Harry is a fellow cricket obsessive with whom I've been having an ongoing e-mail conversation over the past six months or so. The conversation has tended to take the form of one or other of us ranting at length about the latest English failures, followed by the other wading in with some equally trenchant views. Harry was the first to point out that, from the safety of 550-6, there was only one possible way England could lose the Adelaide test - and they chose it. He's also a big fan of Mal Loye.
When I got Harry's latest message (the day after the Australia defeat) I thought, 'why suffer alone - let's share it with a wider audience...'
So here it is: -
Apparently the reason why Michael Vaughan is absolute pants as a one-day batsman is that the pressure of captaincy weighs heavily. So says Fletch.
Well excuse me, but isn't he in the side, as was the case with Brearley, because of his fantastic leadership, brilliant decision-making and all-round inspirational qualities ..... which, in this tournament, have taken us to defeat every time we have faced a test-playing nation. And for those who want to argue that two of those losses were narrow: isn't that when a world-class captain might have found a way to find that extra few percent to convert them to wins?
(I'll skip over the "Loye should've been there" bit, because I'm a stuck vinyl platter on that subject now, but I'm bloody well right.)
So, Fletcher has become an idiot, evolving from the inscrutable master cricket coach & tactician for our national side, into something resembling a failing football manager. Sad.
And, whilst I'm feeling disenchanted, let me move on to Pietersen, the gloriously talented South African who now plays for Kevland. What a fantastic day he had on Sunday! A century in the World Cup! The crowning glory for all his magnificent efforts on behalf of, err, Kevland. How wonderful to see him cavorting around the pitch as he notched up his ton. And doesn't it speak volumes for ihs single-minded concentration that it never seemd to cross his mind that whilst the flashbulbs were a-poppin' for him, that team called England was heading inevitably towards a comfortable defeat. 5 an over on a perfect batting track is nowhere near enough, either for a team, or its star batsman.
His ton was by today's standards, in those conditions, almost Boycott-esque. As is his attitude.
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2 comments:
Spot on regarding KP. He may be the best batsman England has and he is certainly missed when he isn't there, but he isn't exactly a game-turner, although he should be.
The game against Australia was a failure from the perspective of KP - he should have scored at least 150 in even time to have an impact. By scoring his century in the manner he did, he might as well have gotten out for 25.
When he brought up his ton, did he point towards the Australian dressing room first (rather than his own team mates)?
Yep, I guess you showed 'em, KP - the men in gold were positively quaking after watching that Katich-esque effort.
The sooner KP moves on to his next test country (would probably fit right into the Indian outfit), the better for England - he has neither the heart, passion, intelligence, temperament etc etc to do England any favours.
I am not sure i totally agree with that.
KP has seem to adopted the now (dreadful) England ODI stlye of treating like a test innings. Hoping that by hanging around they might make 20-30 runs more.
When we look at other teams playing in the World Cup, they tend to have a blast from time to time. I am intrigued to know how England's first 10-15 overs compare to other teams.
Since KP is the only England batsman in any kind of form (apart from Collingwood) i think a little bit of reluctance to throwing away his wicket with a big swish, is not such a bad plan.
However I am dissapointed that he hasn't taken to the bowling like he can. Fingers X'ed for fireworks against SA. Either that, or he opens, and is told to go for it.
It must be coming from the top, i think this is the type of stage he would want to be showing off in!
JJ
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