Cricket: One-day test faces tourists

ENGLAND A, fresh from wrapping up their Test series victory over Zimbabwe on Saturday, are confident of adapting for the three-match one- day series which begins in Bulawayo today.

The tourists do not have the luxury of changing their squad, but they have been encouraged by the arrival of Paul Franks who could well feature in the opening game.

Two of their players, Darren Maddy and Andrew Flintoff, were named in the England provisional 30 for the World Cup and now that Flintoff is bowling again he must stand a real chance of surviving further cuts. He has lost over a stone in weight and has been working hard at his general fitness. As a medium pacer who can extract bounce from the pitch when he brings the ball down, England would have to be blessed with one-day players if he was to be overlooked now.

Phil Neale, England's coach, does not believe that his side will have to do things very differently in the one-day matches. "We have got to reshape, decide how we're going to play our game and how positive we're going to be in the first 15 overs," he said.

"Our guys are used to playing a lot of one-day cricket so I'm sure they'll be able to switch. We just need to ensure that the intensity and concentration we took into the Tests we take into the one-day situation. They have a lot of good fielders and one or two talented batsmen, so it's not going to be easy."