We have all watched the recent back-to back Ashes series with great interest.
Before the series in the north England were supremely confident, having defeated India in India.
Australia were a rabble on and off the field following a disastrous tour of India.
The northern series went pretty well to script with England comfortable winners on the scoreboard.
But Australia had regrouped and performed reasonably well. Confidence and optimism had returned.
Now the southern series has seen the wheel turn full circle. England are the rabble and the confident, aggressive swagger has returned to Australian cricket.
How has this happened, you ask? Excuses such as a tired England team a long way from home can be made and may have some merit.
The overwhelming factor, however, has been the inability of the England team to see the momentum shift – and more importantly, to adapt to it.
Alastair Cook must bear the brunt of the responsibility for this situation.
Instead of matching fire with fire he has become completely defensive and reactionary. His own form has been poor but his captaincy has been just plain awful.
Many times his bowlers have had Australia on the ropes, only to be unable to land the knockout blow.
Aggressive or even positive captaincy may have enabled that killer blow to be landed. Cook’s tactics, however, have too often allowed the game to drift.
Cook’s field placings and tactics to the Australian lower order have allowed them to recover and get their noses in front in each Test.
England’s tactics when batting have been equally lacking in positivity. Scoring rates have been slow and attacking stroke play has been non-existent. They have drifted along.
Sure, Australia have had Mitchell Johnson destroy the England batting in every innings, but the England team have done nothing to even try to dictate terms to the Australians.
It is the lack of anything resembling a plan which is most damning. Cook is clearly not the man to lead England out of this mire.
Neither, it seems, is Andy Flower. They need someone brimming with confidence to turn things around.
One could draw a parallel between Flower and Bob Simpson as coaches. Both instilled a disciplined approach and their talented teams blossomed, gained confidence and achieved success.
Alastair Cook, however, is no Mark Taylor. Taylor’s confident and positive approach and tactical nous were the foundation for Australia’s long run of success.
So who is the Mark Taylor of English cricket?
In the current team there doesn’t appear to be one. Jonathan Trott may never play again, Matt Prior is totally out of form.
I will leave aside the appalling treatment of Prior except to say that however out of form he may have been, he should never have been dropped for a part-time keeper in Jonny Bairstow.
Ian Bell is another senior player, but is not considered to be leadership material. James Anderson is a good player but is near the end of his career. Don’t even mention Kevin Pietersen.
That leaves Stuart Broad, who can at least hold his head high and say he has performed well on this tour.
Broad has clearly been the best of the English bowlers and has shown a bit of fight with the bat as well. He is the England T20 captain so has some leadership credentials.
I wouldn’t expect Broad to work miracles but he might be a bit like Allan Border – the only choice available. If he is chosen he will at the very least bring some fight to the job.
Cook seems to me to have had his confidence both as a player and as a captain severely damaged on this tour.
He must be replaced as captain. Hopefully he can regain form with the bat from there.
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