West Indies v England

Rjd2

A Telegraph journo.

You'd wonder how long they will persist with Moores, apart from beating India last year in the tests, its been an absolute disaster.

The Trott and Ali as the only spinner gamble failed miserably.

Nick HoultVerified account
‏@NHoultCricket
Gillespie turned down South Australia job last night. His county chairman takes over at ECB next week...

Dozen Wicked Words

Hopefully this run of sh*te that England are on might encourage the higher ups to make decisive changes in management, coaching and playing staff. I doubt it'll happen though sadly. More tinkering around the edges. Can't see Gillespie taking the job, but would be pleased if he got a shot.

dfx-

How many more changes can England make behind the scenes...they must be running out of chairmen/administrators at this rate..

Cricket fan

Good to see Simmons having immediate success too.

Just shows without the IPL mercenaries the WI can still be a decent side

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dfx- wrote: »

...they must be running out of chairmen/administrators at this rate..

Well ones that come from the old boy network anyway!

Gyalist

This poster was on the WI dressing room wall for every day of the series and was all the motivation they needed.

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Gyalist wrote: »

This poster was on the WI dressing room wall for every day of the series and was all the motivation they needed.

He clearly hadn't watched much England cricket recently either, mediocre would be generous for how they've played. Shows the arrogance of some within the ECB.

Gillespy

West Indies will be kicking themselves for the way they lost in Grenada. Simmons deserves a lot of credit, after South Africa and the world cup, this has been a massive turnaround. The Australia series will put everything into perspective but they have the makings of a competitive team there, which is great to see.

One bad innings cost England the series win. Mistakes in selection also contributed. Trott is done I'm afraid. It was good he was given another opportunity and I guess he's young enough to make another comeback but for now, it's over. I would like to see them give Hales a go, he has scored big hundreds already this season and would be their Warner at the top. The rest of the batting is fine. Not long until the New Zealand series. No opener and no spinner. Interesting to see what team will takes the field in Cardiff for the first Ashes test match.

booth70

Australia can send their second string and still thrash this sorry mess of an England team out of sight this summer

Trott is surely gone.....if not the Aussies will finish him off ..... Cook ensures his presence for the Ashes with his first innings knock but can't see him or many in the current team lasting beyond this summer if they get thrashed

paulie21

Trott announced his retirement. Not surprising considering the shocker he had. He was one of the best test batsmen around 09/10

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paulie21 wrote: »

Trott announced his retirement. Not surprising considering the shocker he had. He was one of the best test batsmen around 09/10

He was a very good, steady player, part of a very good team. At least he came back and gave it a go, he won't retire not knowing whether he still has it or not.

He doesn't.

blackcard

It would be great if the Windies become competitive again

Rjd2

Gillespy wrote: »

West Indies will be kicking themselves for the way they lost in Grenada. Simmons deserves a lot of credit, after South Africa and the world cup, this has been a massive turnaround.

I would like to see them give Hales a go, he has scored big hundreds already this season and would be their Warner at the top. The rest of the batting is fine. Not long until the New Zealand series. No opener and no spinner. Interesting to see what team will takes the field in Cardiff for the first Ashes test match.

They need to give Lyth a chance now, he should have played this series and its tough one to debut against NZ,but better late than never I suppose. :P

I like Hales, but he has got all his runs for Notts at number 3 this year, I'd be shocked if he doesn't play a test however in the next 12 months, probably next in line if Lyth fails.

Spinner?

They need to back Ali, as the alternatives aren't great. A lot of fans mainly England ones spent years rightfully laughing at how quickly Australia discarded spinners in the persuit of the next Warne, the treatment of Lyon at times was disgraceful, England can't afford to do the same with Ali, their is no Swann, Warne, or even Giles waiting to be discovered in England.

Tredwell is average, Monty is finished and Kerrigan and Riley are kids.

The fact that Riley who plays for Kent is been considered highlights how limited the options are, a decent young spinner in division 2 who has done well, but not exactly ripped teams apart.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/309981.html

Rashid? If he didn't play this test, then I doubt if he ever will play a test.

Also they need to decide which of Plunkett or Stokes stays and get Plunkett back in the side.

Dozen Wicked Words

Andrew Strauss has been confirmed as director of the England team according to Mike Selvey of The Guardian.

paulie21

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Andrew Strauss has been confirmed as director of the England team according to Mike Selvey of The Guardian.

Michael Vaughan seemingly turned down the role because it was too limited

Rjd2

Moores gone, not handled well at all by the ECB but needed to be done. However he shouldn't have been rehired in the first place.

Gillespie and Langer are the favourites, they are hamstrung by the fact so many quality coaches are happy to make a fortune in t20 leagues for a few months work and its not exactly that tempting of a position after the last 18 months of farce.

Cricket fan

Put KP in charge

booth70

KP belts a triple century just as his best friend Andrew Strauss takes charge of English cricket :pac::pac::

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booth70 wrote: »

KP belts a triple century just as his best friend Andrew Strauss takes charge of English cricket :pac::pac::

Not many players scoring a ton, or even a triple ton in Division 2 would make headlines. Leicestershire aren't, putting it mildly, very good.

Northants beat them for fupp sake.

Rjd2

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Not many players scoring a ton, or even a triple ton in Division 2 would make headlines. Leicestershire aren't, putting it mildly, very good.

Northants beat them for fupp sake.

Yeah Leics are poor, but they have a decent start to the season, seem to have something about them this season with Cosgrove, Mc Kay in the team and Mc Donald in charge.

To be fair second highest scorer was Kumar with 36, while England hopefuls Ansari and Roy both failed. Heck even Davies who has played for England a few years ago and is rated highly bombed as did Rory Burns who would probably have played for England by now if not for other reasons.

I expect Struss will tell him to **** off tomorrow, and whether you agree with that or not, its more awful pr for the ECB.

Oh and England fell to fifth in the test rankings today. Tough start for Strauss.

Dozen Wicked Words

My opinion of KP generally coloured my previous post! impressive feat regardless of opposition. I suppose.

Rjd2

I dislike him as well, anybody who calls everyone buddy and has fallen out with every team he was went to isn't to be trusted.
For t20 he should be back especially with the world cup in India next year and with all his IPL experience, nobody English has played as much t20 especially overseas as he has, and his experience would be crucial.

Test cricket?

Its a tough one, Bell or Stokes would have to be dropped or they could push Ballance to open, but after the Trott fiasco that is unlikely.

Rjd2

Test Match SpecialVerified account
‏@bbctms
We understand that Kevin Pietersen has been told this evening that he won't be picked to play for England again

As I and others predicted. To much water under the bridge, Strauss getting the ECB supremo role was last nail in the coffin for him.

I don't even like KP, but I feel some sympathy for him, dropped for non performance reasoning, cuts short a lucrative deal, scores a triple and it means nothing.

Rjd2

Never thought I'd see the day when the great man Kumar is now an internet troll. :eek:

To be fair, he is spot on.

Kumar Sangakkara @KumarSanga2 · 5h 5 hours ago
"I don't trust @KP24 enough for him to play for England but I trust him enough to advise me on ODI cricket" #strausslogic .
4,575 retweets 2,481 favourites
Reply Retweet4.6K Favourite2.5K

The good news for Strauss and ECB, if England have a good Summer, then KP won't be an issue, however if they don't, it will drag and drag.

dfx-

different face, same old rubbish to come, I wouldn't have thought Strauss is a revolutionary going by his tactics as captain

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dfx- wrote: »

different face, same old rubbish to come, I wouldn't have thought Strauss is a revolutionary going by his tactics as captain

I thought Strauss was a very good England captain, if not revolutionary he knew how to get the job done. Depends on the new coach what rubbish we have to come, KP on his own coming back wouldn't have changed that anyway.

Gillespy

England were in the dumps when Strauss took over as captain, a mess KP had a big hand in, he led them to no.1 in the world and convincing Ashes wins home and away. Graves had no business reopening the door for Pietersen, after the book and his antics on twitter, the comeback was never on. Bad timing after his big innings but there isn't really an opening for him anyway, the middle order all made runs in the Caribbean.

Glad Morgan retained the ODI captaincy.

booth70

Sanjay Manjrekar was spot on in his twitter comment about the whole KP saga.....

''It was never about KP's ability as a batsman, so why should the 326 n.o change anything?''

This may not be the end of this story.....England are probably going to get slaughtered in the Ashes and this whole KP bandwagon will be back on the agenda if England are down 2-0 after 2 Tests!!! :pac::pac:

Dozen Wicked Words

booth70 wrote: »

Sanjay Manjrekar was spot on in his twitter comment about the whole KP saga.....

''It was never about KP's ability as a batsman, so why should the 326 n.o change anything?''

This may not be the end of this story.....England are probably going to get slaughtered in the Ashes and this whole KP bandwagon will be back on the agenda if England are down 2-0 after 2 Tests!!! :pac::pac:

The KP bandwagon won't have gone anywhere, that's half his problem. He and his little friends like Piers Morgan are confrontational ALL the time on social media. He's where he is now because of himself as much as the ECB. Even if England are to be whitewashed in the Ashes, I still don't want Pietersen anywhere near the England team. In the minority but so what.

booth70

KP gives up a fat pay cheque at the IPL , scores runs like he was asked and gets told he won't play for England again....

Morgan scores zilch at the World Cup, can't be bothered to turn up in Dublin to play for England but gets to not only keep his place in the ODI team but also gets rewarded with the captaincy of the T20 side!!

BIZARRE