Durhamfootman wrote:Gingerfinch wrote:I suppose the problem is, who should be captain? Most players are not guaranteed a place, in fact only Root and Stokes are.
it's a dilemma. Root isn't a good captain, he never has been, but Stokes doesn't seem to want it atm and he's never really been tested as a captain domestically anyway.
I have been persuaded by SP's observations regarding team selection over the duration of this entire series. The errors are glaring, the thought processes muddled and inconsistent from captain and coach.
Agree. Sussex is clearly right on this, Silverwood is useless, and I don't think anyone here has offered much in defence of Root as a captain beyond the 'there isn't another good candidate' argument, which is a pretty damn weak one. You'd find someone. And I didn't see anyone on here forecasting anything other than 5-0 or 4-0 with a rain-affected draw in there somewhere (I was the latter, but I can't find where I wrote it down, so you'll have to trust me on that one ).
On the coaching/improving, while there are clearly a lot of problems in that department, especially batting, the circumstances really haven't helped. No warm up games of substance to get used to the bowling and conditions. And once the series started, five back-to-back games. If you find you have a problem, there is simply no opportunity to work on it. With 4-5 days between games, at least one lost to travelling, you've got at best 2-3 days of nets (and probably need some rest in there too) before you're being worked over by Cummins et al again and have a few overs in the middle before you're back in the hutch again wondering where it all went wrong.
I'm not trying to defend anyone here, as opposed to offer some observations and note just how hopeless the decision making has been. Blame covid if we must, but why have we not had more time here, a parallel A tour with players staying in the country to learn and have a pool to draw from, etc., etc.? When there was all the kerfuffle earlier in 2021 about whether the tour would go ahead at all, were they arguing about whether or not England had sufficient practice time or support? No, the players were insisting that they couldn't bear to be separated from their WAGs for six weeks. Try telling that to people who haven't seen their families for two years due to border closures, or people whose jobs takes them away from their families like armed forces personnel, diplomats, etc., etc.. The English BBL players didn't seem to mind being here for 2+ months without their families. I guess if they paycheck is big enough, you can get over it.
As sussex says, no-one in the hierachy, from the players to the coach to the counties seems to have the b*lls to demand better.