ARTICLE: TCCB's new dress code for SL tour. (M.Selvey)-11 Mar 1993
The Guardian 11 March 1993 - Dexter unscathed as TCCB worries
about dress code - Mike Selvey.
Ted Dexter sat behind a table in the Lord's pavilion yesterday
and faced the assembled media. His head was still firmly on his
shoulders. Predictions that Dexter, as chairman of England
selectors, would be given a rough ride by the members of the Test
and County Cricket Board at their spring meeting this week were
wide of the mark. He was, he said, treated courteously. There
were no suggestions of abdication or hara-kiri, and all they now
wanted to do was to look forward to next summer and the Australi-
ans.
Perhaps this was because the board members, dapper to a fault
and sensitive to such things, gave considerable discussion in-
stead to the sartorial standards of the team.
Although the assembled were apparently less concerned with
results than forward planning, Dexter, wearing a simple light-
grey two-piece suit, felt able to offer some crumbs of comfort.
For starters there was a copper-bottomed reason for the loss of
all three Tests: the Indians played better than us. But there was
more. ''I was able to give them some encouraging news,'' he re-
vealed. Resignation? India fielding under-age players and the
matches declared null and void? None of it. ''Specifically,''
Dexter continued, ''there was the advancement of Chris Lewis and
Graeme Hick in particular, and also Neil Fairbrother and Paul
Jarvis, and I perceive a better balance than for some time.''
In other words, if Lewis can bat at six there will be no need
for a batsman-wicketkeeper - a strategy that went horribly wrong
this winter when England fielded a player capable of doing nei-
ther. This will be good news for Jack Russell and any bowler ca-
pable of getting the ball past the bat.
The TCCB's chief executive Alan Smith - fittingly attired in a
traditional blue pin-stripe - said discussion of the team's stan-
dard of dress was precipitated by news photographs taken at the
presentations after the third Test in Bombay. These showed
players sporting a variety of T-shirts, shorts, hats and shoes
instead of something more corporate.
''We have been asked to reconsider the matter of dress code,''
said Dexter, had slipped from their usual good standards on occa-
sions.''
Dexter mentioned the difficulties associated with trying to
please different sponsors - the Nigel Mansell hat-swap syndrome.
Then there were the problems of attending functions, travelling
the sub-continent and playing a game that, Dexter pointed out, is
both hot and dirty.
He failed to say exactly who in the party - the team manager,
tour manager or captain - was responsible for allowing the de-
cline. ''Of course we will do all we can to ensure that the team
look as good as they can at all times,'' he said, ''but ultimate-
ly it's what you do on the field that matters.'' Perhaps Gianni
Versace should be co-opted on to the committee just in case.
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