English Cricket Thread

[Durhamfootman]

It seems to be almost universally held that North is a pretty good fit for the role, so I was surprised when Goughie came out and said that. Sour grapes indeed

I'm assuming that he's a mate of Rob Key, because he's a mate of Harmy who is a mate of Rob Key. Harmy said weeks ago that he thought the job should go to Goughie, but then also applauded the North signing when it happened. I reckon Goughie thought he had the job in the nudge and a wink bag and then got a shock when it went elsewhere

And I absolutely don't understand his attack on Steve Finn, in any way, shape or form. Just comes across as petulance

[sussexpob]

And I absolutely don't understand his attack on Steve Finn, in any way, shape or form. Just comes across as petulance

To be perfectly fair to Goughie, I think the Finn comment is just the press cutting and pasting one line from a long conversation, and making it look like he said something really bad. Gough had previously gone through a long explanation of why he believed the role required experience in admin/coaching/leadership, and when asked about Finn, he went on to say that he thought Finn was a really bright, intelligent guy who had all the potential to embark on a great post-playing career in the game, but that Finn's non existent experience at this point should have instantly disqualified him from the process. He then said if Finn gets some experience under his belt, there is no reason why he couldn't in a few years time get a high role in setup.

Which I think is a fair point.

[Durhamfootman]

that's fair enough

[sussexpob]

I think the most interesting thing Gough said in general was that working with the England Under-19 setup was a real alarm call on how behind England are at this stage of development, and how bowlers lacked basic skills like bowling slower balls or having never been taught how to reverse swing the ball. He said in his opinion our players were 2-3 years behind India at this age, but he says observing recently from a distance he thinks this might have slightly improved.

[Durhamfootman]

or having never been taught how to reverse swing the ball.

you mean scraping the ball on the tarmac when the umpire isn't looking and learning how to excrete sugary sweat now that spitting on the ball is no longer allowed?

[Durhamfootman]

I'm being facetious