Commonwealth Bank Series

[Sureshot]

You've got some of the last dates wrong which could confuse a few people .

Well we English always look back on the past apparently

 

[Mars Maximus]

I just wish cricket here was all year round, and since it don't rain here anymore, there's not a problem even playing in winter lol

 

[symonds_sixes]

I just wish cricket here was all year round, and since it don't rain here anymore, there's not a problem even playing in winter lol

LOL, good point, just shift the AFL games to suburban grounds

 

[Mars Maximus]

Or teach the AFL and NRL players to play cricket! :laugh

 

[symonds_sixes]

Or teach the AFL and NRL players to play cricket! :laugh

I think that wouldn't work, see how bad Andrew Johns is?

 

[Mars Maximus]

Hehe well ok, so those leagues stay lol

 

[aussie1st]

Michael Vaughan will miss the CB Series finals and fly back to England on Saturday after aggravating his hamstring injury. Andrew Flintoff will lead the team in the best-of-three series a day after the coach Duncan Fletcher said Flintoff had a weight off his shoulders when he was not the captain.

Full article here

Big blow for England losing their inspirational captain, won't miss his batting too much but his captaincy is worth a spot alone.

 

[Mars Maximus]

Make Strauss Captain then. I remember during a session that he was Captain during the Ashes, he placed better fields than Freddie did lol

 

[aussie1st]

They should have but it's always hard for the selectors to dump a captain especially such a high profile one in Flintoff.

 

[evertonfan]

Damn, well we still have the slimmest of chances if they go with Strauss as captain. Obviously they'll ruin that chance by putting the incapable Flintoff at the helm.

 

[puddleduck]

Yep in much the same way they came out and said Panesar was the best finger spinner in world cricket and promptly dropped him, they will now make Freddie skipper having admitted he played better without the burden :

 

[irottev]

England won't win without Vaughan. Why couldn't they have saved him instead of using him against us

Maybe Bondy shoulda let him bet a while, so he possibly couldn't have fielded

 

[puddleduck]

England won't win without Vaughan. Why couldn't they have saved him instead of using him against us

Maybe Bondy shoulda let him bet a while, so he possibly couldn't have fielded

I think if we make anyone but Flintoff captain we have a chance, albeit about as slim as Paris Hilton on the atkins diet.

So far in this tournament whenever Freddie hasn't skippered he has done well with either bat or ball, and he is such a key player. I find it's his bowling that suffers most as skipper, and history shows that mostly it is batsman that make the better captains, and if a bowler it's normally a spinner.

 

[aussie1st]

Don't think there is an if about it, Flintoff will be captain according to that article.
Obviously bit silly given Fletcher just admitted Flintoff was better off without the pressure.

 

[puddleduck]

Don't think there is an if about it, Flintoff will be captain according to that article.
Obviously bit silly given Fletcher just admitted Flintoff was better off without the pressure.

Yeah madness isn't it. I can understand when management say things like not wanting to drop players the moment they enter bad form, showing faith and all that. However I wonder if the England management takes it too far. Granted we were appaling during the early 90's and through until Fletcher took over, but we seem to have gone too far the other way these days.

Constantly trying to protect our players as though they are all one wrong move away from breaking down and spending the rest of their life rocking back and forth in a padded room. Why can't they just admit they were wrong, come out and say "Freddies done a good job, but he is such a key player that we feel it best he concentrates on his own game."

End of the day, Botham handled it, albeit in different circumstances, and came back a better player for the experience. If Freddie can't handle it, then perhaps he's not as mentally tough as we like to believe, but again I feel he is, and he would deal with it just fine.