Cricket XXII - A Cook's Tour

[Alester Florent]

_{I used to say to my wife before the Aussie's golden generation was gone that it would be more interesting to have some decent competition again, but after a few years of fairly dismal and unpredictable results, I've come to the conclusion that what is best in life is to see a bunch of pale, whinging Poms getting sun burnt and thrashed consistently over the course of a long, glorious summer.}

Well, in Test terms at least (ODIs have been a bit different) part of the problem is that since the end of the golden generation, the quality of both sides has been inconsistent and it's rarely overlapped with an Ashes series.

2009 was probably the most competitive series since the Flintoff whitewash, but that was hardly rivettingly high-quality. Australia played ok outside London; England played well in London, and somehow the series ground to a 2-1 finish. The drama was all in the result and not in the play. Australia might have been ranked #1 at the start of the series, but that was only on paper, and England were at the start of their recovery from the dismal 2007-9 fiascoes.

2010-11, towards the start of a brief period when England were probably the best team in the world, and when Australia were about the fourth or fifth-best team in the world, saw a high quality of cricket played, but only by one side in most of the Tests. Outside Perth, Australia as a whole were pretty abject (Hussey and Haddin played well in the early matches at least).

Last summer saw two demoralised teams, with one in serious decline and the other short on experience and confidence, and Australia turned up just about in time to lose the series, then both teams engaged in a race to the bottom for the remainder. The contrived finish at the Oval masked what had until that point been a pretty stultifying match. Then this tour England were stuffed out of sight almost before they got off the plane. If the series have at any point been close, it's usually because both teams have been playing equally poorly.

But (whisper it) I think that's actually the norm for modern Ashes series even when the Australian team isn't comprised entirely of all-time superstars. The reason 1981 and 2005 stand out is because they were series that saw a fairly consistently high quality of play from both sides (in both cases, after a slow start from England). Most of the other series for the last forty years have been pretty lopsided.

[Alex.]

The ECB have also dropped Petersen now. Ffs.

[williamjm]

The ECB have also dropped Petersen now. Ffs.

I don't think they were very likely to win the T20 World Cup anyway, but this certainly won't help. It's also going to hurt the 2015 World Cup campaign since KP is one of England's two best limited overs batsmen (I think Morgan has probably been more consistent in recent years).

There were times when I could have understood them dropping Pietersen, I don't think anyone could have blamed the ECB if they'd discarded him after his attempted coup against Peter Moores or after the controversial series against South Africa in 2012, but I can't see the sense in doing it now. The official reason that it's time to start a rebuilding process might make sense if they left him out of this summer's Test team, but just before a major international competition that excuse feels like a distraction from their real motivation.

[sh_wulff]

The ECB have also dropped Petersen now. Ffs.

Doesn't make any sense whatsoever !?!

[fuem]

Doesn't make any sense whatsoever !?!

Did they really :O

[ljkeane]

The ECB have also dropped Petersen now. Ffs.

That's mental. England still haven't really nailed down one opener, Stokes did reasonably well at 6 but isn't 100% certain to be a long term test match player at this stage and we may well have lost two key batsmen in Trott and Prior for good. They may have performed poorly in Australia but there's no fucking way we should be dropping any of our three remaining batsmen of proven test match quality. :bang:

[fuem]

WOw. they did. That makes the total of 4 players from the side that has won like back to back ashes.

Dam England wtf are you doing.

[DemonKing]

That's hilarious - in one series we've ended the England careers of Swann and Pietersen and likely Trott and Prior. Pietersen must be an awful pain to deal with for this to happen. Mind you, he was probably lucky to get back into the England team at all after allegedly sending texts to an opposition team detailing how to bowl to his own "Dozy Cunt" of a captain (Strauss) in 2012.

Ahh well, the bright lights and big payoffs of the IPL beckon, I guess...

[Jeor]

I assume Pietersen has been dropped for non-cricketing reasons, since it doesn't make sense for him not to be playing.

He hasn't stated his retirement at least, which means that he could be recalled later on, which is certainly possible. Especially if the batting lineup fails even more dismally in the next 12 months or so. I don't think we've quite heard the end of KP.

[Hereward]

I think we have. Can you imagine how insufferable he would be if they had to come crawling back to beg him to play?

[Jeor]

I think we have. Can you imagine how insufferable he would be if they had to come crawling back to beg him to play?

True, true. But if they did come crawling back, I reckon he'd say yes.

[Hereward]

As long as it didn't clash with the IPL or the Big Bash, yes, almost certainly. Never miss out on a chance to gloat.

[Xray the Enforcer]

The ECB have also dropped Petersen now. Ffs.

:stunned:

I am pretty sure that the ECB have their own Chicken Shit Bingo setup in a broom closet somewhere, with players' faces in place of numbers. If the chicken decides to loose it bowels on a player's face, then he's off the team. Rough luck, KP, but the bird's butt has spoken.

[Hereward]

"You can be an individual within the team but you cannot just be an individual. He has said this is how I play, take it or leave it" - G. Boycott

Yes, that G. Boycott. You've got to admire his bravery in saying something like that with a bloody great storm loitering overhead.

[williamjm]

"You can be an individual within the team but you cannot just be an individual. He has said this is how I play, take it or leave it" - G. Boycott

Yes, that G. Boycott. You've got to admire his bravery in saying something like that with a bloody great storm loitering overhead.

I did find that comment ironic. At least KP never managed to annoy his team-mates so much that they conspired to deliberately run him out.

He hasn't stated his retirement at least, which means that he could be recalled later on, which is certainly possible. Especially if the batting lineup fails even more dismally in the next 12 months or so. I don't think we've quite heard the end of KP.

One of the many odd things about the situation is that they've effectively ended his career at a time when England doesn't have a coach (although I suppose it's possible they know who they will pick and consulted him). What happens if the new coach they appoint decides that he really wants to have one of the most successful batsmen in the history of English cricket in his team?

[Xray the Enforcer]

Watching India-NZ Test. Neither team looks like it wants to win right now.

[Pinkie Baelish]

That's hilarious - in one series we've ended the England careers of Swann and Pietersen and likely Trott and Prior.

I was just thinking this. Michael Clarke has demolished England in a way no other Australian captain could. Truly the greatest captain of all time.

In other news, just watched a great day of test cricket. India started off well, but as usual, went to shambles in the second and third session. Kudos to Williamson and McCullum on their hundreds. Man, Williamson is really shaping up to be perhaps NZ's best number 3 in a long time.

[Xray the Enforcer]

I was just thinking this. Michael Clarke has demolished England in a way no other Australian captain could. Truly the greatest captain of all time.

In other news, just watched a great day of test cricket. India started off well, but as usual, went to shambles in the second and third session. Kudos to Williamson and McCullum on their hundreds. Man, Williamson is really shaping up to be perhaps NZ's best number 3 in a long time.

Glad to hear that the Test shaped up. Due to time differences, I only saw the first session, and about 5 overs of the second.

[williamjm]

England's squad for the next round of their winter humiliation T20 World Cup has been announced and it shows that the England selectors apparently live in a strange world where Kevin Pietersen is surplus to requirements but Jade Dernbach is a key part of the team. Obviously their desire to renew the team and build for the future mostly consists of picking exactly the same players who were whitewashed in the T20s against Australia.

There's a couple of potential debutants in the squad. Moeen Ali has been on the verge of getting into the squad for a while so it'll be interesting to see what he can do, hopefully there won't be too much pressure on him to make up for the absence of another middle-order batsman who bowls off-spin. The second debutant is Stephen Parry who I'd never even heard of before. England's selection of spinners is coming to resemble Australia's search for a replacement for Shane Warne, anyone who can bowl spin seems to be able to get a game although it seems much harder to get picked twice.

[The Anti-Targ]

Good start to the morning, well at least Anderson got his 50 before going out. I'm only reading it on Cricinfo so didn't see the LBW dismissal but the Cricinfo commentator seemed to think the ball was heading down leg, and it seems like McCullum was bemused by the decision. Why is the review system not in place for this series, does India not like it? I feel sure that McCullum would have reviewed the decision.