Broad always looks useful when he is playing his natural game. We seem to lack an aggressive shot maker in the middle order, somebody a bit different who can come in and bat for an hour and change the tide of the game.
The thing with cook is that it's easy to forget that before his monumental Ashes series he was in danger of not even making the tour. he was having a poor series against Pakistan until a last test century saved him and he went to Australia. We know the rest. But other than that series, and for roughly a series maybe two after he has not shown anything to suggest that the Australia series was anything other than a one-off. The problem for England is that they've hung their hat on Moores and Cook. They've publicly dumped Pietersen and said there is no way back for him. To dump your best batsman is incredible considering the amount of inexperience in and around the team. I understand the viewpoint that they didn't want his potential negativity around younger players but we look very disjointed and with Cook failing constantly failing at the top it is putting undue pressure on those that follow.I cannot see this team succeeding under Moores and Cook. Moores has been shown up twice as not being godo enough at this level. He's changed the way he coaches but fails to get his stamp on the team. There is no plan other than old fashioned thinking. The plan of asking Plunkett to constantly bowl bumpers was going from misguided to tedious. Similarly, giving a part-time spinner a role against a team that is brought up on turning pitches is nothing short of short sighted and criminal.But Cook can't be dropped now. The lack of experience means he'll stay put. Given the ECBs insistence on Cook being the way forward they are also left with an underperforming team. Cook isn't a captain. He doesn't react and lets things drift. He hasn't got that instinct to be ahead of the game or the man management nous of a Brearley who survived in the team despite being nothing better than average with the bat.We're a mess and it's a mess of our own making. We're stuck with moores but at least a poor summer could change that. But, this isn't a good India team so there's every chance that we could nick it. That could give the team some momentum and turn things around. We'll see.
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Topic: The Cricket Thread 2014 (Read 262158 times)
