The bottom line is that they failed to win.When Australia were as apparently hopeless as England have been in the last few years, having lost the Ashes to Mike Gatting in Melbourne in December 1986, they won the final Test in Sydney when Peter Sleep, the leg spinner, bowled John Emburey with seven deliveries of the game left. If Fairbrother makes runs in the one-dayers, Atherton’s Lancashire captain will be in with a decent chance ofresurrecting his Test career, and England would also like another left-hander to counter Shane Warne.Also, the difference between Fairbrother and Gatting in the field can be fairly summed up as the equivalent of Muhammad Ali in his prime versus a sumo wrestler.Whether England have picked up enough confidence from this Test to win one or both of the final two remains to be seen. A benign pitch suddenly began playing up, and while England’s attack – and Angus Fraser in particular – bowled an impeccable off-stump line, there was also an element of Australia’s batsmen getting out to the new ball because they could barely see it.The floodlights may not have been turned on at the SCG, but they were certainly blazing at the rugby ground over the road, and the cricket ground’s giant video screen shone so brightly through the Stygian gloom that it gave the ground the atmosphere of adrive-in movie.Had it not been for the weather, Australia might have come breathlessly close to making 449, a fourth-innings total only once bettered in Test match history.That was in the Test in Durban in 1938-39, when England were set to make 696, and had to pack it in at 654 for five on the 10th day because their boat back to Southampton was threatening to sail without them.What sort of reception awaits England when they take the aerial route home this time depends more on the results of the final two Tests than whether they win some tinpot one-day series, and Atherton has a fair amount of pondering to do over selection before the Adelaide Test, which is three weeks away.He is one of Stephen Rhodes’ most ardent admirers, but Rhodes is having the sort of tour on which he appears to be batting with a toothpick and keeping wicket with a pair of dustbin lids.Jack Russell must, therefore, be a serious contender for Adelaide, as -given Mike Gatting’s poor form – must the newly arrived Neil Fairbrother. On the crucial final morning, there was nothing in either the bowling or thefield placings to suggest that Atherton was looking to make things happen, as opposed to the Micawberish hope that something might turn up.The something, finally, was the rain – welcomed by most Australians in drought-stricken New South Wales, but rather less so by the 11 cricketers representing their country at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Finally, the Oval victory over South Africa last summer was a late equaliser, rather than a winner.Furthermore, England’s last-day performance in Sydney was more the hallmark of a side that has forgotten how to win, rather than one that is desperate to rediscover the formula. In Barbados last winter, they came back from a humiliating 46 all out in Trinidad to win the next Test in Barbados, but as they were by then 3-0 down with two to play, this was nothing more than another consolation goal. After all, with a month of the tour still to go, their primary objective – the Ashes – has already disappeared.
England’s last victory over Australia, at The Oval in 1993, came when they were already 4-0 down. While the England captain, Mike Atherton, was understandably relieved that his team had finally managed to resemble professional cricketers in Sydney, he will also be aware that England have developed a habit of only competing in Test match series when they are effectively out of them. CRICKET As England clambered back into their blue pyjamas for today’s World Series match against Zimbabwe, it was a timely reminder that they need to set the alarm clock for the start of a Test match series, rather than employ their customary habit of waking up half-way through one. Replacements: G Wilkins (Bridgend), D Evans (Treorchy), R Howley (Bridgend), R Appleyard (Swansea), L Mustoe (Cardiff), B Williams (Neath).No regrets for Peters, Courage preview, page 43.

Replacements: M Back (Bridgend), R Moon (Llanelli), L Jones (Treorchy), A Copsey, R McBryde (Llanelli), M Griffiths (Cardiff).WALES A: I Jones (Llanelli); D Manley (Pontypridd), D Edwards (Leicester), S Lewis (Pontypridd), S Hill; A Davies (Cardiff), P John (Pontypridd, capt); I Buckett (Swansea), J Humphreys (Cardiff), H Williams-Jones (Llanelli), G Prosser, M Rowley (Pontypridd), A Kembery (Neath), G Taylor (Pontypool), P Crane (Newbridge). Paul John, who might have hoped for selection ahead of Jones in Moon’s place, has the consolation of being captain with Diccon Edwards, Leicester’s England Under-21 centre, committing himself to the land of his father.WALES: A Clement (Swansea); W Proctor (Llanelli), M Hall (Cardiff), M Taylor (Pontypool), N Walker (Cardiff); N Jenkins (Pontypridd), R Jones (Swansea); R Evans (Llanelli), G Jenkins (Swansea), J Davies (Neath), G Llewellyn (Neath, capt), D Jones (Cardiff), S Davies (Swansea), P Davies (Llanelli), R Collins (Pontypridd). “Phil would know I was telling a porky-pie if I said I was looking for his development at No 8,” Alan Davies said.With an A team to pick as well, the selection meeting went on for seven hours. Andrew Kembery gets as far as the A team, who play France the same day, but there is no place for Craig Quinnell.Phil Davies has long since regarded himself as a lock, where he played throughout last season’s successful championship, and at 20 stone is bound to struggle for the mobility incumbent on the modern loose forward. On the other hand, Stuart Davies has made a striking comeback for Swansea after two knee operations, and wins his first cap for 15 months.Phil Davies’s inclusion at No 8 is more of an emergency measure, given the injuries and Alan Davies’s unwillingness to take a chance on newcomers against France. two other three-quarters, Ieuan Evans and Nigel Davies, expect to be fit to face England on 18 February.The attrition rate among Welsh back-row forwards has been such that Hemi Taylor and Emyr Lewis are just the latest who could not be considered. Nigel Walker’s return to fitness has regained him his spot on the left wing in place of Simon Hill.

“I hope I can act as the link-man, but I feel there’s more to my game than that,” he said.Jones has had enough disappointments not to let anything surprise him, but said yesterday: “I wasn’t particularly confident, and when I got the nod I was as delighted as I have ever been.”Jones for Moon was the one substantive change of four from the team who played the Springboks. “We need what Robert can bring to the team, particularly to give Neil Jenkins a bit more space.”Jones actually fancies himself to do rather more than act as a link between the back row, reshaped because of injury with the return of Stuart Davies, Phil Davies, and Jenkins. “Robert put on a fine performance under the pressure of the Barbarians game to demonstrate he is as good as he used to be,” Alan Davies, the Wales coach, said. His absence has caused incredulity among the South Africans with whom he played during a summer with Western Province, not to mention a good few others back home who have longed for something more than the scrum-half as ninth forward.When Jones led the Barbarians to victory over the Springboks in Dublin last month, no further persuasion was needed.

Jones himself recognised less than two months ago that he might be as low as fourth – behind Rupert Moon, Paul John and Robert Howley -in the pecking-order.
Jones’s 49th cap will be his first as first choice for almost two years, after losing his place to Moon the last time Wales were at Parc des Princes. Or it would have been, had his recent career not been punctuated by uncertainties of form and the doubts of selectors. RUGBY UNION Robert Jones would have been Wales’s scrum-half against South Africa had he been fit, so his recall yesterday for the opening of the Welsh defence of the Five Nations’ Trophy in Paris on 21 January can now be seen as entirely predictable. They are also the reason why the most exciting and egalitarian event in the football calendar is certain, for some of the rich and famous, to become the Nightmare after Christmas.Francis finds freedom, page 46. In two tangles with Isthmian clubs, in 1975 and ‘80, Leicester trailed 2-0 at home to Leatherhead before scraping through and lost to Harlow – even with Gary Lineker in attack.Such upsets explain why third-round weekend is so eagerly anticipated. Still, where there is Clifford Hercules, a scorer in 11 consecutive games, there is hope.History, as well as their hosts’ feeble form, offers encouragement for Enfield at Leicester.