DOMINIC CORK's arrival in the England dressing room in New Zealand earlier this month received the sort of exuberant welcome given to the Australian rescue services by stranded yachtsman Tony Bullimore.
When a tour has capsized, with distress flares swept away and nothing but a plaintive knocking coming from inside the upturned hull, the return of the side's most important player is reason to rejoice.
This is why faces were as long as bat handles at Seddon Park yesterday when Cork shuffled off the field complaining of a pain in his lower back. "It looked quite serious so we threw everything at him," explained tour physiotherapist Wayne Morton afterwards.
"He had fairly severe lower back pain on the right side. I used ice, mobilisation, massage, manipulation, drugs and taped him up in a corset, so he can't move very well and he's looking pretty crook. It's more common for a right-arm bowler to have pain on the left side of his back."
Cork has played in all three of England's warm-up matches in New Zealand and had hinted at a return to the form and fitness which has made him the most important component of the England team since, on his Test debut at Lord's in 1995, he took seven for 43 in West Indies' second innings. Even in this match, without bowling at his best, he has looked England's likeliest wicket-taker.
Cork bad figures of three for 18 against Northern Districts on Saturday, but bowled just nine overs yesterday, taking the only wicket to fall for 23 runs, when he came off feeling his back and also his right leg, rather resembling Humpty Dumpty after his tumble.
He confirmed later that the problem was with his back and not his leg. Knee trouble forced him to miss the tour of Zimbabwe, where England suffered no injuries to their front line bowlers.
England's preparations for the First Test against New Zealand, at Auckland's Eden Park on Friday, have also been hampered by a flu-like virus, which has affected Craig White, Alan Mullally and Nick Knight.
Seddon Park, New Zealand's newest Test venue, is the only cricket ground in the world with a bouncy castle on the boundary and, until Cork's mishap, everything had gone so well for England on the first two days of their match against Northern Districts that it's bobbing turrets might have been caused by Mike Atherton's frolicking players.
On Saturday they bowled out Northern Districts for 69 in just 28.4 overs, and yesterday they built a lead of 225 before they were bowled out for 294. Alex Tait the fast-medium bowler who had played just seven first-class matches before this season, returned figures of five for 96. At the close of the second day Northern Districts were 99 for one, with Test opener Blair Pocock unbeaten on 60.
The fulcrum of the England innings was a partnership of 125 between John Crawley (65) and Graham Thorpe (71). Crawley once again looked the most accomplished batsman in the side and his back foot cover drive for four, with which he reached his half-century, was a gem. Thorpe, nudging and scampering but also striking five fours and a six, suggested his recent frailties are a thing of the past, although he will need a sterner test than that provided by this limited attack.
The one disappointment about England's innings is that so few players spent any meaningful time at the crease. Atherton and Hussain had already failed when England resumed yesterday on 166 for four and after Thorpe and Crawley fell in the space of four balls the tail of Croft, Cork, Gough and Mullally went timidly. Bouncy castles do have their ups and downs.
