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 | |  Monday, 21 January, 2002, 12:22 GMT The rotation debate  England's seamers could now be rotated BBC Sport Online's Oliver Brett looks at the policy of squad rotation in one-day cricket as England consider going down a road that has had its problems for Australia. It's something that would probably never happen in Test cricket, but rotation of players in one-day internationals is a growing, if somewhat controversial trend. Australia adopted the policy about 18 months ago. By January 2001 they found themselves playing a one-day series against two rather weak sides in Zimbabwe and the West Indies. Quite frankly, an Australian third XI would have given both teams a run for their money so resting the likes of Mark Waugh and Glenn McGrath from time to time seemed a sensible idea. It was almost a case of giving other players a chance - after all, Australia are so good at cricket that it's a near impossible task for even the brightest prospects to break into the side.
Of course they then came unstuck. In the first three matches of the VB Series - the current three-nation series with New Zealand and South Africa the opponents - three unwelcome and unexpected defeats rocked the Aussie showboat. When Mark Waugh did not play in the second match in the series lost by the home side, eyebrows were already being raised. The thinking went that if, as a team, you have put pressure under yourself by surprisingly losing a match - as Australia did on Friday against New Zealand - surely you must field your best XI. A third defeat followed before Australia finally played what they considered their best side, winning a match against South Africa in some style, and they have now dispensed with rotation for the rest of the tournament. Equating all this with the current thinking in the England camp is not an exact science. What England coach Duncan Fletcher is talking about is perhaps slightly different to rotation per se.
He has an exceptionally inexperienced side and needs to give opportunities to as many as possible in the 12-month build-up to the next World Cup. Some may naturally rise to the big occasion - others may not and Fletcher needs to know. He also needs to give Andrew Caddick a bowl to see if he has still retained his edge. Former England captain Mike Gatting is not much of a fan of rotation, and in the long run would like to see England limiting it to the bare minimum. Gatting, who took England to a World Cup final in India in 1987, said: "If you've got the right players in the squad, then providing they are of the same class, then it's up to the captain. Consideration "If he feels one player needs a rest then I suppose trying to rotate him is something to consider - providing the replacement does exactly what the first bloke does." "Pitches have always got a part to play. There will be different pitches that people perform on - and it's often a case of what balance you fancy on the day." When the sport's biggest tournament kicks off in South Africa in February 2002, however, rotation is not such a good idea, reckons Gatting.
"There's not too much room to manoeuvre in the World Cup," he said. "Really what you should try to do is get continuity going." The arguments in favour of rotation are that it helps keep a side fresh. That's what Australia's coach John Buchanan and captain Steve Waugh would have said when the system was working. And there has been talk of potential 'burn out' among professional cricketers as the international calendar steadily becomes cluttered with more and more fixtures. But the best way of avoiding that is for players to take a break from whole tours to recharge the batteries. Alec Stewart and Darren Gough have recently done just that, and Lance Klusener flew home to miss the last Test before rejoining South Africa's squad for the ODIs. Jonty Rhodes prefers these days to play exclusively in the shortened form of the game, spending Test series relaxing with his family. While England are assessing who exactly they should have in their World Cup side, then rotation is a live issue. But the evidence seems to be that in general it is something that should be left to Manchester United and co. | |
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