CRICKET wants to get into the 21st century and allow substitutes to be used when players get injured.

Cricket is the only sport in which a team have no option but to play with one short when a player cannot continue through injury.

It happened when Simon Jones was hurt on the first day of the first Ashes Test and while it was hardly the reason England were destroyed, it no doubt contributed to the size of the debacle.

When Jones was ruled out of taking any further part in the game England were a key bowler short and lost the services of a batsman. The game was over.

Losing Jones not only spoilt England's chances of getting a result, it also ruined the game as a spectacle for the supporters.

In any other sport his injury would have been regarded as misfortune and a substitute would be allowed to replace him.

Not in cricket. It is an antiquated rule for which there is no sensible reason.

The first Test also highlighted a disturbing aspect of the English sporting psyche.

Captain Nasser Hussain admitted his players were nervous about playing a team as good as the Aussies and they gave the hosts too much respect.

It has been widely said that they were frightened of their superb opponents and that is a disgrace but not the first occasion in recent times that sportsmen representing England have run scared on the field of play.

It was the same when England's footballers took on Brazil in the World Cup. They also succumbed to nerves and admiration for their illustrious opponents and failed to perform on the day.

Many Englishmen were justifiably ashamed of England's failure to rise to the challenge that day just as they felt let down by England's lack of mental competitiveness in the first Ashes Test.

The bulldog spirit seems to have been replaced by a poodle temperament.