Buzzin Cricket

The England cricket team once again looked fragile and splintered after their humiliating defeat to the West Indies.

England showed a staggering display of self capitulation; and after their embarrassing defeat members of the England team stood alone on the balcony of the dressing rooms.  Did this signify there is still a rift in the England team?

Surely, after such a humiliating loss, the England players should be discussing the defeat as a team behind close doors, not as Jonathan Ledger of Radio Five Live suggested, openly showing the continuing rift amongst the players.

West Indies bowled England all out for just 51 runs with Jerome Taylor collecting five wickets for just 11 runs. Andrew Flintoff was the only England batsman to reach double figures.  Without him England would have set a new record low score, currently 45.

So what does this tell us?  It tells us that England are still in disarray after recently relinquishing the captaincy from Kevin Pietersen & sacking coach Peter Moores.  A position the ECB have yet to fill.

Maybe we can draw some comparisons between the ECB’s weak leadership & the arrogance of some of cricket players to that of the England football players & the problems surrounding poor performances before The FA appointed disciplinarian Fabio Capello as England football manager.

It seems the England cricket team has a nucleus of players that are picked whether they are performing well or not.  This has lead to a lack of competitiveness for places which in turn leads to an arrogance & inflated self-importance.

Fabio Capello stamped this out with the England football team by letting all players know publicly that previous accolades or the size of a player’s stature or wage will no longer earn him a place in the England football team.

With one eye on the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kevin Pietersen & Andrew Flintoff are about to become as wealthy as top football players; and the likes of Ian Bell & current captain Andrew Strauss have failed to perform in recent tests.  So maybe this is the right time to change the role of an England cricket coach and appoint an authoritative figurehead who is more in charge of picking the best 11 players who are hungry to play for their country.

If England were to appoint a coach with the power of a football manager to make tactical decisions, change the captain at will and generally be over and above the dressing room, England may once again start performing as a world class team and not as a group of under-performing clowns.

For now though, it is safe to say that a lot of people will be placing a test series bet on a West Indies win.