I know from 1988 how an England team can unravel!
Ironically it was not a whitewash but it felt worse mainly because of of the speed and chaos that ensued once the team started losing
Derek Pringle is reminded by the fall from grace of England in India of the visit by the ruthless West Indies 28 years ago
Seeing the hang-dog expressions and slumped shoulders at the Wankhede Stadium, let alone the crushing margin of defeat, you wonder how it could have got so bad so quickly for England after the sunny uplands of the first Test in Rajkot.
It is an accepted wisdom that change can happen quickly in India, but England’s descent into maelstrom has been staggering in its speed. From the “winning” draw in Rajkot they have lost the next three Tests and the series in 29 days, a rapid decline that has taken its toll on team harmony as well as the captain’s sanity.
Defeat in India, where the home side knows how to exploit the conditions expertly, is one thing, but the losses have become heavier with every match. Which suggests that once despondency burrows in, all the ministering of coaches, psychologists and breaks in Dubai cannot shift it.
The sense of helplessness such a situation brings can be crushing. Whatever England do, and have done, in terms of preparation and selection, it has not been nearly enough to counter Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the grim trio visiting humiliation upon England cricketers illequipped for the slow, grippy pitches.
Mistakes, like dropped catches, have been made but they are part of cricket’s DNA. Only the really avoidable errors, such as Alastair Cook’s over-cautious marshalling of the first Test, and the dodgy selections and strategies, can really be blamed for England’s predicament.
Cook is stubborn and won’t admit he blundered in Rajkot, but he should have given his team longer to win that first Test by declaring sooner on the final day. Victory there might not have been enough of a fillip to win the series, but it would surely have helped to avoid the pit of despond that exists now.
The hopelessness of England’s spiralling fall from grace reminded me of the 1988 series against the West Indies, which also ended in pulverising defeat. Ironically, it was not a whitewash, as the two previous series against them had been, but it felt worse mainly because of the speed and chaos that ensued once the team began losing.
As with the current series, that one also began with a creditable draw, at Trent Bridge, a result that felt like a minor victory given the potency of West Indies pace attack in those days. But if England’s resistance was a surprise to many, it was trumped by tabloid revelations a few days later that Mike Gatting, the captain, had allegedly enjoyed sexual relations with a barmaid from a nearby pub during the match.
Other players were implicated in the story, which involved more than one barmaid, but Gatting bore the brunt and was immediately relieved of his post. John Emburey was appointed to lead England in his place and Martyn Moxon came in to replace him in the batting order. Gladstone Small was selected, too, for Phil DeFreitas.
Losing a captain in such circumstances could easily destabilise a side but unlike today’s England team, made solid by central contracts and near constant companionship, that one was disparate and assembled almost on the run. We certainly didn’t appear to miss anyone, having reduced West Indies to 54-5 on the first morning at an overcast Lord’s.
Soon after that great start, I dropped Gus Logie, a tricky chance at first slip. It was a miss that was to prove costly after he top-scored, his 81 instrumental in West Indies reaching 209 in their first innings.
With the weather still murky, we were blown away for 165, enough of a shortfall for the West Indies to smell blood and post a second in innings score of 397 as the conditions eased. Despite that, we were dismissed for 307 to lose by 134 runs.
On paper, the West Indies were the stronger side, but we did not help matters with crazy selections. Much as I fancied myself with the bat, I was not good enough to be a Test No.6 against Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Patrick Patterson. Trying to withstand them with a mid-to-lower order of Pringle, Paul Downton, Emburey, Small, Paul Jarvis and Graham Dilley was a leap of faith requiring divine intervention.
It meant that the top five had to deliver every time or the team would get vaporised, which is what began to happen as the series went on.
With defeat came change, something that has also occurred in India this time, though not to the same degree. I had
been dropped along with three others prior to the innings and 156-run defeat at Old Trafford, a match for which, in a bizarre twist, Gatting had been returned to the team.
After that they sacked Emburey and appointed Chris Cowdrey for the fourth Test. I had also been reinstated, one of seven changes made in a bid to stop the rot (Gatting again being one of those dropped). Trouble was that fresh blood did not halt the gallows humour and it took a stirring speech by Graham Gooch at the pre-match dinner in support of Cowdrey, to defer any negative thoughts at least until the start.
We lost that one by ten wickets and headed to the Oval for the final Test with just four changes but another captain, this time Gooch, installed after Cowdrey had broken a toe. We lost by eight wickets at which point a group of disillusioned players, led by Gatting, joined a rebel tour to South Africa.
Nothing that drastic will happen this time but that summer was thought to have consigned the knee-jerk selection to oblivion for good. India has shown that to be false but when you don’t know what your best XI is, and all pointers suggest England still have as little clue after the four recent Tests in India as they did in 1988, selection by trial and error ensues – and with it the deflation and paranoia of that West Indies series 28 years ago.