Fletcher, Pack Your Bags
Any respect I had for Duncan Fletcher is quickly evaporating this week. I didn’t think much of the fact that the Daily Mail was going to be serialising parts of his new book at first, it wouldn’t be the first book from someone involved in sport in some capacity being released in this format. They normally pull a few interesting bits to try and get people interested in the book and raise sales, in what appears to be the most popular time for book launches (with Christmas just around the corner, what a surprise!).
However, the moment I read that “Freddie let me down” on the net on Sunday I was worried what might come out this week. It seems that Duncan Fletcher is hell bent on pulling down the England camp for his own satisfaction and bank balance, and abandoning any trust placed in him in the position he held. This was the England coach who people placed full trust in for many years, going to him with problems and issues, and now he feels it right to air those views to everyone, without a thought for those he used to deal with.
When you take on a senior position in any job you hear thing which aren’t meant to be repeated, and those with any self restraint and with the right personality will keep stuff to themselves. Fletcher obviously isn’t this kind of person. He wants to pass the buck for his own failings onto the players, and so far Tresco and Freddie have borne the brunt of what has been said. I’m not going to link to the pages where the serialisation is being written as I don’t think it deserves to be linked to, and I sure as hell won’t be buying or reading the rest of the book.
Duncan, you could have written about so much else, and sold the book on recollections of winning the Ashes in 2005. Instead, you add some controversial happenings about the most famous English cricketer at the moment to attempt to push your sales. Well, I hope you fail miserably.
Life after Warne, McGrath and Langer
Sri Lanka arrived in Australia yesterday, preparing to face a new look Australia without three of their most successful players in Warne, McGrath and Langer. Australia havn’t played a test match since humiliating us out there last winter, so there has been plenty of time for certain players to step up and place themselves in the hunt for a space.
On the face of it, the Australia side won’t look too odd. The players that will come in will be well known to the international scene, either through the odd test match, or the one day scene that we’ve seen a lot of this year. However, when they step out on the field, the balance will look different, and the team won’t have quite the same ruthlessness.
McGrath has been one of the best bowlers ever for Australia, but in recent years players such as Stuart Clark and Shaun Tait have come to the fore. They may not be exactly the same type of bowlers, but Clark in particular is a damn good bowler and will have no problems taking the new ball. Langer will be missed at the top of the order with his often battling displays whilst Hayden battered the ball down the other end, but Australia have good batsmen in abundance. Brad Hodge should get the call into the side, and he has scored runs for fun in state and international cricket already. So not looking too bad so far then…
Then we get to the player Australia will miss the most – the highest test match wicket taker himself, Shane Warne. Any team losing their star player will have a period of adjustment, and this could be where Sri Lanka take the most advantage in the test matches. Sri Lanka will still have their star in Murali, so don’t expect the pitches to be big turners (not that it ever matters to Murali!), but who will Ponting throw the ball to when he needs a wicket and the ball is getting older? Maybe Macgill will play, maybe they’ll just rely on Clarke and Symonds, who knows. But it’ll be a strange time for them pulling on the baggy green without Warney being there. He’ll be busy with his new job!
New Quiz Section
The more observant of those amongst you will notice a new link at the top of this blog “quizzes“. I just thought it might be a nice idea to have a quiz based around cricket every now and then - based on things that have maybe been in the news recently or general cricket questions.
I have put together the first quiz - its only ten questions and it shouldn’t take you too long to do but hopefully you’ll enjoy it! Leave me a comment and let me know how many you get right! The first quiz is here!
If you have any questions that I should ask in subsequent quizzes, please get in touch and I’ll include them in the next quiz!
Strauss Dropped - The Right Decision?
Well we can’t say we didn’t see it coming - all the news coming out of the England camp prior to the squad being announced pointed to Strauss staying at home this winter, but when you think about it you have to wonder if it was really the best decision. Strauss really has been dropped like a stone in recent times by the England management, yet it was just over a year ago that he was captaining the side. I guess the last twelve months started with a bad ashes series (he wasn’t alone), but he never recovered and now without a series of big scores finds himself cast aside. He is still a good player though, and they had just given him a new central contract though so it does come across as a bit of an odd decision. He’ll be back before too long though I think - maybe this break will do him good and he can come back positive and regain his place at the top of the order.
The rest of the squad wasn’t that surprising, but I question the wisdom of taking two keepers for a series that is only three games long. We should see two spinners played, so there is just the question of playing two or three front line seamers with them. Bopara might be very lucky if they do play two seamers and they decide he could bowl a few overs. He shouldn’t be there though as he does nothing that Collingwood and Bell can’t do with the ball and is not the top line batsman like Shah could potentially be. We don’t play the first test until December though so there is plenty of time to debate the 11 that should play! Harmison will be there after he’s played a couple of games in South Africa, to “prove his fitness”. If its anything like “proving your fitness” in the UK it’ll be bowling 10 or 15 overs of 80% effort…
Borat Playing Cricket
A quick post here - This is an old’en but a good’en I saw again tonight - Borat trying to play cricket!
England Test Squad vs Sri Lanka
This Friday the squad for the test matches against Sri Lanka will be announced, and there is currently a bit of debate about who will be in that squad. There are the usual suspects of course, but without Flintoff there will have to have a bit of change with the make up of the team. Freddie will be out for up to seven months, and we have relied on him so much to give us the balance in the team. Its a big loss, but not the first time its happened so hopefully the team have a backup plan!
Graham Swann will undoubtedly travel after the performances he’s put in in the one dayers, and the pitches will probably mean he’ll get a game along with Monty. Sidebottom has bowled well and is probably nailed on for a spot, and Harmison will be there as well. Then there is Hoggard and Broad, along with Anderson also to try and get in the team. I’m not sure how they’ll work it, but it might depend on the pitches and the type of bowler which will suit each pitch.
In the batting department there is currently a lot of debate about whether Ramprakash will make a return to the England Squad after 5 years out of the limelight - in which he has scored an absolute shed load of runs in county cricket. If he does return to the squad and the team it will probably be for Andrew Strauss who hasn’t set the world alight recently - however Strauss seems to have been dropped like a stone by England in most forms of the game and hopefully they won’t destroy his confidence completely. It wasn’t long ago that he was captain-in-waiting, but competition for places is strong now (which is a good thing). Owais Shah is another person who has performed well for England recently - and I would prefer him over Ramps in the squad and the team, but I feel that Ramps is well in the thoughts of the selectors as it’s difficult to ignore the amount of runs he’s scored!
