A great Monday and what better than a controversial post to begin it with. Ever since they were granted the Full Membership/right to play test cricket. I have been very very skeptical of the ICC+ECB. Agree that countries take time to establish themselves and this can take a few years.
Given how the game has progressed in the last 2 decades, you'd expect newer teams to benefit from technology, coaching manuals+ what not in order to set up a decent world-class unit. We have seen success stories with the likes of Afghanistan and Ireland who have achieved much more in a shorter span of time. Yes, the formats have been different. However, compare with England- they havent really set the stage on fire have they? A few ODI world cup wins on crumbling pitches, a few upsets at the T20WC and thats all. In terms of trophies, they don't even have a single Asia Cup.
Anyway, my grouse is with their Test status. Their Test performances are shoddy. People here will bring up NZ and India who took 25+ years to register their first wins. However, the times then and now are vastly different. ENG just isn't competitive at this level. When Zimbabwe fell out, their board took a rational decision and stopped playing Test cricket. I personally feel ENG needs to step away from this format until they beef up their domestic structure.
What are your thoughts on this?
Given how the game has progressed in the last 2 decades, you'd expect newer teams to benefit from technology, coaching manuals+ what not in order to set up a decent world-class unit. We have seen success stories with the likes of Afghanistan and Ireland who have achieved much more in a shorter span of time. Yes, the formats have been different. However, compare with England- they havent really set the stage on fire have they? A few ODI world cup wins on crumbling pitches, a few upsets at the T20WC and thats all. In terms of trophies, they don't even have a single Asia Cup.
Anyway, my grouse is with their Test status. Their Test performances are shoddy. People here will bring up NZ and India who took 25+ years to register their first wins. However, the times then and now are vastly different. ENG just isn't competitive at this level. When Zimbabwe fell out, their board took a rational decision and stopped playing Test cricket. I personally feel ENG needs to step away from this format until they beef up their domestic structure.
What are your thoughts on this?
