Cricket
Better county than country
Peter Phillips
To see Middlesex bowled out last week for 43 against Lancashire at Lords was to witness one of the least enjoyable batting collapses of the season. It was the lowest total of the county team ever against Lancashire, and the lowest innings total of a first-class county so far this summer. There was a horrified silence about the pavilion as we saw the second, third, fourth and fifth batsmen, including Desmond Haynes and Mike Gatting, removed for nought, while Phillip DeFreitas ended the match with 7 for 21, his career-best bowl- ing figures.
There was a great deal of comment about DeFreitas's bowling in that match, since he had just been dropped by Eng- land. Did he bowl like a different player against Middlesex than he did against Australia at Headingley, or did Middlesex just suffer one of those collective collapses which can irresistibly afflict a whole side like a bout of 'flu? I would have been inclined to believe that it was as much a question of Middlesex getting themselves out as of a superhuman display by De- Freitas if the performance had not run over two days. It is unlikely that panic would accumulate in an experienced batting order overnight; but, having reached 12 for 4 at the end of the second day, to everyone's disgust Middlesex's embarrassment carried on on the following morning: Downton out for 0, Emburey for 2, Ramprakash for 7, and so on. The essence of DeFreitas's success was greater pace than he had generated for England in the first Test, getting the ball to lift sharply off a hard pitch, while at the same time seaming the ball away from the right-hander. Most of his victims were caught close to the wicket. It is known that DeFreitas is a temper- amental and frequently cocky individual, yet he expressed immense regret over being dropped by England after Heading- ley. He came to Lancashire after a dressing-room brawl with his old team- mates at Leicestershire and in both 1988 and 1987 was dropped from their first team for lack of effort. For a reason which is probably as much a mystery to himself as to anyone else, he was prepared to make that effort against Middlesex but not against Australia. One possible explanation for DeFreitas's ennui was the influence of the bowler operating in partnership with him at the other end. He had no respect for Jonathan Agnew when he was in the Leicestershire team, and he instinctively thought himself on a limp ticket bowling opposite his uninspiring England partners at Heading- ley; but outpacing Pat Patterson of Lan- cashire and West Indies is something any young fast howler of spirit would feel challenged to do. Unfortunately this does not read very positively from the England point of view. Listening to Don Mosey and Fred Trueman boring on about how no one these days holds it to be the ultimate privilege to play for England, I always feel like telling them to grow up. If the England team had any semblance of quality or generated any respect, it would he a privilege to be one of them; but it is fully understandable that the name alone is not enough. I can imagine DeFreitas bowling very well indeed for the West Indies team.
DeFreitas presents an example, which is both common and to be expected, of a good player who wants to play for England and is surprised and disappointed when he plays badly. Perhaps, as the aforenamed droning commentators maintain, this is just because Test cricket is paid best and puts the player's name in lights; but the truth for DeFreitas is that instinct speaks more truly than lip-service — the county game gives him a more challenging arena. It should not be a matter for moral condemnation that this is so. On the contrary, it is time to face the fact and ask why so many players who 'want' to play for England actually play better elsewhere.
Hilary Mantel is away this week.
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