BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 Well, the challenge was to start new Cafe topics and I have been hoping we could discuss this anyway. What happened to English Cricket? The Poms were kicking our arses from here to breakfast time but then collapsed last year. People retiring mid series, going home with homesickness, sacking the best batsman, sacking the coach, a Captain who has lost his ability to bat. I remember the Brierley, Bothan and Gower years with affection but just lately even the great English cricketers are tearing into the team. What went wrong? I am genuinely interested, by the way, not trying to bash the Poms. I am one..... Well, I was, I feel like an Aussie and behave like one. Sorry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 Well, first of all - leadership. Moores is not an International level coach - he never will be. Cook is not a captain. Compared to Stewart and Vaughan, he's a non-starter. Strauss too, is a hard act to follow. We read stories that Cook has the backing of the dressing room. You only need to look at the demeanour of Broad, Anderson and Prior on the field to know he hasn't. Since Day 1 he has allowed the senior bowlers to set their own fields. I have never seen that at Test level - ever. It makes us look ordinary and unprofessional and it seeps through the ranks. However, the problems go deeper than that. I have always played cricket and moreover, coached youngsters at whatever club I have been at. I graduated from the ECB Head Coach [uKCC3] course just over eight years ago when I retired from playing. I worked closely with my county, Hampshire from 1996 on and it gives you a massive insight into grass roots development. Basically, it's who you know and what club you are registered with that gets you into the junior teams at county level. I have seen many good players fall by the wayside because their club's 1st team don't play ECB Premiership Cricket. You need to join a club that has at least 4 Saturday teams [with at least two in the higher echelons of the local County League] and a highly motivated coaching staff to boot. Otherwise, you are invisible. There was a time when the most promising cricketers in England were hidden away in private schools. My coach at school was Doug Padgett of Yorkshire and England. If he saw something he liked he'd pass you along the line. Sadly, there was no money in the game then and parents had mapped out your career path for you long before you became a budding David Gower or Ian Botham. Even with the cash that is available now, only the odd determined player will break the private school mould. Kids in the state school system don't play cricket at all now unless they join a local club. Football, football, football. Girlfriends, PlayStations and Xboxes rule the roost and a guy who scored a century at County U-15 level yesterday is an18- year-old couch potato today. There is no National Pride. We are now such a diverse inter-racial society that no-one knows what being 'English' means anymore. I was lucky enough to have Shane Warne at a club workshop when he was Hampshire skipper a few years ago. He said, 'All a young Aussie cricketer ever dreams off is wearing the green baggy cap and representing his country with pride. His English counterpart is more concerned with what car he's driving, whether he can get his free mobile phone upgraded or squeeze some more free kit out of his sponsor. That's my experience since I've been here'. He got that right. The more immediate problem is what to do about Cook & Co. We have some good players who came through a baptism of fire in Oz last winter who need a leader. Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler are all quality players. I don't think Sam Robson would make my club 2nd XI at the moment but there are others. Root isn't ready for captaincy right now and bell and Anderson don't want it. Broad could do it and do it well but he may not be available for every game. I would drop Cook and Robson, bring Finn in as a fifth seamer, open with Ali and Bell, appoint Owen Morgan skipper and make Stokes bat six. Oh, and beg Gary Kirsten to coach. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Medilloni 6 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 .......We are now such a diverse inter-racial society that no-one knows what being 'English' means anymore. .......His English counterpart is more concerned with what car he's driving, whether he can get his free mobile phone upgraded or squeeze some more free kit out of his sponsor. That's my experience since I've been here'. He got that right. This^^^ Stating the obvious probably, but to stand a chance of a great team in the future they've got to hit all schools hard, and make it cool. Cool is something cricket definitely isn't to most sports mad kids. Son's rugby teacher talking to the team about cricket last season (someone asked why no-one plays it 'up here' (the north)), "it's a game for the spoilt, unfit, rich boys that have no passion for team play and the sport", that's the jist anyway, not very PC, but dead on imo. There's bad a perception about the game that's got to change. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrisbaneAndy 0 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 Awesome replies, boys, I spent about 25 years in the UK wondering why we sucked at cricket and then, for no reason I could see, all of a sudden we were great. Botham was terrorising bowlers and batsmen, Gower was sublime, Brierely was calculatingly tactical. All of a sudden it was gone. I really thought England were going to kick our arses in 2013 but there was no contest, maybe the departure of key players such as Flintoff was the clue. I agree about Cook, way too soft. I feel bad for Pietersen, I know he is disruptive and a general bad boy, but he can bat and has starch. Warney. We love him, he did amazing things on a cricket pitch, but he is even more amazing off it. Not in a good way.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monza gorilla 1 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 When I were a lad, we played cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter. No namby pamby football for us! John and Sean have said it all, really. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insider 0 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 Just saw the squad for the third test. Ugh! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Medilloni 6 Report post Posted July 22, 2014 And where's French Cricket gone? Not the country, the one where you can't move - aka close-up fielding. Seriously? if it's not part of the curriculum (or a massive marketing campaign) it'll die a death faster than, erm, an English cricket team. It's gone down Exclusive Street just like tennis has always been (in the UK). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
