WWhen England left their World Cup, it seemed that most of the country would not be able to go down without waking up to the fact that this had happened. In Wisden, editor Matthew Engel regretted that “cricket did not take the opportunity to restore itself in the love of society.” This connection only grew as the summer progressed, as sparse crowds watched the chaotic and discouraged team’s Test ratings fall.
After a disappointing World Cup campaign and the subsequent removal of coach Alec Stewart and David Lloyd as captains, a trip to lower New Zealand for four test series was to be a welcome choice. The Kiwis have been at the bottom of the Test rankings since their launch in 1996 and have not won a number of away games in seven years. England did not have a coach – instead, relying on Graham Guck, he offered several defeats to lead the team, and nationalist David Graveney and incoming Duncan Fletcher saw his contract with Glamorgan – but they were strong favorites under the new captain. Nasir Hussein.
“There was a feeling that this was ‘only New Zealand’,” recalls Mark Butcher, England’s opener, who played three games in the series, including as a captain. “People have always been light-hearted and arrogant. This has made us much smaller than the sum of our parts. ”
Hussein’s first selection meeting as captain emphasized the size of the post. David Graveney, Mike Gatting and Graham Gooch joined the panel as Ian Botham and Jack Birkenshaw as “official observers” and it was “absolutely incredible” for the big players that the new captain team identified as the heartbeat. chops.
Hussain wrote in his autobiography, Playing with Fire: “There was a lot of support for Botham to be a voter that summer, but I’m glad it didn’t happen. “Yes, he is a high-level man who is passionate about English cricket, but his arguments have never been consistent. He would say something one day, and then all of a sudden he would say that the man he had been pushing for a year was now completely rubbish … What I was listening to virtually while advising the selection committee. He thought I should do it, and then he did the exact opposite. “
England selected 18 players in a four-match series, six of which were a single test. Hussein recalls his squad for the opening game at Edgbaston – where his debuts were given to Leicestershire’s prolific striker Aftab Habib and 20-year-old Notts goalkeeper Chris Reed – but his first attempt. The accusation ended in a victory, leading England to victory as Alex Tudor’s magnificent undefeated 99-night guard.
Tudor recalls, “He looked at Nasser’s locker room and said, ‘Well, who’s going in?’ I remember he said. “He was usually number three and wanted a night watchman. People looked a little quick, so he said, ‘That’s right, Tudes, there’s a little bit in the first shots, come on in.’ After facing a ball, we left for a bad light – I never saw it. The next day I fell into the nets with Ramps [Mark Ramprakash] and he said, “Have some fun.” I said, ‘Look, my friend, if I stay for any time, there will be fireworks!’
Butcher, Tudor’s teammate in Surrey, said: “He went out and broke it.” “He arrived in the evening, ran the next day and we scored the highest points in three low test matches. Tudes was a really talented guy really talented – a really fast and proper player with a bat before the worst of back injuries. It was the only high point of the whole summer! ”
This should have been Tudor’s last appearance in the series after Surrey’s scan, which angered the ECB, revealed a hot spot that threatened to break his knee.
After Hussein decided to shoot a bat in the gloomy sky and his side reached 186, Edgbaston’s positivity plummeted. Chris Cairns was head-destroying, including six goal-scoring goals, including Reed’s symbolic expulsion, the green-horned goalkeeper was completely blown away. Slower ball that puts nutmeg on it.
“I didn’t see the ball get out of his hand,” said Read, who was fired for the duck. “The first thing I remember – and it’s very vivid in my mind – is the sound of the ball hitting the pitch, followed by the sound of the hostages being quickly removed. Throwing a duck was just a fighting or flying reflex – ‘Where the hell is it?’ It was the perfect ball for the conditions. Unfortunately, I was at the end of it! ”
Hussein recalls seeing the young man “from a little depth.” Read, who was exiled by Test for four years after the New Zealand series, admits it. “They wanted to play Alec Stewart like a pro, and we were in a pre-Gilchrist era where everything wasn’t as important in the first-class game. [for wicketkeepers]. Voters had an eye on the future so I could see how meaningful it was. But was I ready? Absolutely.
“I played first-class cricket for about a season and performed well enough, but the difference between a four-day county game on the ground with a few hundred members and a full-scale media check was something the test match was really eye-catching and I wasn’t ready for.”
Matt Horne’s angry century led the Kiwis to the lead in the first shot before England surrendered again, while Thailander Andrew Caddick scored the second high in three shots. New Zealand won a nine-goal win to equalize the series, and a persistently broken finger on the field by Hussain said Old Trafford needed a replacement captain, only increasing the overall sense of confusion and friction.
“Torpey [Graham Thorpe] He took over from Nasser at Lord’s Pitch, “Butcher says,” but the captaincy between the end of that match and the beginning of the next game was given to me by David Graveney and Graham Gooch.
“I did not expect it. If you look at the roster, you have two former England captains [Stewart and Mike Atherton], both of whom said “thank you very much,” and Graham Thorpe, who was in fact vice-captain. They didn’t ask him, so he had the right hump. When I get to Old Trafford, I’m not the most famous person in the locker room. I thought it was not about me personally, but about the general situation. How did this happen? ”
As the Old Trafford pitch was expected to offer many queues, Butcher was given a temporary 11, reflecting Peter Such’s breaks and Phil Tufnell’s left arm, while Dean Headley and Caddick were his only two tempo options. Sensing the problem, the captain expressed his concern and asked that Craig White be added to the team as a fast bowling defender.
They told me plainly, “No, you’re just here to turn the coin, that’s all.” I think, “I know what will happen here.” Of course, I wake up on match day, pull back the curtains and there are clouds this down. I’m like, ‘Crikey, if I win the shootout, can I play with two sailors first? I don’t think I can do it! ‘ So I go out in my blazer, a very proud moment, I win the shootout, and I say more fearfully, “Oh my God, please let the sun rise,” and we’ll be a bat. Dion Nash earns us less than 200. “
England suffered their first shooting loss of less than 300 before it rained in Manchester, a 1-1 draw in a series of draws. Butcher proved to the press after the game that no one was safe on the sidelines and that he was right when he was stabbed to death for Darren Maddy, who made his Test debut when he decided on The Oval.
Warwickshire sailor Ed Giddins was also given a test cap, and Alan Mullally (Test average 5.52) was in 9th place, one step above him, part of the most unfortunate English tail in a vivid memory. productive Tufnell.
Bringing three No. 11, No. 8 Caddick and No. 7 Ronnie Irani to Team No. 7 after a three-year hiatus, the battered squad seemed more sensitive, but this time Hussein could not complain about makeup. from his side. After the Gooch and Gatting Old Trafford Test, he was removed from the selection panel and the captain was free to choose as he wished.
“I thought, ‘Then I’ll try to pick the players I want to fight,'” Hussain wrote. “I wanted fighters,” he said. I didn’t want to argue anymore. In any case, this game won me over, because we played bloody, the choice was almost mine and we had to win.
This is a generous memory of Hussein, who fell to 153 in the first shot, his 83rd advantage in the first shot (the 14th consecutive match they missed in the first shot, which was a world record at the time). But it’s true that in the second excavation Kiwis 39-6 had a chance to put a little sparkle in England’s stormy summer. Instead, Cairns played the defining shot of the series by placing Tufnell in the stands four times on the way to 80, a quick shot that England needed 246 to win.
The goal in 123-2 seemed unattainable, but this long tail justified its reputation as the hosts eventually hit 162. Hussein insisted he was “proud” when he gave his post-match interview from the Oval balcony. The performance of his team was greeted by a choir of spectators gathered on the grass in front of the pavilion and the slogan “We are bad and we know.”
New Zealand’s victory, the first in a series of victories on English soil since 1986, lifted them to eighth in the test standings, leaving England at the bottom of the table. English cricket was neither the first nor the last, existential crisis.
“It was sad, completely sad,” Butcher recalls. “It was a lot of bottom, but that moment on the balcony of the Oval was a catalyst for how Nasser would work during his time as captain. You could see his brain exploding. He was very angry. After that, things improved [after Fletcher became coach, England won four consecutive series in 2000 following defeat in South Africa]. No one else could do what Nasir did. He was the right person at the right time. “
This article was first published in Wisden Cricket Monthly. Guardian readers can get three digital issues of the magazine for just £ 2.49 or three print issues for just £ 5.99.