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  • 标题:Cricket: We must try to salvage some pride
  • 作者:CRAIG WHITE Interview: GARY FITZGERALD
  • 期刊名称:Sunday Mirror
  • 印刷版ISSN:0956-8077
  • 出版年度:2001
  • 卷号:Aug 5, 2001
  • 出版社:Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd.

Cricket: We must try to salvage some pride

CRAIG WHITE Interview: GARY FITZGERALD

YOU could have heard a pin drop in our dressing room at the end of the match.

Not many of the players could bring themselves to talk about what had just happened. We all felt very low.

Coach Duncan Fletcher did his best to rally the players despite the feeling of gloom which settled over us after our failure to win back the Ashes.

Never in a million years did I feel we would be so thoroughly and soundly beaten in this series.

After the way we performed last summer and then during the winter, everyone was so confident about our chances of competing with the Aussies.

But there will be no moaning or groaning from me about bad decisions or bad luck. We have to be men and hold our hands up.

We have been second best for most of the time in the first three Tests and that's why we have lost the series.

True, we had our chances of pinching this one at Trent Bridge but if you don't keep turning the screw and keep on top once you've got the upper hand you don't deserve to win.

I still believe these Aussies are not unbeatable and I'm confident we can save face by winning the last two Tests. But it's going to need a major improvement.

Playing in the Ashes was my ambition - winning that famous old urn was my dream. I have fulfilled one of those but the other will have to wait a little longer. But I aim to be around for when we have to travel to the other side of the world next time.

For now, we must take this hammer blow on the chin and come out fighting at Headingley. It's hard to take losing when you've missed out on a major prize. But it's much harder when you have been so outplayed and so comfortably beaten.

For me, personally, it is a bitter pill to swallow. I hate losing and I hate not doing my bit for the team.

Yet Test matches can go that way. You can be the star of the show one moment and outside looking in the next.

Right now all I can do is keep my fingers crossed I will be selected for Headingley, as I would hate to miss playing on my home ground.

Yet, despite not producing the goods with the bat and ball at Trent Bridge, I don't feel under any more pressure than I have done during the last 12 months.

That pressure is the same whether you're scoring centuries, taking five wickets or getting ducks and missing out with the ball.

Everyone is in the same boat. We know our places are at risk every time we go out to play.

Once again, I would hate to miss out on the fourth Test. At the start of this series my aim was to see it out to the end and earn a place on the winter trips to India and New Zealand.

Nothing has changed in my mind. All I need is a decent break and to rediscover the kind of form that helped me enjoy last year so much.

As for England, I know people will come out of the woodwork to call for heads and big changes. Well, that's for the selectors to decide.

They must choose if a certain player deserves to be left out or called up. My job is to now get my head down and start scoring runs and getting wickets for Yorkshire.

As for England fans, my message is this: Don't give up on us - keep supporting us.

We have lost the series but while there are still two games left we will give it everything. It's now a matter of playing for pride even if the main prize has been lost.

Copyright 2001 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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