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Ashes Inquest

Fleagle said:
That’s true. 2010-11 was the last time we had anything approaching a proper buildup. Three first class matches against genuine competitive opposition before the first test, and another one between the second and the third.

That’s never happening again, though. Nobody does that anymore. It’s not just this England who don’t. And it’s pointless to wish they did. We need to figure out a way to do this better in the future. Not wish it was still the past.
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Before they arrived in Oz the 2010 team had a tough boot camp to put them through their paces and foster team spirit.

By the looks of it this latest lot had a cushy 18 holes of golf followed by a nice 19th hole piss up
 

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Seems like McCullum is laying the groundwork for his exit from the test team. I’ll be surprised if he’s still in charge of the first test in the summer.

Whether the ECB & McCullum can put their professional differences aside for the white ball team remains to be seen, but he’s not done a particularly good job there either.
 
DonaldDownTheWing said:
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Seems like McCullum is laying the groundwork for his exit from the test team. I’ll be surprised if he’s still in charge of the first test in the summer.

Whether the ECB & McCullum can put their professional differences aside for the white ball team remains to be seen, but he’s not done a particularly good job there either.
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To be frank, he comes across as a bit of a knob. The Andy Moles comments and his own media remarks lately smack of someone who's just totally absorbed in brand McCullum.

A little surprised really, as he was one of my favourite cricketers of his era. Interestingly he had a "No dickheads" policy as NZ captain, which seems a bit ironic now.
chunkyshanhawk53 said:
The Crawley experiment is surely over?

The lad has talent, I don’t think anyone disagrees, but his delivery isn’t there

64 tests and 5 tons (including 1 vs Zimbabwe and 1 vs the West Indies)

Only 2 English players in history have 3,000 runs at a lower average. Broad and Moeen.

In Australia, which is apparently his home, he averages 27.

We have to move on.
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It has to be. He shouldn't have got this far but now it's been proven it doesn't matter when or where he bats, he is absolutely mediocre and offers next to nothing. The problem they now have is that they have been such a closed shop for almost 4 years, that they don't really have anyone else to fall back on except another vibes pick. I would not be surprised to see Jacks opening at some point and I am being serious.
 
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The Breen Machine said:
To be frank, he comes across as a bit of a knob. The Andy Moles comments and his own media remarks lately smack of someone who's just totally absorbed in brand McCullum.

A little surprised really, as he was one of my favourite cricketers of his era. Interestingly he had a "No dickheads" policy as NZ captain, which seems a bit ironic now.


It has to be. He shouldn't have got this far but now it's been proven it doesn't matter when or where he bats, he is absolutely mediocre and offers next to nothing. The problem they now have is that they have been such a closed shop for almost 4 years, that they don't really have anyone else to fall back on except another vibes pick. I would not be surprised to see Jacks opening at some point and I am being serious.
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Dan Lawrence?
 
Aidan11 said:
The Ashes seems to be all the ECB are bothered about.

Other Test series are available...staring next summer with NZ.
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They should be focused on the Ashes. And India and any other challenging elite series that's on the horizon. You've got to aim at something, even if it's not the most immediate.

We should have the resources to compete and succeed.

Tommy T isn't going to get a medal for winning the qualifying group. Cricket should be the same.
 
humph said:
Is sports science and training really far behind in cricket generally?

Don’t follow county cricket or franchise stuff at all but seems bizarre in this day and age you have bowlers breaking down when there are surely monitoring, training and conditioning methods around these days that can prevent that.

If test bowling is so demanding then surely you need larger squads and to rotate more.
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VenisonsMullet said:
I think the life of a fast bowler is a difficult one - there is so much stress and strain on the body that injuries are inevitable. Very few fast bowlers go through their career without a number of injuries - Stuart Broad is the only one I can think of in recent years who seemed to always be available. Look at the Aussies, with Cummins and Hazelwood barely playing a test between them. Jimmy missed a lot of cricket towards the end of his career. Not sure sports science can do anything about 12 times your body weight going through your knees/ankles/hips etc

You don't get many spinners picking up those sorts of injuries, so guess that tells it's own tale
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This is all true but what hasn't really been discussed is that the players just don't look fit. I don't think this is a cricket problem, I think it's a problem of this England setup. And Robert Key is, by his own admission, hardly one to denounce a culture of drinking, smoking and lack of fitness... the sportsman who somehow managed to have a stroke at the age of 41.

The heavy drinking, the generally flabby looking beach photos, and the fact that the bowlers are puffing and panting and clearly utterly exhausted after a couple of spells, is not normal. The fact that three squad members turned up to the physio's morning run in Noosa and nobody turned up at all for Stokes' run up the hill. This is not normal, even in cricket. It's a rotten culture and it comes from the top. Even in peak 1990s drinking culture in football, like Keane, Robson and McGrath at Man Utd, they were still held to very high standards of fitness and were in peak condition on a Saturday.

Yes the weather is warm and it's international sport, but the levels of fatigue are not normal. Bowlers have always been susceptible to injuries but this is something different. I don't remember bowlers like Anderson and Broad ever looking like they're barely able to move coming off the field, or even Gough, Fraser or Caddick. They had more stamina than these pissheads and I am sure they didn't have chronic issues like Stokes or Wood. Archer is the only one who seems somewhat in trim, even Stokes who is a beast, shows clear exhaustion regularly.

These players are professionals on big central contracts, yet they are laughably short of anything resembling professionalism. And when players like Bethell come in, what else are they going to do but join in? Monkey See Monkey Do... because it's cultural.

A culture instilled by McCullum, endorsed by Key and I sense tolerated by Stokes. I don't want to tar Stokes vwith the same brush but he is the captain and he looks a wreck too.
 
I keep Duckett around, needs a rest though. Something about Jacks for me too. He cant be batting 8 though - bat there often enough you bat like an 8. When Stokes goes we have a distinct lack of all rounders so could do a job at 6 IMO
 
More than just a change of players needed realistically, or we’re going to face the same problems.

It’s like having a load of Premier League players compete in a 5 a side every so often.

If we want the test team to be decent, they need to focus on red ball cricket. Or, the alternative is just accept we’ll be shite at it and throw everything into white ball.

I wouldn’t be against the test team being picked on form in red ball, other than the few that have credit in the bank like Root, Stokes and Brook. No red ball cricket = no selection.
 
Eggman said:
He seems to forget that he’s an employee of the ECB and therefore should either do what they tell him or go.

By the sounds of it he’s so arrogant that he doesn’t want to be told what to do
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I think he knows that, and he’s laying the ground work for when the crunch talks happen, he can point to these interviews saying he isn’t changing.

That’ll force the ECB into removing him, and him getting a nice pay off.
 
Voice of fair play said:
It’s not the personnel on the player side that needs changing one or two perhaps it’s more the approach and application.

It would be a mistake dropping half the team imo for replacements who are not as good as the players currently in the side.

Can’t remember mass changes working before when been stuffed in the ashes.

It’s time for clear heads not to make changes on anger.

Pick the best side for next test match and think at least 8 possibly 9 should come from this squad of players.

That’s not to say a lot of soul searching should be done because absolutely it should and change the approach.
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I'd agree with this. It has to be the end for Crawley and Pope but it's very harsh to be calling for Duckett or Smith to be dropped even given how poor a serious they've both had.

The approach however, 100% needs changing. And that is both on and off field as how they prepared themselves for this series was a joke.

IMO they need to start by getting the players actually playing red ball cricket outside of test matches but sadly I can't see that happening.
 
This isn't exactly promising but I can hardly say I'm surprised. I don't see how we can expect a change in culture.

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