JULY 30. As Rodney Marsh rides in like the Yankee cavalry to rescue English cricket, Dave Gilbert, former Aussie fast bowler, once coach at Surrey and now chief executive with Sussex, is on his way home to take up a similar post with New South Wales. Dave is a highly popular figure around these parts and there's no doubt he leaves Sussex with a strong side, a high profile and a healthy bank account. English cricket expects Marsh to perform a similar miracle. But where? He is set to be director of the English Cricket Academy when it is ready at Bisham Abbey. But it is still not certain - because of difficulties over a cemetery and a listed building - that planning permission will be granted for the Academy. Its headquarters may move to Nottingham or Lord's where there are wonderful facilities already. It's not the first time the England and Wales Cricket Board run into trouble putting together a college for further education of young cricketers. Back in 1994 there is a plan to employ Peter Philpott, former Australian leg spinner, but the scheme collapses and Philpott, who already makes plans for his children to be educated in London, receives compensation so large that it still makes large numbers of county committee men grind their teeth.
July 31. Let's hope the Rodney Marsh story does not end in tears too. I am afraid that there is weeping at Essex where the chairman David Acfield, former Olympic swordsman and county off-spinner, resigns after months of dissent. He is also facing a motion of no confidence but decides not to wait for the axe to fall. Most of the arguments are being blamed on the county's Australian pro Stuart Law, who is "difficult to get on with," according to unnamed sources. Acfield takes the responsibility and quits after seven years as chairman. He is also chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board cricket committee and an office-bearer throughout the game which means there may be a general shake-up at the top.
August 1. So what exactly is John Buchanan playing at? When he is coach of Queensland his notes about their opponents somehow fall into the wrong hands revealing that, among other things, the Western Australian batsman Damien Martyn does not move his feet early in his innings. During the Australian tour of New Zealand more observations mysteriously slip under the wrong hotel doors and find their way into print. Now there is a major upheaval when reporters wake up in their Southampton hotel and discover that pages of the Buchanan philosophy arrive at the same time as their morning papers. Accusations that the Poms are whingers are hardly new, but Buchanan turns out to be the first cricket coach to draw on the teachings of the ancient Chinese. There are hints that coach Buchanan is not the real brains behind the Australian success and that, incredibly, he is just along for the ride. Think how good this team will be if they have a proper coach. Or one who does not spend his night life trudging along the corridors of foreign hotels with a bundle of papers and a list of reporters' room numbers. I cannot imagine the Australians putting up with anyone so daft as the reports suggest Buchanan may be. At least he appears to persuade Martyn to move his feet and score the runs that escape him when he is the best Australian batsman outside the Test team. Incidentally, I trust my colleagues keep these original manuscripts of Buchanan's. Such items are valuable. Greg Chappell has, much to the annoyance of many cricket lovers Down Under, sold a number of letters from Don Bradman for 64,300 pounds sterling recently.
August 2. Graham Gooch is hardly the most fluent conversationalist, and when he is England captain he relies on a series of dressing room cliches and a few nods and half hints to help those of us who report their moments high and low. Now he suddenly becomes the most interesting pundit on radio, full of stories and infinitely the best reader of the game around. However nothing can change the Gooch nature and his face still indicates that he finds sixpence and loses a pound. Even though those close to him say that his new girl friend Julia makes him very happy. They have a lot in common and already begin their preparations for the Great North Run, a mini marathon, with a long jog around Nottingham early on the first morning of the third Test. But you will understand why there are a number of quiet chuckles when he takes part in the Test Match Special commentary at Trent Bridge and, asked about Michael Atherton, England captain in the continued absence of Nasser Hussain, says: "He looks miserable ever since he arrived in the England team 12 years ago."
August 3. The England selectors, recently voted the men most likely to need headache pills every day, are now more inclined to look at the new boys of Durham, and not just because the long drive north tops up their expense account. This summer Paul Collingwood is given a first chance in the one-day international squad and although he finds the going tough there is a new procession up the A1 to the Riverside ground to look at Nick Peng, just 19 years old, 6ft 3in and a schoolboy star with the England under 14, 15, 17 and 19 teams. His 120 in 110 balls against Worcestershire recently makes selectors - amateur and professional - sit up especially as he makes 98 against the champions Surrey last summer and 132 in the Under-19 Test in Chennai this winter.
August 4. England lose a Test and the Aussie grip on the Ashes remains as firm as ever but at least there is a new star on the horizon; the crowd fall deeply in love with Alex Tudor. They find something very appealing about the way his gawky, knock-kneed stance turns effortlessly into fluent strokes when he is batting and the pace he gathers from a rather lethargic run-up. Of course, this is a second coming for the 23-year-old black lad from west London and Surrey. Two years ago he wins a Test for England at Edgbaston with a blockbuster of a 99 not out against New Zealand and some are still asking when Graham Thorpe, his partner in the middle, does not make sure the nightwatchman hits a century. Not so the crowd at Trent Bridge. They cheer the 6ft 5in Tudor to tear into the Australians and when he holds up the ball to signify his five-wicket haul there is genuine applause for the first time since this delightful new custom is brought into being by Glenn McGrath. Best of all, it seems that Tudor now realises that he can shake off the niggles that go with every fast bowler's career. His worries about injuries stem from his brother Raymond, another promising fast bowler until he suffers a double stress fracture of the back aged 18. "I often worry that Alex may suffer as I did," says Raymond. Their father Darrell thinks Alex will be a star. "He keeps on proving he is a big match winner," he says.
August 5. The best cricket stories come out of the little leagues, like this one from Sandy, 20 miles from Cambridge. It is a town where, let's say, you may need to make your own entertainment which the locals do by either playing cricket or picking out a tune on the drum and bugle. But in such a small centre it is inevitable that Sandy Cricket Club and Sandy Drum and Bugle Corps choose to play on the same day on adjacent fields. The result is a storm, well, of small town proportions.
"The problem is that they play the same tune over and over again," says Roy Fage, who plays for the cricket club for 46 years. Barry Barker says, on behalf of the band - formed in 1910 and winners of a national championship - that "we are one of the best marching bands in the country and we will continue to play here." Now both sides want the local council to intervene but the administrators want nothing to do with this tiny piece of disharmony.
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