Cricket 2015

[Saltyjim]

Now that the World Cup is consigned to the memory banks (file under nightmare as far as England is concerned) time to look ahead to the new season.

With KP still the elephant in the room, today brings news that Paul Downton has lost his post at the ECB. Downton was instrumental in jettisoning KP from the England set-up and was still outwardly supportive of Moores post the World Cup.
Hopefully, it is the latter that has resulted in his removal.

England should have the better of a Windies team in turmoil, before an intriguing series against the Black Caps. You would think it would be a tight series, but a lot of the New Zealanders will only return from the IPL a couple of days before the first test, so England should be favourites.

Then onto the Ashes.....

In County cricket I'm hoping that Worcester will defy the pundits and stay up in the top division. Will need the batting to improve beyond recognition if we are to have a chance, especially as Moeen will probably be missing most of the summer.

 

[Jonzy54]

Nasser just hit the nail on the head.We need people with a modern way of thinking.Get someone like Michael Vaughan in charge.We tend to appoint coaches from a generation ago and Administrators who are just that Administrators from another field.Giles Clarke for Pete's sake.
I have said it before give the coaching job of the Test Team to Jason Gillespie.Give the ODI job to the likes of Fleming/Kirsten/Moody/Warne.
Stop going down the staid establishment route.Think outside the box and get off your asses and be flaming pro-active.
It won't cure all our ills in one go but my word we need a huge lift and quickly .

 

[maws]

Bears clean sweep

 

[Tring Wolf]

Vaughan has said tonight that he would be interested in talking to the ECB about the new Director of Cricket role. Vaughan and Moody/Gillespie would be quite an exciting combination.

Will be interesting to see what side starts in The Ashes. My money is on:

Cook, Trott, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali, Buttler, Stokes, Woakes, Broad, Anderson.

As for the One-Day squad, well that needs a huge revamp. Would like to see something like:

Hales, Billings, Taylor, Root, Buttler, Ali, Stokes, Rashid, Woakes, Anderson, Finn/Mills

 

[JOSWolf]

Nasser just hit the nail on the head.We need people with a modern way of thinking.Get someone like Michael Vaughan in charge.We tend to appoint coaches from a generation ago and Administrators who are just that Administrators from another field.Giles Clarke for Pete's sake.
I have said it before give the coaching job of the Test Team to Jason Gillespie.Give the ODI job to the likes of Fleming/Kirsten/Moody/Warne.
Stop going down the staid establishment route.Think outside the box and get off your asses and be flaming pro-active.
It won't cure all our ills in one go but my word we need a huge lift and quickly .

Totally agree. Jonzy.
At least Downton and Whittaker have gone. Moores now needs to follow.

 

[JOSWolf]

Vaughan has said tonight that he would be interested in talking to the ECB about the new Director of Cricket role. Vaughan and Moody/Gillespie would be quite an exciting combination.

Will be interesting to see what side starts in The Ashes. My money is on:

Cook, Trott, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali, Buttler, Stokes, Woakes, Broad, Anderson.

As for the One-Day squad, well that needs a huge revamp. Would like to see something like:

Hales, Billings, Taylor, Root, Buttler, Ali, Stokes, Rashid, Woakes, Anderson, Finn/Mills

To me it is all too similar playing Broad, Woakes and Anderson. They need to think outside the box and pick a quicker bowler such as the lad from Durham, Wood.
We need more pacey bowlers.

 

[Jonzy54]

Totally agree. Jonzy.
At least Downton and Whittaker have gone. Moores now needs to follow.

Has Whitaker gone?They said earlier he was still in post .

 

[morosewolf]

No

 

[luckyjim]

Nasser just hit the nail on the head.We need people with a modern way of thinking.Get someone like Michael Vaughan in charge.We tend to appoint coaches from a generation ago and Administrators who are just that Administrators from another field.Giles Clarke for Pete's sake.
I have said it before give the coaching job of the Test Team to Jason Gillespie.Give the ODI job to the likes of Fleming/Kirsten/Moody/Warne.
Stop going down the staid establishment route.Think outside the box and get off your asses and be flaming pro-active.
It won't cure all our ills in one go but my word we need a huge lift and quickly .

I guess it's vested interests with the recent set-up of Whitaker, Moores and Downton; a cabal of individuals from the same era who all know each other well and can appoint each other to similar positions. Nothing more than cronyism.

 

[Saltyjim]

Vaughan has said tonight that he would be interested in talking to the ECB about the new Director of Cricket role. Vaughan and Moody/Gillespie would be quite an exciting combination.

Will be interesting to see what side starts in The Ashes. My money is on:

Cook, Trott, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali, Buttler, Stokes, Woakes, Broad, Anderson.

As for the One-Day squad, well that needs a huge revamp. Would like to see something like:

Hales, Billings, Taylor, Root, Buttler, Ali, Stokes, Rashid, Woakes, Anderson, Finn/Mills

Not surprised Vaughan is putting himself forward. He is pretty much omnipresent in the media. The more I hear him the less I rate him. His views tend to be very populist and therefore changeable.

Worry about that Ashes batting line up. Big question marks over Trott, Ballance and (sadly) Moeen against the Aussie quicks.

 

[Jonzy54]

No

I thought not it's just that Jos said he had.

 

[JOSWolf]

Sorry lads. My mistake. Whittaker hasn't gone.

 

[Jonzy54]

Sorry lads. My mistake. Whittaker hasn't gone.

Whitaker may be going today

 

[morosewolf]

Moores has to go as well, but I'd be very surprised if he were sacked mid tour. Shame we are in the Windies as we could have bulletted him today and had a new coach in place before the NZ series

 

[maws]

Without wanting to sound like a big head, I told you all Moores was a bad appointment, he was been lauded by plenty on here!

To get us even competing in the ashes is gonna be a nigh on impossible task but it needs a Lehman type character, someone a la Paul Nixon, though not sure he's the right man but in that vein, maybe Colly

The one day team is easy go get Dougie Brown within 2 years he'd have us as up there in my mind

 

[Jonzy54]

Sorry lads. My mistake. Whittaker hasn't gone.

Without wanting to sound like a big head, I told you all Moores was a bad appointment, he was been lauded by plenty on here!

To get us even competing in the ashes is gonna be a nigh on impossible task but it needs a Lehman type character, someone a la Paul Nixon, though not sure he's the right man but in that vein, maybe Colly

The one day team is easy go get Dougie Brown within 2 years he'd have us as up there in my mind

I said at the time I wasn't too keen but maybe he would be better second time around.
Nixon has no experience and I don't think Colly has enough yet too.I would go for Gillespie.
As for Brown too much akin to Giles.Predictable County Appointment as are Newell and Robinson.We need to reach out and look at Kirsten Moody Fleming or even Warne for the ODI role.

 

[Jonzy54]

Moores has to go as well, but I'd be very surprised if he were sacked mid tour. Shame we are in the Windies as we could have bulletted him today and had a new coach in place before the NZ series

Interesting that Otis Gibson is out there as fast bowling coach. He could take over in the interim.

 

[Saltyjim]

Without wanting to sound like a big head, I told you all Moores was a bad appointment, he was been lauded by plenty on here!

To get us even competing in the ashes is gonna be a nigh on impossible task but it needs a Lehman type character, someone a la Paul Nixon, though not sure he's the right man but in that vein, maybe Colly

The one day team is easy go get Dougie Brown within 2 years he'd have us as up there in my mind

I don't recall many people lauding Moores. However, he was a more popular choice than Giles, who very few wanted to see slip into the top job.
Colly still playing for Durham and needs more coaching experience imo.

 

[maws]

Brown isn't like Giles he's far more aggressive

 

[Jonzy54]

Brown isn't like Giles he's far more aggressive

He may be but he is symptomatic of us confining our thinking and horizons to the English game.

 

[maws]

He may be but he is symptomatic of us confining our thinking and horizons to the English game.

And Lehman isn't Australian??

He's a damn good one day coach, I do wander if your judgement isn't pear clouded

 

[Jonzy54]

And Lehman isn't Australian??

He's a damn good one day coach, I do wander if your judgement isn't pear clouded

I don't understand your Lehmann comment.
I am not a bear or a pear I am an Eagle actually and have been since 1962.
It's a big world out there and there are better ODI coaches than Brown however good he may be on the County circuit so I am less parochial .

 

[Benny78]

Richie Benaud has passed away today. I much loved figure down here in Australia and classic commentator who will be missed in cricketing circles.

 

[JOSWolf]

Without wanting to sound like a big head, I told you all Moores was a bad appointment, he was been lauded by plenty on here!

To get us even competing in the ashes is gonna be a nigh on impossible task but it needs a Lehman type character, someone a la Paul Nixon, though not sure he's the right man but in that vein, maybe Colly

The one day team is easy go get Dougie Brown within 2 years he'd have us as up there in my mind

Who were all these on here that lauded Moores?
Hardly anyone on here lauded Moore's when he was appointed, to be fair.
I thought he was a dreadful appointment, at the time.

 

[Jonzy54]

Who were all these on here that lauded Moores?
Hardly anyone on here lauded Moore's when he was appointed, to be fair.
I thought he was a dreadful appointment, at the time.

I think we all accepted we had to get on with it and hoped he would be better second time round but none of us really wanted him.

 

[BlahBlah]

An interesting thing is that England are trying to get a decent series out in the West Indies and the warm-up opposition so far has been pitiful, bordering on pub standard.
When the real stuff gets going, any West Indian worth his salt is already playing in the IPL in India (9 of them), the same country where the West Indies couldn't complete a tour last year. What a mess.

Meanwhile in England, desperately looking to develop young players of the level required, we still give too many overseas contracts to Australians, who go over there, learn the conditions, then jump straight into the Test team for the Ashes. It's a strategic conveyor belt for them.
This years two who've been called up are Siddle and Voges...there are many other Aussies playing here this summer who aren't in the Ashes squad, but they'll be ready to step in to cover injuries and be well used to the pitches, seam and swing. Including Mike Klinger, who at 34 isn't one for the future so why is he taking the place of a young English opener?
I'm not saying that these aren't very good players, but none of them are going to put 5000 on an attendance and they're not superstars, so why are we preventing our own players getting in and developing?
Some may not make it, but if they don't get the opportunity anyway then a lot more won't make it.

Siddle will leave Lancs after 4 games to play in the Ashes, and be replaced by James Faulkner, another Aussie and short game worldie who's looking to break into Test cricket. He will play until he goes into the Australia ODI side later on, then Lancs will be looking for another filler.
Faulkner says:

"Playing in English conditions will benefit my career and I cannot wait to work with Ashley and the rest of the team."

.
How will this benefit England in any way? County games are played in front of 3 men and a dog.

Meanwhile, Adam Voges, 35, has been called up for the Ashes. He initially replaced Chris Rogers at Middlesex, another Aussie who also came here to learn the English conditions and adapted so well to English conditions, he was called up late in his career and has played a huge role in the last two Ashes.

I was talking to an Aussie at work about this, and he can't believe that England give so many professional contracts to their players, when their own state teams will do anything to avoid bringing in foreigners at the expense of their own countrymen (with the exception of young developmental player exchanges with England, that Stuart Broad took advantage of when he was young).
Is it any wonder that the Aussies feel so at home when they come to England for an Ashes tour, when they know we've trained them and done all we can to help them beat us?



http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/32131225

 

[Saltyjim]

Some interesting points. Windies cricket is in turmoil at the moment. As you mention, the top players are all out in India. Who can blame them when they can pick up so much more money playing IPL than playing Test cricket at home. This is where the ICC need to show support for the whole of the cricketing world, but unfortunately now that control lies solely with England, Aussie and India it is hard to see any long term future for the Windies at test level. No ICC tournaments scheduled there in the forseeable future as they have all been carved up between the big 3.

As for Aussies playing in County Cricket. Can't blame the counties for recruiting worldwide. A county like Leicestershire have had 2 horrendous years. They have their best players cherry picked by the wealthier counties, so they look towards Kolpak players to try and make themselves competitive. Gloucester would argue the same re Klinger and also that their youngsters learn from playing alongside someone of such experience.
The issue of Aussies gaining experience of our conditions in County Cricket has long been contentious. The Waugh twins were good examples of players who honed their craft around the shires. Lancashire are trying to make their team as competitive and entertaining as possible, hence the attraction of Faulkner. More worrying is their use of Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince as Kolpaks at the fag end of their career.

 

[Jonzy54]

Well worth the wait Jonathan

 

[Jonzy54]

Cook gone too now

 

[Jonzy54]

Borrowed time Moores
Cook may be struggling for runs but no way should they bullet him ahead of the Ashes.Moores Yes Cook No primarily because there are no realistic alternatives going into an Ashes series.

 

[JOSWolf]

Well this is utter $$$$e yet again by England. Cook is woefully out of form and Balance looks utter rubbish.
No aggression from our batsmen, no nothing. Moores out and Cook needs to go in my opinion. He hasn't got a hundred in nearly two years! Shocking!
They pick a crappy boring side yet again. Where are Rashid and Lythe?
Shambles.

 

[JOSWolf]

Borrowed time Moores
Cook may be struggling for runs but no way should they bullet him ahead of the Ashes.Moores Yes Cook No primarily because there are no realistic alternatives going into an Ashes series.

I disagree on Cook Jonzy. His form is woeful. We need to bite the bullet and open with Lythe and someone else and make Root captain in my opinion. Cook is shot. Hasn't got a century in nearly two years.
He simply doesn't warrant a place in the side. Put it this way, Australia would have put Cook out to grass 6 months ago!
Our openers need to be more aggressive players. That's the way cricket has gone now, even in test cricket.
No bravery from selectors or anyone in the England set up. All predictably boring and $$$$e.
They pick bloody Tredwell today! What the hell is that all about? He cant even get in the Kent 5 day team!
They are clueless buffoons and I am sick of it!

 

[Tring Wolf]

England are always undercooked at the start of these tours. We'll still win the series but it will be a mere fig leaf covering the nakedness of the deeper problems that lie beneath.

Despite the duck, I don't have an issue with the Trott selection as he is (well was) world class in Test cricket. The Tredwell selection baffles me a little though.

 

[Jonzy54]

I disagree on Cook Jonzy. His form is woeful. We need to bite the bullet and open with Lythe and someone else and make Root captain in my opinion. Cook is shot. Hasn't got a century in nearly two years.
He simply doesn't warrant a place in the side. Put it this way, Australia would have put Cook out to grass 6 months ago!
Our openers need to be more aggressive players. That's the way cricket has gone now, even in test cricket.
No bravery from selectors or anyone in the England set up. All predictably boring and $$$$e.
They pick bloody Tredwell today! What the hell is that all about? He cant even get in the Kent 5 day team!
They are clueless buffoons and I am sick of it!

In a different year I might agree but you can't chuck the baby out with the bath water .I agree about Tredwell but throwing Cook to the Wolves after jettisoning Moores too would give the Aussies yet another 5-0.
I agree about Lythe but we can't throw everyone out.
I am really worried where we are going.
#getgillespieinnow.

 

[johnybig32]

Triedwell is our front line spinner? Really?

Is Ali injured?

 

[Tring Wolf]

Triedwell is our front line spinner? Really?

Is Ali injured?

Yes. Although scored 67 in his comeback game for Worcs this week and likely to fly out for the Second Test.

 

[BridgnorthWolf Inc]

211-4. Root just played on.
Fairly decent recovery but we really could do with posting 350+

 

[Jonzy54]

211-4. Root just played on.
Fairly decent recovery but we really could do with posting 350+

If we do and at this rate it will be Lunch tomorrow.Pedestrian.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Good to see Stokes back in the runs. Could make a big difference to the side as he has the ability to push the score on quickly.

Him, Buttler and Moeen could be dangerous if the opening 4/5 give them a platform.

Great century from Bell. Very classy player.

 

[BridgnorthWolf Inc]

If we do and at this rate it will be Lunch tomorrow.Pedestrian.

13 words to eat there Jonzy!