Cricket Comment: Ashes catastrophe means this England team is finished December 17, 2013 THEY say Christmas is a time for reflection and I’ve a feeling England team director Andy Flower will be doing more soul-searching than most over the next couple of weeks. The late Bob Woolmer once told me he believed coaches had a maximum of five years with a team – by then you’ve imparted all [...]
Cricket Comment: Coaches to blame if England are unprepared December 10, 2013 MAYBE there’s an element of complacency to England’s woeful Ashes – clearly Australia are more hungry; to a man, desperate to win – but the biggest factor looks to be that they have been badly prepared. As unsettling and consistent as Mitchell Johnson has been, it was no secret he was bowling straight and fast. [...]
Cricket Comment: Time for Cook to end dismal run December 3, 2013 IF EVER there was a time for England to end their run of failing to score 400 in 18 consecutive Test innings then the second Ashes Test, which starts tonight, is certainly it. You dominate matches by getting big scores on the board and hitting 400 would send out a strong message. Now is the [...]
Cricket Comment: Clarke’s Ashes sledging row highlights silence surrounding the Spirit of Cricket December 2, 2013 Former batsman and son of England great Colin Cowdrey calls for change BACK in 1998 I attended the inaugural match of the Indian Premier League in Bangalore. My brother Jeremy had put together a plan to get Lalit Modi, the commissioner of the IPL, to embrace the Spirit of Cricket. I had dinner with cricketer [...]
Cricket Comment: Bring in Bairstow and bump Root up the order November 25, 2013 I WAS not as surprised as some when I heard that Jonathan Trott was leaving the England Ashes squad because of a stress-related illness. He is a complex character and has always been his own man. His performance in the first Test was not one of a man in the right mindset. In the second [...]
Cricket Comment: March of time lends extra edge to this series for England stars November 19, 2013 IT’S not quite the end of an era, but this Ashes series in Australia represents the end of a cycle that coach Andy Flower and selectors have long been gearing up for. A number of players who make up England’s spine are the wrong side of 30 and will know that this could be their [...]
Cricket Comment: England have to call cover if Prior out of first Test November 12, 2013 HE MAY not grab the headlines like Alec Stewart or Adam Gilchrist did, but we mustn’t underestimate the contribution Matt Prior has made to England’s success. Not just a wicketkeeper but also a genuine batsman, Prior is a major cog in this squad’s wheel. I am a huge fan of his and in all of [...]
Cricket Comment: My concerns over standard of opposition October 29, 2013 AS ENGLAND prepare to dust off their whites for the first practice match of this Ashes tour, it’s worth reiterating what these games are for. Results and even performances are secondary. In some previous tours England have done terribly but then shone when it matters. These three games are about getting all players time in [...]
Cricket Comment: Selectors crazy to opt for Rankin over Onions September 23, 2013 IMAGINE this scenario: England lose James Anderson to injury early in this winter’s Ashes series and arrive in Melbourne for the fourth Test without their key bowler and needing to beat Australia. To who do they turn to take his place? Whoever it is won’t replicate Anderson’s swing, as England have overlooked Graham Onions and [...]
Cricket Comment: England must unleash future stars or risk World Cup failure September 10, 2013 ASHLEY Giles has his hands tied with a number of his top players not available for selection to England’s one-day international squad, but that gives him licence to try the younger players and I think he’s missing a golden opportunity at the moment. I didn’t see the sense in selecting Steven Finn and James Tredwell, [...]