Rewind to six months ago, the Ashes were lost and English cricket thought it had a crisis. They were wrong.
That crisis was simply a state of manufactured panic following the loss of a single series – an affliction Australian cricket suffered through on several occasions in recent memory.
England’s solution, having already lost senior players Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann mid-Ashes, was to jettison the coach and their two leading run scorers for the series, Kevin Pietersen and Michael Carberry.
Now they’ve been bounced out of the second Test against the Indians, plus they’ve already lost a series to Sri Lanka earlier in the English summer. The crisis has not been resolved.
Alastair Cook is in the worst batting slump of his career, he’s had 27 innings without a century, averaging just over 23 during that time. If he weren’t captain he would have been dropped.
Worse for England is that his ongoing struggles with the willow are clearly affecting his confidence and ability as captain. Issues with his captaincy have been well documented, covering things such as bizarre bowler usage, odd field settings, and general negative tactics.
He has said he’ll stick around as long as needed, but at what cost to his batting and the English side?
Cook’s form aside, what other captaincy options do England have? Stuart Broad has the reigns at T20 level and Ian Bell is vice-captain and the next most senior player but, like Cook, not in great touch with the bat.
Some have Joe Root as a candidate, especially if they want to make a long-term change, however he’s young and one of only a couple in some sort of form. Do you want to throw the responsibility of captaincy at the risk of taking that glimmer of form away?
Post-match, Cook supported Matt Prior as the “best wicketkeeper batsman in the country”, a couple of hours later Prior stepped down for the rest of the summer. Officially it’s due to injuries that are hampering his performance, but it does feel a little like ‘jump before you’re pushed’.
He has taken 26 catches so far this English summer, but he’s probably dropped or missed half that many again. Then there are the 36 byes he let through in the last Test.
Jos Buttler, who has played for England in the shorter formats and was in the squad as cover for Prior ahead of the first Test, seems most likely to be behind the stumps when the third Test starts next Sunday.
In the lead-up to his maiden century there were discussions as to whether Ben Stokes, one of the few positives for England in last year’s Ashes, was a batting or bowling all-rounder. Since mid-January, Stokes’ scores in English colours have been 0, 5, 5, 4, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0 and 0 for an average of 1.8. With that you’d say he’s currently a bowling all-rounder, or not deserving of the all-rounder tag at all.
His seven wickets aren’t making up for it, if you’re in the side as an all-rounder you need to be making runs, Stokes clearly can’t do that for England at the moment. Being not born in England he’ll probably end up having a long career for England, but for now the selectors need to send him back to Durham and wait until he hits consistent form.
Another issue is the lack of a front-line spinner. Moeen Ali, who is more spinning-all-rounder than front-line spinner, has been doing a reasonable job and his ability with the bat has been useful.
Simon Kerrigan was added to the squad before the second Test, but his previous outing in the Ashes a year ago saw him only bowl eight very expensive overs, which made most question why he was picked at all. Kerrigan can’t force Moeen out of the side just yet, but maybe they could play alongside each other.
Depending on the pitch, Simon Kerrigan, Chris Jordan or Chris Woakes should be in line to take the fourth bowling spot from Stokes, allowing Ali to slide into the all-rounder spot. Given how they’ve struggled to wrap up innings quickly with the ball when they get themselves into a good position, and the indifferent form of the majority of the team, they need to change something, anything, if they are to remain in the series.
On top of all this you’ve got the one hour scenario that played out after lunch on day five, when the bottom half of England’s line-up were bounced out by Ishant Sharma in an embarrassing display of batting from all involved.
India will be wishing they’d taken to that tactic in the first session, England may not have even made it to lunch.
Ajinkya Rhane, Murali Vijay, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja and Sharma all played well for the Indians, but they were undoubtedly helped by some seriously inept cricket English cricket.
And as Ravindra Jadeja strolled in to bowl what would be the last ball of the Test, Peter Moores and Alastair Cook were shown in conversation on the Lord’s balcony.
I couldn’t help but wonder…
“Do you think we can blame this one on KP?”
Rowdy
Guest
Not as much as I loved your lot at 21-9 against the Proteas!
Dmitri Old
Guest
This is the ECB. The board that brought back Andy Flower to coach its A team yesterday. I have a strong feeling that Prior will be named in the squad for the next test series, which is in the West Indies after the World Cup. I'd stick a dollar on at 500 to 1 - these are not rational people we are dealing with over here. I was recommended this site by a commenter on a cricket blog and really like it (for a pom). Hope to be back more.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It's just so amazing to see when you think back to where things were less than a year ago. I remember picking up a magazine late in the Australian summer which was obviously sitting there from the start of the summer, previewing the summers Ashes and it basically went through how England were basically dominant in every position and Australia had to raise their game a lot to even be competitive. Bell had just been incredibly dominant through the English side of the Ashes, with decent help from other batsmen, Andersen, Broad and Swann were all bowling really well. In steps Mitchell Johnson with good backup from Harris, to decimate the English batsmen, with Stokes the only centurion in the series compared to all the top 7 for Australia bar George Bailey scoring hundreds, something like a dozen in total, and England are suddenly a shell of their former selves being smashed by everyone. Bell can't by a run, Cook can't by a run, Trott and Pietersen are gone, they've gone from having one of the most consistent international keeper-batsmen to having that as one of their weakest positions, and they basically have no decent spinner. If you went back 12 months to the middle of the last English summer and told anyone this is where England would be now they'd ask you what sort of drugs you were smoking. It's just incredible how they've just fallen apart.
Paul Potter
Roar Guru
Just found the Willis clip on YouTube - very funny. Gillespie is an astute commentator and coach. His equal might be Damien Wright - very smart coach and highly regarded by many.
Bakkies
Guest
He did say it. I liked Gillespie's work on that show during the Ashes.
Paul Potter
Roar Guru
I remember watching England capitulate at the SCG. From the time Brad Haddin walked onto the field of play on the first day, their body language was terrible and their play was worse. With the exception of Stokes when he was bowling, there was no heart, no soul. It was the worst batting performance I've seen just because of the way they got out. They do not appear to learn. What is wrong with hitting the ball along the ground? If their batting is this bad, I cannot understand why Read is being repeatedly ignored. He is one of the best pure glovemen I have seen. If you're a bad side, the most important area to improve first is in the fielding. That period of play after lunch at Lord's - good grief! Apparently Bob Willis said something like, "There's less hookers in SoHo on a Saturday night." If he did, it was dead accurate.
Nudge
Guest
Haddin was poor for 3 months which happened to coincide with his sick daughter. Prior's been crap for a year, and he's been getting worse by the test. If I was offered odds of 500 to 1 that Prior would play test cricket again, I wouldn't put a dollar on it
Tom from Perth
Guest
Promises for many more capitulations - and I can't wait to witness them!
Bakkies
Guest
I am sure Cook would be fine with letting tailenders score a few boundaries if his own batsmen including himself were able to pick up the slack in return. The bowlers bowling rubbish doesn't help either.
Bakkies
Guest
If Haddin can make it back I can't see why Prior isn't able to. Haddin was keeping poorly before he got dropped.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
I not sure Prior will ever play Tests again, he's been very poor all the way back to the Ashes in England last year and by the time he is back playing he'll be 33.
mattyb
Guest
You might find with a change of captain England could dramatically improve and in hurry.The mindless negativity shown by Cook appears to have no boundary to the extent that he's so scarred of 10 and 11's hitting boundaries its costing England a lot of runs.Like or dislike Peiterson,Cook and Moore's decided he had to go.With this decision comes at least some sort of responsibility,and that responsibility is to at least play attacking positive cricket as a means of showing how England plan to move forward into the future.With the young batsman performing admirably they could probably afford to keep Cook without him making runs but he's captaincy is so deplorable he has to go.Let's face it,there isn't any hope what so ever of him becoming a half decent captain even if he starts making runs again.
Simoc
Guest
The main change England need to make is to their attitude. There scoring rate continues to be woeful, so the mindset is all about survival, not taking the game on and going out to win. Unfortunately with so many new players their priority is staying in the team, and so risk avoidance. The coaching in Oz, if he had any input, was all negative tactics.
Tom from Perth
Guest
After some contemplation and research I've made my decision (for what it's worth). Joe Root gets my nod given the catastrophic situation England are in. I think he's definitely too young but he's captained the English Lions before, which suggests someone has identified talent in him. He has also captained his county team when the regular skipper was absent. If England are serious about rebuilding for the future, then a young long term captain could be a good idea. I also note that David Lloyd has said he is "definitely" captain material and will be captain in the future and Shane Warne is pushing for him to be captain after Cook.
Bakkies
Guest
Prior has pulled out. He was playing poorly with a catalogue of injuries that were hampering his movement. Playing injured means that you have to tee off with the bat looking for boundaries and that isn't working for him. Buttler his replacement looks be Wade mark 2 we will see.
Bakkies
Guest
Although it was Twenty 20 Carberry was hitting it like a dream last night but he hasn't done much in the CC. It was a club sized ground but Carberry was hitting them well in to the stands. Maxwell posted another score below 30.
Bakkies
Guest
They refuse to change. The way they let the game drift is killing them so changing personnel won't achieve much. They also commiting a cardinal sin of picking players who are injured. Broad is one of them and has dropped pace. He carried the attack in Australia but that has effected him mentally too. His habits with the bat are a carry on from the Ashes. Cook should be left out of the one day series and play the remainder of the county season. There is a significant gap to the West Indies so he could look for first class games elsewhere or put the feet up. Moeen is fighting but is getting out the same way he could be another Hughes if he doesn't adapt to cover his weaknesses. Bell is having problems with his off stump fending off balls that he could be leaving. Sharma felt he got lucky with the sameness of the dismissals. The England batsmen hitting straight to the trap. They need to look at how Ponting dealt with traps there. He played it down in to space when there men out. The mountains of runs he scored pulling and hooking far outweighed the dismissals. Pace bowlers have dried up. They rarely get it at the stumps. It's looking likely that they won't go back to Finn for more pace as leaking runs to get wickets is against this team's mindset. England have been lucky that India haven't been good enough to get 500 plus yet as they will be looking at innings defeats.
Nudge
Guest
So the future is promising Ronan
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
The problems for England are massive. 1. They need a new skipper, but the only guy favoured to do it - Bell - has been in shocking form with the bat in Tests for nearly a year. 2. They need a new opener to replace the floundering Cook. But there is no obvious replacement. Dropping Cook - which is desperately needed - would also leave England with six rookies in their top seven with only the struggling Bell having any experience. 3. They need a new keeper to replace the bumbling Prior. But Buttler, the man likely to take his spot, is renowned as a shoddy keeper. He also is not particularly special with the bat at FC level (average of 33). 4. They desperately need a specialist spinner. But the man they are leaning towards, Kerrigan, is rank ordinary and will battle massive mental demons after his mauling on Test debut. They are in a bigger hole than Australia was in early last year.
Gregor
Guest
Agree about Cook being a good batsman.When he and Clarke each celebrated their 100th Test, they had each scored pretty well half of the runs that Tendulkar had at the time in his 200 tests. He's no mug but he's playing like one at the moment. He has taken the Hippocratic oath "Do no harm" to far too great a degree. Broad would be my pick.Sure he doesn't always get in line,but he toughed it out against Johnson more than once last summer and I think he has the right attitude