The International Cricket Thread

[UK Redsox]

To lose by an innings within three days when the opposition scores less than 300 is arguably one of the most inept sporting "performances" from an England team I can recall.

267 is the lowest score to win an Ashes test by an innings since 1888

[UK Redsox]

Boland’s bowling this match

W . 1 . 4 3 1 1 . . W . W 1 1 . 3 . W . . . . W . . W . W

[Monty]

Step One: abolish The Hundred.

[Drummond]

Step One: abolish The Hundred.

Which is another crap attempt to attract fans to the game. I think it's just killing the game for me. I'm losing interest in cricket now.

Perhaps the kids will like it, perhaps it will take off, but it feels like the game I enjoyed is on the way out.

[Jon Crofts]

68 all out isn't just embarrassing it's a damning inditement of the ECB and it's complete and total failure to pick & prepare a test side.
Next up the 5-0 whitewash.

[Monty]

It's just such a classic version of the 'older guys trying to be down with the kids for money' thing. They desperately want al of this Leeds Lycanthropes and Newcastle Nematodes shit to be like really cool and stuff? But it's hideously, horribly lame, and robs cricket of its unique dignity and general sense of being important which made us all fans in the first place.

[tomd2103]

I think there’s two angles to this. There’s the long-term stuff, which will ultimately make a sustained difference -

- redress the balance so that first class cricket is not marginalised. Things like ensuring it is played in the heart of the summer, incentivising counties to play on good pitches etc-
- better management of promising players - like helping them get first class cricket abroad in the winter.
- this also requires better people in the Exec positions who don’t just look at the short-term. I’m not saying chuck white ball cricket out, it’s an important component. It’s just ensuring there’s a balanced focus. England, with the resources available, should be able to be able to compete in both formats.

Then there’s the short-term stuff that’ll likely bring improvements in the interim -

- Split the roles of coach and selector(s) back out again. It was a stupid decision to merge them in the first place, there needs to be a separation because there’s an inevitable conflict. Also the coach simply doesn’t have enough time to watch enough cricket to be a lead selector.

- Replace Silverwood with a coach with more experience and a proven track record. We also need someone from the outside, because it’s felt too cosy under Silverwood.

- Let Root go back to being a batsman. This does create a problem with the captaincy because Stokes is the only other guaranteed starter, and I’d rather they didn’t put the captaincy on his plate too. They might need to do a bit of a refresh and bring someone like Tom Abell in as captain, but obviously that creates risk.

- Get rid of the likes of Bairstow.

- Plan tours better. I accept that Covid has been a big problem and generally there’s a lot of cricket. But we need first class cricket when we arrive on tour and in the Ashes especially there needs to be space between the Tests to get in another couple of first class games. They’ve been hampered by poor squad selection, selecting players who had recently struggled when they knew they couldn’t get any cricket, but it’s just daft having no breaks between games.

Those are just a few things, but bloody hell this team needs real work.

Agree with all of that Paul, but I can't see how it is achieved at the moment.  We play far too much international cricket and need to redress the balance with domestic cricket, but the ECB fund the game in this country so need to maximise the revenue from the international game.  We've got ourselves in a position where it is going to be hard to turn things round.

Not just the result, but the nature of it means that both Silverwood and Root need to step down for me.

[Nunkin1965]

It clearly isn't judging by how we've played but the Ashes should be the pinnacle of the sport for England cricket.

[simboy]

Part of the difficulty is that players want to earn big money in franchise cricket, and you can’t blame them. If you’re offered $500,000 to play ipl or go and play grade cricket in Australia what are you going to do? It’s not just the IPL but the Lankan league, Big Bash and Hundred …

English elite batsman (with Root the exception) lack a proper technique. Watch Crawley and Burns get out - they’re opening batsmen for Christ sake - you don’t get bowled around your legs first up. Basic Saturday league stuff.

Agree with all you say Paul about how to change the exec but it’s player attitude that needs changing.

Why didn’t we send Burns, Crawley, Pope, Hamid out to play grade cricket whilst the T20 World Cup was on? Why not send Anderson and Broad out there. Both would have been better served for the Ashes, and been for for the first test. Anderson could have worked on his niggles.

There’s lots we could have done or considered to do. We didn’t and we have been royally embarrassed.

[Lastfootstamper]

These days, I do often get the feeling with our top three that "seeing off the new ball" is a job that should take ten minutes, tops.

[tomd2103]

The backlash has been pretty significant in the press, but this is not a new problem, it's just that it has happened in our most high profile series. 

This kind of performance has been happening for a number of years now and I've often thought during that time that unless they are firmly on top in the first couple of days, they just wrap it up and move on to the next test or next series.  The attitude just seems to be "oh well, not to be this time, let's move on to the next game" and they haven't really been held to account up to this point.

[Risso]

The backlash has been pretty significant in the press, but this is not a new problem, it's just that it has happened in our most high profile series. 

This kind of performance has been happening for a number of years now and I've often thought during that time that unless they are firmly on top in the first couple of days, they just wrap it up and move on to the next test or next series.  The attitude just seems to be "oh well, not to be this time, let's move on to the next game" and they haven't really been held to account up to this point.

Exactly right. There's no accountability, and you just get Root coming out with Lambertesque soundbites about being better for the next match.

[Gareth]

Cricket has to fight back against the suits who care not one jot for the players, supporters, future or traditions of the game - they are there for their 3/5 years to earn as much out of the game as possible.

Supporters need to boycott the Hundred both in attending or watching on tv….it’s a pathetically conceived competition that has an end game for the ECB of getting rid of the smaller counties and leaving 8-10 franchises based around the test grounds. 

Whilst the efforts with the bat have been gutless this winter where are the alternative batsmen? How much red ball cricket did county batsmen play last season in the key summer months….it was so marginalised to April / May & September where the ball was always going to dominate. 

Silverwood should go for that pink and fluffy nonsense he spouted after game & entire ECB board should follow

[Steve67]

Because of the money angle, the T20 stuff is here to stay but as Rob Key said this morning, the ECB are giving it the best time of the season, like July and August when the pitches dry out and it becomes easier to bat.  Perhaps they need to chop the Championship and white ball stuff in to blocks and have it going at the same time?  Play county championship games at the same time that others are competing in the t20?  So cricket is played across the whole of the summer instead of giving the county games the very worst of conditions in April and September?

[Rory]

The backlash has been pretty significant in the press, but this is not a new problem, it's just that it has happened in our most high profile series. 

This kind of performance has been happening for a number of years now and I've often thought during that time that unless they are firmly on top in the first couple of days, they just wrap it up and move on to the next test or next series.  The attitude just seems to be "oh well, not to be this time, let's move on to the next game" and they haven't really been held to account up to this point.

Exactly right. There's no accountability, and you just get Root coming out with Lambertesque soundbites about being better for the next match.

Agreed, both. As others have said, we're England cricket fans so we're accustomed to losing, but there is something deeply unprofessional about the way we have approached batting for a few years now, particularly away from home. The last three tours to Aus, we have not just been beaten heavily, we have been thoroughly uncompetitive, and that's not acceptable.