Bring em home!

REMEMBER the reason we've had so many Ashes series recently? It was to ensure we had 'proper' preparation for the Cricket World Cup.

Yes folks this is the result of 'proper preparation', batsman batting out of position, bowlers leaking runs and Sri Lanka chasing down 309 for the loss of just ONE wicket.

Forget Scotland, England have been an embarrassment at this World Cup, out batted, out fielded, out bowled and frankly outclassed.

Unbelievably despite making the same mistake at every World Cup since 1999, England are still playing one day cricket like we did in the 70s and 80s. Meanwhile the rest of the world learned from tournaments like the IPL and Big Bash.

So an English batsman will walk to the wicket and take a few balls to 'look at the bowling', when he reaches 10 not out off 20 balls, batsmen like Brendon McCullum and AB De Villiers are raising their bats for a 50 or getting very close.

This is despite having some power hitters like Moeen Ali, Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and Ravi Bopara in the line up, a line up which could also have had Kevin Pietersen had he not been sacked.

Quite simply, those playing for England now do so in fear and are made to toe the party line, buy into the head coach's love of statistics and most importantly not have an opnion.

Never in the history of sport has a man been sacked for having an opinion, Kevin Pietersen did. In sport if you don't deliver your dropped, not banned from ever being selected again unless you have committed a crime against the law of the land or cheated using drugs et al.

The perpetrators? Paul Downton, Andy Flower and James Whittaker - MD, former coach and head selector. Men who want to change the very notion of sport and only have the 'right sort of people' playing for the country.

The problem is all successful teams have 'challenging' players within their midst. Shane Warne had an interesting life away from the cricket, did Australia ever drop him? Course not!

A clean slate is needed, we need to go back to picking the best players in an atmosphere where they can excel. Or what we called the 'Duncan Fletcher era'

As well as these awful men, Peter Moores also needs to be removed, how a man who wasn't deemed good enough for England head coach once actually has the job again is beyond me

In their place perhaps lets consider former England captains who went to the commentary box not executive box. Strauss for MD? Vaughan as coach and Hussain as chairman of selectors?

Think about it, former players driving the future of the English cricket team......awfully radical isn't it!

Or shall we leave it and let Bangladesh chase 300 next week and then lose by 100 runs to Afghanistan?

We can do better than this!

Resign Alastair and become one of the greats

SOMETHING strange happened yesterday evening, I felt sorry for Alastair Cook.

Strange in the sense I have been a huge critic of the England captain since he emerged from the 5-0 Ashes whitewash not only stronger but seemingly in an unsackable position.

I despise the way he engineered Kevin Pietersen's forced retirement from the England team and his inability to take criticism, especially the 'something needs to be done' comment about Shane Warne.

However, looking at the broken man who trudged off Lords yesterday evening having again been exposed outside his off stump, I felt sorry for him.

Now he wouldn't want sympathy, no cricketer would, he just wants to rediscover the magic, hit a blisteringly huge hundred and lead England to victory.

But looking at Cook, I wonder whether he is destined to join the likes of Gower and Botham as great England players but average captains.

Captaincy does not sit well with some cricketers but does others and does lead to a slump in form however Cook is not out of form he is technically exposed.

Some have suggested a sabbatical from the England team while he goes back and gets runs for Essex and then returns as captain and opening batsman.

It just won't work for a number of reasons, primarily because Cook is not out of form he has a technical fault with his game.

But also the England captaincy cannot be done on a caretaker basis, if England are to succeed they need a regular full time captain – look at the mess when Vaughan was out injured.

Quite simply, England need Alastair Cook the opening batsman more than Alastair Cook the captain.

Cook has not become a bad player overnight just burdened by the captaincy and, I believe, the impending Pietersen book which reveals what really happened in Australia.

If England do go on to lose the second test today, Cook should be prepared to stand down as captain.

Free from the burden and attention I believe he is strong enough to come back from this slump and certainly get the 739 more needed for another record – England's highest run scorer in tests.

Cook is only 29 so should he rediscover the magic he could also be the first Englishman to 10,000 runs in tests.

Already the leading century maker for his country, Cook should sacrifice the captaincy in the pursuit of those records.

Some may say that is selfish, but every good 'Chef' knows when to change the recipe to make the dish better.

No tears for troubled Cook and ECB

READING Kevin Pietersen’s column in the Telegraph this morning, you ask yourself why he is not still part of the English cricket team.

Here is a man forced out of his role in the team not because of injury, loss of form or suspension but simply for being ‘not the right sort’ wanted in the new Team England.

Yet the article lays bare everything wrong with the current set up and actually, considering how disgracefully he was disposed with, he is quite supportive of Cook.

For those who think it’s a smear against the current set up, ask yourself this: why does Pietersen say ‘the same old negative stuff’? He recognises the efforts to move on from the Flower/Fletcher regime.

Cook’s captaincy is criticised but even then Pietersen attempts to be supportive when he says he can understand the reasons for the tactics to Matthews.

But he does hit the nail on the head when he suggests some of the senior players are struggling to offer leadership in the dressing room.

Because that is the biggest problem facing English cricket, Pietersen was willing to criticise the leadership on tour and was ostracised for it.

When it was all going wrong for England on Monday at Headingley, how many times did you see senior pros in Cook’s ear suggesting something different? Not many I fancy.

In keeping his job after a 5-0 whitewash, getting rid of Pietersen and being described as the ‘right sort of person’ to lea England, Cook has created a climate of fear.

People like Broad and Anderson probably don’t want to speak out now for fear of losing their England careers – if it happened to KP it can happen to them.

There is a climate now where you cannot criticise Cook, see his comments about ‘something needing to be done’ about Shane Warne.

The Aussie’s comments are strong yes but I am sure he said far worse from 22 yards away when trying to get a batsman out!

Yet there seems to be no one in Cook’s ear saying, sod the critics, shut them up by going out and getting a bucket load of runs.

Because in this situation of Cook’s and the ECB’s making, the criticism will only get louder and louder while the captain can’t get a run and England don’t win cricket games.

I think it’s already too late though, Cook looks finished and should England lose the test, ODI and t20 series against India he should go.

If he stays he might have to answer more criticism when KP bares all in October…..

'Spirit of Cricket' is the real villain, not Sri Lanka

There has been plenty of debate about the 'run-out' of Jos Buttler in yesterday's ODI at Edgbaston with everyone from former England captains to Piers Morgan having their say.

But England are victims of their own stupidity and both teams are the victim of the airy-fairy 'Spirit of Cricket' which leaves the potential for conflict like we saw yesterday evening.

In no other sport are the laws of the game left open to interpretation like cricket.

Sri Lanka gave a batsman two warnings, he did it again and rightfully they appealed, as per the laws of the game.

Having had two warnings, Jos Buttler ought to have boxed clever and ensured it didn't happen again.

But we then had the farcical situation of umpire Michael Gough having to speak to Angelo Matthews asking

him if he wanted to uphold an appeal despite the dismissal being within the laws of the game!.

Matthews made a choice to uphold it, just as Stuart Broad chose to stand there when he was clearly caught at first slip in the first Ashes Test last Summer.

Broad had to live with the choice as will Matthews who can probably expect a lot of angry English fast bowlers in the two test matches which follow.

But the fact the teams are in this position is a farce, the Spirit of Cricket needs to be radically altered and spelt out to teams – my suggestion would be play hard, play fair and play within the laws of the game.

Broad doesn't walk 'It's against the Spirit of Cricket', Sri Lanka 'Mankad' Buttler 'It's against the Spirit of Cricket'...

The MCC and ICC need to man up and decide just what is and is not in the laws of the game and not continue with this farcical 'oh it is in the laws but dear boy it's not cricket' rubbish.

Otherwise it won't be too long before all this crops up again!

KP KO is nuts!

The decision to effectively end Kevin Pietersen’s international career by the ECB is shambolic, pathetic, demeaning and embarrassing.

The actions of members of the ECB board and Paul Downton, a man in the job for THREE DAYS, ridicule the whole nature of sport.

Unless convicted of a heinous sporting or non sporting crime or banned for legitimate reasons, coaches should have the right to pick whoever they want for a team.

England’s new team director, whoever it may be, won’t get that luxury. It’s like Manchester United sacking Wayne Rooney a few weeks before David Moyes took over.

The Ashes was a shambles yes, but was the fact KP had an opinion on matters the sole reason we lost 5-0? Of course not!

Cricket seems to breed ‘difficult to manage’ icons like Boycott, Gower, Botham, Flintoff and now KP but all of whom delivered time and time again for their country.

But no sporting team gets on 100 per cent of the time, there will be rows and there will be people who don’t get on with each other. When they cross the white line though they ought to be united and on the whole you have to say England have been.

I have not been KP’s biggest fan for a while now because I didn’t think he was applying his
considerable talents well enough for his country.

But I do believe in fair play, you are dropped from a team by the coach, not by the suits who talk cricket one minute and sponsorship deals the next.

The ECB need to remember that often towards the end of the car crash we called England’s batting innings, it was Pietersen left stranded and having to hit out.

They also need to look at the comments of Graeme Swann on Radio 5 Live, re Pietersen’s absence from England’s Christmas Day lunch.

Swann and Pietersen were never bosom buddies but Swann launched into staggering defence of KP and pointed out yes KP was at dinner, in fact he was at the next table!

Not the actions of someone who wants to see KP booted out the back door in the dead of night???

What this bland, monotonous statement from the ECB does is insult the fans yes but also creates multiple timebombs for the England cricket team going forward.

For example, England’s batting woes continue, meanwhile Kevin Pietersen fires off hundred after hundred in Division Two of the County Championship.......

Alastair Cook continues to struggle as captain and opening the batting, questions will surely be asked as to why he has been spared?

Incredibly the ECB have managed to extend England’s Ashes debacle into the post-mortem.

It is now something which must claim Cook’s scalp otherwise KP’s KO has been nothing more than a witchhunt.

Flower should not be the only fall guy

SO England have said goodbye to team director Andy Flower following the Ashes catastrophe.

And to read some of the comments online and in the press today you'd think he'd presided over six years of struggle.

Three Ashes wins, a first series win in India for 27 years and a spell as the number one cricket team in the world are just some of the landmarks reached under Flower's tenure.

Oh and they also won the ICC World T20 in the West Indies during that spell as well.

Truth be told Flower has given English cricket some of it's best days, maybe he went on for one series too many.

But I sincerely hope the entire blame for this winter's debacle isn't laid at his door alone. After all,
Flower didn't bowl a ball, take guard or field in the hot Australian sun.

Did Flower hook a ball down fine leg's throat nine balls into a two day effort to save the Adelaide test?

Did Flower flick the ball in the air to one of two mid wickets in Adelaide?

Did Flower retire halfway through a test series?

Did Flower lose form badly behind the stumps as well as with the bat?

No, Cook, Pietersen, Swann and Prior are guilty of those crimes.

Cook has been out captained, no leadership on the field nor with the bat.

Nine balls into a two day effort to save Adelaide he hooked down fine leg's throat. Not a shot of a captain?

England had a problem with the short ball from Johnson, but instead of putting it away and deny Johnson an easy wicket option they kept feeding it.

Pietersen yes was often left high and dry and had to hit out or get out but his judgement in some
situations such as Adelaide left a lot to be desired.

Prior hasn't been right for a while, yet England seemed to leave him be. One place you don't travel to get back into form is Australia...

Swann retiring is fine, admitted he wasn't good enough and walked so the rebuilding could begin immediately.

However, he had thoughts of doing the same at the end of the home series, did Flower know this?

I grudgingly accept Flower should go but for me Cook should also step down as captain and Gooch also must be axed as batting coach.

Only then will a new era truly begin

Aussies take the lead but lose the moral high ground

Congratulations to the Australia, a deserved pasting of England was duly completed yesterday morning with a performance which should ensure this series will now be a real hum dinger.

However, if the next four tests are approached in the manner this one has been in terms of verbal sledging then it will be the worst series for many a year.

Australia's behaviour in this test match has been utterly deplorable, it's very difficult to celebrate 

Mitchell Johnson's return to form when every delivery was finished with a foul mouthed outburst at the batsmen.

Siddle, Watson and Bailey also need to look at their roles in creating a nasty atmosphere as do Anderson, Prior and Swann on the England side.

But those with the most to think about before Adelaide are Michael Clarke and David Warner.

Clarke's behaviour this week has been deplorable, firstly 'naming' England's team was the epitome of arrogance.

Call it what you will, great Aussie skippers never had to 'name' the opposition, they talked up how good their team would be.

Can you imagine Waugh or Ponting doing it? Nope, they settled for saying how McGrath was looking fired up in the nets, how Warney had a new 'secret' delivery and how the batsmen were looking forward to taking the English on.

I'd have had much more respect for Clarke if he stood there saying how much he was looking forward to seeing Johnson cause some problems, remind Cook how Harris had his number et al.

As for the Anderson altercation, I've no doubt Anderson is a gobby so and so but telling him to prepare for a broken arm, really?

Firstly Anderson is the number 11 batsman so having a dig is a bit pointless. Secondly, why dish out such threat when you one wicket away from massive victory? Surely more long term damage can be done by reminding Jimmy how much on top they were and how his batsmen let him down...

As for Warner, well his whole attitude is appalling. Someone needs to remind him he's won nothing yet.

He is a brilliantly destructive batsman, I'd rather him keep his mouth shut, score a barrow load of runs, win a few Ashes series then if he wants to give it then fine.

I don't oppose sledging, it's called TEST cricket for a reason but it needs to be an examination of technique and ability not personal stuff.

Warner is like Hayden in his temperament and approach, difference is Hayden won everything there was to win.
 

It could be a classic series to remember, both sides have a duty to remember that. Play hard but play fair and have a few beers afterwards!

Ashes Preview

The greatest show in cricket kicks off on Wednesday evening only months after England nearly won a test match in the dark at the Oval in what we call Summer.

Well now, in what our comrades Down Under call Summer, the old rivals prepare to square up yet again.

Many have had their say on these back to back series, being done to rejig the timetable to ensure England never finish an Ashes tour to Australia and go straight into preparations for the Cricket World Cup.

But like it or not, this is the pinnacle of cricketing entertainment outside of India v Pakistan as both teams want to win and win well.

All of the talk from the Australians is designed to throw England off their game and crumble under pressure.

Michael Clarke knows his best 11 cannot beat England’s best 11 without the aid of some tricks of the trade.

Thing is Pup, it might have worked with previous England teams but this one knows how to win and win very well indeed.

All of the batting collapses in recent battles between the two sides have come from the men in green and gold. Yes England struggled to make many runs this summer but on true Aussie wickets expect England’s batsmen to sell their wickets for very high prices indeed.

The Aussies have won one test in 2013, they need to win at least two and pray for rain in the next six or seven weeks to have any chance of reclaiming the Ashes.

It’s why the psychology began early, but England seem to be meeting it head on especially Pietersen who hilariously accepted that yes he did have an ego so what?

Stuart Broad has virtually given every Australian a licence to come and sledge him after he didn’t
walk at Trent Bridge.

Meanwhile Cook sits silently by, the epitome of cool and knows seven weeks of ‘dull, unimaginative captaincy’ (copyright SK Warne) will win England the Ashes outright on Australian soil once again.

The pace of the series will once again be set at the Gabba, England should simply aim to win as many sessions as they can on day 1, 2 and 3.

If they do that they could be in a strong position at a weekend and who knows 1-0 could be a real possibility.

Brisbane should hold happy memories for the tourists as should Melbourne and Sydney with only Perth looking like a banana skin for this team.

Prediction -  it all depends on the first test but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Captain Cook and his crew return from their voyage with another 3-0 under their belts....

An Ashes battle won on the pitch and in the mind

I suspect that when we think back to the Ashes series of 2013 it won’t be with the fondness reserved for the to and fro of 2009 or the sheer Hollywood drama that was 2005.

The Australian fightback was brave yes but when you are beaten and beaten well in the first two tests its almost academic. We should know, English cricket teams fought for 18 years when the Ashes were gone or almost gone!

But 3-0 is 3-0 and while some experts say England did not deserve 4-0 they were within a light meter
reading of notching it up.

Truth be told England have not been brilliant, neither have Australia, but when it came to it, England delivered big time, Australia didn’t.

As a veteran Ashes watcher (ok I am 31 but god England let me down a lot when I was a young pup) what has been interesting is the sentence above – England won the big moments.

Before 2005, England had Australia down but just when the final push for victory began, Warne,
Waugh, Ponting, McGrath or someone else popped up and denied England.

That does not happen now, Australia have competed hard in this series, but when the final push began, they floundered at the hands of Anderson, Broad, Swann and Bell.

At Trent Bridge, the Australians took a lead in the first innings and had England on the ropes, enter Ian Bell with a hundred. In the chase, every time Australia looked to be on the way to victory they lost wickets.

At Lords, they bowled England out for much less than the ‘experts’ said was par, but were rolled for 128 themselves. Even when they reduced England to 30 for 3 the lead was still 263, it was a target they never looked like chasing.

Rain ruined their chances at Old Trafford but in Durham the Aussies were 168 for 2 and looking comfy chasing 299 for victory.

But when the winning post beckoned them, again Australia tripped themselves up and Stuart Broad took six for 20 in 45 balls to seal a stunning win.

I suspect Michael Clarke wanted to set England 250 at the Oval but again Cook’s bowlers chipped away in what was a second innings slog meaning the Aussie skipper had no choice but to offer 227 in 44 overs, rather generous..

What will happen Down Under? I suspect England will play better on quicker pitches but if Australia can go back to the old days and win the big moments it won’t be the cake-walk many expect.

As it stands though, many English cricket fans my age had not seen England win the Ashes in their lifetime, now we are celebrating a fourth win in five series.

Keep it up lads!

The hypocrisy over Broad not walking is as bad as the original act

England won the first test by 14 runs, it was five absorbing days of test cricket which almost saw a remarkable victory for the men from Down Under.

Yet some in the media would rather keep focusing on an event on Friday night where Stuart Broad edged it to first slip and didn't walk after being given not out.

A crime against cricket, like father like son (a disingenuous reference to Chris Broad being ushered from the wicket in 1987) and just not cricket.

RUBBISH! Broad did what every cricketer would do given half the chance, put the blame back on the umpire and carry on.

The controversy was being whipped up, sports writers were desperate for Michael Clarke to have a go at Broad during his day four interview. His response? 'I certainly don't think any less of Stuart'.

Truth be told Clarke, for all his remonstrations in the aftermath, would have done the same as Broad and did do at Adelaide in the 2010/11 series – only an England review removed him from the crease.

But what is more galling is the hypocritical attacks on Broad and England and the praise lauded on Ashton Agar.

Agar made 98 on debut and yes was wonderfully entertaining, but amid the glowing tributes from the same writers who poured scorn on Broad was merely the briefest mention he was stumped and should have been given out when he had scored just six.

What's the difference? Is it not against the spirit of cricket that Agar went on to get 98? Oh wait he is only 19, on debut, Broad should know better and isn't Ashton's story so lovely.....

Again RUBBISH!! Agar would have seen the replay at lunch, he got away with it, so did Broad – the only difference is Broad had the brass neck to stand there.

He'll get it back at him, have no doubt, Broad will be public enemy number one in Australia this winter, if he has the brass neck to not walk he will need balls of steel to cope with the immense flak he will get from a 'passionate' Aussie crowd at places like the Gabba.

That's the choice he made on Friday eveningin 'waiting for the umpire' he will have to live with it, England had been wronged over Agar, Broad thought he would get one back.

We can either focus on the actions of one man or ask the real question, why was the umpiring for such a high profile test match so bad?

And late on Sunday night, hours after England completed the win, came the news three athletes had tested positive for banned substances.....

I know what I am more concerned about today...

To follow on or not to follow on, that is the question

England won the second Investec Test Match against New Zealand at Headingley by 247 runs to clinch the test series 2-0.

Those are the facts, but there seems to be an almighty row about how they got there – are you a follower onner or a bat em out the match onner?

From my Twitter feed (@robgeorge1) it seems many current pros subscribe to the bat the opposition out the game then feed on the demoralised scraps route.

But many journalists and some fans share my opinion – if you have just rolled them over for 174 and a total of 242 for the loss of 20 wickets, it’s probably a good idea to ask them to try again.

I have always believed in the follow on, because if the opposition can’t get close to you and you know some of the batsmen don’t fancy the bowling, stick them in again!

On Sunday, England rolled New Zealand over for 174, seven days after knocking the same line up out for 68. Why wouldn’t you ask them to bat again? Their batsmen had been spooked by Anderson and Broad at Lord’s and by Swann and Finn at Headingley.

Indeed Swann made Headingley look so much like Galle I was expecting to see the historic fort and Murali coming on from the other end!

But Cook batted again and Trott plodded along so slowly that England almost were washed out.............

It wasn’t about overloading the bowlers, it was about stomping home England’s advantage and showing the Australians this team is ruthless and we are winning ahead of the Ashes.

I'm sure Broad, Anderson, Finn and Swann would have preferred the extra day's work in exchange for a day off resting.

Having said that, I understand the position by many of the pros, bat again and build such a lead that the opposition can not only not win but drawing would be a herculean task.

A similar demoralising effect is levied upon the batting team and the extra runs allows a captain to keep the field up and attack the batsmen.

It was quite clear the New Zealand batsmen were still feeling the pressure but for me, on a spinning pitch and against a batting line up horribly out of nick I would have preferred to see England go in for the kill.

The issue of whether to follow on or not has divided the pros, the press and fans, no one is right, no one is wrong, but hey isn't it great we are talking so much about cricket?