HEADINGLY, MAY 23: Australian captain Mark Taylor lost the toss, then lost his wicket cheaply, then lost the match and should now lose his place in the limited overs team.

If part of the England plan to wrest back the Ashes is to put the skids under the Australian captain, then it worked perfectly at Headingley. A buoyant England side fielded enthusiastically behind a steady bowling attack and then found the ideal combination of experience and youth when they batted. If they can maintain that sort of form and approach this may not be the only surprise they spring during the summer.

Australia's selections in the last six months have centered around doing the best thing for Taylor, rather than the team. That policy was continued for the Texaco Trophy match as there could be no other reason for playing Taylor in the one-day side other than trying to get him into form for the Test series. The plan was thwarted by some excellent pace bowling from the ebullient Darren Gough.

Gough produced a good bouncing delivery that moved away off the seam and Taylor's nightmare continued, as the thin edge finished in the gloves of Alec Stewart. Taylor looks no closer to finishing any semblance of form and the nagging doubt for the Australian selectors must be that this is not a prolonged slump, but the end of an illustrious career.

However, under grey skies at Headingley Taylor wasn't the only Australian player to struggle. The elegant Mark Waugh took 20 balls to get off the mark and normally fluent strokemakers like Michael Bevan and Greg Blewett never really came to terms with the slower-paced pitch.

Australia were restricted to 170 and in addition to giving themselves a great chance of victory, England must have been buoyed by the bowling of Gough and Robert Croft. These two aggressive competitors will be key men in the Ashes series and both troubled all Australians they bowled at. The other aspect of England's cricket that would have pleased Michael Atherton was the fielding. It was athletic and safe, with the captain leading the way by taking a brilliant catch to get rid of the dangerous Ian Healy.

However, Atherton wasn't able to transform that enthusiasm into runs as he was out early. The skipper was soon joined in the pavilion by Stewart and Nick Knight, both lbw to Glenn McGrath who established a good psychological advantage even bowling at a little below top pace. This was an important spell for Australia as amazingly their leading pace bowlers don't have a Test wicket to their names in England.

Despite those early setbacks, the well-organised Graham Thorpe and a calm Adam Hollioake proceeded to take the match out of the favourites' grasp. Thorpe read Warne's wrist spin as though it was a school primer and although Hollioake was regularly beaten earlier in his innings he never looked overawed. Having been born in Australia, Hollioake's instincts are aggressive and as he settled to his task he took every opportunity to dominate the bowling.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.