MALCOLM ASHTON'S nerve allowed him to get his foot in the door in the world of big-time Cricket scoring. BRIAN DOOGAN spoke with the former Rawtenstall scorer before he jets off on tour with the England team later this month.

Such is the state of English cricket that when the Test side heads for Zimbabwe and New Zealand this month their chances of an altogether successful trip will be seen less in line with Captain Cook than the captain of The Titanic.

Captain Atherton is no doubt aware of the task he faces if he and his men are to make this tour a restorative experience.

After the failure of last year's World Cup and the subsequent shenanigans in South Africa, however, the tendency must be to wait and see rather than wait with bated breath.

The man responsible for recording in fine detail exactly how England fare on their latest adventure is unfamiliar with the maxim "wait and see". Taking the bull by the horns and then swinging it into the side street is more his style.

Not that it could be said that Malcolm Ashton is a brute. Far from it.

But nerve has never been a substance he's lacked.

Without it, the former Rawtenstall scorer might not be booked on the same flight as the England party, in his capacity as official team scorer, when they fly out on November 25.

Having failed to gain a response about the possibility of him scoring for the BBC from Don Mosey, then Radio 3's Test Match Special commentator, Ashton decided to confront him personally at the Old Trafford Test match against the West Indies in 1984.

The only problem was, minus credentials, how to bluff his way past security guarding the gate to the commentary box and executive suites. Big problem.

Just when Ashton might have been contemplating swinging the bull into the security man (or even away from him to cause a diversion), Tony Lewis, debonair and smelling of roses, walked by.

"Thank you, George," he said to the security man as he waltzed in.

Close behind him came Ashton.

"Hello, George, wonderful day, isn't it?" he said before sauntering past George and then scampering up the steps (nerve's all right but it doesn't pay to push your luck).

Mosey and TMS producer Peter Baxter showed all the signs of having adopted a "Don't ring us, we'll ring you" attitude when he reached the box. Fortunately, though, they did ring. Ashton was called up for Sunday League duty at Old Trafford and before long had replaced Wendy Wimbush - who joined Australia's Channel Nine - as the BBC's Test match scorer.

This appointment was much more straightforward than the one made last year when he became England's Test match scorer, now his full-time job.

Having only ever previously scored for Rawtenstall in the Lancashire League, his selection was met by county cricket scorers with the kind of welcome bounty hunters reserve for an escaped felon.

He was making his bed with the likes of Dan Quayle and Geoff Thomas - some of them suggested - misguided opportunists who when they step into the major league are quickly found out.

Though their criticism was stinging, Ashton never considered ditching the job.

"Some of them (county cricket scorers) are gentlemen, some are not," he said as we chatted over lunch this week during which he revealed the only cricket he ever played were some games organised by the Legal and General for a side known as "Don Mosey's Team With No Name".

"The Sussex scorer was extremely frank in his views of the situation which were based on ignorance.

"He didn't appreciate that people other than county scorers could apply for the job.

"He accused me of having, to quote him, 'a bloody cheek' for applying in the first place.

"I should not have put myself in that position, he maintained. I was robbing other county scorers of a perk.

"So I had to put him straight and refer him to the Test and County Cricket Board just to clarify that what I was saying was correct.

"I did get a lot of stick when I was appointed at first but I kept quiet about it for the simple reason that I didn't see it as my problem. "It was the TCCB's problem. They appointed me on Raymond's recommendation so they should have been in a position to answer the county scorers in a proper manner."

The "Raymond" Ashton refers to is Illingworth, England's chairman of selectors who these days attracts controversy and disdain in equal measures.

Having spent time with him in the BBC commentary box over a number of years, Illingworth was adamant he wanted Ashton as England's scorer who, incidentally, is responsible for everything from scoring matches to carrying the spare suitcase when on tour.

Illingworth's faith in Ashton was reciprocated when I questioned the Rawtenstall man about the infamous Devon Malcolm affair which erupted as England prepared for the World Cup.

"I can't say too much about that because obviously I know more than other people do," he said, which is why I was asking him in the first place.

"Deep down, the whole thing has left a sour taste in English cricket.

"I know Devon has a grievance but there are ways in which grievances should be aired in a fair and appropriate manner. "And I don't think that the way in which Devon did it, and Raymond to a certain degree, was fair.

"Devon went public in the papers and intimated that there were racial undertones, which he very quickly withdrew because that wasn't the case at all.

"Raymond couldn't respond because the TCCB wouldn't allow him to.

"When he did respond, well he brought a book out which wasn't perfect timing really.

"You're chairman of selectors and you're commenting on current players and their attitudes, that's not good for the game.

"He should have waited but, by the same token, he should been given the right, when Devon's story broke, to have his say at that time.

"I think because the situation dragged on, any chance of a reconciliation went out through the window."

As a member of the After-dinner Speakers' Society Ashton might be expected to come up with a few funny anecdotes as well, I thought. He didn't disappoint.

He told me of the time, they were so bored at a match they started passing spoof notes such as "Could Richard Smith please meet his girlfriend Tess Tickle by the restaurant" to the public address announcer - which he read out. When he twigged on, an hour and 20 messages or so later, the announcer turned to the security man and said: "This is a spoof. You've got to be very careful in this job because they try and slip a few past you, you know."

Oh they knew all right, all 5,000 people in the ground.

Such antics you almost come to expect from Ashton who, when he proposed to fiance Zoe - who drank bottled water throughout the interview and possessed the patience of Job - sent a fax from Ahmedabad on Valentine's Day asking her to marry him (she will next April).

As I wrapped up, I asked Ashton about his thoughts on the upcoming tour.

"We should beat the likes of Zimbabwe and New Zealand, shouldn't we?"

Eternal optimists clearly have yet to go the way of the dodo, I thought.

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