 Malcolm's absence was a huge blow to England, whose coach Keith Fletcher had built up as a focal point of the pace attack, comparing the England seamers to the legendary Lillee and Thomson and claiming that the Australians were scared of his pace, while describing Darren Gough as "Yorkshire's fastest since Freddie Trueman".Lillie and former Aussie skipper Greg Chappell poured scorn on such claims.Meanwhile, both David Hopps of "The Guardian" and Simon O'Hagan in "The Independent" identified Graham Thorpe as England's key batsman, and the most likely to counter the leg-spin of Shane Warne.