In this sense the English performance was indeed being booed.Rowell had better become used to the noise. It will recur, even if England play better than they did against Western Samoa. For one thing, the audience are as entitled to express their dissatisfaction as they are at La Scala, Milan. And, for another, the crowds who now assemble at Twickenham to belt out God Save The Queen and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – more convincingly, it must be said, than my fellow-countrymen now render their own half- remembered hymns – seem to have only the haziest acquaintance with the game. Just as they do not realise that it is criminal to throw away three points, so they cannot understand the new put-in law.But, whether the sport is professional or not, one has always been entitled to expect professional standards from television commentators, and to criticise them accordingly.
They are being paid for their work, even if they do not make their entire livings through it.Nigel Starmer-Smith and Bill Beaumont in tandem are a disgrace. They are so not because of technical errors on their part, whether to do with rugby or broadcasting skills – and there are certainly a few of these – but, rather, because of the tone of unremitting English chauvinism which they feel constrained to adopt. They are reminiscent of British Movietone or Pathe newsreaders of the 1940s and early 1950s.No one watching Saturday afternoon’s broadcasts who was uninformed about rugby, as many viewers were, would have understood from the two commentators just how badly England were performing. “He’ll be a bit disappointed with that one,” was the furthest Beaumont was prepared to go in adverse criticism.Nor am I at all happy about the use of Rob Andrew as a summariser Not only is he yet a third English voice. He is up to his eyeballs in the contemporary game, both as a player and as a manager.Andrew is a nice chap, a distinguished player and – let there be no doubt about it – a person of the utmost integrity That is not the point. The point is that someone employed by the BBC to do his kind of job must not only be above the present battle, over payments, contracts, player-poaching and the rest of it He must manifestly be seen to be above the battle..
Cricket
DEREK PRINGLE
reports from DurbanSouth Africa 225 England 152-5 Match drawnNothing much stirred here yesterday, as further torrential rain brought a sodden and premature end to the third Test. With more rain forecast over the next few days, farmers have already moved their cattle to higher ground, a position that might save England’s next three-day game inland at Pietermaritzburg, scheduled to start tomorrow.After two years of drought, the non-stop rain is causing havoc. With widespread flooding making major roads impassable, this mecca for holidaymakers has, ironically, become as isolated as a desert island.It wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise had South Africa’s selectors decided that the quickest way to inform Paul Adams of his selection for the last two Tests was to pop a message into a corked bottle, toss it from Durban pier, and let the tides take it round to Cape Town.Holding a Test series in the rainy season is bound to cause disenchantment, especially from those overseas fans not over in time for the five days of good weather in Johannesburg. Bad luck perhaps, but have the organisers not also been negligent to some extent in arranging the bulk of the Test series for this time of year?As most climatologists will tell you, South Africa – bar the Cape – receives most of its rainfall in summer. is therefore at risk, though much of the rain comes in the form of thundery showers, which rarely last long. The widespread frontal rain, which obliterated the first Test at Centurion Park as well as the match here, can last for days and is quite unusual.For some reason, given the distances involved, experts believe it is due to a weakening of the “El Nino” effect, which occurs in the Pacific Ocean.
“The Child”, as it is also known, owing to its five to seven-year cycles, is a series of warm currents that can apparently have widespread effect on the world’s weather.But if local experts blame it for causing recent drought over here, Raymond Illingworth has no such grudge. As news filters through that water is being tankered in to Farsley to ease shortages, he was placing the blame firmly on Yorkshire Water. There are few things as precious to the England chairman as his beloved lawn which, deprived of months of water, now bears little resemblance to the photographs he has of it in his wallet.However, with two Tests to go, and only one win needed for either side to gain an infallible position, England, if not fearing the departure of “The Child”, would do well to heed the arrival of the teenager. Paul Adams’s rightful inclusion is what this series and this country have been crying out for since their return to the international fold.Despite being a fillip for all those involved in development programmes throughout South Africa, it is a timely affirmation to those doubters outside the white community, still pessimistic about the prospects and pace of real change.If he plays in the fourth Test he will be, at 18, South Africa’s youngest ever Test player, beating A E Ochse who had just turned 19 when he played two matches against England in 1888-89.
