England vs India

[Spaghetti Legs]

Someone on the radio was suggesting Chris Read as wicketkeeper/captain at least for the short term. I'd have thought that ship had sailed myself, but what do others reckon?

Keep hearing this, he has always been a great wicketkeeper and is a very good captain for Notts, its his batting that has cost him a proper international career, we bat deep nowadays so maybe we could afford to have him at 8? whats to lose?

Bit torn as i really want Buttler to have a shot at it, our batting is as bland as it gets, there isn't any real attacking batsman in our team, the top 6 are all the same pretty much apart from Bell who is something special when in top form but that top form is rarely seen, we need a couple of attacking batsman to compliment our grinders, maybe Ali is one or could become one?

Mentioned Compton the other day but have heard a few mention Hales, why not? remember seeing he had a big 180 odd not that long ago in CC, not sure how hes been doing since but up until then it had been going well in the long game for him, he could be our Warner/Sehwag/Gayle type test opener.

Whatever happens something needs to be done, having a top 6/7 that are pretty much all grinders won't work.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

I wouldn't blame Peter Moores. The England setup had been royally fucked up by Andy Flower and Moores is reaping the consequences.

Can't blame Moores for taking the job but he wasn't up to it before and he is doing nothing to say that he is up to it now, he shouldn't be above criticism.

It needs a whole new blank sheet and starting again, it needs to be someone with an unpolluted mind to come in from the outside and sort it out, it always did after Oz, Moores is just another member of the cushy old boys club, he is part of the problem for sure.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

I said the same thing when it was going tits up with Kenny in charge, basically screw it up and start all over again with a different clean vision, used to get a lot of shit for that on the forums but look what happened, it's quite obvious when its broken and fucked and heading nowhere, this is the case is with the England cricket team, if nothing drastically changes then this shit will continue.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Matt Prior taking break from England duty because of fitness issues

Matt Prior has announced that he is taking a break from cricket because of fitness problems. The wicketkeeper has ruled himself out of the remainder of the series against India and, although he said would love to play for England again, he knows the decision could signal the end of his international career.
The 32-year-old revealed that he had a series of complaints which are hampering his performances and he expects to have an operation to sort out his achilles during the break.

“The decision I’ve made is that I’m unavailable for the rest of this series due to my fitness,” he said. “I’m not retiring or anything like that – I would still love to play for England and I still know what I can offer England – but right now I’m not physically able to be at the level I need to be in order to perform at my level. I’m not doing justice to myself and more importantly the team and that is what matters first and foremost.
“I’ve had a combination of injuries that have had an impact. My achilles, everyone knows about and is an ongoing problem and my goal was to get it to a manageable place. I tore my quad before the first Test and my right hand has been beaten to a pulp, but the main issue is the achilles. Now we have the time, I want to be pro-active about how we deal with it so I imagine that I’ll have an operation.”

Prior’s place for the third Test against India, which starts on Sunday in Southampton, is set to go to Jos Buttler.
“It is a huge decision and not one I’ve taken lightly obviously,” Prior said. “I could have played my last game. I want to go out having won the Ashes again and dancing on the podium, but if this is my last game then it is certainly not the way I envisaged going out.
“If that happens and I don’t play again, then that was my lot. I’ll be disappointed because there are a few things that I wanted to achieve and thought I would, but I can also look back and know I did some pretty good things.
“The toughest part of the decision has been the situation we’re in. I wanted nothing more than to help us get through it and come out the other side.”

 

[Portly]

I said the same thing when it was going tits up with Kenny in charge, basically screw it up and start all over again with a different clean vision, used to get a lot of shit for that on the forums but look what happened, it's quite obvious when its broken and fucked and heading nowhere, this is the case is with the England cricket team, if nothing drastically changes then this shit will continue.

I describe this phenomenon as "stubborn manager syndrome." We have seen this in a succession of Liverpool managers (but not yet with Rodgers!). When a manager becomes infected in this way, he persists with team selections and tactics that everybody else can see are wrong, but the manager just refuses to do the obvious.

 

[kingjulian]

Priors decision is interesting....

When things didnt go well, quite a few England players have quit mid series sighting various problems.

All signs of lack good leadership from the management team. Dhoni is a terrible strategist, but as a leader he is streats ahead of Cook.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Priors decision is interesting....

When things didnt go well, quite a few England players have quit mid series sighting various problems.

All signs of lack good leadership from the management team. Dhoni is a terrible strategist, but as a leader he is streats ahead of Cook.

They're just cowards mate ... rats always leave a sinking ship.

 

[tony]

Priors decision is interesting....

When things didnt go well, quite a few England players have quit mid series sighting various problems.

All signs of lack good leadership from the management team. Dhoni is a terrible strategist, but as a leader he is streats ahead of Cook.

In this instance you are way off beam, he desperately wants to keep playing but his body is giving up on him, he has long term injuries that will not clear up without a prolonged break. He is dropping catches he would normally take in his sleep. So we have a clamour to pick a one day player with little keeping pedigree who couldn't catch a wet flannel - I despair.

 

[dantes]

Ishant Sharma is a terrible bowler, how the fuck he knocked over 7 of them is beyond the realms of my understanding. England are a laughing stock.

 

[tony]

I describe this phenomenon as "stubborn manager syndrome." We have seen this in a succession of Liverpool managers (but not yet with Rodgers!). When a manager becomes infected in this way, he persists with team selections and tactics that everybody else can see are wrong, but the manager just refuses to do the obvious.

I feel for Cook, whatever he does is criticised. For example take the third man situation - the sky sports team were blasting him for having one during the Ashes, as soon as he does away with one the same old fuckers are slagging him off. Take Warne ( a long long way away please ) -why has he brought Ali on - its terrible captaincy blah blah blah, ( in reality a perfectly acceptable notion to give Ali the over before lunch with the batsmen in defensive mode ) cue wicket off the end of the over - no apology!!
Our leg side theory bowling condemned as terrible tactics, but Dhoni's same thing hailed as genius. He really is in a no no no no win situation where unless we roll over the opposition for 50 he is letting things slip, no acknowledgement of the batting prowess of the other side. His fault a lot of our team are terribly out of form.

Yes he does appear to captain by numbers and does not seem to be intuitive, but who is going to replace him - Broad, don't make me laugh - he should be dropped - his bowling in that game was a utter pile of shite. Bell - almost as out of form as Cook. Root should captain one pundit says ( just fucking mad ) Morgan I heard mentioned but how is he an inprovement on Cook?

Unfortunately we have no alternative but to stick with Cook. He is not the best captain in the world but he has an out of form team with senior bowlers letting him down. I say cut the fucker a bit of slack and stop the KP teams pr induced witchhunt.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

I feel for Cook, whatever he does is criticised. For example take the third man situation - the sky sports team were blasting him for having one during the Ashes, as soon as he does away with one the same old fuckers are slagging him off. Take Warne ( a long long way away please ) -why has he brought Ali on - its terrible captaincy blah blah blah, ( in reality a perfectly acceptable notion to give Ali the over before lunch with the batsmen in defensive mode ) cue wicket off the end of the over - no apology!!
Our leg side theory bowling condemned as terrible tactics, but Dhoni's same thing hailed as genius. He really is in a no no no no win situation where unless we roll over the opposition for 50 he is letting things slip, no acknowledgement of the batting prowess of the other side. His fault a lot of our team are terribly out of form.

Yes he does appear to captain by numbers and does not seem to be intuitive, but who is going to replace him - Broad, don't make me laugh - he should be dropped - his bowling in that game was a utter pile of shite. Bell - almost as out of form as Cook. Root should captain one pundit says ( just fucking mad ) Morgan I heard mentioned but how is he an inprovement on Cook?

Unfortunately we have no alternative but to stick with Cook. He is not the best captain in the world but he has an out of form team with senior bowlers letting him down. I say cut the fucker a bit of slack and stop the KP teams pr induced witchhunt.

Why should Cook get any slack? his dire captaincy aside - any other player in his run of form would have been out the team a long time ago.

Captaincy wise Morgan would a massive improvement on Cook but that's not exactly difficult, Morgan has captained England ODI teams well and has shown he understands the game, he has imagination and shown authority, he is also capable of stringing a coherent sentence together in interviews along with being honest and dropping those awfully patronising scripted soundbites.

That 'unfortunately we have no alternative line' is the biggest pile of shit excuse/spin to ever exist, it's absolute horseshit, its the exact same horseshit that is getting peddled by all the ECB puppets in the press, especially that shameless ECB ball sucker Agnew, its a shame that people fall for it but there you go.

How can anyone truly believe that Cook is the best option we have at this time?, sorry but you must be extremely gullible to actually believe that, how can anyone look at this shambles and think its fine to just carry on?, anyone with half a clue knew he had to go after that shameful Ashes tour, Cook has no real authority over the team and is being a selfish delusional prick putting himself above the team, he should take a leaf out of his mate Priors book and do the admirable thing, fair play to Prior for that, it defies belief that we are going to have to wait until the Aussies come over here to humiliate us again for anything to happen and for some cricket fans to wake up.

There are plenty of options out there, if not Morgan then simply give it to Bell for the last 2/3 matches, he's the VC after all, its just 3 tests anyway and then we don't play a test for a long time so there is still time to address these problems and and come up with a plan/s to be competitive in the Ashes. Morgan obviously takes over the ODI side, he should have it anyway, its another joke that Cook is keeping Hales out of that team but that's another debate.

 

[gkmacca]

Cook retains the captaincy for the next Test. Sadly predictable.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

It's so frustrating, it really is, it didn't have to be like this, the next test is on my doorstep, its a great opportunity to go and watch some test cricket but no way are they getting my cash or support.

 

[dantes]

Changing the captain won't make a blind bit of difference. The problem is they lack one single spinner who is even half competent. The second problem is they lack flair and aggression throughout the batting line up. All of them are boring and predictable, which is why when they have to step up and win the game they all shit their nappies and collapse. The third problem is they just lost their one and only half competent keeper. They're fucked and they know it. It's better to let Cook be the fall guy for a while, to protect the future captain from receiving a proper fucking too.

 

[Portly]

I don't agree with much of that Dantes! There are a few good keepers around who are more than capable of replacing Prior, of whom Buttler seems to be the chosen one. He's unproven in 5-day test matches, but we know he is good at whacking the ball with a wooden stick so he is definitely worth a try.

You are right that now Swann has retired there is no stand-out spinner and that's a problem. Moeen Ali's figures were pretty good at Lords and his batting is good, so I would leave him in the team.

As far as batsmen lacking flair and aggression is concerned, I think it was England's middle order trying to show flair and aggression in the second innings at Lord's that lost them the game. If they had batted sensibly, hitting the bad balls, they could have won it.

 

[kingjulian]

In this instance you are way off beam, he desperately wants to keep playing but his body is giving up on him, he has long term injuries that will not clear up without a prolonged break. He is dropping catches he would normally take in his sleep. So we have a clamour to pick a one day player with little keeping pedigree who couldn't catch a wet flannel - I despair.

Precisely why this is a shining example of lack of leadership.

If that was indeed the case, Prior should have been dropped before shit hit the roof. He wasnt dropped because that dressing room has become matey-matey. Pieterson was sacked because he didnt get on with the matey-matey culture. By sacking him ECB has legitimated that the matey-matey culture is the right thing to do. They didnt have the balls to vanquish what was showing it ugly head up when SA visited England. Lack of leadership displayed across the levels right there...

 

[tony]

Why should Cook get any slack? his dire captaincy aside - any other player in his run of form would have been out the team a long time ago.

Captaincy wise Morgan would a massive improvement on Cook but that's not exactly difficult, Morgan has captained England ODI teams well and has shown he understands the game, he has imagination and shown authority, he is also capable of stringing a coherent sentence together in interviews along with being honest and dropping those awfully patronising scripted soundbites.

That 'unfortunately we have no alternative line' is the biggest pile of shit excuse/spin to ever exist, it's absolute horseshit, its the exact same horseshit that is getting peddled by all the ECB puppets in the press, especially that shameless ECB ball sucker Agnew, its a shame that people fall for it but there you go.

How can anyone truly believe that Cook is the best option we have at this time?, sorry but you must be extremely gullible to actually believe that, how can anyone look at this shambles and think its fine to just carry on?, anyone with half a clue knew he had to go after that shameful Ashes tour, Cook has no real authority over the team and is being a selfish delusional prick putting himself above the team, he should take a leaf out of his mate Priors book and do the admirable thing, fair play to Prior for that, it defies belief that we are going to have to wait until the Aussies come over here to humiliate us again for anything to happen and for some cricket fans to wake up.

There are plenty of options out there, if not Morgan then simply give it to Bell for the last 2/3 matches, he's the VC after all, its just 3 tests anyway and then we don't play a test for a long time so there is still time to address these problems and and come up with a plan/s to be competitive in the Ashes. Morgan obviously takes over the ODI side, he should have it anyway, its another joke that Cook is keeping Hales out of that team but that's another debate.

Sorry but that is a load of bollocks SL. It sounds like you are falling for the KP/Warne/PM agenda there like alot of pundits. Who was criticising Cooks captaincy when we won the ashes - only Warne to try and unsettle England. Cook - highest test scorer for England, 25 centuries, average over 45 sorry but even if one of the best batsmen in the world is out of form you don't drop him in the middle of a series. Morgan doesn't even captain Middx and the one day game is miles away from a test match in terms of tactics. Has Bell ever captained - I don't know. As for Hales he has been unlucky, as he is scoring runs in the championship but he should be taking Robsons place. For me you leave Cook in until the end of a series we can still win and then deal with it.

We are a side in transition without a top spinner to balance the team, most of the newbies are doing allright we need a bit of perspective and some patience. The player I would drop would be Broad who is bowling like a drain. By the way did I hear Boycott say Cook was being selfish!!! Fucking hell how the guy has the balls to accuse anyone else of that amazes me!

 

[tony]

Precisely why this is a shining example of lack of leadership.

If that was indeed the case, Prior should have been dropped before shit hit the roof. He wasnt dropped because that dressing room has become matey-matey. Pieterson was sacked because he didnt get on with the matey-matey culture. By sacking him ECB has legitimated that the matey-matey culture is the right thing to do. They didnt have the balls to vanquish what was showing it ugly head up when SA visited England. Lack of leadership displayed across the levels right there...

Prior is a much better keeper than Buttler who left his county to improve his keeping at Lancashire. Now he will be playing in the next test we will see how much progress has been made as he looked a bit ropey in the SL 50 over games. it was definitely the right decision to try and play through the niggles for Prior in the last game so harsh.
KP has fallen out with nearly every team he has played for so I don't get your matey matey reference. KP is a busted flush, since his sacking he averages less than 20 in the 19 20/20 games he has played at a strike rate of 118. Hardly setting the world on fire is he. His knee injury is of concern and he won't play county championship for surrey.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Sorry but that is a load of bollocks SL. It sounds like you are falling for the KP/Warne/PM agenda there like alot of pundits. Who was criticising Cooks captaincy when we won the ashes - only Warne to try and unsettle England. Cook - highest test scorer for England, 25 centuries, average over 45 sorry but even if one of the best batsmen in the world is out of form you don't drop him in the middle of a series. Morgan doesn't even captain Middx and the one day game is miles away from a test match in terms of tactics. Has Bell ever captained - I don't know. As for Hales he has been unlucky, as he is scoring runs in the championship but he should be taking Robsons place. For me you leave Cook in until the end of a series we can still win and then deal with it.



We are a side in transition without a top spinner to balance the team, most of the newbies are doing allright we need a bit of perspective and some patience. The player I would drop would be Broad who is bowling like a drain. By the way did I hear Boycott say Cook was being selfish!!! Fucking hell how the guy has the balls to accuse anyone else of that amazes me!

I haven't fallen for any agenda, that's the thing, my eyes are wide open to the massive pile of shite that it is, you look like the one that has fallen for it hook line and sinker peddling out the ECB spin, you will be saying Cook has inner steel and is determined next, lol.

It really is such an awful excuse that there is no-one better, some of our best captains (Vaughan, Nasser) never had any experience of captaincy before being England captain so that's no excuse, we don't play a test match after this series until April so it doesn't have to be some nailed on thing, Dantes is right about the batting being bland and Morgan as well as being a good option for captaincy is just the type of player we need to liven the batting order up, he is averaging 52 in CC div 1 this season, couple of tons and a few 50s so its not like he is being donated a place

Cook is a millstone around the neck of this team, how can he have any authority over any player when he has been so hopelessly out of form for so long? how is that mean't to work?, he's just hopeless, you go on about a spinner but what about Monty? what the fuck has happened to that man? Cook failed him badly in Oz, insulting him by going to Root before him, he along with many of them have been terribly man managed, why hasn't Monty been getting help and support since Oz if he has mysterious personal problems? he is our best spinner by miles and he has been thrown on the scrap heap, why? where are all these answers, what actually happened in Oz? will we ever get any answers?, Montys face obviously doesn't fit anymore like many before him, i would speculate Monty is a bit of a free thinker who has his own mind and might actually have expressed his own opinion once or twice, how dare he! obviously that is a big no no in our craphole yes man, yes sir, anything you say sir, one rule for you and one rule for another team culture, lol its bloody annoying and really is awful, the team culture is one of the main things wrong with it all, the whole thing stinks.

Maybe all the senior players going is a good idea, why only do half of it? go the whole hog and clear the lot out, they all look shot anyway, they go along with Moores and the coaches and Flower that sly devious fucker hiding and meddling in the background, a brand new clean slate, the team would be so much more likeable and easy to support then even if they did struggle.

How about...

Hales
Robson
Ballance
Root (vc)
Morgan (c)
Ali
Buttler
Stokes
Jordan
Finn
Onions

With Kerrigan/Woakes/Plunkett/Vince in and around it all.

Would love to see something like that with a new uninfluenced experienced coach from abroad coming in to do the job.

Bloody ranted again! its becoming a habit with the cricket, nothing personal btw, the whole thing just irritates and the fingers flow.

 

[tony]

I haven't fallen for any agenda, that's the thing, my eyes are wide open to the massive pile of shite that it is, you look like the one that has fallen for it hook line and sinker peddling out the ECB spin, you will be saying Cook has inner steel and is determined next, lol.

It really is such an awful excuse that there is no-one better, some of our best captains (Vaughan, Nasser) never had any experience of captaincy before being England captain so that's no excuse, we don't play a test match after this series until April so it doesn't have to be some nailed on thing, Dantes is right about the batting being bland and Morgan as well as being a good option for captaincy is just the type of player we need to liven the batting order up, he is averaging 52 in CC div 1 this season, couple of tons and a few 50s so its not like he is being donated a place

Cook is a millstone around the neck of this team, how can he have any authority over any player when he has been so hopelessly out of form for so long? how is that mean't to work?, he's just hopeless, you go on about a spinner but what about Monty? what the fuck has happened to that man? Cook failed him badly in Oz, insulting him by going to Root before him, he along with many of them have been terribly man managed, why hasn't Monty been getting help and support since Oz if he has mysterious personal problems? he is our best spinner by miles and he has been thrown on the scrap heap, why? where are all these answers, what actually happened in Oz? will we ever get any answers?, Montys face obviously doesn't fit anymore like many before him, i would speculate Monty is a bit of a free thinker who has his own mind and might actually have expressed his own opinion once or twice, how dare he! obviously that is a big no no in our craphole yes man, yes sir, anything you say sir, one rule for you and one rule for another team culture, lol its bloody annoying and really is awful, the team culture is one of the main things wrong with it all, the whole thing stinks.

Maybe all the senior players going is a good idea, why only do half of it? go the whole hog and clear the lot out, they all look shot anyway, they go along with Moores and the coaches and Flower that sly devious fucker hiding and meddling in the background, a brand new clean slate, the team would be so much more likeable and easy to support then even if they did struggle.

How about...

Hales
Robson
Ballance
Root (vc)
Morgan (c)
Ali
Buttler
Stokes
Jordan
Finn
Onions

With Kerrigan/Woakes/Plunkett/Vince in and around it all.

Would love to see something like that with a new uninfluenced experienced coach from abroad coming in to do the job.

Bloody ranted again! its becoming a habit with the cricket, nothing personal btw, the whole thing just irritates and the fingers flow.

Haha no offence taken, as far as Monty is concerned how can you blame his marriage break up on the ecb !!!! He has personal issues, it was Cook afterall that wanted him on tour down under so I think you are going a bit to far. Reading your post I thought you were going to blame the ecb for MH17 next!!! As a matter of fact I like your team but I would keep Cook and Bell at the expense of Robson and Morgan. Let the series finish and then deal with Cook if the series is lost

 

[Portly]

I think the answer is somewhere in between the positions of Tony and Spaghetti Legs. Over-reaction would be a mistake. England have managed to get into winning positions in all their recent tests, and then throw the opportunity away. They are not that bad. Cook has to go, both as captain and opening batsman. We know Buttler is coming in for the next test. The pundits say his keeping isn't as good as Prior's yet, but we will have to see. Stokes should be dropped in favour of Jordan, Finn or Onions as he has done nothing with the bat and there are better bowlers.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Haha no offence taken, as far as Monty is concerned how can you blame his marriage break up on the ecb !!!! He has personal issues, it was Cook afterall that wanted him on tour down under so I think you are going a bit to far. Reading your post I thought you were going to blame the ecb for MH17 next!!! As a matter of fact I like your team but I would keep Cook and Bell at the expense of Robson and Morgan. Let the series finish and then deal with Cook if the series is lost

Wait, i didn't blame anyone for Montys marriage break up, wasn't his marriage break up a year or so ago anyway? i blame the management for not helping and supporting the bloke, i mean where is he? whats going on? there's a gaping spinner sized hole in the team and he's the best spinner this country has by a long way, what is going on there? it looks like he has been thrown on the scrap heap which is ridiculous.

We don't take much care of our cricketers nowadays, we wreck them, we finds more and more ways to wreck them.

Cook is wrecked, as annoying as he is i would like to see him back to doing what he does best, batting well (without being captain), what happens if we lose the next test? its madness, an even more worrying scenario is if we win a test or 2 and Cook scores a few runs, the press puppets and ECB will spin it that all is fine and dandy now when really all it will do is delay the inevitable and mean Cook gets humiliated by the Aussies again.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

I think the answer is somewhere in between the positions of Tony and Spaghetti Legs. Over-reaction would be a mistake. England have managed to get into winning positions in all their recent tests, and then throw the opportunity away. They are not that bad. Cook has to go, both as captain and opening batsman. We know Buttler is coming in for the next test. The pundits say his keeping isn't as good as Prior's yet, but we will have to see. Stokes should be dropped in favour of Jordan, Finn or Onions as he has done nothing with the bat and there are better bowlers.

Prior wasn't a very good keeper when he first came in, he was pretty awful iirc and got dropped and went away and worked hard and got back in and gradually improved.

Buttler will need some patience, he will make mistakes but he deserves his shot at it, huge exciting talent, something this team is badly missing.

 

[Portly]

England have made a steady start against India. Does that justify odds of 8/1 against India at such an early stage of a test match? OK India are without Ishant Sharma but I still think they are well capable of winning this test. I couldn't resist sticking a bet on India at those odds!

 

[gkmacca]

I won't tempt fate but a great effort so far from Cook, given the circumstances.

 

[Portly]

I won't tempt fate but a great effort so far from Cook, given the circumstances.

Agreed! Shane Warne keeps harping on about him being dropped at slip when he was on 15, but it's not often that any batsman makes a big score without one or two lucky breaks.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

This means were stuck with him as captain, even if we lose the series.

 

[gkmacca]

Out for 95. Rats, pity that, but good to see him back in the runs.

 

[Portly]

I think Cook returning to form is better than plunging into a phase of instability!

 

[Judge Jules]

Surely that depends on (a) whether his return to form proves to be a lasting one and (b) whether his captaincy improves along with it. If either one turns out not to apply, England might ultimately have cause to think they'd have been better off giving him the chop and getting it over with.