Never have I felt so disengaged from the England Cricket Team

[CaptainOZ]

That's England. Occasionally special, but mostly weak.

 

[Satan666]

blockerdave submitted a new article

I just hope that by the time the change comes, the kids who should be falling in love with cricket as I did 27 years ago don’t do as I did on Sunday: shrug their shoulders and go “meh”.

Possibly the strongest statement I have read on this board to date. It really hits home with me, a purist and daily its hard to sit by and see test cricket slowly wither away even more so heartbreaking is the fact that two of the legendary teams WI and England are plagued by managerial issues.

That being said I have ''meh'' decades ago for the team I truly supported, yes supported, in fact they pretty much disgust me now with the advent of T20 cricket......

 

[cooks1st100]

Why do I have a feeling you're probably right?

It's a sad state of affairs and deserves it's own thread so as not to derail this thread. The loss of England's home tests to SKY, the lack of county cricket which is also only on SKY, the lack of promotion of the game within schools all these things are reducing interest in the up-coming generations. But I was saying the same things as you have mentioned almost 20 years ago, the Ashes win in 2005 produced a spike in interest within the UK but this was not built upon and has now faded again.

Even if we do win the Ashes this year it won't make any difference to crickets popularity within the UK as most won't even have watched it and the ones that will generally have issues with the whole structure so it will be seen more as a negative than a positive because it will mean more of the same.

 

[blockerdave]

Even if we do win the Ashes this year it won't make any difference to crickets popularity within the UK as most won't even have watched it and the ones that will generally have issues with the whole structure so it will be seen more as a negative than a positive because it will mean more of the same.

And this really gets to the nub of the point I was trying to make. I love cricket, and I love England Cricket - I fell in love with the sport and team in seriously lean times, but I always supported them, always wanted them to win, was happy even when we won a session, let alone a game (I recall getting the Aussies 80/4 in 1993 before the Waugh brothers had a big stand and we obviously lost)... but right now the whole set up is so rotten I can see downsides to them winning (the regime gets entrenched) and upsides to their losing (bring the whole shower down) and i just feel so ambivalent and that's really sad.

 

[Liam Stephen]

right now the whole set up is so rotten I can see downsides to them winning (the regime gets entrenched) and upsides to their losing (bring the whole shower down) and i just feel so ambivalent and that's really sad.

And this here was my point about not wanting to play (though I always use the excuse of 'studies', so I always get a later chance), I just don't want to play for Lincolnshire under the ECB umbrella right now. Surely I can't be the only young English cricketer feeling that way?

 

[Skater]

I hope blockerdave hasn't ended it all on hearing the news.

BBC Sport - Peter Moores sacked after Andrew Strauss takes ECB job

 

[Liam Stephen]

I hope blockerdave hasn't ended it all on hearing the news.

BBC Sport - Peter Moores sacked after Andrew Strauss takes ECB job

What matters is who we replace him with. I think we all preferred the Duncan days though surely?

 

[Skater]

These things are cyclical. 2004, when we won all of our home Tests, was great - 2005 was of course superb. But then we had a lean spell and got better again. It will happen again.

 

[cricket_icon]

Did you watch the World Cup?

Okay the test side may not be THAT bad but the decision making is awful. I don't blame them for giving Trott another go, he deserved another chance but he was obviously rushed back too early to the point it has ended his international career. You try things, sometimes they work out, sometimes not, fair enough. But this is just one of a catalogue of issues and terrible decisions, the treatment of certain players (not just KP), terrible management of bowlers (Finn and Rashid spring to mind), poor use of bowlers during matches, the "mediocre" comment and the backtracking and holier than thou attitude when we couldn't beat the "mediocre" team to name just a few.

Over the years I have lost a lot of love for several sports, football and boxing (long before last weekends dross!) being two examples, while test cricket has never faded for me and I doubt it ever will ( 4 day tests could be the trigger there though!) but I actually found myself willing the West Indies on in this last test as I felt it may be what's needed to shake things up. Obviously not though.

Like you say Dave I've got no qualms supporting a losing team, I've supported Southampton since the eighties for eff's sake but I find it hard to like this England squad, apart from maybe Jordan, Root and Ballance, but it's not just them, it's the whole regime and I don't see anything changing. Has it ever though (look how Simon Jones was treated)? Maybe the last decade of actually being good has clouded my judgement.

Get Beefy in, that's what I'd love to see, Nasser also, they'd sort this shambles out. Never going to happen though.

Well, I was probably thinking of the test side when I said what I said but even in ODI terms, England are not a bad side, they are just an inconsistent one. They are still better than Pakistan, WI, Bangladesh if the teams were to play each other multiples times, England would probably beat them more often than not. In terms of the players around, again, in the ODI format I feel England has a better overall selection that Bangladesh...although I don't like how they're taking Ireland so lightly.

My major issue with England is that the set up is still so embedded in an aged way of thinking, antiquated ideas from a group of people who don't understand where the modern game has gone and how it now works. Look at our domestic t20 tourney, we were the ones that started it and now, the one saviour of the county game has become a lackluster afterthought...the idea being, if we can't compete with the big boys, let's just step back and not do anything. Then there's problem with selection, too rarely are young talents are picked and when they are (Finn/Rashid), they're treated like dirt and not allowed to develop at the highest level. Rashid is slowly being brought back into the side and I hope he gets to play sooner, rather than later, having said that, Finn is all but decimated in the wake of the ECB process.

I'm still concerned about England's treatment of non-white players, this may seem like an outdated gripe (Atherton wrote about it some 2-3 years ago) but hardly ver have I seen a colour of asian or afro-Caribbean heritage get a prolonged shot at making a name for themselves at international cricket. Then, when there are certain players chosen, there's no more than 1 or 2 at a time. Bopara, one of the best limited overs players in the English game, a guy who can hold that title for the last half a decade, has been bounced in and out of the side like a yo-yo.

Now, in terms of Trott, he should never have been allowed back, lying bastard.

 

[blockerdave]

These things are cyclical. 2004, when we won all of our home Tests, was great - 2005 was of course superb. But then we had a lean spell and got better again. It will happen again.

i would hope i made clear performance isn't the issue.

 

[Skater]

i would hope i made clear performance isn't the issue.

No matter how bad we are being run I can just never bring myself to wish England to lose.

 

[cooks1st100]

My major issue with England is that the set up is still so embedded in an aged way of thinking, antiquated ideas from a group of people who don't understand where the modern game has gone and how it now works. Look at our domestic t20 tourney, we were the ones that started it and now, the one saviour of the county game has become a lackluster afterthought...the idea being, if we can't compete with the big boys, let's just step back and not do anything. Then there's problem with selection, too rarely are young talents are picked and when they are (Finn/Rashid), they're treated like dirt and not allowed to develop at the highest level. Rashid is slowly being brought back into the side and I hope he gets to play sooner, rather than later, having said that, Finn is all but decimated in the wake of the ECB process.

Can't argue with that.

I'm still concerned about England's treatment of non-white players, this may seem like an outdated gripe (Atherton wrote about it some 2-3 years ago) but hardly ver have I seen a colour of asian or afro-Caribbean heritage get a prolonged shot at making a name for themselves at international cricket. Then, when there are certain players chosen, there's no more than 1 or 2 at a time.

After reading about Graham Taylor's remarks regarding the F.A. it does not surprise me at all.

Now, in terms of Trott, he should never have been allowed back, lying bastard.

I must have missed something, what did he lie about?

 

[Markkkkk]

I must have missed something, what did he lie about?

No I think he means lying down in the changing room after getting out (again).

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I'm still concerned about England's treatment of non-white players

Who exactly?

hardly ver have I seen a colour of asian or afro-Caribbean heritage get a prolonged shot at making a name for themselves at international cricket.

Moeen Ali? Chris Jordan? Ravi Bopara? Monty Panesar? to name just a few.

Then, when there are certain players chosen, there's no more than 1 or 2 at a time.

You make it sound as if non white players should be picked just for the sake of it, this isn't South Africa.

Bopara, one of the best limited overs players in the English game, a guy who can hold that title for the last half a decade, has been bounced in and out of the side like a yo-yo.

He really hasn't.

 

[richowebbo]

It seems to me that Strauss has been brought in to support Cook. Colin Graves, whilst saying West Indies were mediocre, gave a glowing reference of Cook, saying how we need to build the team around him etc. and Cook just straight up slated him and Yorkshire folk. He probably did this because he knew Strauss was getting the director job and therefore could do or say anything he wants.

Cook is the problem plain and simple.