Yorkshire's director of coaching and former captain Martyn Moxon, who has been one of the country's outstanding opening batsmen for more than a decade, is urging England skipper Michael Atherton NOT to move down the order in a desperate bid to recapture his form in the West Indies.

Atherton was dismissed for nought and one in the last Test and he has now gone 15 innings without notching a half-century.

Moxon's advice is the opposite to that given to Atherton earlier this week by former Yorkshire and England captain, Brian Close, who believes Atherton should not open the innings in the crucial Fifth Test which starts on Thursday.

Close argued that it was impossible for an opening batsman, wicketkeeper or fast bowler to captain a side successfully because of the intensity of concentration needed for each job.

But Moxon countered: "Being a regular opener, I think Atherton would find it extremely difficult dropping down the order because he would not know what to do with himself.

"He is used to going in and getting on with it at the start of the innings and suddenly dropping down to No 4 or No 5 would leave him edgy while waiting to bat. Different skills are needed for the middle order and Atherton has not had the chance to acquire them.

"I have been fortunate in opening for most of my career but when I captained England 'A' in Australia in 1993 I went in at No 3 until I had to return home early with a broken finger.

"I wanted Tony Middleton, Mike Roseberry and Mark Lathwell to have experience of opening but I must admit that I found it hard not starting the innings off and I soon realised coming in later was a totally new discipline.

"The real problem, I feel, for Atherton is that he is badly out of form and I don't think moving down the order would alter things. He is jabbing at everything and too stinted. One he becomes more fluent he will start to score runs again. It is more a question of getting moving properly again rather than the pressures of captaining the side and opening the innings."

Despite England's defeat by 242 runs in the fourth Test in Georgetown, Moxon is still optimistic about England''s chances of winning the series and he believes that if they can square things up in Barbados then they will go into the final Test in Antigua as favourites.

"I think England are a lot stronger mentally that they were 12 months ago and they showed their mettle by coming back so well to win the third Test after going one down," said Moxon.

"Having picked only two seamers in the last Test, England were never going to find it easy after losing the toss and having to bowl first on a pitch which was always going to break up as the match wore on.

"They were unfortunate, too, that Chanderpaul was dropped when the West Indies were around 50 for two in their first innings and he went on to score a century. It was a catch which Alec Stewart would take nine times out of ten but he didn't on this occasion and it changed the course of the game."

Moxon said that Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh had once again proved a formidable combination for the West Indies. "There had been talk before the series started that both of them were at the end of their careers but you write them off at your peril. Once it became obvious that they themselves were keen to play then I expected them to be troublesome,'' he said .

"One of England's main problems at the moment seems to be that they have no-one to fit easily into the all-rounder's slot and it was asking too much in that heat to go into the last Test with just two fast bowlers.

"Adam Hollioake went on the tour to fill the all rounder's role but it now appears the selectors do not think he is up to it yet because he no longer seems to be in the frame."

Moxon believed Mark Ealham could become a candidate for the all-rounder's slot but he also felt strongly that Craig White could still push himself forward for the job this season.

"I have absolutely no doubt at all that Craig has got the ability to make the position his own," said Moxon.

"He can look the part with either bat or ball and his main problem has been that he has lacked self confidence, particularly at England level.

"But he is desperately keen to do the job and I have told him that I want him to make that his target this summer."

One of the big bonuses for England in the Caribbean, said Moxon, had been the emergence of Mark Ramprakash who had batted superbly after securing his place in the last two Tests.

"I have always thought he was a splendid player and I am sure he has at last gained a regular place in the side," said Moxon. "Let's hope he and Stewart go on making lots of runs - and that some of their success rubs off on the captain."

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