Atherton criticises Illingworth

ON the day that England announced an unchanged squad for the second Test at Lord's, their captain, Mike Atherton has launched a stinging attack on Raymond Illingworth.

He accused the former chairman of England selectors of displaying double standards, wrecking team spirit, making unproductive public pronouncements and holding back the development of the England team by abandoning the youth policy which was in place when he was appointed.

Atherton has also revealed that Illingworth wanted to replace him with Alec Stewart as captain after the disastrous Ashes tour two years ago, but was saved by the intervention of David Graveney, then a new selector on the panel but now chairman in succession to Illingworth.

The revelations come in a new biography of Atherton, written with his co-operation and published on Wednesday, the eve of the Test in which he breaks Peter May's record number of times as captain by leading England for the 42nd time. The timing could not have been more immaculate if he had rocked onto the back foot and eased a fast bowler square for a trademark boundary.

Atherton's criticism comes as no surprise for it has been patently obvious that the pair maintained a working relationship only grudgingly during Illingworth's three years as chairman, the last half of which was as `supremo', with Atherton's voice on selection low on decibels.

"I had my dream of the way English cricket should go," Atherton says, "and Illy had his vision. When I was made captain in 1993, the then chairman of selectors Ted Dexter told me I would be the main voice in selection meetings. That's the way it worked for the West Indies tour. But it was made crystal clear to me by Illy that those days were over. I just had to get on with it the best I could."

Atherton, who had already come close to losing the captaincy over the dirt-in-the-pocket affair in 1994, aroused Illingworth's anger following his stated frustration at selection policy for the Ashes tour that winter. When the new selection panel met at the start of the following summer, it was evident that both Illingworth and one selector, Fred Titmus, wanted Atherton out and there were heated exchanges when the captain was asked to explain his actions and critical words.

"The mood was very clear," Graveney remembers, band if I'd gone along with it, as a new boy might have done, then Athers would have been removed as captain at that meeting."

It is Illingworth who has gone now, of course, and although Atherton has no direct selectorial vote, his relationship with Graveney is altogether more cordial. The selectors have decided, without recourse to a meeting to name the same 13 who went to Birmingham with the likelihood that an unchanged 11 will take the field on Thursday. Should that happen it would be the first time at home since the Lord's Test against West Indies in 1991 when just two of the current squad, Atherton and Devon Malcolm, were in the side. As in this case that squad came on the back of a win in the first Test, although the fact that it was followed by defeat in the next does not bode well for such continuity.

That, though, was too rigid an adherence to the old dictum about not changing a winning side. This time, the selectors had little need to do any tinkering, with performances at Edgbaston generally sufficient all round to warrant maintaining the spirit that comes with stability. Because of the Wednesday start to the next round of championship matches, however, the selectors will look at the pitch tomorrow, and announce their side two days early, releasing two players - Adam Hollioake and Phil Tufnell, if the status quo is being maintained - to play for their counties.

"We want them to be able to get some cricket," said Graveney yesterday. Of course things could happen overnight on Wednesday, but if we needed to get someone released and back with us, we could do it. It's a risk but a considered one."

As a precaution, though, the promising young Essex pace bowler, Ashley Cowan, will join the squad for practice tomorrow - in the same subsidiary manner as did Alex Tudor at Edgbaston - but as his county do not have a match this time around, he will stay with the team for the duration.