Yet again, the England cricket team has caused huge embarrassment to its supporters and, indeed, to the nation which it claims to represent. Its crushing defeat in the 5th Ashes Test Match in Sydney may have been expected but the manner of the final collapse and total absence of spirit was pitiful.
Whatever the root of the problem, it is clear that English cricket is in a shocking state. The County Championship, the principal source of players for the Test team, has been relegated to the cold and gloomy mornings of late March and early April, plus the dewy days of September; little of this 'real' cricket is played in the prime months of June, July and August which seem to be given over to the money raising efforts associated with varying one-day matches and the awful '20-20' competition. At no time do our young players have any real opportunity to play protracted matches consistently and in good conditions. The batsmen have little chance to develop runs of form and the bowlers little opportunity to find a rhythm. Small wonder that, when confronted with playing 5 Test matches in quick succession and with no lesser matches between, they prove to be lacking form, rhythm, fitness, and simple match practice.
Cook is a hopeless captain, and must relinquish the post. Pietersen is clearly not a team player and has to go altogether. Whether Carberry, Root, Bairstow, Ballance, Stokes and Borthwick are of the necessary class has yet to be discovered, though one would suggest that only Root and Stokes have given any real indication of such as yet. Andy Flower and his coaching staff have failed miserably and have to go. The ECB, which is responsbile for the overall mess of both English domestic and Test cricket, needs to be dispensed with, 'en masse', and replaced by a body with at least some idea of what is needed in order to revitalise the game in this country.
Without such far-reaching changes, English cricket, as we have known it for many, many years, is doomed.
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