The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

I don’t think Key’s a pompous blazer at all though, I also think characterising it into establishment vs non-establishment confuses the issue. Now, I’m not saying there isn’t an argument for Key going, but given Stokes decided to go and McCullum has gone then unless you sack everyone every time something goes wrong then you have to draw the line somewhere. He’s got the opportunity to show he’s learned from the key (no pun intended) mistake they all made - not realising what worked for an experienced team needed to change for an inexperienced one.

[Villan For Life]

Key doesn’t come across at all well though, he does seem like am bumbling oaf. He wasn’t a popular player and his personality didn’t shine through when he was part of the Sky commentary team and let’s face it we do like our cricket commentators.

We seem to go in cycles, lose an Ashes series in Australia and have a review of English cricket then sack a few people. Then it all improves until we lose another Ashes series in Australia and the cycle starts again. The last Ashes tour was a shambles and it hasn’t really improved since. There’s a disconnection between the side and their own fans, I’m going to the ODI at Edgbaston tomorrow and I’m feeling pretty downbeat about it.

Key must go, he appointed McCullum and should not be anywhere near the selection process for the next test coach.

[PaulWinch again]

Yeah but that implies it was a disaster to appoint McCullum. I know the narrative has shifted, but it realise wasn’t. For 18 months to 2 years they played really good cricket from a place where they were on the floor.

The appointment of McCullum wasn’t bad, it was really good. It’s the transition stuff they didn’t manage at all well.

[Gareth]

Yeah but that implies it was a disaster to appoint McCullum. I know the narrative has shifted, but it realise wasn’t. For 18 months to 2 years they played really good cricket from a place where they were on the floor.

The appointment of McCullum wasn’t bad, it was really good. It’s the transition stuff they didn’t manage at all well.

It was initially a good appointment of McCullum (& glad he is still in charge of the pyjama teams as he is very good at that) but once it started failing in red ball they never addressed it and showed no willingness to adapt….& Key was in charge so the buck should stop with him.  Key has let the test team become a circus, poor behaviour standards, brainless cricket in tough situations that comes from a lack of application or accountability. 

[paul_e]

I'm with my fellow Paul, if we break things down the failure has been the inability to replace Jimmy, Broad and Woakes. It's put more pressure on the batting and shown the flaws in what we were trying to do but even if we'd flipped to a safety first approach we'd still be left with a very inexperienced attack and you don't win many games with that.

This is why I personally would like them to identify a set of bowlers and give them 18 months largely regardless of results and see who develops into leaders in that unit. We don't have the options to do a more steady transition so we need to take some risks.