centuries for Taylor and Blewett were a start, but Australia need runs from the Waugh twins and Michael Bevan if it is to entertain realistic hopes of squaring the series at Lord's.

With England having won just once against Australia at cricket's headquarters this century, and that in 1934, history is on the tourists side. Of the 14 clashes in the intervening 63 years, Australia has won seven and drawn seven. A statistic, from which the Australians will draw much needed encouragement.

The likely teams for Lord's are:

England: Atherton (capt), Butcher, Stewart, Hussain, Thorpe, Crawley, Ealham, Croft, Gough, Caddick, Malcolm or Tufnell.

Australia: Taylor (capt), Elliot, Blewett, Waugh S, Bevan, Healy, Warne, Kasprowicz, Reiffel and McGarth.