Gatting wants England to be ruthless

Mike Gatting

LONDON, (Reuters) – Mike Gatting urged England to be  merciless in their pursuit of long-term success after he passed  on a 24-year-old honour to Andrew Strauss yesterday.

Gatting had been the last England captain to retain the  Ashes on Australian soil until Strauss emulated the feat with  victory in the fourth test in Melbourne.

The former batsman believes England can become the dominant  force of test cricket if they have the will to capitalise on  this Ashes success.
“We’ve got to get used to keeping people down and being  ruthless; we haven’t really been that way inclined before,” he  told the BBC.
“But nothing’s impossible for this team, and if they keep  believing and keep working together as a team then they could be  one of the teams that could be up there for a long time.”

Gatting led England to a series victory in Australia in  1986/7 to retain the Ashes won in 1985, an achievement that  proved beyond a succession of touring groups until England won  in Melbourne yesterday to go 2-1 up in the five-match series.  The first test ended in a draw.
“It’s a very proud moment and they should all be very proud,” Gatting said.

Mike Gatting

“To win the Ashes down there is so difficult…so I hope people don’t try to demean this by saying it wasn’t a very good  Australian team — I get a bit fed up when I hear Englishman  saying that. You never hear the Australians saying that and I hope people don’t.”

NEW DEPTH

The impressive contributions of seam bowlers Tim Bresnan and  Chris Tremlett, neither of whom were in the first-choice England  XI at the start of the tour, has underlined the new depth of  talent in the English game.

“I am very pleased for Tim,” said Martyn Moxon, the director  of cricket at Bresnan’s county, Yorkshire. “He has had to be  very patient while waiting for his chance. This is a massive  step for him, he has shown his ability and he really rose to the  occasion.
“He is a different type of bowler to the other guys in the  England attack. He is a bit stockier and offers some variation.  I’m delighted to see him do so well.”

Tremlett looked to have missed his chance at international  level after a brief flurry three years ago, but a move from  Hampshire to Surrey and a change in physique kickstarted his  career.

Chris Adams, the Surrey manager and former England batsman,  said: “When we got (Tremlett) he was very big in his upper body  and we have tried to streamline him.

“We felt he looked quite bulky and he had had some injuries.  We thought it may have had an impact on his ability to bowl  repetitively. Now he can bowl one or two long spells and he is  able to back that up.

“We also sat him down and we told him we wanted him to lead  the attack and take responsibility. We wanted to tap into what  is a great cricket brain.
“You never know how guys will play, as there is so much  pressure involved in playing test cricket, but he…really looks  like a test bowler now.”