by >I've had just about enough of this *** and I'm fed up defending those
>spineless mercenaries out there who masquerade as the English cricket team.
>--Tim
It does all seem very depressing. Maybe some miracle will occur and
England will win a test somewhere along the line this winter, but it doesn't
look that likely right now. What is really depressing is that, for the most
part, we can't even use the traditonal excuse of "if only so-and-so were
available" as we could during the Packer years and the illegal RSA tours. If
only we haddened been constantly having to ban all the best players, we would
have been pretty good during the late 70s and 80s . :-)
Anyway, I was looking back through Cricinfo at all the recent test series
involving England and it really does look like the core of the current team is
the best we've got right now. There seem to have been any number of
batsman selected for a few tests who achieved very little. I don't
know that any of the other available batsman would be better than the top five
of Atherton, Stewart, Gooch, Hick, and Thorpe. I would probably have
preferred Smith (based on his record--you can't be all bad with a test average
like he has) to Gatting or Crawley, and I certainly wish Gower was still
playing, but I also wish we still had Boycott or Barrington or Hutton or WG
Grace, etc., etc., so that gets us nowhere.
For the bowling, I was horrified to see that the best of our main bowlers
has a test average close to 30 and the rest are much worse. But then again,
Malcolm is fast, De Freitas showed form last summer, Fraser has the most
consistent record and Gough shows promise (we hope)--so who else would you
prefer? (not McCague) For the spinners, I don't know much about Tufnell and
Udall, But who else? Is Emburey still playing? If so he must be well into
his 40s by now.
I think one big problem is that since the mid-70s when England was lucky
enough to have first Greig, then Botham, we've been obsessed with fielding an
all-rounder at no. 6--with the result that a number of very mediocre "useful"
players have been used none of whom were good enough as a bowler or a
batsman to make the test side (White seems to be the latest example). As long
as you've got some bowlers who can bat a bit at numbers 8, 9, and (hopefully)
10 and you have a couple of batsmen who can combine to make a fifth bowler
(Hick and Gooch should be adequate), it's better to pick a specialist batsman
at no. 6 (and that doesn't mean Gatting) unless you really have a true class
all-rounder.
So I think that for the short term we have to bear it with the core of this
team for now. They do seem better than any alternative available. But for
the long term, I agree that a lot of fundamental changes are needed to
English cricket.
I would suggest some or all of the following:
1. Cricket academy--obviously
2. Cut down on limited over games. Preferably s***the Sunday league, but I
also noticed that there are now all kinds of minor counties, etc., playing in
one of the other competitions, which means more time for the best players
to waste against inferior opponents. It's been said so many times, but it's
true that so many of the current batsman think that after they've scored an
entertaining 30 or 40 their job is done. We need batsman who can bat all day,
and (at least until we're competitive again) who gives a s**t if it's boring.
3. Cut down the the county championship by dividing into two geographical
divisions where teams play each other once (4-day games). The winners of each
division play each other for the championship. (The benefit is that you can
cut down on games without "demoting" any team as you would with a first and
second division.)
4. With all the days that are saved by thus cutting back the schedule, add an
additional regional championship of four geographical teams to play each other
twice (4-day games). Regional teams would be selected ideally by selection
committees from the counties they represent (so as avoid any silly
experimentation by the England selectors and provide some sort of genuine
regional rivalry).
The last idea is intended to provide a level of cricket between the current
county game and test level where there would be serious competition and
players would have a natural progression to move up to the test
side. The level would hopefully be eventually equivalent to the Sheffield
Shield teams in Australia.
But for now, congratulations Aussies. You seem to be winning on talent,
enthusiasm, and organization. I just hope we can turn it around one day.