England Cricket 2025

All over. A respectable defeat, suggesting we may be able to win one of the final Tests 

Brendan McCullum admitted that preparation for this series has been wrong. Both before it began and between tests.
Also saying that we needed to play with a more measured approach and recognising what to do in certain situations. They did that more in this test but they didn't do it at all in the first 2 test. 

Well glad you're finally learning it's a bit late especially when nearly everybody else already knew all this.  

Being Rob Key seems a decent job. 

Anyone seen him?

Wonder if Jason Gillespie could be tempted back to these shores as coach or if the debacle he had with Pakistan is enough of a taste of international cricket for him and he's happy doing punditry and domestic coaching in Australia. 

Swindon_Addick said:

There was an interesting stat dug up on TMS early in the final day. One of those things that sounds like it's meant to be encouraging but is actually quite damning.

If you use average runs scored per wicket lost as a rough measure of how well each team is playing the margin between Australia and England over the first 3 tests of this series is actually less than the margin in the previous 3 Ashes series in Australia. England aren't being tonked by large margins, even though it does feel like that. The problem of course is that we're consistently playing badly at the key moments with the result that we lost the first test when the Aussies had played terribly in the first innings, then we played better in what looks like it's going to be the only test where they have anything like a full-strength bowling attack.

I like the element of Bazball that says be positive, don't play for the draw, always try to win. Fine. It's just that a lot of the players interpret "try to win" as "try to score 6 an over" and then wonder why that doesn't often work in test cricket.

I think thats the problem with it. The headline message seems to be "test cricket is easy just take 20 wickets and chase down whatever total by scoring quickly" 

Its definitely more nuanced than that BUT test cricket is mostly about mental strength and emotional intelligence. Which means no message is simple and needs adapting to the situation. People always go back to Geoffrey Boycott, I'll use Alastair Cook. Both could play shots and hit the ball in the air but they understood their roles and the importance of protecting a wicket, tiring a bowler out. I don't think that forms enough of our batsmens mindsets. I'll go against the grain and say I really rate Zak Crawley despite of his misgivings and think, he can become a great batsman by just slowing what he does down. 

Test cricket I think has been improved massively by the influence of T20, the fielding is so, so much better as a direct influence from 20/20, the big sixes are fun and thats from players playing a game where you have to be playing those shots every ball. Fundamentally though the base of test cricket can't be ignored of batting time, bowlers teasing and playing a long game with the ball. Practising and practising where they put the ball and sticking to it as opposed to trying to break the sound barrier then exhausting themselves. 

I say all this and acknowledge stokes and Mccullum had a really positive effect when they first came in at the right time, we weren't winning test matches and they got us winning test matches. I don't think it was ever going to be sustainable long term though, its incredibly easy to work out and for seasoned test players and captains they just dig in. Job done 

The priorities for this tour were pretty screwed up. They had booked their trip to the beach and golf resort a good year ago and couldn't cancel.
 However to get a bit of practice at the wacca they said they were told that they were too late to book.
Yet the barmy army had been able to book it for a match. 

West2003 said:

DennisBooth said:

Outs McCullum, Key, Trescothick. In Langer as Coach. Vaughan in Key,s job. 

I’d rather go back to having a selector who keeps themselves in the shadows than another former outspoken player creating a cult of personality in the director of cricket role.

I think they should get AI to be the selector 

dev said:

Being Rob Key seems a decent job. 

Anyone seen him?

West2003 said:

DennisBooth said:

Outs McCullum, Key, Trescothick. In Langer as Coach. Vaughan in Key,s job. 

I’d rather go back to having a selector who keeps themselves in the shadows than another former outspoken player creating a cult of personality in the director of cricket role.

You mean like Luke Wright? He’s still a selector right?

fenaddick said:

West2003 said:

DennisBooth said:

Outs McCullum, Key, Trescothick. In Langer as Coach. Vaughan in Key,s job. 

I’d rather go back to having a selector who keeps themselves in the shadows than another former outspoken player creating a cult of personality in the director of cricket role.

You mean like Luke Wright? He’s still a selector right?

I think so?????? Never even seen him interviewed about it , my favourite ever county player but probably another one that will leave after this. 

I will say I like Rob Key as a person. Being objective as I can imagine don't see how him and Mccullum can stay in their jobs after this. Even if we ignore the performances the preparation is like its been done on the back of a fag packet. I can forgive the break they had, nothing against that. But not preparing is suicidal. I personally don't care how they go about it in relation to franchise schedules, the players either want to play for the test team or they don't, that has to be the main driving factor along with ensuring the county red ball cricket is fit for purpose. All the other stuff is a distraction, the 100 most of all

Karim_myBagheri said:

West2003 said:

DennisBooth said:

Outs McCullum, Key, Trescothick. In Langer as Coach. Vaughan in Key,s job. 

I’d rather go back to having a selector who keeps themselves in the shadows than another former outspoken player creating a cult of personality in the director of cricket role.

I think they should get AI to be the selector 

Be interesting to see what happens. 

Curran for Atkinson for a left arm option. That was chat GTP’s only change

My mate who lives in Perth sent me this from his WA newspaper.

There's fuck all chance the English domestic season will be configured to support the England Test Cricket setup.  The ECB has long since sold its arse and soul to whichever commercial entity showed up with a big enough bag of cash.
Obviously the first class game needs to be played through almost the whole domestic season, firstly to give the players their best chance of performing at their best, adequately rested etc and so that they all get to play in the best range of conditions.  But the witless whores running the game have sold their next few summers to TV which wants to show brightly packaged short form matches.  Don't forget the ECB invented 20/20 as a domestic competition to replace the 40 over/Sunday league thing and found themselves with a roaring success.  So utterly incompetent were they that the rest of the world took their format and made it the commercial leviathan it is today but the ECB was so committed to felating its chosen paymasters they completely missed the boat and had to crowbar in yet another domestic pantomime (the hundred) to get near the coattails of franchise cricket.
McCullum and Stokes have been central to this winter's Ashes humiliation but they are just a symptom of the near fatal disease with which English cricket is infected, not the cause.  TV money will continue to provide sticking plasters in the short term but the English professional game is rotting from the head down.