Tour place doubts as England wins

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 42

Tour place doubts as England wins

NZPA London Although it beat Pakistan by three wickets, England's catastrophic batting collapse in the third and final test at Leeds must now force the English selectors to review their plans for the coming tour of Australia. England needed only 29 to win, with four wickets standing on the final morning. Scores were:— Pakistan 275 and 199. England 256 and 222 for seven. But right up to the carnage inflicted by Mudassar Nazar and Imran Khan in dim light at Headingley, it had been widely expected that England's “top six” batsmen used for the three tests against Pakistan had already had their aircraft seats booked. Now. serious doubts must hang over Allan Lamb. Mike Gatting and Derek Randall, with David Gower merely thankful that past performances and elegant ability should stand him in good stead. Lamb, the South African of

whom so much was predicted. finished the series with 0-0-4. while Randall had a poor spell of 29, 9, 8 and 0. Gatting has now played 38 test innings and still has a top score of only 59 — a record which, if produced at county level, would see him playing second eleven cricket. While looking at those dismal statistics, the selectors will be hard-pressed now to ignore Hampshire's Trevor Jesty, who has made five centuries in the past fortnight. Another who will feel hard done by if he fails to get a ticket, and Randall, Lamb and Gatting go, will be Geoff Cook, who was dropped after scoring two successive halfcenturies. The selectors, however, will surely have no doubts now about the pedigree of the opener, Graeme Fowler after his stirring 86 yesterday which set England up for victory only to see his older, more experienced colleagues undo the good work.