By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
If you had a
connection to the ECB or the England cricket team then look away now as you
might not want to read my damming report into the debacle of the winter Ashes
series which ended on Sunday, 5 January – two days earlier than scheduled. I
suppose the only good thing is that it ended 48 hours before it should have
done. Those who flew out to Australia should be refunded by the team. Those who stayed were brave to do so I think.
Brave is
certainly not a word I would want to use on the England team of 2013. Plenty of
descriptive words could sum up them up from woeful and hapless to shambolic and
uninterested. Australia won the series 5-0 and I don’t think anyone can
begrudge them either the urn back or the series whitewash they achieved. It is
time to start again and for the bunch of drips to head home hanging their heads
in shame.
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| England's tour of Australia this winter was the stuff of nightmares |
Before I sum
up the series from an English perspective (pictured), I want to share that I am not a huge
cricket fan. The only cricket competition I’ve only ever been seriously interested
in is the Ashes and that started with the epic 2005 series over in this country
that saw a team inspired by Michael Vaughan’s captaincy and the heroics of
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff. Being an Englishman, I do enjoy getting one over the
Aussies, whether that be cricket, rugby union or rugby league. Therefore I care
about the Ashes.
However
having seen highlights and read pieces of five Ashes series since 2005, I know
enough to have my opinion on the class of winter 2013-14….or should I say the
losers of winter 2013-14.
I will
exonerate Jonathan Trott from any criticism though. The number three batsman
had a difficult time in the opening test match in Brisbane and went home after
that game suffering from stress. His career as an international cricketer is
all but over but I wish Jonathan and his family the best in his recovery phase.
The batting
display was horrendous. No Englishman that took part and there were
18 who figured in the five test matches got over 300 runs combined and only Ben
Stokes and occasionally Stuart Broad showed any resistance with the bat. In the
cricket industry of nowadays, the pitches are largely flat and dry, making them
decent or excellent batting wickets. As a consequence, scores of over 400 runs
per innings can be considered as marks that leave you firmly in a contest.
England’s tally was absolutely shocking. 155 & 166 in Sydney, 255 & 179
in Melbourne, 251 & 353 in Perth, 172 & 312 in Adelaide and 136 &
179 in Brisbane. Only once (the second innings in Perth) could you argue and
say it was a decent enough batting performance. The most annoying factor is
that when wickets have fallen, they have fallen in sudden spurts. Dramatic
collapses became almost a normality, not a one-off. Everyone has bad days or
even a bad test match but for it to happen so regularly suggests that this side
had the reliability of a BlackBerry smartphone! Expectation of retaining the
urn quickly whittled away and after the first innings in Adelaide, talk
immediately began of a 5-0 Australian win. It was horrific to hear about and it
must have been terrifying to watch for the supporters who spent thousands of
pounds to go Down Under and watch the team put in spectacular failure after
spectacular failure. If you can bat well, you will never win cricket matches,
it is as simple as that.
The bowling
and fielding wasn’t much better either. In the field, there were too many
dropped catches and the whole team was culpable for that. In the bowling spectrum,
only Broad showed any potential threat and even that was nowhere near the
levels of Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson. The England batsman
seemed so terrified of Johnson; you would have thought he was a devil that
would scare the life out of you in a bedtime nightmare. Johnson is a decent
bowler but I wouldn’t put him in the world class bracket because he is too
inconsistent. He just had an excellent series and England made him look
unbeatable. The other English bowlers never contributed and must now consider
their futures in test cricket. I’m afraid when Monty Panesar is your best spin
bowler option, you would struggle to beat amateur outfits like Holland, Ireland
and Bangladesh, let alone Australia and that’s no disrespect to those
countries.
Too many of
England’s top players had tours to forget. James Anderson was as useful as a 2p
coin. He toiled and had no use to the team.
He didn’t have a Plan B. Graeme Swann (pictured below) was a pale shadow of the man who had
frightened batsman across the globe for the past four years. He decided to walk
away from all forms of the game with immediate effect after Perth and I’m
afraid he took the easy option. A decent career he might have had but stay and
fight for the cause, even if it is in a losing side. Swann is a coward and has
lost a lot of respect with many observers. The Ian Bell we saw in the summer when he smashed
Australians all over the park and was Man of the Series was left behind in
England. Bell has always been a frustrating player and that trend continued in
these matches. I still think he could be a part of England’s future but maybe
not in the shining light everyone thinks he is. That is something that Matt
Prior shouldn’t be considering. Retirement is his best option after a woeful
series which ended up seeing him lose his place in the side. With no form, no
confidence and lack of conviction as a wicketkeeper, he was an easy target for
the opposition. There is no way back for Prior. Lastly Kevin Pietersen is a sorry
excuse to English cricket. While he might produce the fireworks with some spectacular
shots, Pietersen is one of the country’s most one-dimensional players we’ve
ever seen. He never learns from his mistakes and gets out to such daft shots so
frequently. The ways he often concedes his wicket boggles the mind. I’m afraid England can’t move on with
Pietersen in the side. If he is made captain as many want him to be, then don’t
bank on anymore Ashes series wins for the next decade. Axing him and
allowing new blood to come through is the most sensible and only viable option.
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| A smug Graeme Swann decided to quit early and lost a lot of respect for it |
That leads me
to the current captain Alastair Cook who everytime he has faced the hungry
media seems to have aged that little bit more. Cook has to take the main
responsibility for the debacle witnessed over the past seven weeks as the urn
that was so comfortably retained in a frankly mediocre summer series slipped
away so woefully. His position as skipper is now completely untenable in my
eyes. He failed to lead from the front with some disappointing tactics, sloppy
misjudgements with bat and ball and a lack of serious contribution to leave the
opposition feeling concerned. For the coach Andy Flower, his position is also
rather bleak although probably in a better position than Cook. He might be able
to hang onto his job because of his largely excellent record since taking
over. Three Ashes series have been won and only one major defeat occurred which
was a home summer loss to South Africa a couple of years ago. He probably needs a successor
to come through for a steady changeover but putting him up for the chop might be harsh.
Either way, he and Cook cannot both continue in their current roles. One
has to go and I think the buck has to lie with the captain.
It is easy to
criticise, I will admit that but if you don’t deliver the performances and the
fighting spirit required then what do you expect. England were lousy throughout
the whole tour and won’t look forward to hearing the stick they will take when
they arrive home later in the week, both from amateur bloggers and seasoned
ex-professionals. I would expect plenty of retirements in the coming weeks. A
new generation must come through, given the lack of fight shown. We
pride on our sportsman and sportswomen giving everything and if they are beaten
by better opposition or competitors, then we accept that. Be dignified in
victory and gracious in defeat but once some of the players decided to urinate
on the field of The Oval during the celebrations after the 3-0 series victory
in the summer, it showed the lack of class they have. You don’t see Wayne
Rooney giving up in a losing football cause; you don’t see Andy Murray decide
not to stop playing his best in a difficult tennis situation; you don’t see
British athletes give up when a medal at a major championships is unlikely but
it seems like the cricketers decided to switch off mentally once the Ashes was
good but over. Therefore they deserve the negative criticism and the tough
press coverage they will get before the next series.
That next
series is against Sri Lanka in May, followed by a summer duel with India. Both
are decent test teams, especially India and it is a chance to rebuild for the
future over the next few months. My belief is only Joe Root, Bell, Broad, Stokes
and Tim Bresnan should be part of the squads in the summer. It is time to start
again from scratch and give new youngsters a go – someone like Broad as captain
would be an interesting choice but not a bad option. Failure to make a clean
break after this forgettable series and English cricket is going to return to
the doldrums of the 1990s. It is the ECB’s choice – the decision is in their
hands.
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