Cricket

[SouthAussieRover]

Finally!

[Guest Norbert]

Win/won/winning. Must look that up in a dictionary, as I have forgotten what it means.

[dave birch]

Done!

and Neekoy, talk to me sometime, you might learn something, rather than make some bland uninformed comment.

[broadsword]

thank God it's over, what an absolute bloody nightmare

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Words fail me. Never mind sacking Flower they should have made him walk the plank. This was the most humiliating performance in the history of English cricket. When we lost 5-0 last time a least we were playing a really good team.

[chaddyrovers]

martyn Moxon for England Team Director with Collywood as assistant/Fielding coach with Richard Johnson as Bowling coach.

also.would be great to see Andrew Strauss as a Selector aswell.

time for new coaching team and one day captain with Morgan as Captain but Cook as test captain.

I would tell KP that his England Career is over and we are going for a new young team now.

Edited February 2, 2014 by chaddyrovers

[broadsword]

You can't get rid of Pietersen, that's madness.

They guy's a genius.

The selection policy in all formats has been completely wrong. So let's get the coach and selectors sorted out first.

[jim mk2]

I'm pleased Flower has gone but why they have retained him in another capacity and why he would want to stay is a mystery. Ashley Giles is favourite apparently to replace Flower but I would suggest he is too close to the present squad and the ECB should look to someone from outside the camp, perhaps from overseas. The whole organisation needs a good shake-up.

[SouthAussieRover]

Please god dont appoint Mickey Arthur.

Warne has tweeted that he may be interested.

[Guest Norbert]

Isn't Mickey Arthur the guy who was sacked by the aussies just before the summer Ashes? That is hardly going out at the top, when the players were all fighting each other or Joe Root.

[somersetrover]

Arthur may not have done the best job with Australia but he did a very good job with South Africa and laid the foundations for the side that is currently now at number one in the test rankings.

[SouthAussieRover]

Is Pietersens axing only the beginning?

[K-Hod]

Well, we can't get any worse than that last series.

[thenodrog]

Correct.... Hindsight is easy of course but it couldnt have been worse if we'd binned him off 4 months ago. He appears to be the scapegoat but I doubt he is the only rotten apple in that barrell though. If he could influence the squad to such detriment it doesn't say much for the rest of em does it?

Edited February 5, 2014 by thenodrog

[Guest Norbert]

The whole squad needs rebuilding. Like you say Gordon, there seems to be a lack of leadership and guts in the squad. Pietersen was a rotten apple, but were there others hiding behind him, and letting him fight their battles for them? We'll probably never know for sure.

[Al]

Pietersen was the only England batsman with any real class. Axing him is a stupid decision, arrogant or not.

[Guest Norbert]

He's got himself sacked. The constant sniping against coaches and captains, the frankly ridiculous ways he gets himself out with increasing frequency, the living off his past exploits................On his day, he is unstoppable, but those days have been quite few and far between recently as opposition bowlers have worked out how to get him out. That is when he doesn't do the job for them.

The team is all, not one player's unreliable moods and talent.

[Al]

Trouble is there is no keaning team at all without him.

[broadsword]

Graeme Swann said there's no issue with Pietersen since he was re-integrated.

I'll tell you the root cause. Alaistair Cook. He should stick to batting.

[Al]

Graeme Swann said there's no issue with Pietersen since he was re-integrated.

I'll tell you the root cause. Alaistair Cook. He should stick to batting.

That's my gut feel too Bryan. Cook's batting and captaincy recently leaves much to be desired. Mouth shut, eyes open would be my advice.

[chaddyrovers]

I did say a couple of days that KP I thought he wouldn't play for England.

Its now time that we move on and appoint a new England Team Director now. I think Ashley Giles will be given the role of England Team Director. just hope he appoint Paul Collywood as his number 2 with Graham Thorpe as Batting coach and Richard Johnson as Bowling coach.

Just hope that Andrew Strauss get appoint to be selector for England. would like to see Ian Botham on there aswell but very doubt he would leave his role with Sky Sports.

my team for first test against Sri Lanka would be Cook©, Robson, Bell, Root, Morgan, Stokes, Buttler(wk), Borthwick, Broad(vc), Jordan, Anderson

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Insanity has gripped the England set-up in my opinion. Either that or some really rotten, clueless morons almost on the Venky level. Forcing Flower out was pure idiocy, doing the same to Pietersen, the most talented batsman to play for England in at least a decade, is a complete and utter disgrace. Talentless nobodies pulling the strings who are fond of knee-jerk reactions and have something against mavericks. The previous set-up won 3 Ashes series and a tour in India. When was the last time that happened and when will it happen again? Pretty furious to be honest, the parallels to the removal of Allardyce, Williams and Finn are massive.

[jim mk2]

England have suffered an epic failure this winter so it's only right that heads have rolled. The previous regime had done well but something has obviously been seriously amiss because England have not played well for some time - certainly not last summer despite the 3-0 win. Looking at it from the outside I would say there seems to have been a power battle behind the scenes with Cook has emerging as the winner. The comparison with Allardyce etc doesn't make any sense to me - the circumstances are totally different.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Not in my opinion. Australia have by far the best fast bowler in the world at the moment (aided by his ridiculous action which somehow is apparently legal) and he's the guy who destroyed us. Bit like Rovers were destroyed by 1 good team in Man Utd which led to Allardyce's sacking. Flower has worked wonders with this team, a team that was just trounced 5-0 in Australia when he first took over and had lost Flintoff, Trescothick and Jones from England's best side in decades in 2005.

Why is it right that heads have rolled? Like I said its knee-jerk. Moyes' head hasn't rolled yet, just as Fergies didn't in his first season for Man U. The media love to indoctrinate everyone with the belief that there must be a reaction to everything that happens. Well thats childish in my opinion, sometimes you take it on the chin and do better next time. And even if you accept the argument that heads had to roll, then Ashley Giles' should have been rolling right along with them, we've been absolutely diabolical in the 20-20s and one-dayers, even worse than in the tests. And unlike Flower that guy has no track record to fall back on, he's been poor to dreadful ever since he first took the job. We appoint him and English cricket will go to the dogs.

[jim mk2]

There's nothing wrong with his action but he's done nothing for years before this winter and certainly not in this country where he's regarded as a joke. Morkel and Steyn are probably still the world's best fast bowlers and have done it consistently for years. Flower has done well which I've acknowledged but England haven't looked "right" for a while and this tour has been a disaster from the beginning when England looked under-prepared and disinterested from the start. All that is down to Flower. I don't want Giles either - I would rather see an outsider come in and shake up the whole setup.