Why English cricket continues to fail

Oh, how I wish I was English. Not for the food, the weather or their famous fangs. But for surely by now, I’d have played international cricket.

Of course like many Australian’s, my dream from childhood was of the baggy green and, like many Australian’s, the talent was just never there. Some representative cricket at a junior level but nothing to hang my hat on.

Then one day, when bowling to a new batsman in my local league who’d just returned from a number of years of second division county cricket – made all-the-easier with his English passport – a thought occurred to me.

I was bowling my trusty off-spinners on a synthetic-covered concrete pitch in 40 degree heat. Needless to say, things were hardly in my favour when the portly 30-something-year-old swaggered out to the middle at 1/100 odd, only to walk back two balls later after losing his off stump.

‘That was a county cricketer?’ I thought to myself, ‘I’m better than that.’

After watching him a few more times, when he didn’t get out second ball to a Trundler, I saw some real quality.

He was good, of that there was no doubt, but even by weight of his performances he didn’t manage to win any individual awards.

What I found amazing was that he’d represented England at junior level.

Obviously he didn’t go on to play for the Poms, but even still, playing for your country at a junior level is an achievement; and this guy, who I’d knocked over second ball with an average off-spinner had been there?

We got to chatting and he told me about his days in English junior cricket. My “bunny” – whom I also dismissed three times in three balls in an indoor match – told me how he was picked for the England under 15’s, had a better season as an U16 but wasn’t selected, but made it again in the U17’s.

“Players from the junior levels right through to the county circuit can’t expect any consistency” he told me.

I found it quite unusual to say the least that even junior players are shuffled around but with a bit of investigation. It’s easy to see where he drew this conclusion.

England’s Top 5 most capped One Day International players:

1. Alec Stewart – 170
2. Paul Collingwood – 161
3. Darren Gough – 158
4. Andrew Flintoff – 141
5. Graham Gooch – 125

Australia’s Top 5 most capped ODI Players:

1. Steve Waugh – 325
2. Ricky Ponting – 309
3. Adam Gilchrist – 286
4. Allan Border – 273
5. Glenn McGrath – 249

England have used 213 in a total of 525 matches, meaning their players play an average of 27.1 games throughout their careers; while Australia has played 726 games with just 181 different players, averaging 44.1 caps per player.

Interestingly, Alec Stewart, England’s most capped player, would only make 13th place on the all-time appearances list for Australia.

Now, looking at those who have played a minimum of 50 times for their country – with 50 caps indicating they are a “regular” – England have just 36 ODI players to reach this minor milestone or 17% of all players compared to Australia’s 47. That’s 26% of all players.

Taking that a step further, of the players that have played 100+ times – the “stalwarts” if you will – England have a mere 13 or 6% of their players; whereas Australia have found 23 Players good enough for a century of ODI caps – 12.7% of all capped Australians.

Next we move on to Test Cricket.

England’s Top 5 most capped Test Players:

1. Alec Stewart – 133
2. Graham Gooch – 118
3. David Gower – 117
4. Mike Atherton – 115
5. Colin Cowdrey – 114

Australia’s Top 5 most capped Test Players;

1. Steve Waugh – 168
2. Allan Border – 156
3. Shane Warne – 145
4. Ricky Ponting – 135
5. Mark Waugh – 128

England have used a staggering 645 players in their 891 Test Matches to date, an average career spanning 15.2 games compared with Australia’s 411 players in 704 games. A slightly better average of 18.8.

As for the 50+ Test caps, England beats Australia in this area, with 53 players to Australia’s 41 but only 8 Englishman have amassed 100 caps or more, or 1.24% of their players compared with Australia’s 11 at 2.68%.

What can we draw from these statistics?

One could say that Australia has had more star players as evidenced by the players receiving more caps. But there’s only one thing that interests me here: consistency.

Australians are picked less often but more consistently.

It is obviously easier to get a run for England given they’ve capped 234 more players at test level and 32 in ODI’s, but this is their downfall.

This system is, for mine, the biggest reason why England will continue to fail.

Sure, they won’t be totally useless. They have a decent domestic cricket scene and good infrastructure, but to succeed at the highest level you need consistency.

The Australian team that defeated India to win a record 16 consecutive matches contained Slater (74 Tests); Hayden (103); Langer (105); M Waugh (128); S Waugh (168); Ponting (137*); Gilchrist (96); Warne (145); Gillespie (71); Fleming (20); McGrath (124) – an average of 106 Tests between them.

A culture needs to develop where once the breakthrough is made, the selectors stick by the players through thick and thin, regardless of what guy has just scored back-to-back hundreds against Glamorgan and Kent, or who has taken a hat-full against Surrey.

If faith is shown, it will eventually be returned.

If England wants to become a cricketing force, they’re going to have to follow Australia and South Africa’s lead in identifying young, talented players and making sure they develop, giving a pool of players the chance to become the best cricketers they can be, rather than picking them on form.

No more picking juniors on form, you pick juniors on ability.

England must make the change and get away from their frustrating inconsistencies. Find players who have ten years ahead of them and not look back at 39-year-olds like Ramprakash and then they might regularly contest the Ashes.

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