Flux

Its taken me a while to post this Ashes report for reasons obvious to anybody who saw/heard/read anything about any of the five test matches. I'm going to mention the reasons why I think things went wrong and explain them a bit. If you agree/disagree/feel confused, strikeback below and I'll get back to you...

• Marcus Trescothick's handling. Twice.

Big one this. We have a guy who consistently scores runs, quickly, at the top of the order and ahs done since ~ 2000. He built a great partnership with MPV and an even better one with Brockett. He's experienced and a senior player trusted by those around him, indeed he was Captain when MPV was not. We needed him. I don't pretend to understand what happened with him, but I do know that the ECB mis-managed the whole thing seeing as he broke down again coming to Australia.

• Monty's handling.
  

Well, obvious, really. He is the best English spinner I have seen. He takes top order wickets in a variety of conditions, he bowls with different speeds, bounce and turn and he has a decent economy for sure. So why drop him? He could have been the most potent attacking force on either side. As it stands, he just turned in one of the most auspicious debut Ashes' performances around in a losing cause. Callous.

• Read/Gojo's handling

One can keep wicket brilliantly and bat awfully; one keeps wicket well and bats poorly compared to 2004. So what do we do? Chop and change over a couple of years giving neither long enough to get used to Test attacks (Read) or regain his past form versus counties (Gojo). What did we expect them to do with the bat? A combined average of 11.08. Wonderful.

• Cooley

Best bowling coach around. He creates a truly awe-inspiring five-man attack to help England win the Ashes 2005. He's allowed to leave. We collapse all around ourselves, bowling to second slip whilst Australia convert a two-man attack into a full-on five man bowling team.

• Fred being made captain

Let's look at the evidence. Fred had never captained a team before. He batted, bowled and slipped. He was akin to Botham. He was talismanic in 2005. Strauss was not given the captaincy.

What happened? Strauss didn't speak to him despite his brain being the best cricketing one on the pitch, Fred couldn't score runs, he couldn't take wickets, he couldn't captain and, truth be told, he just wasn't very good (bad body language, very clear signals to bowlers and whole team....just all round poor captaincy. Great man, great player, bad captain.

• Brockett not being kept as captain

The man knew what he was doing. He won tests, he attacked, he made incisive changes, he listened, he cajoled and he gave the right appearance on pitch. In short, he was the closest we had to MPV. Oh yes, his batting seemed to improve when captain too.

• Gilo being 'fit'

He wasn't. Even so, despite being an awesome player in the previous series he just wasn't the best spinner we had and shouldn't have played as a result. Fletch or Fred or whoever's fault, big mistake.

• Change in attitude from attack to defence

Why? This is how we won the Ashes. Take on the bowling. Go for a RR over 4. Place fielders in catching positions. Stand up to their bullying. How did we go from this to fielders back, inconsistent bowling, turgid batting, futile sledging attempts and so on? Lack of MPV, too nice a captain, too insecure a captain (in his own players). Sure, he had a point but still. Go down fighting...

• Fletch saying he doesn't pick the team

He obviously has some input and he needs to support his captain

• Fred saying he doesn't pick the team

See above.

• Injuries

Of course the losses of MPV, Jones, Gilo and Banger hit us hard. But their replacements are all pretty good (batting may be stronger on paper; bowling isn't, granted.

• Australia...

...were awesome. Fantastic play. We weren't as good as we should have been. A gap that could maybe have been breached given different choices, luck and personnel was just made all the bigger. Congratulations Australia - we'll have you next time.

Posted by Luciano Howard on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 9:14 PM | Permalink