It has been a time of mixed emotions for me
Phil Tufnell07-Aug-2001It has been a time of mixed emotions for me. To kick off, I had the thrill of taking my 1,000th wicket in first-class cricket, and then the disappointment of seeing England finish second-best in the Test at Trent Bridge.The 1,000th wicket was definitely a high point, bearing in mind the fact that it set me off on a “five-for” and that Middlesex won the match against Durham to keep up our good run in the CricInfo Championship.The significant wicket was perhaps not one of the best, as the ball was a bit of a grubber, but it was a batsman with an Australian contract – Martin Love – and the lads on the scoreboard at Lord’s did me proud, putting up a big message in huge letters saying “The Cat – 1,000 wickets”. Everyone stood up and gave me a little clap, I got a pat on the back and then we got on with winning the match. I was moved to indulge in a half of lager in the Tavern at close of play to celebrate, and I think it was justified. After all is said and done, only 202 bowlers in the entire history of first-class cricket have done it before.Not bad for that scruffy little lad from North London who started out back in 1986. I remember playing in two matches for Middlesex without taking a wicket that season and then, to my immense relief, I finally struck. C.J. Richards c Butcher b Tufnell 20. It did not do Jack Richards’ career too much harm as he made his Test debut the following winter, while I was chuffed to bits. And here we are, more than 1,000 wickets later – and still going strong, just in case anyone has forgotten!After all the speculation about the possibility of a Test recall at Trent Bridge I was pretty disappointed not to get the shout. All I’ll say is that I am bowling well this season, I am taking wickets and I hope that this will nudge the selectors my way. I suppose there will be a time when I don’t get picked any more, however many wickets I’m taking, but I would hope that time has not come yet. When it does, I also hope that someone will give me a ‘phone call to say so.I really believe that is a long way off, so I’m going to keep on striving to get wickets and focusing on playing for Middlesex. The selectors know where I am, they know I’m doing a bit more than just OK, and I can do no more than just hope they come to find me before too long. I certainly won’t be taking my foot off the gas during the last half of the season because I wouldn’t mind another trip to India.
Tufnell- batting advice
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Looking at the current England side, it was very disappointing at Trent Bridge. I was playing most of the time and so did not see as much of it as I would have liked. However, what was frustrating from what I did see was that for the first time we put them under a bit of pressure and could not make the most of it. We bowled them out for 190 but old Mr Warne popped up again to make sure that, in itself, was not good enough.What do they say? “The game’s not over till the fat boy spins”, and he’s done it again. It just goes to show what a great pressure bowler he is. A big game and he’s come up with the goods again.What happens now, I do not know. Do you say that The Ashes have gone so let’s have a look at some others? I personally do not think that you just bring players in for the sake of it. The three lions mean a lot and I don’t think you should just hand them out in cornflakes packets. You have to look at statistics but you have to look at players to see if they have the bit extra it takes to become a good Test player. We should not panic and throw a lot of caps about just because we have lost The Ashes.The other thing is that there are still a couple of matches to go and we want to have England’s cricketing pride restored in those games. I think we should pick the best teams to finish that particular job. To do so, we’ll need to show more fight than we have up to now, we’ll have to play better, and make sure they haven’t got bigger bats than ours!Watching the bit I did, I was left wondering whether we had learned anything from previous matches. OK, so there are times when you just come up against people who are better than you, but Warne has been doing this to us for ten years now. We just don’t seem to have taken on anything on board in that time.When I come to write my definitive textbook on batting (well, I’ve got a bit nearer to that 2,000th first-class run as well as the wickets, you know!) I think I’ll include a chapter on using your feet against the spinners. Against the quicks, I might have been noted for moving my feet well, even if it is to get me out by the square leg umpire pretty smartish. But seriously, I think you do have to use your feet against Warne and try to get after him.He is just short of 400 Test wickets and if you let bowlers like that dominate, they will just get you out. I think you have to take a bit of the do or die attitude. That is why I thought that Ramps had it right, even if he has taken a lot of stick for getting out in the way he did. Perhaps the timing was what annoyed people, but at least he was having a go and did not just lie down meekly. On the other hand, who am I to start telling England batsmen how to bat?Looking on the bright side, Headingley has been good to us over the years. We did get in amongst the Aussies a bit at Trent Bridge and we did get them out for under 200, and hopefully Headingley will be kind to us again. It seams around a bit and nips about a bit and hopefully we can get stuck into them again, as well as batting a bit better. Come on lads; it would be good to be able to look back at a win in a few days’ time.