England force Thorpe to toe party line

The contemporary international cricketer travels faster and more frequently than his counterpart of the previous generation. A drinks party when a team was away together was once, generally speaking, looked upon as a boon; these days it is a bore. They are paid better and they have become more insular. Meetings between players and public have been built into the itineraries of every competing side in this World Cup, however, part of the intention of taking the game to the people, and the drinks party with Kent members was one of several such events arranged for each of the teams in the week before the main event starts.

No doubt several of the England players would have preferred to have stayed at their hotel on Wednesday night to watch football on television, but only Thorpe did so. When the team coach arrived to take them from Ashford to Canterbury, a journey of about 15 miles, he said he was too tired. It had, indeed, been a tiring day, the players having mixed two practice sessions with a coaching session for schoolchildren at Canterbury. Graveney emphasised, however, the paramount need for unity. "It is a crucial factor in terms of our chances of success that we are together in everything we do," he said.

Ironically, the manager has already had a letter of thanks for England's co-operation with local requests since their arrival in Kent on Sunday and already they have carried out coaching assignments with children at Folkestone and Maidstone. Graveney and Alec Stewart also attended a disabled cricket event on Tuesday. Thorpe's lapse of decorum was, therefore, untypical of the approach of this gathering of England players to the task in hand.

On the other hand, an official blind eye has too often been turned when players have done something unbecoming on and off the field in recent years and there has tended to be a slovenly approach to the rare social functions now expected of England on tour. Much offence was caused in Antigua two winters ago when the team and managers preferred a private function to a semi-official one.

That is not to say that England managers have always been afraid to discipline players who step out of line. Ben Hollioake last season and Chris Lewis in 1996 were fined for arriving late. Thorpe has apologised to all concerned and the hope is that his fine - not a mortal blow, perhaps, to one who has been featured with his wife and children in Hello magazine this week - will galvanise his cricket, because he is a key member of the team.

They had a good practice under match conditions in the middle yesterday in preparation for the match against a full-strength Kent side. The batsmen were set a target of 280 by Lloyd against their own bowlers on a slow pitch and got them off the last ball. Significantly, in view of their recent shortage of runs, Alec Stewart and Nick Knight put on 76 together in the first 15 overs and Graeme Hick later played some eye-catching shots in making 43 off 28 balls.

Mark Ealham will play for Kent against England today. Dean Headley, not chosen by England since his success at the end of the Ashes series, and the captain, Matthew Fleming, who played with much character for the one-day side, would enjoy doing well today. A crowd of 7,000 is expected and there will be good attendances also, weather permitting, at the other matches between visiting countries and their host counties, at Hove, Leicester, Northampton, Taunton and Worcester. All these games should give a real boost to the county clubs (they are all to stage a match before the tournament itself starts a week today), quite apart from giving essential practice on relatively unfamiliar pitches to the 12 nations.

Inevitably there are a few minor injuries. Angus Fraser has a knee strain and Jonty Rhodes sprained a wrist while rowing during South Africa's bonding session in Cape Town. He misses the match against Sussex today, but he will be fit to play in the other two warm-up games. Allan Donald is fit.

Among the other teams in England's group, Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lanka captain, gave warning yesterday that "we have got a few tricks up our sleeve" (that will not surprise Alec Stewart), but Asif Karim, the Kenya captain, was more cautious. "Eight of our 15 have never played here, so we need to learn quickly," he said. Alistair Campbell, the Zimbabwe captain, also preferred the modest approach, saying that the realistic aim was to win more than one match and to reach the second stage.

The group B teams have one more day of practice before playing their first warm-up games tomorrow. The first signs of fever are beginning to surface.

May 7, 1999