Usually I can’t wait to update this blog. But this time its different. I can barely summon the energy. The England cricket team has reached it’s nadir: being whitewashed in the Ashes, losing the early summer series to Sri Lanka, and now thrashed at home by an Indian team that hadn’t won away from home for three years. Imagine how ugly it would have been if we’d lost the toss. It’s time to face facts folks … We have a toothless bowling attack. We have a brittle batting line-up without a single...
The Three Stooges – A Headingley Autopsy
It’s tempting to just blame Cook. He’s an easy target. Few people seem to like him. He’s going through another one of his batting malaises (they’ve happened before and they’ll happen again) and his captaincy yesterday was lamentable. However, let’s not forget that Cook’s captaincy is simply a product of the Andy Flower era. Under Flower’s iron fist, England became utterly dependent on stats and pre-determined methodologies. Plans were determined before games and Flower’s captains stuck...
Lankans Crumble at Lancs
Did yesterday actually happen? It’s all a bit surreal. In the second ODI we played like Kermit, Gonzo and Co. Yesterday we played like Clive Lloyd’s Windies. We all expected performances to oscillate somewhat, but this is ridiculous. Even weirder was the excuse Russell Arnold gave for Sri Lanka’s woeful performance: “err, it was a bit cold, normally we like to be indoors in this kind of weather”. Hmmm. The star of the show, again, was Chris Jordan, who the media are now building up as the next...
Moores is a symptom, Cook is the cause
First of all I want to make both a promise and an apology. Here’s the promise: I will not mention Kevin Pietersen’s name in this piece. I do not think the appointment of Moores has anything to do with sticking two fingers up at KP. If you believe the appointment of Moores was a final act of revenge, you assume the ECB are prepared to put a grudge before their own ambitions – which presumably includes creating a successful team, enhancing their personal reputations, and getting more people...
Anatomy of a failure part 3 – the coaches
Just before I went to bed last night, Ian Bell groped at a ball outside off stuff, got a faint edge and was caught behind. His team were left staring into the abyss at 23-5. Amongst the numerous disasters that have unfolded this tour, the dismissal was innocuous enough. However, for me it was typical, and symptomatic of a broader problem that has cost us the Ashes more than any other single factor. Bell played at the ball with a slightly open face. He’s been doing it all tour. It brought him...
What England should learn from New Zealand (but probably won’t)
The dust has settled. The celebrations are over. Magical as our miracle escape against New Zealand was, a few home truths must be digested. We can still be confident about the Ashes – Australia’s humiliation against India leaves their team spirit and confidence in tatters – but things aren’t looking as good as they were two months ago. If you look on the bright side, this could be the wake-up call we needed. New Zealand exposed some serious flaws – and fortunately, they’re relatively easy to...
