‘Daring declarations out'

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 36

‘Daring declarations out '

NZPA London No daring declarations will force.an artificial resultin the Centenary Test according to the Australian cricket captain, Greg Chappell. “We wouldn’t give them anything and I don’t ex-.* pect them to give us anything,” Chappell said. Chappell went on to explain that he now thought the chances of Australia’s forcing a win were virtually nil. “It might have been different if we’d got them in on Saturday night and", picked up, a couple of wickets. But the chances of bowling England out twice in two days are now

very remote,” he said. His counterpart, lan Botham, said after the fiasco of the third day that he and Chappell would try to make a game of it, but Botham will have to tread • carefully with so much shrapnel flying around his head. His captaincy has come in for criticism from several quarters, and Denis Compton weighed in yesterday with the opinion that Botham had lost his touch since he was given the “He’s not playing well enough to be , captain o! England. Indeed, he is lucky to be in the side on his present form,” wrote

Compton in a Sunday n newspaper. e Ted Dexter wrote in any other newspaper: “His !1 captaincy must really be e in doubt.” 11 Botham’s Job as skipper y in the forthcoming Eng--1 land tour of the Caribbean is on the line. There is a e growing feeling that his - form has indeed been s affected by the responsin bilities of captaincy and n. the fact that he is 10kg s overweight. a The sniping will no doubt, continue until Both1 am shuts everybody up f with a typically brilliant s performance. That is, on a both sides, inevitable. e The Job remains now to - - ——

make something out of the ruins of the. greatest English cricket festival of the century. Saturday’s fracas in front of the long room at Lord’s, the threats to replace umpires, the abuse poured on almost everyone involved, the continuing attacks on the umpires, -Dickie Bird and David Constant, left an indelible smear across the red and gold ; M.C.C.: bunting. ■ . No matter how much they try to restore public faith now, the Lord’s affair is- going to stand poor comparison in years to come to the Melbourne. Centenary Test of 1977.