Fear of failure separates winners from losers (6 June 1999)

6 June 1999

Fear of failure separates winners from losers

Tony Lewis

England vanished from the World Cup scene last week. They were good enough to be in the Super Sixes but it did not quite work out their way. By whatever scoring system points accrue in a World Cup tournament, the essential knock-out element of one-day cricket wins in the end. Every team comes to an 'in or out' stage. There is a moment when you have to get it all right.

Shane Warne announced, a couple of days before Australia met India at the Oval, that he and the boys were about to hit their straps. This, I guessed, was a snippet of trotting commentary describing their readiness to go flat out for the finishing post from near the back of the field. They looked to be labouring under high expectations. From now on, Australia needed to be in full stride.

Coaches can prepare, practice sessions can begin at day-break, reputations can glitter with the last performance, but lurking round every corner is 'sudden death'. It is easy to argue that anyone can win a limited-over contest on the day, but at this stage of a World Cup, the winners are those who can produce the killer skills when they are required: losers find them elusive.

Cricket itself and luck are the unpredictables but there is one crucial force which can permeate the cricketer's mind - fear of failure. As the tournament boils up it will be played more and more inside the head. Staying confident and positive, getting your skills out, being steady under the high catch while the big crowd roars and your nation waits at home, banishing tension and staying cool in the tight finish.

Planning and preparation still helps. From the start of this tournament played with a white ball, it was unwise for India to have Sachin Tendulkar opening against Glenn McGrath. Yes, he has dominated McGrath in the past and there was the dream that 50 overs of the little magician would win the match, but that is like thinking that every Beckham kick from 30 yards will curl into the top corner. Tendulkar should have been shielded from McGrath with the new, white, swinging, seaming lacquered ball. The time for his arrival at the crease should have been about 15 overs into the innings.

But, to the most painful cricket news of the week: Turning to Ceefax for information on Glamorgan's fate in the Sunday National League, I discovered that whereas matches in the Premier Division were worth full scorecards, those in the pond life of the First Division were accorded only the shortened scorelines.

Glamorgan were not too pleased, nor was the chairman of Middlesex, Phil Edmonds. Many commentators have recommended two divisions to hot up competition, chiding the likes of Glamorgan and Middlesex to get competitive. This will give our cricket the aggressive edge it lacks and standards would soar. I have never heard such rubbish.

Nor is it easy to explain to Glamorgan's 12,000 members. The 18 clubs have worked hard to persuade whole communities to share the 'county' experience. Now Glamorgan's matches are not even properly reported, though we won the championship a couple of years ago and the Sunday League before that.

Durham need encouragement after the long fight for first-class status, not relegation. I turned to radio for fuller results. There, only the Premier Division was reported at all. Those who think that splitting a mediocre county scene into two divisions will breed higher standards are daft. It will breed more competitive cricket, but that is nothing to do with quality.

Fewer top teams and fewer players is unjustifiable in a population of 60 million. Imagine splitting the football Premiership. I have always warned against the destruction of cricket as a countrywide attraction but I never thought the symptoms of decline and demise would come within weeks of a divisional system. Without media exposure, First Division clubs outside London will struggle to find sponsorship. In the battle for promotion they will keep experienced players in the side and keep youth waiting until young men no longer want to play the game. Soon England cricket will have six super-centres, supporting six super-teams, with 600 super-coaches and the most super under-19s in the world - and our England summer will be two three-Test series against Italy and France. I rather fancy Test cricket for Wales.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph