Gooch gives full marks to skipper Dravid

By John Cheeran
Simon Briggs this one is for you!
The Daily Telegraph, London, correspondent had written last week that skipper Rahul Dravid cannot inspire the Indian side.
But former England skipper Graham Gooch says Rahul Dravid was inspirational as skipper in the first one-dayer in Delhi and some of the catching was as sublime as it was ridiculously inept in Mumbai.
Gooch wrote in his column “The irony is complete. England as a Test side keeps moving upwards while its stock in one-day cricket is slipping everyday. India is a side reborn in one-day cricket while in Tests, it's almost on a life-support system.”
Gooch lavishes praise on Dravid. “I liked Dravid for the way he positioned his fielders around Andrew Flintoff's bat even when the colossal England captain was hell bent on blowing India away. Dravid gave a slip and a short square-leg to Harbhajan and introduced the second Power Play. Flintoff swept at two deliveries in vain and another, fuller and flatter, caught him plumb in front of the stumps.
"Five of the England batsmen were out attempting a sweep or toying with the idea at a critical moment of decision, as was the case with Geraint Jones. Clearly, England thinks of it as a ploy to counter the Indian spinners and upset the field.
It was adequate with its defensive methods in Tests but in the fast-paced world of one-dayers, you need to score runs as well and hence the reliance on this method. The England batsmen are still some way from leaving the crease to the tweakers. It's a skill which can't be taught overnight.”