Stewart should stay at the England helm (6 June 1999)

6 June 1999

Stewart should stay at the England helm

The Electronic Telegraph

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Alec Stewart may have been cast in the role of Henry IV in this the worst week of his captaincy but, unlike Shakespeare's king, he is experienced enough to know that the first rule of leadership is that, if the side plays badly, the captain cops the flak. Indeed, diffusing praise among the team after a win but loading the criticism upon oneself in defeat is one of the tasks of a leader.

His plea that the men of Fleet Street retain some sense of perspective, following England's untimely World Cup exit, has largely gone unheeded. As a self-confessed newspaper addict, he will have had a tough week; for there is no middle ground and, accordingly, after achieving hero status at the end of last summer he now finds himself cast in the role of the villain.

It was the type of situation I experienced increasingly towards the end of my captaincy. But if people felt I used to sit at home in a state of depression they would be wholly wrong. Of course things weigh on your mind and the dark moods are difficult to lift.

Getting away for a few days was helpful. After the last World Cup I went to Jamaica on holiday, but soon realised that was a mistake as the cricket-mad locals on every beach corner reminded me how woeful we had been. The Lake District was also a favourite haunt: to sup a pint of Jennings' in Tom Murray's pub in Cartmel, and if you were lucky to catch the races, was a perfect antidote to the latest calamity.

Alec has little time to get away as Surrey and the English season call. And he will no doubt have his hands full with his lively son, Andrew - something I never had to contend with. He will look forward to going back to the Oval, as I used to really look forward to returning to Lancashire, to the dressing room banter and to the mates I had played with since schooldays.

You cannot undo what is done and constantly secondguessing yourself is a sure way to the asylum. I tried to analyse what had gone wrong and in particular where I had gone wrong and then moved on.

If Alec analyses his World Cup honestly he should mark himself down in two areas. His form after the opening match was poor and, in the key games which ultimately cost England, no platform was set for the middle order. At the Oval and Edgbaston his judgment at the toss proved costly, spurning the chance to bat in good conditions. He is not the only captain in this World Cup to be suckered into believing there is an undue advantage in bowling first, when in fact the white ball is seaming all day.

I think it would be wrong for the selectors to replace him, however, and he should put any thoughts of resignation to the back of his mind. For, other than that, I thought his captaincy was sound. He took the aggressive options all the time, and England looked an increasingly assertive outfit in the field. He was flexible with his bowling changes and looked in control. He may regret weakening the bowling at Edgbaston to accommodate Adam Hollioake, but that may have been at the behest of the selectors in any case.

Of course, had England made the Super Sixes, and it seemed before Edgbaston that they had, there would be no speculation over the captaincy. After all, it is not that long ago that he was running from the field at Headingley, arms raised aloft in triumph, having beaten South Africa. My view is that Alec should remain as captain with two provisos: firstly that his form warrants selection as I have always felt that the captain should come from the best XI. Secondly, that he is allowed to captain from the best position; that is as an opening batsman, playing in his usual fearless and aggressive way, and without the burden of wicketkeeping.

England's departure was the last hurrah for David Lloyd, whose job as coach has come to an end. There are many anecdotes, none more revealing than in Barbados last year: Dean Headley had been having desperate trouble with no-balls. The day before a one-day international he and Bumble worked together solidly for two hours in the nets to cure the problem. The solution was to mark a box with sawdust in which Dean had to land his right foot during his run-up and all would be solved.

On the morning of the game the box was duly marked out and as Dean prepared to get the game underway the coach sat straining through binoculars to check his footwork. "He's going to miss his mark, he's going to miss his mark!" Dean runs in. "He's missed it!" No-ball duly called. Bumble smashes the binos down in disgust. "That's the trouble with Headley," he spluttered, neck characteristically jutted forward, the veins in his forehead pumping "he just gets too damned worked up!"

Therein lies many of the qualities that Bumble brought to the England job: totally dedicated, desperate for his team to do well, passionate, wearing his heart on his sleeve and, just occasionally, exasperated by the failure of his charges. He has done his all and done it well but it is players, not coaches, who win matches.

As a new career beckons he will no doubt see the irony in England's exit. How he must have thought he had laid the Zimbabwe ghost to rest and yet, like a bad smell, it returned to hang over Edgbaston at the worst possible moment. In another grand irony, his first phone-call after the match was from officialdom at Lord's congratulating him on his interview with the BBC.

Indeed, it was a fine interview, a dignified exit of a good man. But what does that tell you of the England and Wales Cricket Board's priorities? The worry after the Zimbabwe tour was not the results but the sound-bites, and here the concern was with presentation and image rather than the main issue.

Naughty Sachin Tendulkar played unshaven last week, but it is India who are in the Super Sixes.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph