Anyone for cricket?

[rich p]

Thank God the selectors have finally taken their collective carrot out of their arses and made KP the captain. We've suffered from weeping, lame-duck captains for years now, the Aussies laugh at us, especially Nasser Hussein, they thought he was a joke.

Finally we have someone with a bit of spirit who might help us be aggressive and actually start winning consistently

Why he isn't the one day captain too I have no idea.....

What a lot of cock. Hussein and Duncan Fletcher dragged England into the modrn professional era which culminated in the Ashes win under Fletcher and Vaughan. Vaughan was a superb captain ( much more astute than Ponting during the Ashes) who was let down by his poor batting in the end and dropped himself. A brave move imo.
Just to point out that Pietersen is the one day captain....


...but you got the ..."I have no idea" bit right

 

[zimzum42]

ok, the news doesn't get out to singapore that fast, it's only recently that KP is the one day captain, why he wasn't made captain last year is what i have no idea about

you're entitled to your own opinion, obviously, but I think Fletcher was a lame duck. We should have had someone like Bob Woolmer back then, and guys like Dermot Reeve and Trevor Penney should have had a decent chance back in the day, as should Alex Loudon more recently. He could have been as good as Graeme Smith, but the ECB et al are so short sighted they can't see a decent thing when it's under their noses.....

 

[User482]

ok, the news doesn't get out to singapore that fast, it's only recently that KP is the one day captain, why he wasn't made captain last year is what i have no idea about

you're entitled to your own opinion, obviously, but I think Fletcher was a lame duck. We should have had someone like Bob Woolmer back then, and guys like Dermot Reeve and Trevor Penney should have had a decent chance back in the day, as should Alex Loudon more recently. He could have been as good as Graeme Smith, but the ECB et al are so short sighted they can't see a decent thing when it's under their noses.....

Fletcher's results suggest otherwise.

 

[wafflycat]

Cricket? Is this another one of those ball game things where England snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with regularity?

 

[rich p]

ok, the news doesn't get out to singapore that fast, it's only recently that KP is the one day captain, why he wasn't made captain last year is what i have no idea about

you're entitled to your own opinion, obviously, but I think Fletcher was a lame duck. We should have had someone like Bob Woolmer back then, and guys like Dermot Reeve and Trevor Penney should have had a decent chance back in the day, as should Alex Loudon more recently. He could have been as good as Graeme Smith, but the ECB et al are so short sighted they can't see a decent thing when it's under their noses.....

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one ZZ, as we're poles apart!
Trevor Penney ? - fine fielder average county bat

Alex Loudon ? - very average bowler with doosra, average county bat, ex-Eton head boy who gave up cricket to pursue his business interests

 

[zimzum42]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one ZZ, as we're poles apart!
Trevor Penney ? - fine fielder average county bat

Alex Loudon ? - very average bowler with doosra, average county bat, ex-Eton head boy who gave up cricket to pursue his business interests

What does his being at Eton have to do with it?

And Penney wasn't just fine, he was an outstanding fielder!

 

[rich p]

What does his being at Eton have to do with it?

And Penney wasn't just fine, he was an outstanding fielder!

Nothing really except that I think he always had other priorities than cricket!

I agree on the second point though. I remember when Graeme Hick came into the side originally and couldn't buy a run but took a few wickets with his offspin and some wag said that if only he could bat he'd be a great all-rounder!

The same could be said of Penney if he could have batted

 

[Dayvo]

The coach should coach, and the captain should captain (and also have the final say on selecting the team - as most amatuer cricket captains do, which is mostly based on form and potential, not just reputation or being mates).

The captain should be picked from the best 11 players legible and available to the national team.

Until domestic cricket is competetive (i.e. regional cricket a la Australian cricket, we will continue to have mediocre national teams, with only a few exceptions, as witnessed during the Ashes in 2005.

The old championship had 18 teams of quite non-competitve cricket; boring cricket (which is NOT going to attract crowds) with run-rates of 2/3 runs an over. Now there are two mediocre leagues, polluted and over-populated with second-rate overseas players!

Cricket (or so I believe) is no longer as popular at schools these days, as inter-school matches (between comprehensive schools - I'm not talking about so-called 'elite' public schools) are few and far between.

Attitude/bottle/ability needs to be improved drastically, and above all, team selection.

And there's FAR too much one-day (money-spinning) cricket, FFS!

If these problems can't be solved, then English cricket will die once (and for all) again, but this time there will be no resurrection with the burning of a bail!

 

[User482]

Cricket? Is this another one of those ball game things where England snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with regularity?

Sadly we don't even get that close at the moment!

 

[andyoxon]

and a good day was had... Nice to see Harmison in exciting form.

 

[LondonCommuter]

Just come back from the oval. Great day. Harmison knocking over Amla's middle stump worth the price of admission alone and Harmison's figures don't reflect the massive impact he had

 

[andyoxon]

Shame about that dropped catch on the first ball. I just watched the highlights and then highlights of the recorded highlights Let's see if we can post a good runs total tomorrow. C'mon Freddy.

 

[rich p]

Well I don't like to say but me and CofG both lamented Pietersen geting the job in the first place. He didn't look like captain material in man-mangement terms. I don't think he thinks much further than his ego IMHO. I suspect he'll take the Indian rupee of the IPL pretty sharpish now.

 

[redjedi]

I was never really convinced Pietersen was ready for captaincy, mayber in a few years.
And I don't like the way the team is selected either. Something about it is just not right, too many people trying to get involved.
How many selectors are there anyway?
The person who picks the tactics for the game should pick the team, which in the case of cricket is the captain.

 

[User482]

I think this could be a blessing in disguise. It seems to me that Pietersen isn't a great captain, and Moores isn't a great coach. The question is, will the ECB appoint people who are better at the job?