I feel sorry for Alastair Cook. It’s no secret that the English media, and certain fans, love to build someone up and then knock them down. We see it in other sports all the time. You’re either brilliant – a world class hero, a pin-up boy, a genius or an all time great – or you’re a waste of space, a steaming pile of donkey manure or even worse, Luis ‘the biter’ Suarez. But what makes Cook a unique case is that his employers have built him up as much as anyone. In order to justify...
The Cult of Alastair Cook
I feel sorry for Alastair Cook. It’s no secret that the English media, and certain fans, love to build someone up and then knock them down. We see it in other sports all the time. You’re either brilliant – a world class hero, a pin-up boy, a genius or an all time great – or you’re a waste of space, a steaming pile of donkey manure or even worse, Louis Suarez. But what makes Cook a unique case is that his employers have built him up as much as anyone. In order to justify the decision to sack you...
Giles, Thorpe & Collingwood: is three a crowd?
Mick Jagger was dead right when he sang “you can’t always get what you want”. England have been stuck between a rock and a hard place in recent times (which is what made me think of rolling stones) and I severely doubt that a top coach like Gary Kirsten is going to ride to our rescue. Who would want to work for the ECB anyway? They dictate (a) who the captain is going to be, (b) the precise type of team ethic and philosophy required, and (c) which star players should or should not be playing...
The ECB and selecting the wrong selectors
I’m not a negative person by nature. I’m actually getting pretty fed up with all the negative things we’ve had to write about recently. With the notable exception of Ben Stokes, there was absolutely nothing positive to write about this winter. Then we had the fallout from Andy Flower’s departure – all good things must come to an end – and the sordid Kevin Pietersen debacle. It almost went unnoticed that during the KP affair, in which the ECB quite rightly became public enemy number one, they...
A knee in the groin
Not long ago England’s Ashes preparations were always ruined by injuries. Whenever we discovered a world class talent, or a newcomer burst onto the scene, they’d always break down the month before the Ashes. Our batting line-up used to depend on Graham Thorpe. So what used to happen during the Ashes build-up? Thorpe would break his back lifting a sofa or something. The bowling was just as injury plagued. In the days when Angus Fraser was our only decent seamer, he’d need a hip replacement the...
England Trott home
New Zealand 269 (48.5 overs) England 270-2 (47.4 overs) It’s rarely easy to chase a total of 269 away from home – especially if your team is as inconsistent as Arsenal. However, England managed it at a canter in Napier today. In doing so, we erased our painful loss in the opening ODI, in which Brendon McCullum turned our bowlers into horse meat. Although McCullum still had a field day, scoring 74 off just 36 balls – he loves Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes’ bowling more than Jesse Ryder loves...
