Rayr27
School Cricketer
As the fat lady has now sung and is readying for her encores it seems only right that some hard questions are asked regarding how England find themselves in this position.
For my two penneth, I see 3 major causes for the dismal capitulation in this series:
1) The short-sightedness/greed of the ECB:
5 test series are draining mentally and physically, Ashes series even more so. Yet despite plenty of advance notice of the impending back to back contest, not only did the ECB fail to build any kind of respite in to the schedule, the made it more packed than ever. Given that the Champions Trophy was taking place in England/Wales over the summer, it was both crazy and unecessary for a full 3 format tour by NZ to be shoe-horned in. The T20s should certainly have been dispensed with and I would argue the tests as well. An ODI series and then taking part in the warm-ups would've been far better preparation for the CT and allowed some respite following the packed winter and the CT itself could've been brought forward to allow greater recovery time before the ashes.
As a result of what happened in reality, England arrived in Aus with the tank running low. Cook, Trott and Bell are in the top 5 for deliveries faced in int'l cricket over the last 24 months. No seamer has bowled more than Anderson and Broad. Swann has bowled the 2nd most deliveries by a spinner despite missing the NZ series and the CT through injury. Not the way to handle top sportsmen.
2) Lack of on-field leadership
I've vented my spleen on this previously but Cook is a non-entity of a captain. Furthermore, too many of England's other senior players seem incredibly self-absorbed. That's all well and good when everything's going well, but who's the man to pull the dressing room together when the chips are down? Hard to see such a character in the England set-up right now.
3) Flower's insularity
Flower is clearly a man who coaches by method rather than philosophy, and his approach has served England well for a time. Since the retirement of Strauss, Flower seems to have filled to the power vacuum created by point 2. This has had negative consequences, with England becoming an increasingly rigid and negative side and the set-up seemingly becoming more insular and impervious to criticism, even when it was justified.
The use of slow pitches this summer made for some soporific cricket, not to mention damaging the form of seemingly all our batsmen and fast-bowlers as the surfaces seemed to do no one any favours. The selection of Tremlett in the squad for the return series (let alone the team for teh 1st test) defied explanaiton and smacked of Fletcher desperately trying to re-assemble his 2005 squad in 06/07. That Flower said straigth faced after the 2nd test he was ready to make 'the tough decisions' and then recalled a half-fit Tim Bresnan was as predictable as it was depressing.
So where now? Sadly, point 1 isn't going to change any time soon. England's schedule this summer is even more mental with a full load crammed in across the 3 formats despite the overlap of the WT20 2014 into the season.
Point 2 also seems unlikely to change dramatically in the near future. Despite his shortcomings the Cook love-in continues a pace with Cricinfo's Gearge Dobell going as far as proclaiming AC had "proved his worth as a leader" for carving out a turgid 72 in an insipid defeat in the test just concluded.
As for Pt 3, personally I think it is time for Flower to go. Like Fletcher with his bubble, his methods have a finite shelf-life and given the form of the side over the last 18 moths (the win in India has to be looked upon as a blip in context) I think it's time to move on. Enter the King of Spain?
For my two penneth, I see 3 major causes for the dismal capitulation in this series:
1) The short-sightedness/greed of the ECB:
5 test series are draining mentally and physically, Ashes series even more so. Yet despite plenty of advance notice of the impending back to back contest, not only did the ECB fail to build any kind of respite in to the schedule, the made it more packed than ever. Given that the Champions Trophy was taking place in England/Wales over the summer, it was both crazy and unecessary for a full 3 format tour by NZ to be shoe-horned in. The T20s should certainly have been dispensed with and I would argue the tests as well. An ODI series and then taking part in the warm-ups would've been far better preparation for the CT and allowed some respite following the packed winter and the CT itself could've been brought forward to allow greater recovery time before the ashes.
As a result of what happened in reality, England arrived in Aus with the tank running low. Cook, Trott and Bell are in the top 5 for deliveries faced in int'l cricket over the last 24 months. No seamer has bowled more than Anderson and Broad. Swann has bowled the 2nd most deliveries by a spinner despite missing the NZ series and the CT through injury. Not the way to handle top sportsmen.
2) Lack of on-field leadership
I've vented my spleen on this previously but Cook is a non-entity of a captain. Furthermore, too many of England's other senior players seem incredibly self-absorbed. That's all well and good when everything's going well, but who's the man to pull the dressing room together when the chips are down? Hard to see such a character in the England set-up right now.
3) Flower's insularity
Flower is clearly a man who coaches by method rather than philosophy, and his approach has served England well for a time. Since the retirement of Strauss, Flower seems to have filled to the power vacuum created by point 2. This has had negative consequences, with England becoming an increasingly rigid and negative side and the set-up seemingly becoming more insular and impervious to criticism, even when it was justified.
The use of slow pitches this summer made for some soporific cricket, not to mention damaging the form of seemingly all our batsmen and fast-bowlers as the surfaces seemed to do no one any favours. The selection of Tremlett in the squad for the return series (let alone the team for teh 1st test) defied explanaiton and smacked of Fletcher desperately trying to re-assemble his 2005 squad in 06/07. That Flower said straigth faced after the 2nd test he was ready to make 'the tough decisions' and then recalled a half-fit Tim Bresnan was as predictable as it was depressing.
So where now? Sadly, point 1 isn't going to change any time soon. England's schedule this summer is even more mental with a full load crammed in across the 3 formats despite the overlap of the WT20 2014 into the season.
Point 2 also seems unlikely to change dramatically in the near future. Despite his shortcomings the Cook love-in continues a pace with Cricinfo's Gearge Dobell going as far as proclaiming AC had "proved his worth as a leader" for carving out a turgid 72 in an insipid defeat in the test just concluded.
As for Pt 3, personally I think it is time for Flower to go. Like Fletcher with his bubble, his methods have a finite shelf-life and given the form of the side over the last 18 moths (the win in India has to be looked upon as a blip in context) I think it's time to move on. Enter the King of Spain?
