da dobrowin： Jason Gallian feared the worst as soon as the Vasbert Drakes deliverythudded into his hand
George Dobell09-Aug-2001Jason Gallian feared the worst as soon as the Vasbert Drakes deliverythudded into his hand. He was 23 not out in his comeback match at Edgbaston, hisfirst CricInfo Championship innings of the season”I knew straight away it was broken,” Gallian tells CricInfo with theweariness of one who knows all too much about such things.”It’s not great,” he says with obvious understatement. “I’m told I’ll beback in 3-6 weeks but the season has only six weeks to run so…”The disappointment is palpable in Gallian’s voice. It was a devastating blowfor the Nottinghamshire captain. He is an ambitious skipper of an ambitiousclub and to make matters worse, ten-man Notts slipped to a heavy defeat inhis absence – a performance Gallian describes as “soft”.”We needed a result in that game,” Gallian explains. “We were chasing atotal and made some errors. It’s been dealt with,” he says with finality.For those who have seen him at his best, Gallian is eminently of Test class,reminiscent of a slimmed down Mike Gatting. His triple-century (312) againstDerbyshire for Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1996 was the highest ever scoreat the ground – and a few decent players have batted there.He scored a century against England’s Young Cricketers while captainingAustralia’s Young Cricketers in 1989, and when he finally became eligiblefor England in 1994 after a period captaining Oxford University, there werehigh hopes that a place in the England side may be his for a decade.But luck has been cruel to Gallian. He broke a finger in his first Testinnings, as the West Indies overwhelmed England on a controversial Edgbastonpitch in 1995. A knee injury kept him out of cricket until the start ofAugust this year, and now a broken knuckle has thwarted his return.”It’s hugely frustrating,” he admits, with the regret of one who has seenelaborate plans for the season turn to dust.”I’m sure I can still offer England a couple of good years. If I didn’tthink I could play for England I wouldn’t carry on playing county cricket.But there’s no point talking about it, I have to get out there and scoresome runs.”He agrees that Nottinghamshire’s season to date has been characterised bygood individual performances but admits to some disappointment thatpromotion in the CricInfo Championship looks unlikely.”Several of the batsmen have scored heavily, but we’ve not really producedit as a team,” he reasons.”Perhaps we’ve lacked a bit of penetration with the ball, but Greg Smith hasdone well. Losing Paul Franks has been a big loss, though.”Pietersen has done particularly well. He’s hit about 900 runs and thoughhe’s a bit raw as off-spinner, he is only 20 and I expect the selectors havetheir eye on him for some sort of tour – perhaps with the Academy.”Usman Afzaal has had a great year-and-a-half too,” Gallian continues. “Hedeserved his England call-up and I’m sure it will be the first of many.”Gallian, desperate to get back into action, now finds himself trying to keephis distance from the dressing room. It’s a difficult balancing act for aclub captain.”I’ve still got a fair amount to do around the place, and I’m doing a littletraining as my knee is not fully recovered yet. But Darren Bicknell hastaken over the reins of captaincy and I have to step back. In no way do Iwant to interfere with the guy who has to lead the team on to the field.”A faint twang betrays Gallian’s Australia roots, and as a former team-mateof many of the players who are currently proving such tough opponents forEngland, few people are in a better position to judge the merits of thesides.”I captained Damien Martyn for Australia Under-19s and toured in the West Indieswith Bevan and Warne. I know several of them pretty well so it is a littlestrange to watch. Of course I support England but to be honest I like allthe guys I know to do well.”He has no plans for the winter. “I’m keeping my options open,” he says. “Butif someone makes me an offer to play somewhere in the winter I’ll be veryinterested indeed.”I’ve got a 12-week old boy, so I’m keeping myself pretty busy at home,” hesays.For England’s sake, as well as Nottinghamshire’s, let’s hope he’s prettybusy playing cricket next summer.