The Hindu : Sport : Trescothick's form is good tidings for England

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 17, 2006

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Trescothick's form is good tidings for England

Ted Corbett

LONDON: The contrast between the tear-stained Marcus Trescothick who left India in a hurry at the start of the England tour in March and the laughing cavalier who put the Sri Lankan Twenty20 bowling to the sword could not have been greater this week. Trescothick must be in the best form of his life, with 4,000 ODI runs in the bag and a joke for every passing television cameraman on his lips.

Major factor

Perhaps it is the rest he had while his teammates sweated their way across India, perhaps it is the knowledge that he is unlikely to be asked to captain England again, but there is no doubt that the present relaxed and happy Trescothick will be a major factor wherever England bats in the next few years.

For the next two weeks he should be the leading scorer in the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka which begins at Lord's on Saturday, but after that three Tests and five one-day games against Pakistan, the ICC Trophy in India and the Ashes series ought to provide Trescothick with a run-scoring feast, especially since neither Shoaib Akhtar nor Rana Naved are fit.

This week he made a century off the Irish bowling in Belfast and 72, his second top score in three days, in the Twenty20 defeat by Sri Lanka.

What's more he did it in style, waiting for the ball to come on to his bat and often improvising shots almost at the moment of contact.

It is easy to mock his lack of footwork but a batsman with such powerful and supple wrists defies such insults.

Harmison back

Steve Harmison has also obviously made a complete recovery from the shin splints which meant he had to return early from India. His bowling in the victory over an impressive Ireland was a class and a half better than any other bowler at Stormont, he appears to have stiffened the shoulders which sagged all too often this winter and the velocity and lift from his bowling recalls the glory days of his destruction of West Indies in 2003-4.

Perhaps that is a result of growing his defiant beard once again but he certainly looks the part of the fearsome fast bowler.

It is the brightest piece of news England has had in a period made difficult by injuries to major members of the squad. Michael Vaughan is making progress with Yorkshire, Ashley Giles waiting for a return in the near future, Simon Jones out, if reports are true, for the next five months and Andrew Flintoff impatient to see if rest will cure his left ankle or if an operation is needed.

Youngsters' chance

Meanwhile, Duncan Fletcher, the coach, allows all his war wounded to find a cure in their own time, using younger players to fill the gaps and gain experience along the way. Now, they too are part of the queue for the physio's attention.

Glen Chapple, the long-serving Lancashire seamer, tried too hard in Belfast and is likely to miss the one-day series with an abdominal strain and Ed Joyce strained an ankle in the Twenty20 game.

Muttiah Muralitharan missed that game, so that the young players could have their chance, but he will take part in the one-day series. His record does not compare with his Test haul of 633 victims but he still has 414 wickets at 23.16 and a strike rate of 36.11. That is a late substitute worth having.

The squads:

England: Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Jamie Dalrymple, Steve Harmison, Geraint Jones, Ed Joyce, Alex Loudon, Sajid Mahmood, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Marcus Trescothick and Kabir Ali.

Sri Lanka: Russel Arnold, Malinga Bandara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Jehan Mubarak, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ruchira Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga and Chaminda Vaas.

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