Warne the big danger for England in fourth Test

By Vic Mills

LEEDS, England (JP): After a break of 17 days, the battle for the Ashes resumes this evening with the fourth cricket Test at Headingley.

Since winning the Manchester Tests, the Australians have behaved more like tourists than touring cricketers. They have seen the sights of Edinburgh, played golf at St Andrews and Dalmahoy, and attended the British Grand Prix. There was even time for Shane Warne to break ranks and return to Melbourne for a first glimpse of his new born daughter, Brooke.

During this period the tourists played three one-day games against Scotland, the Minor Counties and John Paul Getty's XI at his country seat of Wormsley.

The build up to the fourth Test began in earnest with a three- day fixture against Glamorgan in Cardiff. Of concern to the tourists was the form of Michael Bevan.

With just 43 runs in five innings in the series, his place is up for grabs.

Ricky Ponting enhanced his chances of replacing Bevan with his first century of the summer. A bit-part on tour to date, Ponting thrashed the weakened county attack (Waqar, Watkin and Croft all missing) to post unbeaten 126.

The final day of the drawn game saw the return of Shane Warne, the champion spinner spending much of the afternoon signing autographs.

From Wales the tourists returned to London for their final warm up game against Middlesex at Lord's. Mark Waugh took full advantage of a benign wicket to play himself into form with an unbeaten 142.

Warne brought the game to life on the final afternoon with a spell of 3 for 16 in seven overs, but the home side hung on to draw with Mike Gatting reviving memories past deeds with scores of 85 and 47.

Lack of grass

The tourists arrival in Leeds coincided with news that the nominated Test wicket had been discarded in favor of another. The lack of grass on the original was thought to be too much of a gamble given Warne's form in Manchester.

It had not gone unnoticed by the English selectors that their two best results in the series to date -- the win at Edgbaston and the draw at Lord's -- were achieved when Warne was clearly operating below par.

But his old magic returned at Old Trafford where his six- wicket first-innings haul restored his almost hypnotic hold over England's top order batsmen.

With his mental well-being reinforced by paternity leave in Melbourne, Warne can now concentrate fully on the last five weeks of the tour. The increasing threat he poses was summed up by captain, Mark Taylor who said "you cannot go through 12 months of cricket and take six or seven wickets every time you play. You are going to have bad games and Shane had two games where he didn't bowl at his best. But he still commands respect.

"Once he starts finding them, Warney is the sort of guy who gets all over you. I am glad it's only taken him three Tests to get to that stage. He is going to be tough to play for the remainder of the summer."

The presence of a resurgent Warne in the Australian attack at Leeds will assume even greater importance if the Australians decide to replace Bevan with Ponting.

Bevan only managed to hold off the challenge of the talented Tasmanian in the first three Tests because of the usefulness to the overall balance of the attack with his left-arm wrist spin. But the slowness of the English wickets and a charitable line and length have counted against him.

With Bevan out, and the effectiveness of the Waugh twins as bowlers reduced by their various aches and pains, Warne is set for an increase workload. A fact that will not be lost on the England batsmen.

The likely Australian side at Headingley is -- Taylor (captain), Elliott, Blewet, Waugh M, Waugh S, Ponting, Healy, Warne, Reiffel. Gillespie and McGrath.