Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

test HC, of course

McCullum had a really decent record as captain of the limited overs team, but the test team had proven to have significantly under-achieved with him at the helm, considering the amount of players he had who were the same as Kane had at his disposal, and the latter took the side to number 1. The results werent very good at all, especially against top tier sides....

It would have made more sense to make him limited overs coach, where his personal talents and leadership are unquestionably excellent.

But what do we know. As a coach, we dont have much to go on. Maybe he will be good, and I wish him the best.

Agree it seems a strange decision to appoint BMac as test rather than limited overs coach, given Key has expressed an intention to split the coaching roles.

Still, decision made, so good luck to him. He will need some time to be successful - teams don't recover from rock bottom overnight.

I agree that he's an odd choice. He has no 4 day coaching experience, only IPL, I think. Still.... there must be something about him that Rob Key likes, so I hope it's the right call

Have they worked together on commentary? Has Key gained an insight into how he thinks about the game from that?

seemingly they approached McCullum with a view to taking charge of the ltd overs side, but he says he didn't want a 'cushy' job with a team that was flying anyway so turned them down. Maybe he was the one who suggested taking over the test team

I suspect an important consideration is that he will likely work well with Stokes. Have to see how the approach works in practice , of course ; but having a leadership team pulling in the same direction strikes me as a positive point.

Lacks red ball coaching (well actually any coaching) experience ; but other appointments with plenty of it haven't turned out so well : perhaps Key has assessed him on his personal qualities and thinks he has the right blend of common sense and positive attitude to take England forward in the way other recent coaches have not. As I say , we will see in time : I guess this means both McCullum and Key are on trial together...

This summer might be fun !

Tom Harrison quits, so this is quite a fresh start. Been in situ for nine years.

Due a big cash thank you for the success of the hundred (it says here).

Can't see any updates on Graham Thorpe.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Tom Harrison quits, so this is quite a fresh start. Been in situ for nine years.

Due a big cash thank you for the success of the hundred (it says here).

I would like to know where the £72m went with Harrison, Graves and Strauss came together

me too

funny that

Anderson and Broad recalled. Thankfully.

Although it seems they have little choice. Woakes, Mahmood, Sam Curran, Archer, Wood, Fisher, Stone and Robinson are all out injured (although in Robinson's case it sounds more like fitness than injury per se), as well as Dan Lawrence. So the most remotely promising new players from the Caribbean tour are out.

Seriously, what do England do to seamers? That's an insane injury list considering we haven't played for two months.

In other news, Matthew Mott has been announced as white ball coach, after seven years of coaching Australia's women to unprecedented dominance. Solid domestic coaching record with NSW and Glamorgan, and worked with Bayliss before. Should be a good fit for the white ball team.

I think Fisher and Mahmood are out for the season.

and now Archer

Huh. The article I saw said Lawrence was injured too, but he just hit an unbeaten hundred for Essex against a Lancs attack including Jimmy and Hasan Ali, so can't be that injured.

bigfluffylemon wrote:Seriously, what do England do to seamers?

they break them and then send them back to their counties and ask them to get them fit again so that they can call them up and break them again later