Ian Chadband: Gentlemen, as English cricket’s greatdouble act, perhaps you could start by telling us about your own relationship.The best of mates?
Graeme Swann: We are very close but we have ourfallouts. I dropped a particular clanger of a catch off Jimmy’s bowling in theUAE which would have been his 250th Test wicket, a fact he reminds me ofconstantly. And he spilt the easiest catch I’ve ever seen on a cricket field atLord’s off mine [the AB De Villiers drop on the Sunday of the third Test].We’ve had to learn to live with this torment and move on! On tour, we seem tospend almost every waking hour together. Luckily, if I’ve got a day off, Iwon’t get out of bed until 3pm. So at least we have that time apart.
IC: What do you do together?
GS: Eat, play computer games, watch films, take thep--- out of Tim Bresnan. Almost exactly in that order. The Jimmy you see on theTV isn’t necessarily the guy you imagine; he’s actually a very happy, fun blokeoff the field while also being the most miserable human being who’s everstepped on a cricket pitch. He looks as if he wouldn’t fall out with any of hismates on a cricket field and yet bullies Brez to the point where he should bephoning a helpline.
James Anderson (laughing): Whoo-oooa! What, me? Don’tyou mean you?
GS: I don’t. I stick up for Brez because I think he’scoping with a challenging situation really well being around other people whocan both read and write (uncontrollable laughter from both follows).
IC: Any chance of letting your mate have a word here?Reflections on a disappointing summer, Jimmy?
JA: We’ve had a really bad year in Tests and I guessmaybe starting to believe your own hype when you get to No 1 is possibly areason why we lost it. For me, though I’ve definitely bowled worse and gotbetter results, as leader of the attack nine wickets in three games againstSouth Africa simply wasn’t good enough.
GS: Perhaps it was a good time to bury bad news withthe Olympics going on – no, that’s a stupid thing to say – but I don’t think2-0 was a clear reflection of that series. We should never have lost that firstTest.
IC: But with a new captain Alastair Cook, fresh facesaround and both the Indian tour and back-to-back Ashes series looming, do youshare Stuart Broad’s pronouncement that England can still become a side for theages?
GS: Without a doubt. What’s been so disappointing isthis should have been the first step to becoming that team as No 1 but we threwit away, losing five Tests and winning only three. Yet I really still thinkthere’s the potential and talent here for us to become the sort of impregnableforce the Aussies were in the noughties and the Windies in the Eighties.
IC: Starting with a win in the four-Test series inIndia?
JA: It’s a huge ask because no English team has won aseries there for 28 years but I believe we can. We’re ready to get back towinning ways and this time in India we’ll have more time to acclimatise andprepare, to really get used to the conditions and pitches.
GS: Obviously it’s a new era with Cooky taking overand the lucky thing for the squad is that he’s already done it in theone-dayers for a year, going from an average one-day player to one of the bestin the world. If he can up his level similarly in Tests, where he’s already oneof the best, that bodes well. I’m confident it’ll not just be a new dawn, but avery happy new dawn.
IC: What’s Cook like as a personality?
JA: Dull
GS: Yep. Very dull. Nothing else to say (they startchuckling again).
JA: Actually, he’s very level-headed, down to earthwith all the attributes you’d associate with a good captain. What he did reallywell in the one-day team was to put his own stamp on it. He’s a very likeablebloke and he likes everyone, making everyone feel relaxed around the team, andyour best performances generally come when you’re a relaxed team.
IC: Any comparisons with Andrew Strauss?
GS: It would be grossly unfair. Just because they’veboth got that elitist public school, silver spoon-in-mouth background doesn’tmake them the same person! If Cooky does his own job, as in the ODIs, he’ll dofine. If people are loading him with ‘what would Strauss have done?’comparisons, that’s a pressure he doesn’t need.
Anyway, he’s nothing like Straussy. I want to go on recordhere: Straussy is the greatest natural leader of human beings and finest publicorator since Winston Churchill! If he ran for PM, there’s no way he wouldn’tget it. Errr … unless he was running for the Lib Dems, of course ...
IC: Anyone you fancy to make a big impact thiswinter?
GS: Matty Prior; the eternal unsung hero. His recordis phenomenal, probably the best wicketkeeper-batsman since Adam Gilchrist – oreven better – yet he always tends to get overlooked.
JA: It wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of the newguys, like Nick Compton and Joe Root, flourish. It’s nice having someone likeRoot in the team, obviously an extremely fine batter who can also bowl somenice off-spin. Yes, a proper off-spinner in the team (smiling at Swann).
IC: Would you be happy to have Kevin Pietersen back?(Both nod)
GS: It has to be a positive thing if he’s back to themental state where he’s happy and wants to play for England again because he’sa world-class batsman. There’s never been a problem in the dressing room.You’re not always going to be best mates with every player you play with butthe team’s always had a very good working dynamic. That just broke down forwhatever reason at a flash point in the summer. Kevin would have tell you why.I can’t. But it’s time to draw a big fat line under it and for everyone to say,‘Let’s get back to that really good working relationship we had’.
IC: This is potentially a big 18 months for both ofyou. Do you see it as a defining period of your careers?
JA: Maybe. I think possibly I’m at my peak as abowler now. I hope I can still get better.
GS: Well, you can’t get much slower IC And yourfuture, Graeme?
GS: Go on, say it. When are you going to pack in?It’s amazing how often I get asked this now I’ve turned 33. Even my mum askedthe other week. I thought, ‘Hang on, Mavis!’
JA: The thing is you do look a bit jowly
GS: I do actually look thinner in real life. I thinkif you say, ‘I’m going to play until a certain age’, you’ll probably get hit bya car on the way from the ground. So I hate to put the mockers on anything. ButI’d love to play these Ashes series and afterwards, if I’m still thissuper-trim, magnificent figure who’s sitting before you today, then I’dprobably do a Mike Hussey and carry on. If my elbow deteriorates, though, Imight have to sit in a commentary box and tell everyone why Jimmy Anderson isbowling as slow as an off-spinner. This commentating lark seems great: going oncricket tours without the stress
JA: Yes, they’ve all got really good golf handicaps,I notice. Talking of which, we’ve decided when we finish our careers – Swannywill probably have to wait for me on that one – we’re made a pact to have aweekend playing every Open golf course in the UK. I’m never going to be able toget rid of him.