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- Jan 13, 2010
Article by barmyarmy -
In November a team that was already fundamentally broken attempted to deliver a product that appeared to be more about money than cricket. The product in question was unable to replicate the basics properly; blighted by runouts and crazy overthrows it was stuck with one difficulty level and one way of playing. Suffering from staff departures throughout the project, new and inexperienced workers were brought in but they too were found to be not up to the task. Yes, the England cricket team were here for the 2013/4 Ashes.
In tracing the roots of failure and decline it?s necessary to go back to January 2012 in the UAE. An interesting pattern and worrying trend began to assert itself in that series. Top order batsmen found themselves psychologically unable to play an opposition bowler, retreated into a defensive shell where their only scoring shots were boundaries and wickets were given away at regular intervals. The series also marked the point at which the jocular batsmen versus bowlers conflict that marks most teams became pronounced and personal. The bowlers blamed the batsmen for the series defeat: for failing to chase 140 in the second test; for undoing all of their hard work with poor shot selection and poor execution. England?s attack in that series was spearheaded by Anderson, Broad and Swann.
Even for teammates there does seem to have been unusually close relationships formed between the 3 bowlers who formed their own clique in the dressing room and their batting friend Alastair Cook. One thing that seems to have drawn the 3 bowlers together was a personal dislike of Kevin Pietersen ? who even in their while-still-playing-so-must-be-complimentary autobiographies neither Anderson or Swann could bring themselves to write anything positive about. The cause of the dislike is undoubtedly rooted in Pietersen?s personality; never shy to sing his own praises or to criticise his teammates but probably also due to a sense that the bowlers ought to be seen as the star turns in this team. England?s success in recent years had been due to their ruthless bowling; keeping it tight and taking 20 wickets.
As long as the team was winning, any personality clashes could be safely ignored and until Pietersen?s relationship with Strauss broke down during the South Africa series he was treated, by Strauss and Flower at least, as a valued senior member of the side. Broad however, had different ideas and it was soon after the Pakistan series that his friend Richard Bailey, aka KP_Genius, set up the parody twitter account. Twitter has been the most obvious outward manifestation of the cliques in the dressing room. Who follows who; who retweets who and who gets in trouble with the ECB for ?not getting it?. Anyone who has followed the twittersphere and England players soon gets a sense of the team dynamic. The gentle ribbing of players like Bresnan and Root compared to the fully satirical KP Genius account.
The South Africa series that followed revealed that, as well as continued batsman failure (just one score over 400 when KP scored his tonne at Headingley) the bowlers were no longer looking like world beaters. On an Oval pitch where England contrived to lose 20 wickets, their bowlers took just 2. Additionally their second innings runrate as the batsmen showed more ?responsibility? was a paltry 2.47 rpo. As we know the series, as was being traditional against South Africa, led to the departure of yet another England captain.
Fast forward to England?s tour of New Zealand in March 2013 and the pre-series talk was all about could England defy the New Zealand weather to win 3-0. After a shambolic tour where the weather in fact saved England in Dunedin and where they were clinging on 9 wickets down in the final test it was easier to find excuses rather than look at underlying problems. Cook was a new captain, they showed fight in keeping out New Zealand, Compton had scored his first century. Their innings of 167 and 204 were indicative of good bowling not batting collapses.
Some pointers for the Ashes ahead emerge from this and the return series in May (albeit with the latter being an easy win). Senior batsmen were not scoring enough runs (England?s scores at home were 232, 213, 354 and 287), no-one was making ?daddy hundreds? anymore and England?s bowlers were starting to struggle unless they bowled on pitches that offered assistance. The mindset of the bowling attack and their body language is something that has been discussed in various places recently and the force that makes England irresistible when they get on top has also caused them to lose discipline and patience when things are not going in their favour. The reactions of bowlers to dropped catches and mis-fields may tell you how passionate they are but also points to psychological weakness. Much better to be the bowler, like Tim Bresnan, who can treat triumph and adversity just the same, return to his mark and bowl another one. Bowler over-reactions also start to have an insidious effect on team spirit. The tea-pot arms becomes a proxy for blaming out-of-form batters for not making enough runs and increases the already considerable pressure on the fielders in the team. The bowlers however were allowed to get away with it unchallenged.
It?s often been observed that captaincy is a lonely business. We?re told, mostly by ex-players, that it takes one of the officer class to rise above the camaraderie and bonhomie of being part of a team and become a figure who is respected and feared rather than one of the lads. However much truth there is in the picture painted, which fitted Andrew Strauss perfectly, it?s becoming increasingly clear that Alastair Cook is not a good captain. He?s not a good captain because he?s not a good leader.
Cook?s modus operandi has been to lead by example, consult and defer to his bowlers? wishes and then front up and take the blame when things go wrong. Even if you are scoring runs there is more to captaincy than that. In telling comments this week Andy Flower has revealed that he has had to adjust his role with Cook as captain to take on far more of the captain?s traditional role himself. It?s also emerged that when the fans are shouting at the television for Cook to get in 3rd slip in and remove the extra cover he is merely adhering to the wishes of his two friends Broad and Anderson. This is not an adventurous England team. Bowling dry has become the philosophy to such a? degree that if you offered the bowlers the choice between a maiden over and one with 3 6s and a wicket they would probably have to stop and think about it. The blame for this lack of adventure certainly does not rest with Anderson, Broad or Cook individually. Strauss was just as negative with his declarations, just as cautious with his field placings. Rather than adhering to the precept that you have to be prepared to lose in order to win, England have preferred to ensure that they cannot lose before trying to win. If Lehmann and Australia were trying to find the perfect tactics to adopt against such an England team and philosophy their aggression with bat and ball from the start has been pitch perfect.
At this point it seems instructive to say a word or two about Matt Prior. Prior has been an unsung hero of this England side, not just on the pitch where his keeping has improved beyond measure and his lower order hitting have boosted England on many occasions but in his role off the field. Prior has been the one person who has been able to navigate his way through the egos. He was the one who, when everyone else was talking to journalists rather than to each other, reached out to Kevin Pietersen and allowed the situation to be resolved. He was the one who, standing alongside Alastair Cook during play, reminded him of the need to use Pietersen, not just as a token gesture but for his cricket knowledge and cricket brain. When a Pietersen-inspired plan came off during the first series it was most unusual to see Anderson run towards KP and embrace him. Winning does that.
Therefore Pietersen-watchers have been sad but not surprised to see him grazing at third man and fine leg in Melbourne and Sydney. No longer part of the inner-team, the brains-trust now that Bairstow has replaced Prior. Unless Cook can start to assert himself on the field, go with his instincts (whatever they are), take advice from a wider circle and overcome his natural timidity he will never succeed as England captain. Prior is the ideal choice for captain at the point with his unfortunate loss of form coming at completely the wrong time for him and England. It is very hard to see how a side which will continue to be led by Flower and Cook can rebuild at this time.
Therefore defeat and even whitewash should not be a surprise. Cricket is a game where momentum is all-important and can shift very quickly. England?s downward curve as a side met with Australia?s upward curve during the first series and all the fissures that had been present and building turned into cracks the size of a day 5 Perth wicket. In Australia England encountered a product that was simply better made, better led, paid attention to detail and was full of promise for the future. Better try to win the Ashes back on Don Bradman Cricket 14 instead.
More...
In November a team that was already fundamentally broken attempted to deliver a product that appeared to be more about money than cricket. The product in question was unable to replicate the basics properly; blighted by runouts and crazy overthrows it was stuck with one difficulty level and one way of playing. Suffering from staff departures throughout the project, new and inexperienced workers were brought in but they too were found to be not up to the task. Yes, the England cricket team were here for the 2013/4 Ashes.
In tracing the roots of failure and decline it?s necessary to go back to January 2012 in the UAE. An interesting pattern and worrying trend began to assert itself in that series. Top order batsmen found themselves psychologically unable to play an opposition bowler, retreated into a defensive shell where their only scoring shots were boundaries and wickets were given away at regular intervals. The series also marked the point at which the jocular batsmen versus bowlers conflict that marks most teams became pronounced and personal. The bowlers blamed the batsmen for the series defeat: for failing to chase 140 in the second test; for undoing all of their hard work with poor shot selection and poor execution. England?s attack in that series was spearheaded by Anderson, Broad and Swann.
Even for teammates there does seem to have been unusually close relationships formed between the 3 bowlers who formed their own clique in the dressing room and their batting friend Alastair Cook. One thing that seems to have drawn the 3 bowlers together was a personal dislike of Kevin Pietersen ? who even in their while-still-playing-so-must-be-complimentary autobiographies neither Anderson or Swann could bring themselves to write anything positive about. The cause of the dislike is undoubtedly rooted in Pietersen?s personality; never shy to sing his own praises or to criticise his teammates but probably also due to a sense that the bowlers ought to be seen as the star turns in this team. England?s success in recent years had been due to their ruthless bowling; keeping it tight and taking 20 wickets.
As long as the team was winning, any personality clashes could be safely ignored and until Pietersen?s relationship with Strauss broke down during the South Africa series he was treated, by Strauss and Flower at least, as a valued senior member of the side. Broad however, had different ideas and it was soon after the Pakistan series that his friend Richard Bailey, aka KP_Genius, set up the parody twitter account. Twitter has been the most obvious outward manifestation of the cliques in the dressing room. Who follows who; who retweets who and who gets in trouble with the ECB for ?not getting it?. Anyone who has followed the twittersphere and England players soon gets a sense of the team dynamic. The gentle ribbing of players like Bresnan and Root compared to the fully satirical KP Genius account.
The South Africa series that followed revealed that, as well as continued batsman failure (just one score over 400 when KP scored his tonne at Headingley) the bowlers were no longer looking like world beaters. On an Oval pitch where England contrived to lose 20 wickets, their bowlers took just 2. Additionally their second innings runrate as the batsmen showed more ?responsibility? was a paltry 2.47 rpo. As we know the series, as was being traditional against South Africa, led to the departure of yet another England captain.
Fast forward to England?s tour of New Zealand in March 2013 and the pre-series talk was all about could England defy the New Zealand weather to win 3-0. After a shambolic tour where the weather in fact saved England in Dunedin and where they were clinging on 9 wickets down in the final test it was easier to find excuses rather than look at underlying problems. Cook was a new captain, they showed fight in keeping out New Zealand, Compton had scored his first century. Their innings of 167 and 204 were indicative of good bowling not batting collapses.
Some pointers for the Ashes ahead emerge from this and the return series in May (albeit with the latter being an easy win). Senior batsmen were not scoring enough runs (England?s scores at home were 232, 213, 354 and 287), no-one was making ?daddy hundreds? anymore and England?s bowlers were starting to struggle unless they bowled on pitches that offered assistance. The mindset of the bowling attack and their body language is something that has been discussed in various places recently and the force that makes England irresistible when they get on top has also caused them to lose discipline and patience when things are not going in their favour. The reactions of bowlers to dropped catches and mis-fields may tell you how passionate they are but also points to psychological weakness. Much better to be the bowler, like Tim Bresnan, who can treat triumph and adversity just the same, return to his mark and bowl another one. Bowler over-reactions also start to have an insidious effect on team spirit. The tea-pot arms becomes a proxy for blaming out-of-form batters for not making enough runs and increases the already considerable pressure on the fielders in the team. The bowlers however were allowed to get away with it unchallenged.
It?s often been observed that captaincy is a lonely business. We?re told, mostly by ex-players, that it takes one of the officer class to rise above the camaraderie and bonhomie of being part of a team and become a figure who is respected and feared rather than one of the lads. However much truth there is in the picture painted, which fitted Andrew Strauss perfectly, it?s becoming increasingly clear that Alastair Cook is not a good captain. He?s not a good captain because he?s not a good leader.
Cook?s modus operandi has been to lead by example, consult and defer to his bowlers? wishes and then front up and take the blame when things go wrong. Even if you are scoring runs there is more to captaincy than that. In telling comments this week Andy Flower has revealed that he has had to adjust his role with Cook as captain to take on far more of the captain?s traditional role himself. It?s also emerged that when the fans are shouting at the television for Cook to get in 3rd slip in and remove the extra cover he is merely adhering to the wishes of his two friends Broad and Anderson. This is not an adventurous England team. Bowling dry has become the philosophy to such a? degree that if you offered the bowlers the choice between a maiden over and one with 3 6s and a wicket they would probably have to stop and think about it. The blame for this lack of adventure certainly does not rest with Anderson, Broad or Cook individually. Strauss was just as negative with his declarations, just as cautious with his field placings. Rather than adhering to the precept that you have to be prepared to lose in order to win, England have preferred to ensure that they cannot lose before trying to win. If Lehmann and Australia were trying to find the perfect tactics to adopt against such an England team and philosophy their aggression with bat and ball from the start has been pitch perfect.
At this point it seems instructive to say a word or two about Matt Prior. Prior has been an unsung hero of this England side, not just on the pitch where his keeping has improved beyond measure and his lower order hitting have boosted England on many occasions but in his role off the field. Prior has been the one person who has been able to navigate his way through the egos. He was the one who, when everyone else was talking to journalists rather than to each other, reached out to Kevin Pietersen and allowed the situation to be resolved. He was the one who, standing alongside Alastair Cook during play, reminded him of the need to use Pietersen, not just as a token gesture but for his cricket knowledge and cricket brain. When a Pietersen-inspired plan came off during the first series it was most unusual to see Anderson run towards KP and embrace him. Winning does that.
Therefore Pietersen-watchers have been sad but not surprised to see him grazing at third man and fine leg in Melbourne and Sydney. No longer part of the inner-team, the brains-trust now that Bairstow has replaced Prior. Unless Cook can start to assert himself on the field, go with his instincts (whatever they are), take advice from a wider circle and overcome his natural timidity he will never succeed as England captain. Prior is the ideal choice for captain at the point with his unfortunate loss of form coming at completely the wrong time for him and England. It is very hard to see how a side which will continue to be led by Flower and Cook can rebuild at this time.
Therefore defeat and even whitewash should not be a surprise. Cricket is a game where momentum is all-important and can shift very quickly. England?s downward curve as a side met with Australia?s upward curve during the first series and all the fissures that had been present and building turned into cracks the size of a day 5 Perth wicket. In Australia England encountered a product that was simply better made, better led, paid attention to detail and was full of promise for the future. Better try to win the Ashes back on Don Bradman Cricket 14 instead.
More...
