da imperador bet： BRISBANE – Queensland batsman Stuart Law has returned home from anothercounty summer warning that England has assembled a quality squad for itsupcoming Ashes campaign in Australia.
Michael Crutcher27-Sep-2002BRISBANE – Queensland batsman Stuart Law has returned home from anothercounty summer warning that England has assembled a quality squad for itsupcoming Ashes campaign in Australia.But Law said Nasser Hussain’s Englishmen must improve on their tied homeseries with poor travellers India if they wanted to avoid their eighthsuccessive Ashes series loss.Law saw plenty of the English squad up close during his recent stintwith Lancashire – his 14th consecutive cricket season at home andabroad.”I’ve got no predictions about who will win the series but they’redefinitely starting to get a quality, class outfit together,” Law said.”They’re hyping it up as the biggest Test series but they’re going tohave to lift from what happened during their summer.”They beat Sri Lanka without Murali [spinner Muttiah Muralitharan], andwhen he did play he didn’t appear to be fit.”They tied India 1-1 at home and if they think that’s going to be goodenough when they come to Australia, they probably should think again.”But they’ve got the personnel if they can forget about things outsidecricket and they’ve got some young cricketers who can learn a lot.”Law praised England’s opening batsmen Marcus Trescothick and MichaelVaughan, while pointing to the recent withdrawal of Graham Thorpe as aworry for the middle order.He said the bowlers, particularly Matthew Hoggard, would toil forHussain while young paceman Stephen Harmison was quick and extractedhandy bounce.”One thing they do lack is a decent spinner,” Law said.”Ashley Giles’ main job is to bowl maidens and, on the pitches here,he’s not going to get the same help he’s got in other places.”Law will play against England when the tourists meet Queensland in athree-day clash at Allan Border Field from November 2, five days beforethe first Test at the Gabba.Law has handed the Queensland captaincy to Jimmy Maher after the mostsuccessful reign of any state skipper, leading the Bulls to fivefirst-class titles.The 33-year-old feels strong despite going seven years without anoff-season and is looking forward to playing without the pressure ofcaptaincy.”When I’ve played in England and haven’t been captain, I’ve enjoyed thetime,” Law said.”Sometimes when you’ve been captain for a long time you’re thinking somuch about the 11 blokes on the field that you can tend to overlookyourself.”The Bulls begin the defence of their Pura Cup crown on October 16against NSW at the Gabba, three days after their ING Cup one-daycampaign opens against the Blues in Sydney.