I have a feeling our match reports might get a little repetitive over the coming weeks (and months). We know what the problems are, and they’re not going away.
There’s little point banging on about it considering recent events in Sydney. We just don’t have the appetite for a thorough post-mortem.
All I’ll say is that English cricket is in a dire position at the moment. There are problems with the board, coach and captain. The number of people watching and playing cricket in our country is dwindling. I can find very little positive to say.
I’ll leave you guys to chew the fat in the comments section – if you have the energy at the current time.
I suppose the most pertinent questions are:
Why did Bopara only bowl a couple of overs when his skiddy style seems ideally suited to Sri Lankan conditions?
Why has Eoin Morgan’s form fallen off a cliff?
And why does Steve Finn’s action look as awkward as a shy teenage boy at his first disco?
There’s no shame losing to the likes of Sanga and Mahela. They’re world class players – something this England team simply doesn’t have. We don’t help ourselves though, do we.
James Morgan
Another question: Which batsman has a technical problem that was neatly identified by Michael Carberry on Sky?
The answer is the same as the answers to your questions 1 and 2.
Ravi only got 2overs because Cook doesn’t like him and would prefer he wasn’t there Why?Maybe because he’s a friend of KP but surely not.He treated Monty in the same way in OZ.Cook should have to explain his reasons.Eoin Morgan will not play well in that team while the opening bats and 3rd bat score so slowly.He needs a little time to settle into his rythmn and with the pressure of having to score fast, early he makes mistakes.He is a brilliant batsman.As for Steve Finn, they, the bowling coaches destroyed him last year.He has never been the same since.Now that I have maligned everyone will be interested in other opinions.
Do we know the reason why Bopara was dropped? Anyone got any inside information?
Cook was non to keen to bowl Mooen in the test matches at the star of the summer. Despite him picking up wickets.
There seem to be quite a few whose face doesn’t fit with team ECB. The whole thing seems directionless. What a way to run a circus.
On Bopara… Moores said he wasn’t afraid to make the big decisions. Maybe Bopara was deemed senior enough for his dropping to be a big decision, without having to drop someone more senior?
I’ve not been a big fan of Bopara, there have been many times in the past when he could easily have been permanently dropped, but it was an odd time on this occasion.
Sorry ,am not Anonymous made a mistake Julie
Third time lucky???
Well said James. Nothing to add.
Here we go again…dressing room this, dressing room that, and dressing room t’other!!
They may all be happy clappy chappies in the dressing room, which I seriously doubt they are, but isn’t it on the field of play where they should be showcasing all their team skills??? Personally, I wouldn’t give a flying fig if they were ripping each others throats out in the dressing room, it’s the failings in the field that we want to know about and the route to achieving a winning England XI!!
They are absolutely brilliant in the nets too and have improved so much in the last 10 days that it is beyond comprehension that they are so crap on the field – ain’t it????
Cook continues his appallingly rude and arrogant dismissal of tv interviewers and the population of Colombo too – he just can’t wait for a fresh start in the next match – there’s many unprintable words I easily find for Cook, let’s just say he’s what Strauss called Pietersen.
“Cook continues his appallingly rude and arrogant dismissal of tv interviewers”
Indeed, it seemed that Russel Arnold had the impertinence to ask Cook nicely what went wrong – how dared he?
Our Dear Captain is obviously the sort of person who gets on well with the bosses because he imitates their style. He’s now as rude as Giles Clarke.
TeamECB once again appear to be ‘doing Sri Lanka a Favour’ – you know, playing a few matches with them whilst their minds and plans are on the World Cup – passing the time putting up with them, complaining about the weather, the pitches, the lack of practice – the whole things smells of ’empires past’ , imperialistic attitudes and behaviour, condescention and arrogance – it’s not as if TeamECB can play cricket properly is it????????? IT STINKS!!!!
James, only one question when it comes to the England ODI side. Why, oh why oh why?
We all know that England’s ODI form has been poor for years. There are endemic problems. Our lack of ability to play spin, our inability to score big enough totals, and our lack of skill to restrict teams to manageable scores. The tactics remain years out of date. Go conservatively for the first 30-35 overs and keep wickets in hand. Then go crazy for the last 15. In English conditions it sometimes works. If a good total is 250-270 we might be able to defend it if the ball is moving around.
Cooks defenders will say he is not to blame for all of this, and they have a point. However, when you don’t have the best team and players it is vital you get the best out of what you do have. Look at New Zealand down the years. A country of 3 million people, and yet they have managed to be a force in cricket. They often progress further than England.
Is Cooks form and captaincy helping to get the best out of what we have? Would the likes of Bell and Morgan do better without him? Has the ludicrous politics of the ECB meant the players have lost faith in the captain and coach? Is the balance of the team completely messed up by trying to accommodate one player for non cricketing reasons? I know it was only a 20/20, one off game but England looked a lot more spirited in the last game of the summer against India at Birmingham.
We know many of Cooks strongest supporters have admitted he should not be in the ODI team. So why continue this farce? No, we won’t become world beaters, but it is time to break away from the out dated thinking of the last 20 years. We should have done it 2-3 years ago. Trouble is a new captain would still have to work with David Brent as coach. The whole thing is a mess.
“Has the ludicrous politics of the ECB meant the players have lost faith in the captain and coach?”
Put yourself in the place of a member of that team right now. Crap captain and a failed coach making you play according to a laptop spreadsheet. What do you do? What happenes to people who don’t toe the line in that dressing room?
Imagine a team meeting:
Cook – So anyone have any ideas what we can do to improve?
Tumbleweed blows through the room, the silence is deafening.
That was me by the way. It doesn’t seem to remember our names these days.
Apologies for that Mark. We’re at the mercy of our wordpress software. We have the latest plugins etc, but sometimes there are ghosts in the machine.
No problem!
There have been a few Anonymous posts appearing lately. I will check to see if the name and email appears before I press the ‘post comment’ button in future.
that’s paul downton that is!!
You might think you were describing another all-round England debacle using the phrase “The Full Toss”
Perhaps the Lankans will get a bit bored by such easy victories? It isn’t like we’ve helped them keep their motivation up by being crass and ungracious hosts recently is it?
I’m really missing Selvey, Pringle and Newman on this tour, all of whom seem to be sitting it out. Vic Marks tries (his mention that Cook hit three of the eight fours shows promise in the ‘clutching desperately at straws’ department – and then there is his claim that no-one is “undroppable” when writing about…. Eoin Morgan) and there is always Brenkley of course but something is lacking. Perhaps they could be airlifted in?
If Cook were to go as ODI captain, I wouldn’t assume Morgan will necessarily be the replacement. Root has his backers and Broad captained out last ODI series win in WI. In his recent DM interview Broad sang all the usual ECB line – except praising Cook. No steely core. No huge iron rod. No getting of his back. Just a harmless coincidence – or does the young prince have ambitions? Alastair Lannister beware….
Yes, I think this is a very good point Simon. If they get rid of Cook they will only replace him with another ECB speak your weight machine. And whoever it is will have to be vetted by Moores. The last thing he wants is someone who will go off in another direction as captain.
That’s the trouble with England. Everything is a mess. They are always trying to build a house on dodgy foundations.
here’s the answer, step up Brian ….. http://www.briantherobot.com/
But Cook said: “People are entitled to their view. That’s the nature of the beast when you’re on the outside.”
Dear Leader’s reply to KP on BBC news site……..
Also in same place….
“We’re the guys who have the honour of playing for England at this moment in time, and we have guys who have the opportunity to turn it round – not other people outside.”
“Outside” get treble points on the dressing room scrabble board…
Yes, because the ‘other people outside’ are not allowed in unless they wear an ECB tie, and come from the right sought of family.
He was telling us last week they had made good progress in the meetings. Whatever that means? The ECB will be giving him a translator soon so he can translate complete bollocks into English.
You are making me laugh Mark and this is a serious situation…
Triple points…sorry!
Just in case anyone missed it (although I’ve posted it in a couple of other places too…) here’s one of Cook’s classic responses to the habitual Why-Did-We-Lose questions today.
” We just didn’t get going today, whether that’s the effect of the events over the last couple of days, not having a practice day yesterday might have contributed to it, I don’t know. It’s just been a weird couple of days to be honest with you and probably that showed in our performance”
Is that Cook using Phil Hughes’ death as an excuse for England doing the same thing they always do? It’s not just me is it?
The man is a pathetic excuse for an England captain and he continues to make me ashamed to support this so-called “team”
He may be a “nice guy” (clue: he really isn’t, he’s a weak and petulant anointed child) but he can’t bat anymore, he can’t set a field, can’t respond to a match situation, can’t talk eloquently or politely to the press…….
Somebody remind me why on earth he’s Captain again? And how anybody else, whether in the team or not, could possibly be any worse?
You can’t, can you?
Alistair Cook might not be the right person in the right place at the moment. One of his failings is that he does not speak well. It is not kind or necessary to pick him out for that frailty. He was born that way. He can’t help it.
It is necessary, because he purports to represent the England Cricket Team. If he cannot express himself properly, it’s (another) reason he shouldn’t be allowed to do the job anymore. It’s not like his many other qualities are overshadowing his lack of eloquence right now.
As for being kind, I’m afraid he lost the right to expect kindness when he signed his pact with the devil. His irritablity in interviews and his lack of good grace and sportsmanship ever since then has further diminished any call he might have on my more charitable instincts. His self-centred lack of awareness of himself being one of the major problems that England have at the moment doesn’t help either.
He doesn’t really seem that bright. Ok, he can’t help that, but surely he ought to be able to realise that when something isn’t working, sometimes the right thing to do is give up, not carry on regardless and hope people stop noticing or that it changes.
I’m afraid the veiled “we didn’t bat well because of recent events” quote above really does scrape the bottom of the barrel. That’s not him being bad at speaking, that’s him trying to excuse yet another poor performance by blaming a tragic event which he has no business using in such a way. It’s shameful, and if I had even a little regard left for him that would have destroyed it.
It’s hard to be perfect.
I dont think anyone is saying he should be perfect. We all fail at that but Northern LIght 71 is correct in every word he says. If Cook had an ounce of self awareness he would give up the ODI captaincy. And his continuing mention of those ‘outside cricket is a dead giveaway as to who he listens to. I used to think a great deal of Cook but no more
“One of his failings is that he does not speak well. It is not kind or necessary to pick him out for that frailty. He was born that way. He can’t help it.” Sorry, I don’t get that. He doesn’t have a stammer or any apparent physical defect that he might have been born with that would prevent him from speaking proper adult English.
It’s embarrassing that opposing captains who have English as their second language often express themselves better than Cook does. He chooses words badly and doesn’t seem able to string a sentence together. He talks like a gauche 15-year-old. It’s surprising in someone who attended a reputable private school on a scholarship, as usually the one thing people do learn at private schools is to be articulate. Was Cook excused those lessons because he was playing cricket perhaps?
If it is some kind of ‘frailty’, or he’s simply someone who hates public speaking, perhaps that would have been a good reason not to make him captain, since the job necessarily involves quite a bit of speaking to the media and in public.
Sorry, duplicated some of NL’s post, simultaneous posting!
You have described Cook’s problem with words well and clearly. He is not good at stringing sentences together. That’s his failing in speech. He was never right for the job but he seemed to be the best we had at the time. It was a matter if hope over reality. He seems to be well liked. I think he is a decent man. Perhaps as captain he feels, rightly or wrongly, that he should not desert a sinking ship. He is in a difficult place. It is so easy to pull him apart.
Your kindness does you credit, Jenny, but I feel it’s misplaced.
It may be true that there was no one else to captain the Test side (though how hard did they look?), but for ODIs there are several candidates.
It’s so clear that Cook’s batting and captaincy are part of the problem, and if he’s such a decent and mentally strong individual, he should insist on standing down for several matches of the SL series and letting other people have a chance to do better.
I’m sure it would be better for him if he did that. Nice break on the farm and turn out for Essex in the spring. Much easier life and gets all you lot off his back. :-)
Us Lot are not on his back. We are all tired of the appalling performances of the cricket team and the rubbish and lies we are fed daily by the ECB and the tame journalists who are scared to raise their heads above the parapet. I think it would be a good idea to go back to the farm for a few months, have a break and have a think and clear his head. It would do him good to get away from all of it at the moment. When you are in the middle of a storm and you simply do not know what to do next the best place to be is somewhere else. If he resigned as captain of the ODI at least I would think the better of him
Jenny, I think you are flogging a dead horse here. He obviously is not as nice as you think he is. Intimating that Phil Hughes tragedy was a factor in that drubbing goes beyond the pale. The fact that it even entered his mind, let alone saying it out loud, tells me everything I need to know about him. He has become a complete embarrassment to English Team.
Bang on Vanessa!!
I have never bought into the clap trap that he is a nice guy. (His latest weasely words can be added to other frat boy comments he has made.) Frankly I don’t care if he is nice or not. It is not a qualification that is required to be a sports team leader.
However, since our Joseph Stalin Pravda cricket media have told us endlessly that he is a nice guy, and that somehow this justifies his job , they can’t complain when it is pointed out that he isn’t a very nice guy. They can add it to the fact that he is not a very good captain. Something else they have been lying about for the last 2 years.
… K the P says he is a nice guy. Is his word not akin to gospel round ere?
Oh here we go again. Same old same old. If we are against Cook we are for KP. that is NOT the case and I am getting so tired of this attitude, It is possible to ask for Cook to resign without worshiping a the feet of KP you know
I need to say Vanessa that I was hoping and praying that he would make no reference to Phil Hughes. Feared he was going to out his foot in it. He’s obviously not scripted, he can’t speak and he gets it wrong. Someone should save him from himself. Don’t believe he is bad. Just not right for the job.
Jenny, we all know who to blame for the fact he can’t speak properly, or string two sentences together. Namely the much vaunted Bedford School.
Quick, someone should phone Mike Selvey and point this out. It seems the vastly expensive private education system (although I believe he got a scholarship) is not a guarantee of speaking the Queens English.
Someone should give him a paper hat, and see if he can say “do you want fries with that?”
Hahaha! You have a way with descriptive words! :)
don’t make me laugh!!!!!!!!!!! what a pathetic response – are you the anointed Mrs Cook?????????????
this is a reply to jennah at 7.42 – why is it here????????????
Can only apologise. Hopefully the next wordpress update will solve these issues.
It’s so hard to get everything right. Poor dear Cooky could emphasise.
Nope. Not the anointed Mrs Cook. Chance would be a fine thing! :)
You’d be alright for the Waitrose shop Jenny! ;-)
Just don’t bump into his cardboard cutout at the cheese counter.
I give it to you Mark! You have won this one.
Eoin Morgan has more cricketing “nous” in his left bollock than Cook will ever have in the whole of his body! He can’t help it, he was born that way!
Morgan can be a bit weird in the field at times. As much out of form as Cook. Not the answer as a replacement captain. I would rest Morgan, drop Root down to five and put Taylor in at four.
You’re spot on with everything you say and for Cook to bring in Phil’s death as an excuse was sickening. I couldn’t believe my ears. I’ve given up on England. What’s the point of listening to any of them as it’s all prepared responses from the ECB anyway.
Bloody hell! Cook just can’t help himself, it’s like he’s talking with his actual foot in his mouth.
I’ll say it, Alistair Cook is a massive ******.
That’s the problem! He has always got his foot in his mouth. Not a wanker…
Someone please start a CookyGenius twitter account, there’s so much material out there to use, pretty please.
Erm, Cook = genius? Sorry mate that doesn’t exactly cut the mustard! :-)
I think a Cookie/Nice/but/Dim account would be more aprobriate
Hahahaha!
Except Cook is not nice…
No he is not, you are quote right Clive.
I was just riffing on the old Tim/nice/but/dim sketch.
ooh what a good idea. A fake Cook account. Sure a fake Twitter account has never been thought of before…..
After this stunning performance I have been waiting to see Pringle effusively expounding on Cook and his “swooning” of ladies together with mention of his ” steely inner core” but it would seem that even his sycophancy has dried up after this latest dismal effort by the chosen one ( and I don’ t mean Marinho). His continued suitability as captain, because he is the type of chap we want as our captain , would appear to be more important than the main attribute which most people would consider , the ability to play the bloody game, which Cook apparently doesn’t have.
Cook isn’t a batsman, he hasn’t been for about two years. That’s not what he’s there for. He’s the face of the brand. He’s a placeman, a ‘favourite’, his job is to keep the bosses happy. IMO the reason why the other players haven’t mutinied yet is because none of them want to have to do that job, even for the sizeable extra salary.
Brendon McCullum has just held a catch for NZ to win in UAE and draw the series. James wrote a piece in August doubting that ‘leading from the front’ meant anything – if that wasn’t it from McCullum I don’t know what would be.
Here are his eleven sixes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJNSkMcfQSs
(There are quite a few highlights packages on Youtube from the series mostly posted by Willow TV from anyone who has missed it and wants to see two talented and likeable sides in action).
Well done NZ. McCullum is a brilliant captain with a great cricket mind. His personality also rubs off on his team. He does indeed ‘lead from the front’, but does so much more than that. In the article you’re referring to, I remember saying that in Cook’s case, ‘leading from the front’ simply meant opening the batting, and eerrr, that’s about it! Minimum requirement for the captain is to put a price on his wicket.
Yes James. You are right in all respects. Poor dear Cooky.
[…] Cut and Paste – Thoughts on the Second ODI […]
The England Cricket Team – The living embodiment of Groundhog Day writ Large – I’d say more but I’d just be repeating myself and we have poor Phil Hughes – forever at 63 Not Out – to remind us of Cricket’s proper perspective to Life, the Universe and Everything!
I have always thought that Strauss sacrificed himself any number of times between 2009 and 1012, just trying to get some impetus into the innings and set an example to Trott, KP etc, when his younger partner juxt could not be arsed (or did not have the ability or skill) to score any runs….Now that Chef is in charge, no one wants to do any better than him. I feel I am right because Steve James once said I was writing rubbish …back in the day on the Telegraph blogs, when I used to call out a guy called Vian.