No, I am not talking about 10 Downing Street. I am talking about the England Cricket Team. But what does it take to get rid of these people? By this point, the Captain, Coaches, Director of England Cricket and ECB Chief Executive should have been given marching orders. To say nothing of the Prime Minister.
Ashley Giles should have gone after that dreadful interview he gave a few weeks ago, in which he blamed everyone else for all the problems of the world but took credit for looking after the players mental wellbeing. I would question how much good it does them to be thrown into another Pominshambles Ashes tour. I have never seen Giles as England Management material – I thought we had given up on that a few years ago. Giles is out of his depth, yet has the job of giving the ECB a report into what has gone wrong. That will take 2 minutes…..pick the wrong players, give them zero preparation, totally overload them. Thats your written report Ashley.
Tom Harrison of course should be gone as soon as the conversation came up about that £2.1 million bonus. A failure bonus? That should have been enough on its own, but after England failed to win every Ashes since he has been in post plus failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup Final. Not to mention the Racism scandal. He seems to be untouchable.
Then we have Chris Silverwood. Things were going ok until he was given control of selection, and since then it has been a shambles. Though I think we had doubts from day 1 – Essex and England are somewhat different. But Ray Illingworth had already shown us in 1995 that you need a separate coach and selector. I guess we cannot blame Silverwood for that Giles inspired piece of stupidity (Giles again). It would be harsh to point out that England’s ‘least bad’ result came when Silverwood was absent…but he is paid for this stuff so I am going to be harsh. England did better without him in Sydney. By now he should be gone and a Selection Panel should have been created ahead of the West Indies Tour.
It is not just Silverwood though is it? Lots of the same names have been around for a long time. Graham Thorpe was one of my heros in the 90s and should be regarded as one of England’s finest middle order bats. But the England batters have failed consistently for years – pretty much since England got rid of Graham Gooch actually. Thorpe is credited with unlocking Joe Root’s run of brilliance by telling Root to be more selfish. Perhaps Thorpe is a great mentor, but he has not delivered an England batting line up. Time to say goodbye.
And we have to come to Joe Root. Sorry Joe, but it really would be best if you stepped aside out of your own choice. But if that is not happening, someone needs to make the decision for him. Keeping people in a job because nobody else can do the job is a terrible place to be. Give someone a chance and they might actually show some ability – but they won’t if not given an opportunity. Root is not cut out for Captaincy and is not getting any better at it. His batting is so important to this team, and sadly he cannot bat in Australia. But perhaps if he has not been carrying the Sunday School second 11 for years he might have had more chance. It is time for Joe to go.
But the worst thing is that all these people seem to have backing, particularly Root and Silverwood. Vice Captain Ben Stokes backs up Root, who backs up Silverwood. Failed Wicket Keeper Jos Buttler speaks of still wanting to conquer test match cricket. Jimmy Anderson wants to keep going. Since when was it any of these people’s choice? You fail, you move aside or get moved, and then you let someone else have a go.
It speaks of an insider culture, where the likes of Stokes, Buttler and Root carry the player power. It is time to stop. It is time for a completely new team. That means a new Captain. If Stokes does not want to be Captain, it means a new Vice Captain. It means a new Wicket Keeper. It means a new batting line up (yes, yet another). It means another set of bowlers. Yes, even Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson need to retire, or be retired.
To paraphrase Teresa May…..a new start means….a new start.
Cricketed 