da cassino： Whatever the personnel when the sides are announced prior to the start ofthe second Ashes Test in Adelaide, Australia will start the match as firmfavourites to go two-nil up in the series
da bet nacional： Ralph Dellor20-Nov-2002Whatever the personnel when the sides are announced prior to the start ofthe second Ashes Test in Adelaide, Australia will start the match as firmfavourites to go two-nil up in the series. England’s plans have been throwninto disarray by a succession of injuries, while Australia could put theirsecond eleven on to the field and still be favourites to win. Australia Acould not force a win in Hobart in the tourists’ last match, but theycertainly did nothing to restore England’s confidence.Before dwelling on England’s misfortunes, it should be said that Australiathemselves are not completely free of injury doubts. Jason Gillespie isstill feeling the effects of his calf strain and is being given as long aspossible to recover. If he cannot do so, Brett Lee will come back into theside.Lee has taken 21 wickets for New South Wales since being dropped from theside for the first Test in Brisbane and has recaptured the speed that madehim such a fearsome proposition until his recent dip in form. If Gillespieis fit, Lee might have to wait until Perth before regaining his place as hehas said himself that his replacement, Andy Bichel, has done a perfectlygood job for the side.England would dearly love to have a problem like that of the Australians. Atthe start of the tour, captain Nasser Hussain said that his side stood achance of regaining the Ashes provided fortune smiled and he could call on afull complement of fit players. The decimation of the party and their dreambegan before they left England. That was when Graham Thorpe dropped out ofthe original selection to be replaced by Robert Key.A damaging blow, but at least Key was fit and raring to go. The same couldnot be said for the rest of the party. Darren Gough (knee), Michael Vaughan(knee), Mark Butcher (knee), Andrew Flintoff (hernia), and Simon Jones (rib)were all travelling with injuries of varying degrees of seriousness toovercome.Vaughan and Butcher came through without further mishap. Gough never tookthe field before returning home to seek further career-saving medical help.Flintoff has simply failed to get over his hernia operation as expected andis now said to be out until the fourth Test. There was no problem aboutJones’ rib, but then he suffered that horrendous knee injury on day one atBrisbane and is out for the rest of the tour and into the foreseeablefuture.Add to that casualty list the shoulder scare concerning Marcus Trescothick,the shin splints suffered by Steve Harmison, and a bout of concussion, thebruised hip that makes John Crawley doubtful for Adelaide, and the fracturedwrist sustained by Ashley Giles, and it is no wonder that the Englanddressing room resembles a casualty clearing station. Of the 16 namesannounced by the selectors on 10th September, only six have not featured inmedical bulletins.Hussain has criticised some of the medical advice that was furnished beforethe tour started, but coach Duncan Fletcher has been philosophical about it."Medical advice isn’t a perfect science so it’s difficult," he admitted."Some of the advice we’ve been given has been pretty close but everybody’sgot to get involved in this and the players have to make sure they carry outthe procedures given to them."In any team you have certain people who look after their own fitnessproblems and there are other people who need just a little bit moreguidance."Vaughan was spot on and we realised that Gough was a risk and Flintoffwould be ready about a week before the Test, but it’s not a perfect scienceand suddenly he was probably about a week too late."Talking about the situation at the end of the first Test, Fletcher pointedto the appointment of a specialised medical officer for English cricket asbeing a step in the right direction."Once he is appointed that will centralise everything which is veryimportant. At the moment I believe our physiotherapists are being treatedlike doctors and they’re not medical people at all."It will be a huge advantage once that Academy is set up at Loughboroughbecause we’ll be able to send guys along there while we’re away on tour andwe’ll have one central place where people can take control of thesituation."However, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, former England captain MichaelAtherton was rather more scathing about the current medical back-up."For some time I have felt that the medical side of England’s cricket ismore amateurish than it might be, lagging behind the increasinglyprofessional set-up as a whole,” Atherton wrote. “Flintoff’s case clearlyillustrates thepoint."Atherton then pointed out that Flintoff should not only have missed theHeadingley Test against India to have the operation as soon as possible, butthat he was not given proper rehabilitation advice."After the Headingley Test, Ian MacLennan, a highly regarded groin andhernia specialist in Manchester, operated on Flintoff. For the first fewdays after that he was given some gentle rehabilitation exercises, but therewas little communication between the England and Wales Cricket Board and theplayer, who, after the initial exercises, had no idea of the more strict,day-to-day rehabilitation he should have been undertaking. In the followingfortnight Flintoff saw the ECB medical staff only once, during the last Testat The Oval, to have his stitches removed."Atherton continues: "At the end of the season, with England off to theChampions’Trophy in Sri Lanka, Dean Conway, the England physiotherapist, rangLancashire to ask them to take charge of Flintoff’s rehabilitation.Lancashire were playing at Canterbury and Taunton and Flintoff remained inManchester, when his rehabilitation finally got under way. After six daysFlintoff was taken out of Lancashire’s care and instructed to go toLilleshall for two-and-a-half weeks. Initially he was told that he was notto be booked in and he would be expected to drive there and back each day,although eventually common sense prevailed and a room was found. From thispoint until arriving in Perth, Flintoff did not see anybody from the ECB."It is not suggested for a minute that any individual is to blame for thissorry state of affairs. All concerned have strained every sinew of theirbeing to do a good job for England, but somewhere along the way the systemhas failed and needs attention. Perhaps the appointment of the medicalofficer will achieve that, as Fletcher has suggested.That is all history. What matters now is that England manage to restore somepride and make the most of what they have available. Whatever the result, abattling performance in which team and individuals do themselves justicewouldgo a long way towards bolstering credibility. And a little bit of luck wouldnot go amiss.As for the Australians, they must be really worried. Consider the dilemmathat is occupying them even once they get the Gillespie situation sortedout. How do they resolve the problem of getting Martin Love – the man whoaverages 451 in two innings against the tourists – into the Test side. Nowonder their selectors have furrowed brows.
