Rebuilding for the next World Cup.

[Durhamfootman]

Everything I've read recently about Colin Graves suggests that he is not a man who accepts failure

Time for him to stand up and be the peoples champion, by removing Moores and Downton the day after the England plane touches down at Heathrow

Moores might survive, sadly, but I think Downton will go.

His next job will be to improve the selection process

It would also be quite nice to put this whole captaincy thing to bed, once and for all. When we have different captains for different formats, and it goes badly, the 'experts' all call out for one captain to rule them all, one captain to bind them, then when that goes badly, we need different captains, until that goes badly and so on, and so on, and so on, ad nauseum.

and perhaps he needs to look at central contracts, because my suspicion is that if someone is earning £250K plus add ons each year, there is a tendency for selectors to try and get their moneys worth from those players, hence the seemingly increasing number of bomb-proof players.

[Aidan11]

We're frightened to change. There will be a bit of tweaking but that will be it.

We need to start afresh as soon as that plane lands at Heathrow. I'd like to see Graves greeting Moores on the runway with his P45. Then say to some of the players as they come down the steps "Enjoy your days in county cricket lads".

[Aidan11]

What I'm saying is...

"GET TOUGH AND GROW A PAIR"

[yuppie]

Time to rebuild big time.

It will be tough, but it cant be worse than the last 3 weeks

Australia had to do it in the early 80's. Pick some players with potential and stick with them

[Making_Splinters]

If there are no changes at the top following this World Cup performance there is something fundamentally wrong with English cricket.

Moores' comments after the game were laughable bordering on pathetic, particularly drawing attention to the lack of a settled team when they changed the team for the opening game! Downton responded in a similar ilk. When will the ECB wake up and see that the persistant culture of brand over batting and bowling has thrown away all good will towards English cricket?

Delusional, disfunctional, disengaged and most importantly dishonest are the adjectives that fit best next to the ECB. One has to imagine that Cook is actually delighted he was spared having any part in this.

[Arthur Crabtree]

There is often the feeling that England prepare for the competition just gone. Which was the response to the poor performances in Asia in the last WC. England will learn and assimilate the lessons of an Aus/NZ WC to take to... one in England. Crazily, England fine tuned their WC squad in... Sri Lanka.

I'm also not sure England would be best served by adopting a year zero approach on the pitch. Though I hope they go that way off the pitch. The obvious players to jettison are Anderson and Bell, who aren't England's worst current players (and might help the others), though flawed. But I think England should at least explore other options for a while. Finn and Morgan might go back to the drawing board. Broad could do with some time away. Ballance might have to come back at a later date. And Bopara surely won't play fifty over cricket again. I presume the others will be named in the next squad.

Hales/Vince/Taylor/Root/Buttler/Stokes/Moeen/Willey/Woakes/Jordan/Rankin/Patel/Tredwell/Roy/Wood.

See also Billings, Rashid, Parry.

[ianp1970]

If we're going to adopt this approach to the next World Cup, then there are a couple of fundamental things that need to happen:

1. Select 2 different captains, one white-ball and one red-ball.
2. Pick ODI squads based more on T20 lines, rather than mainly test match players.

Can't see it happening though, as the ECB have a "thing" about the England captain, and they like to see their centrally contracted players playing in most of the games.

#dinosaurs

I was thinking out of the top 6/7 in the test team maybe 3/4 would be in the ODI team with the remainder selected from T20 or on domestic form. So from the current team maybe those 3 would be Root, Ali and Buttler? With the bowlers you might select only 2/3 test players, depending on type and white-ball ability. As it happens, Anderson and Broad are getting to the point in their careers where concentrating on one form only will lengthen their time in the international game.

Overall you would end up with between 5 and 7 test players mixed in with ODI/T20 players, rather than the current team of 10 test players and Morgan.

Might not work, but the current system has been abject since 1992...

Surely today's result must mean the end in this format for Bell, Morgan, Broad and Anderson?

For what it's worth, I would like to see something like this team line up against (World Champions?!) New Zealand in the summer:

Hales
Root
Roy
Taylor

Ali
Buttler
Stokes

Footitt
Rashid
Willey
Woakes

I have deliberately split the top/middle/bottom orders alphabetically rather than by batting position, as that is one of the many areas where we are not flexible enough.

[Aidan11]

If we don't get out act together people will stop attending games. They are expensive as it is but you expect a decent game.

[braveneutral]

If we don't get out act together people will stop attending games. They are expensive as it is but you expect a decent game.

People should make a point with their wallet. Unfortunately it won't stop the fat cats and their corporate days out so it probably won't make a difference.

Could always do a double header with England on the first game and Ireland the second as part of a package deal.

[KipperJohn]

The first requirement is another Bonfire of the Vanities.

[braveneutral]

I already burned my KP shirt but I feel that that may have been counter productive.

[backfootpunch]

If we don't get out act together people will stop attending games. They are expensive as it is but you expect a decent game.

the last england match i went to was england vs india at edgbaston in 2011, i paid £50 to watch alistair cook bat all day (he made 290 odd) biggest waste of £50 in my life i almost fell asleep


at least when your watching it on TV i can flick to the golf or football and you also get a much better view on the TV

[sussexpob]

Its pretty worrying to find out that England's guys at the top are still finding out things from 2003 that us mere mortals knew already. This leads me to a horrifying conclusion; that Downton either spends all his time at the buffet when at cricket matches and hasn't actually witnessed a ODI between any sides in the past decade, or his understanding of the mechanics of the sport are severely limited. Neither form the basis of an encouraging conclusion. What is more worrying is that he felt the need to say this so close to England being knocked out. Either he didn't understand the gravity of his words, or felt confident enough with his position in the post tournament shake up that he can essentially say what he wants, despite how utterly moronic it is.

[Making_Splinters]

Pretty good article from Simon Barnes on the current state of English cricket:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

[Durhamfootman]

Hmm.... not sure if i have 86 years left in me

thank goodness Paul Downton was able to bring some certainty to the team by backing PM to the hilt immediately. It would have been terrible if such a talented and inspiring individual was lost to the sport forever