Cricket: Atherton unlikely to adopt a bold strategy

SECOND TEST: Caddick strives for recognition but Silverwood is ruled out as New Zealand look to turn defiance into attack

Earthquakes are not unknown here. Indeed, the Basin Reserve, where England play the second Test starting tomorrow, is located on land pushed up from the harbour floor during the last major quake here in 1855. Since then, the tremors have been muted and everyone here talks of waiting for the "big one" to drop.

It is much the same with England's cricket team, who have not registered a series win abroad since they were last here five years ago - a victory that hardly sent shockwaves around the world and one, should they manage to repeat it this time, is unlikely to have Australia - despite being well and truly Windied in Perth - quaking in their flip-flops.

Back then, the Wellington Test was an irrelevance, coming as it did after England had already taken a invincible 2-0 lead. This time, and with only two Tests left, it assumes far more importance - perhaps too much for tactics to be uninhibited - and both sides, despite Mike Atherton's claims to the contrary, are unlikely to be tempted into early risks.

"The series is still wide open," Atherton said after Tuesday's practice session. "Auckland was disappointing, but to go into this game saying that we can't afford to lose it is a bit negative, and I'll be looking for a more positive frame of mind. In fact, this Test is just as important as the last Test. No more."

It is an outlook that was badly missing in Wanganui, where the tourists were thrashed by a fervid New Zealand A side in a game the England captain felt that some players found difficult to give their undivided efforts and attention to.

"Wanganui was a hard game after Auckland, which went the whole five days and which was incredibly tense on the final afternoon," he explained. "Some of us need to keep something back in order to step up a gear for the Tests."

Ironically, Chris Silverwood, one of the few players to perform well there, is now out of the Test match after splitting the webbing on his right hand during fielding practice.

"It's not a pleasant thing," Atherton said after five stitches had been put in Silverwood's wound. "But injury is part and parcel of a cricketer's life and, although it would have been nice to have a full complement to choose from, we haven't."

However, Silverwood's injury has definitely advanced Andy Caddick's chances of playing, particularly as the relaid pitch has more bounce and grass than its torpid predecessor, which produced 15 draws from 20 Tests until Courtney Walsh ended the sequence two years ago with a remarkable 13-wicket haul.

Like the unfortunate Yorkshireman, who notched up his career-best bowling figures, Caddick bowled well in Wanganui, and was - despite his relatively modest haul of five wickets in the match - England's most menacing bowler.

For most of us, Caddick's presence is long overdue. Incredibly, the England management probably do not see it like that and they may consider giving the directionless Alan Mullally another chance. If not, Caddick's presence will depend on the balance of England's final attack, which may yet include Robert Croft if the groundsman's promise to remove more grass from the pitch is zealously kept - a move ever more likely should Chris Cairns fail a late fitness test on his sprained ankle.

However, irrespective of the pitch's condition on Thursday morning, England need to be bold - which probably means playing both Caddick and Croft and dropping Mullally and Craig White.

It is against Atherton's cautious nature to make changes when no ground has been lost, and he will not be comfortable with Croft and Cork batting at seven and eight, despite their recent good form with the bat.

Nevertheless, Atherton is adamant that his team's "level of performance is good," and that it is only a "matter of time until results follow".

Reality, though, does not offer the same generous interpretation, and having got themselves in a position to win both the Bulawayo and Auckland Tests, England have come away empty-handed - a mere ball away from winning on both occasions.

The last time England played a Test in Wellington, I pulled out of the game with a shoulder strain on the morning of the match. It was a decision that allowed Ian Botham to play his 100th Test for England. As it turned out, the occasion was not filled with Botham heroics, as the match, on a typical low Basin Reserve pitch, petered out into a draw.

It was also the match when David "Syd" Lawrence split his kneecap in two as he came in to bowl. It was a horrific injury which until recently - when news of an intended comeback for the Gloucestershire bowler surfaced - was thought to have ended his career. Tired or not, old hissing Syd would have done nothing else but give his all in Wanganui.