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Dear Shane, Firstly, can I just say how much I admired you as a cricketer. Like a lot Poms of my age, I grew up idolising you, wishing you could have been born in Manchester not Melbourne.
You were one of the few sportsmen who transcended national allegiances.
Losing countless Ashes series back to back was made all the easier as you were the arch destroyer.
I spent every daylight hour in summer in the nets trying to bowl leggies.
By the end of the season my wrist would ache, and I would have weeping blisters up my finger.
When you retired, I was genuinely sad. One of my idols had hung up his boots.
I needn’t have worried about not hearing much from you after your retirement though, and this is where my issue lies.
As bizarre as I find your surgically enhanced face, and who slightly odd it feels to see you in much more svelte shape post retirement, it isn’t this that gets to me.
These elements aren’t what is tarnishing my memories of you.
Hell, your reputation even grew when we all learnt that you had snared another of the fascinations of my formative years, Liz Hurley – the definition of batting above your average.
My issue is your inability to keep your mouth shut.
I concede, many of your opinions are valid, and while you keep saying they are only personal opinions, that isn’t really worth much when they are plastered all over the media across the cricketing hemisphere.
In your recent, repetitive blathering about Alistair Cook, there is some merit.
His captaincy could be a bit more imaginative. On field does he have a lot to learn from Michael Clarke? Absolutely.
But that is only half the issue. Cook’s England are united. The team all like the skipper.
They respect him, they play for him. Can you say the same for your mate Pup? Not exactly.
Would a united Australia have provided a more credible threat to England in the series that ended a couple of months ago? Yes.
Your claim that Michael Clarke would captain a world XI at the moment took me a little by surprise. Would he even be in the XI?
Slots in the middle order are hard to come by with competition from the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers, Ian Bell, Shiv Chanderpaul, Kumar Sangakkara and more.
That is not to say that Cook would definitely be in there either, with competition from Shikar Dhawan, Graeme Smith and others, but he would likely have shorter odds than Clarke to make the team.
The other elements that you seem to have omitted to mention are the performance of both Cook and England under his leadership.
Since taking charge England have lost just once, and Cook’s performances for the most part have exceeded his career averages before taking on the top job.
I fully expect him to make up for a barren English summer with another strong performance down-under over the next three months. Pretty good leadership I would say.
Clarke himself has performed extremely well over his time as captain, but unfortunately for him his team haven’t followed his lead.
What does that say about his captaincy?
I will freely admit that there is much more to the performance of international sides than the strengths of their captain, but let’s face there is not a huge gap in talent between Australia and England at the moment.
This suggests that England must have the more complete team in terms of harmony, the will to play for each other, and the important attitude to put the team first.
I find it hard to believe that this kind of attitude exists in the baggy green camp, and that issue sits firmly at the captain’s door.
Shane, I understand that you and Pup are mates.
I understand that you and KP are mates (no he should not be England captain – again – we learnt that lesson a few years ago).
I understand that you and Swanny are part of the spinners guild, but I think you may have pushed this boat far enough.
Give it a rest Shane.
Let’s have some constructive analysis of why Australia are consistently under performing, or whether Fawad Ahmed is ready for Test cricket, or some tips on how best to maximise your winnings with pocket aces.
We don’t need more hot air about what is holding a highly successful and functional England XI back, especially when there are much more significant issues closer to home.
I have in this letter, Shane, only picked on one example of your diatribes, that often leap to the defence of your mates in the game and skirt around the issues that are perhaps more important.
There are more, but that is for another day.
You are a legend of this game, and many players (Michael Carberry for example) owe you a huge amount.
Cricket in general owes you a huge amount for bringing wrist spin back into fashion. People like you are once in a generation, or perhaps rarer.
So, I implore you, pull your head in. Please don’t tarnish your legend.
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