The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Trescothick may return home

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Friday, Nov 18, 2005

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Trescothick may return home

Ted Corbett

FAISALABAD: Marcus Trescothick, the opening batsman who led England in the absence of Michael Vaughan during the first Test against Pakistan this week and made 192, may have to return home after an accident to his father-in-law, thus robbing England of a senior batsman with 13 centuries and 5,404 runs to his credit.

Trescothick was waiting for further news before making up his mind. His father fell off a ladder while working in the garden. I think the chances are that Trescothick, a dedicated cricketer, will resist the call to return unless his father-in-law's condition deteriorates. "I am afraid I cannot tell you when a decision will be made," said an ECB spokesmen. "It depends on the circumstances."

Trescothick is also a respected member of the team brains trust and is so rarely injured that he has played in the last 42 Tests, thus playing a major part in England's recent run of success by averaging 48.86.

Vaughan better

At the same time Vaughan was clearly relishing a return to the battle after the 22-run defeat in Multan. His knee, injured in a practice game in Lahore only four days before the first Test, has improved dramatically in the last week.

"Last weekend I was pretty down because it looked as if an operation was necessary which meant the end of my tour," said Vaughan. "But hard work by the physio Kurt Russell has produced such an improvement that I can contemplate playing in the second Test on Sunday."

It was good to hear Vaughan's strong Northern voice again; listening to him you had no doubt he intended to play. "It has nothing to do with the problem Marcus is facing. If I am fit I will play."

One of the strangest quirks of fate is that Ian Bell who would have missed the Test if Vaughan had been fit produced two highly regarded innings and will now definitely play at No.3 despite a poor summer against Australia.

"I thought he played just the right innings," said Vaughan who admitted he did not enjoy watching but was full of praise for the way his team had played.

"I thought we played some fine cricket for four days and could not quite produce a victory at the end. That is unusual for us. For the past two years we have won tight games and we should have done again. I am convinced that we will find the extra ten per cent and do well in the last two matches."

Paul Collingwood, the all rounder who batted at No.4 and made 10 and 3, is an obvious candidate to lose his place but there have been so many criticisms of the performance of Kevin Pietersen that there may be a call for him to be rested.

The coach Duncan Fletcher has already suggested that Pietersen is in for a shock unless he works harder at his game.

Malik, Shabbir reported

Pakistan also found itself in trouble on Thursday, this time with the actions of Shoaib Malik, the off-spinner and Shabbir Ahmed, the quick bowler. They were reported by the umpires and now both are under the scrutiny of ICC who have a new procedure in place for dealing with suspect actions. Both could be suspended from international cricket if they are reported again.

The officials were concerned that although they both appeared to bowl fairly in the nets there were times when their actions seemed illegal to the naked eye. I wonder if the Pakistan selection panel will risk them in the near future, especially as they have a squad of 16 here which allows them to mix and match their teams. It is also fair to say that both bowlers would be useful on a pitch that is often flat but Pakistan may feel that it will be as well served by Shahid Afridi and Naved-ul-Hasan.

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