11:10am Thursday 14th January 2010
By Ian Morgan
JOURNALIST Matthew Engel will be watching England’s final Test match with South Africa from the comfort of his Herefordshire home.
It is the first time that Engel has not been on an England cricket tour of South Africa since the Proteas returned to the world stage in 1991.
England lead a thrilling series 1-0 after the Cape Town heroics of Graham Onions who, for the second time in three Tests, batted out the final over to salvage a draw.
And Engel believes the fourth-and-final Test, which starts today (Thursday) at The Wanderers Cricket Ground in Johannesburg, is too close to call.
"They have had terrific duels in this series and just look at the last Test in Cape Town - the final day was a fantastic day's cricket,” said Engel, who edited Wisden Cricketers' Almanack for 12 years and remains a consultant editor.
"It was a very tense battle and it was fought in a very good spirit. The ball tampering accusations were merely play-acting and the teams have a genuine respect for each other. It's impossible to say who is going to win the last Test.”
England triumphed on their last Test visit to Johannesburg which helped them to a 2-1 series victory over South Africa in 2004/05.
"England may be 1-0 up in this series but, had it been a boxing match, England would be losing on points,” said Engel, who spent 25 years writing for The Guardian.
"Johannesburg is at altitude and is a place where the ball will swing.
“It may possibly favour South Africa should England decide to play with only four bowlers. But South Africa have fitness problems with their bowlers.”
Engel believes England versus South Africa is the leading series in Test cricket.
"Ever since South Africa came back into world cricket after their exile, the England against South Africa Test series has been, by far, the best series in world cricket.
"They resumed playing against each other in 1994 and this is the eighth series.
"Since then there has never been more than one match separating the teams and it has been neck-and-neck every time.”
Engel admitted he was a bit ‘cricketed out’ after working throughout England’s Ashes victory over Australia last summer.
“You might be living in Herefordshire where the temperature is not getting above freezing and you might be worrying if you have got enough oil to last until the roads are clear.
“But, when a series is as exciting as this, you can't help but become engrossed in it wherever you are,” said Engel, who is now a Financial Times columnist.
Matthew Engel’s thoughts on the world of cricket ENGEL ON NEED FOR TV COVERAGE “THE England and Wales Cricket Board are fighting like crazy to ensure the Ashes Tests are kept secret and do not return to terrestrial television.
“They want to ensure that the game is seen by only a small minority of people.
“What sort of game does not want people to see it?
“When did you last see a group of kids in a park or a field playing cricket?
“It is important that young children see the game and want to play it.
“The majority of the players in the England team have some connection with cricket and come from cricketing families.
“Graeme Swann's dad played cricket as did Paul Collingwood's dad and, of course, there is Stuart Broad's dad.
“You can see that the game's base is very narrow.
“I grew up in Northampton but had I grown up in Herefordshire, I am not sure how interested I would be in cricket.
"Obviously, if you grew up in a place like Colwall, which has a terrific club and a strong base for cricket, there's a chance.
“But if you live in the city of Hereford, then there’s probably only a very small chance that a child will get too excited by cricket.
“There are lots of reasons for this and it's not safe for children to play in the streets anymore because of the traffic.
“On a summer's day after school, we used to take our bat and ball to a quiet street and play cricket there for hours.
“Parents are now very nervous to let their children play on their own and sometimes they are absolutely right to be.”
ENGEL ON MINOR COUNTIES CRICKET "THERE has always been a question over the significance and the role of the Minor Counties.
“I think they have adapted over the last few years and it has become less of a jolly for blokes who can play a bit and get time off work.
“It has become more of a genuine breeding ground and it's very sad that the Minor Counties no longer get the chance to play in a major competition against first-class counties.
“That was part of the charm of English cricket.”
ENGEL ON NEED FOR VISION “THERE is a question over the validity of the first-class County Championship and the role of a club like Worcestershire.
“Does Worcestershire, for instance, exist to win trophies or produce England players?
“I don't think anyone has seriously thought about what the game is for.
“At its best, for example the Ashes and the 2010 series in South Africa, cricket is a fantastic game.
“But it is being very badly run on a global level and no-one with any authority has any coherent vision of what it's for and who it is for.
“You have the crunching of gears and the game drifts on and there's the issue of making more money over the importance of enhancing and safeguarding the game.”
ENGEL ON TWENTY20 CRICKET “I THINK Twenty20 is a nice afternoon but nobody wants to spend too much time engrossed in studying the Twenty20 playing strategies.
“It's a good way to bring people in through the gates.
“We must not lose sight of the importance of Test cricket.”
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