The opening pair the two old legends won’t want to see that morning is either Stewart and Mike Atherton both playing their

The opening pair the two old legends won’t want to see that morning is either Stewart and Mike Atherton, both playing their 100th Test and bursting to mark the occasion appropriately, or Atherton and Michael Vaughan, the combination that drove (well, stonewalled) West Indies to distraction at Lord’s.Trescothick, however, has every chance of making it in the long run, for the simple reason that he has been properly prepared. He has played one-day internationals en route to getting a Test cap, and before the one-day internationals he went on an England A tour. If this sounds like a logical progression, it is one that is denied to many England players. Ed Giddins, Chris Schofield, Alex Tudor and Mark Butcher have all played Tests without getting a one-day cap. Tudor, Ben Hollioake and Simon Brown all made the Test XI, without having been on an A tour; Tudor and Brown still haven’t. Hoggard reached the Test team without a taste of either one-dayers or an A tour. England have got their pipeline in a twist.Contrast the very mixed fortunes of that lot with the entrances made by Trescothick and two other men who have played for England in the past month: Graham Thorpe and Dominic Cork.Thorpe made a hundred on his Test debut against Australia in 1993 – after playing three one-day internationals earlier that summer (making 31, 36 and 22), and, before that, going on four A tours.

Cork exploded on the Test scene with 7 for 43 against West Indies at Lord’s in 1995. He too had been on four A tours, and had appeared in the one-day team four summers running, winning eight caps, the first of them against Pakistan in 1992, in Ian Botham’s last game for England.Cork and Thorpe have been mismanaged since, Thorpe when he returned home from the West Indies in 1994 to find Ray Illingworth giving his place to Craig White, and Cork when he was first overpromoted into a new-ball bowler, then over-bowled and twice sent into the wilderness But at least they had had a solid grounding. Since their youth, the gap between Test and county cricket has widened by about 100 per cent – which makes it all the more vital that the stars of the future are allowed to reach the big stage one step at a time.Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly and wisden .. Manchester City are ready to double their transfer fee record after tabling a bid for Aston Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu this morning. Manchester City are ready to double their transfer fee record after tabling a bid for Aston Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu this morning.
The Premiership newcomers paid Portsmouth £3million for striker Lee Bradbury in July 1997 and are now prepared to splash out £6million to secure the services of one of the most consistent centre-backs in the country.Chief operating officer Chris Bird told City’s official website: “We have made an offer to Aston Villa for Ugo Ehiogu which is double our record fee previously paid for a player.

We are awaiting a response.”City could face competition from Sunderland for Ehiogu’s signature but must be in pole position taking into account that Manchester is closer to his current home in Birmingham and also to his family in London.Sunderland boss Peter Reid is reportedly interested in the player after failing to land Rangers skipper Lorenzo Amoruso.Ehiogu has become disillusioned with life at Villa Park after years of underachievement and also being overlooked by successive England managers.The 27-year-old defender, who began his career at West Brom, indicated recently that he is desperate for a fresh challenge.One potential problem is a sell-on clause inserted in Ehiogu’s contract when he joined Villa from West Brom nine years ago.But City boss Joe Royle stressed that was something Villa had to sort out at their end.Royle said: “I know there is a sell-on clause, but we know that the problem is then at the Villa end so you would have to really ask them about that and how they intend to deal with it.”But we can only deal with the player as he stands We’ve made our bid and hopefully it will be accepted.”. Manchester City are ready to pay a club record fee of £6m for Ugo Ehiogu but are facing competition from Sunderland for the Aston Villa defender’s signature. Manchester City are ready to pay a club record fee of £6m for Ugo Ehiogu but are facing competition from Sunderland for the Aston Villa defender’s signature.
Joe Royle, however, will work hard to persuade Ehiogu that his future lies at Maine Road while his counterpart at the Stadium of Light, Peter Reid, increases his efforts to lure the centre-half to Wearside after failing to sign the Rangers captain, Lorenzo Amoruso.City’s other transfer target is Jan Koller, but Royle is unwilling to improve on the £4.5m sum offered to Anderlecht for the Czech Republic striker.Wolverhampton Wanderers have accepted Leicester City’s £5m fee for the striker Ade Akinbiyi. Akinbiyi, currently on a pre-season tour, must now agree terms with Leicester.Leicester’s former manager, Martin O’Neill, has lost out to the French side Bordeaux in his attempt to sign the Belgium midfielder Marc Wilmots for Celtic. The Schalke 04 player flew to France to finalise a £2m transfer yesterday.Having secured the services of Paul Gascoigne on Monday, the Everton manager Walter Smith is considering adding the Israeli Idan Tal to the club’s remoulded midfield. Out of contract since leaving the Spanish side Merida, Tal has joined Everton on their pre-season training camp in Italy and would cost £750,000.Brad Friedel’s tenure at Liverpool may soon be ended in favour of a move to a Mexican club, Tigres, while the Middlesbrough manager, Bryan Robson, who offloaded Gascoigne, is signing the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley.Mark Draper has completed his £1.25m switch from Aston Villa to Southampton. Draper, 29, signed a four-year contract in a deal which could rise to £1.5m depending on appearances.