I'm not sure there's much we can do with the senior players. The idea of ripping it all up and starting again misses the fact that there have been plenty of players who've been brought in and failed in the last 2-3 years, we just don't have young players with the technique or mentality to handle test cricket right now.I'd start with the coaching structure (both at international level but also getting England coaches into the counties and working with younger players earlier) and then we just limp along for a couple of years because I think it's the only option right now.
Quote from: paul_e on March 26, 2018, 11:30:53 PMI'm not sure there's much we can do with the senior players. The idea of ripping it all up and starting again misses the fact that there have been plenty of players who've been brought in and failed in the last 2-3 years, we just don't have young players with the technique or mentality to handle test cricket right now.I'd start with the coaching structure (both at international level but also getting England coaches into the counties and working with younger players earlier) and then we just limp along for a couple of years because I think it's the only option right now.I just think it needs freshening up Paul and it is interesting to see the team spirit and enthusiasm shown by the one day sides that don't contain the likes of Cook, Broad and Anderson. Out of those three, Anderson is the only one I would keep for now, I would persist with Stoneman and Malan in the short term, I would look at a different spinning option and would play Foakes and let Bairstow concentrate on his batting. The side going forward would be something like:New opener, Stoneman, Root, Malan, Bairstow, Stokes, Foakes, Woakes, Wood, spinner (maybe Leach), Anderson
Quote from: tomd2103 on March 27, 2018, 05:07:27 PMQuote from: paul_e on March 26, 2018, 11:30:53 PMI'm not sure there's much we can do with the senior players. The idea of ripping it all up and starting again misses the fact that there have been plenty of players who've been brought in and failed in the last 2-3 years, we just don't have young players with the technique or mentality to handle test cricket right now.I'd start with the coaching structure (both at international level but also getting England coaches into the counties and working with younger players earlier) and then we just limp along for a couple of years because I think it's the only option right now.I just think it needs freshening up Paul and it is interesting to see the team spirit and enthusiasm shown by the one day sides that don't contain the likes of Cook, Broad and Anderson. Out of those three, Anderson is the only one I would keep for now, I would persist with Stoneman and Malan in the short term, I would look at a different spinning option and would play Foakes and let Bairstow concentrate on his batting. The side going forward would be something like:New opener, Stoneman, Root, Malan, Bairstow, Stokes, Foakes, Woakes, Wood, spinner (maybe Leach), Anderson That might not be a bad call, I've said the same about Broad in the past and I think it's becoming clear that Cook isn't mentally up for it anymore (he's a bit like Bell was in his last year or 2). My worry would be Stoneman is still very raw and you don't want to 'green' players at the top. If we bring Foakes in Bairstow at the top might be the best option. After that I'd be tempted to keep Ali for the summer, lets not forget that he did a very good job against SA last summer. He'd frustrating because he doesn't tour well but I'm not sure we should be getting rid of him just yet.