Cricket

think NZ might have the most sloggish batting line-up in Test history btw. there will be sixes

watching Best batting to save a Test is a singular joy

it must be nice watching a team with guts batting to save a test

Oh *shit* they're 50-4 chasing 112!! Serious torn loyalties as to which I should watch now

think the windies' race is run now. good effort tho

heads be rollin'

keep an eye on SA - India

srsly

ty, ws amazing!

KP will score a century. Eng would be mad to push him out making him the scapegoat. Still top scorer in this series and the only one who looks remotely capable of scoring a ton.
Cook is a terrible captain and I think Broad would do better then Cook could get his form back.

Entire coaching team must go. Theyre as negative as I am before anyone defends them!
Flower did a great job but everyone has their day eventually. We need coaches that can motivate. The man-management by cook & flower is a disgrace.
3 or 4 SENIOR players possibly could do with being "rested" for may tests to play county cricket and get their form back and justify their inclusion instead of walking back in. Id hate to see the likes of root,ballance,monty, bresnan take the fall (even if im not sure bresnan is good enough.)

Also what have the coaches done to Finn??

Please god though make Cook resign as captain. He hasnt got a clue or back up plans or man-management skills.

After all that I bet KP and maybe bell are the only ones dumped while Cook/Flower blunder on.

ps KP wont score a century probably but I still hope hes not forced to retire or dropped. He does deserve 1 more series in the summer. Not sure about others though.

probably need a change of selectors if cook stays on as its clear they pick players cook has no faith in (monty/bresnan et al)

Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

"I think it's going to be over today. There will be about 60 overs and the extra half hour. With the momentum of the series and the way Australia have bowled, it will be a tough ask for England to stretch it into tomorrow. Five times in nine innings they haven't got 180."

Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

On the way forward for England: "I would go radical and make Kevin Pietersen vice-captain. He is England's best player. He can make the biggest impact on the game. But he is not involved in this team - I see him at third man, at fine-leg. If there's an issue there, get rid of him. If not, then involve him.

"There are not many good cricket brains in this England side. Get him involved and it's the way to get two more years out of Pietersen - to the end of the next Ashes series.

"England need to do something different. They need someone different to stand up to Andy Flower."

" ENGLAND'S TERRIBLE BATTING

Not one of England's batsmen have managed to pass 300 runs on this disastrous Ashes tour. In nine innings, Kevin Pietersen has scored the most with 288. Here are England's top run-scorers from previous Ashes tours where the Three Lions have suffered heavy series defeats:

2006-07 (5-0): Kevin Pietersen 490; 2002-03 (4-1): Michael Vaughan 633; 1998-99 (3-1) Nasser Hussain 407; 1994-95 (3-1): Graham Thorpe 444; 1990-91 (3-0): Graham Gooch 426.

http://i.imgur.com/Kzrt0WO.png

Cook out (a demand as well as fact)

243 runs in the series. He's looked shot since the 3rd test and his low scores have been predictable since. Should not be playing.

oh wait 246

Bell has gotten himself out for 16. Clarke changed the field setting. He's a good attacking skipper with plans b and c.

Is this gonna be KP's last ever innings? He really needs to score a century.

Wonder if theymight even be ruthless and punt bell? I wouldnt but he might need may back in the counties along with prior (and Cook should too)

lol
http://i.imgur.com/QqpX5Ig.png

KP gone!

95-7

3 wkts in 10 balls.

cook and flower are stying according to the ecb. Cant see many in this team staying though.

Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

"England are seven wickets down in 23 overs, it's just ridiculous."

166 all out.
A disgrace.
Heads will roll apart from cook/flowers it seems

worst ever series by an england team ive ever seen. far worse than anything in the 90s as these were supposed to be good players.

Geoffrey Boycott, Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"It's pathetic - there is no other word. It's humiliation. It's bad enough to lose all five, but it's how you lose. This is a worse loss than when we lost before 5-0 because they had great players like McGrath, Warne and Gilchrist last time. This current Australia side has had good plans and executed them with conviction. England have just disintegrated. How do you get bowled out in 32 overs? I would have just been getting my eye in."

STRAAAAAAAAYA

(sorry but I gotta play to stereotypes, blokes)

no, fair enough. Australia were painfully better than England obviously. Going to be v tough for them against South Africa (they were something like 144-5 down in the first innings in every test apart from the last I think, when they were 144-4) but the confidence boost might make a hell of a lot of difference.

Michael Vaughan, who talks a fair amount of whiffle a lot of the time, just made a couple of good points:

1) Pietersen's either got to be in or out of the team - can't station him down at third man all the time. He's either too disruptive to be part of the dressing room or he's got to be brought into the fold of senior decision makers.

2) In 2011, all the coaching staff, Giles Clarke etc were on the field celebrating. No one there today. Should be soaking up the defeat like the players have to.

Well done Australia for turning up and actually re-building after throwing the towel themselves at Lord's.

Even by 90s standards the team was always trying to get that one win - the problem then was that you went down a spiral of 3-1/4-1 losses.

Cook should remain as captain - there were things that happened here that really were beyond his control or anyone's, and I don't think anybody will be able to disentangle how this came to be. There is no way forward, but sacking them all in a fit of anger isn't it.

Having said that its too far down the line for someone to say that Pietersen has got to be in team - so he's got to be out. And for Gooch to remain the batting coach will surely be difficult.

we were shocking in NZ and prior saved us. The warning signs were there. cook failed in the summer and Anderson & swann were below par. Bell saved us.
This time cook/bell/KP/Prior/Swann/Anderson were shocking. KP was still marginally better than Cook & Bell so tbh if he is to be dropped then the other 2 need to be dropped too. The difference is the other 2 are of age to get back in. KP hasnt.
If KP/Prior are made scapegoats and the other senior players are guaranteed a place then its a disgrace and it also means nothing will change. Cook has been batting poorly for a whole year now not just 1 series.
Cook, poor captaincy aside, is suffering lost of form due to captaincy not ability. He needs to be removed from that. He also needs county cricket to get form back.

Aggers

You can look at every aspect of this tour - the attitude of the players, the fact England arrived as favourites, the 82-page menu - and it all paints a picture of a team which has become far too insular.

That was illustrated when I put a question to captain Alastair Cook.

I asked whether the opinions of those outside of the team - those who have played cricket all their lives and have watched the game for years - were worth seeking, and he said no. He said essentially it was for those within the team to work out what has gone wrong. That is a worry to me and shows there is no real awareness of what is happening outside the team's bubble.

Cook was honest at the end of it all - he was obviously devastated but he fronted up and did what he had to do. He did say he was determined to try and rebuild the team, which is good to hear, and I do think he and coach Andy Flower should be the ones who lead the team forward.

But they must only do it if they really want to. I'm looking forward to interviewing Flower and hearing him say he is committed to staying on and sorting this mess out.

He must know where the problems lie and he has to put them right, otherwise somebody else has to come in and do it. If he can't pinpoint things that have gone wrong, there is an issue.

England must also learn a lesson from last summer - preparing pitches to suit yourself might help you win a series but it gives you no indication of how well your players are actually performing - and it doesn't prepare you for when you face Mitchell Johnson's thunderbolts in Australia.

i think the point about Pietersen is that he is seen as divisive - this means they keep him in the team for his frequent-ish ability to single-handedly win matches with the bat, but put him in the outfield because of his personality. Given Pietersen's need for attention, that solution doesn't look like any sort of solution at all, given that security and confidence seem likely to be vital components of his batting strength. Of course, if they feel that he holes out cheaply more often than he wins matches, then fine, get rid of him - but they should piss or get off the pot. Vaughan also suggested he's got a good cricketing brain, which, although I can't stand him other than when he's got a bat in his hand, seems right, and would do a hell of a lot to perk up Cook's captaincy, which I find slightly moribund.

Speaking of which - the Cook captaincy/batting average thing I don't really get. You're the stats man, AG, and I'm not sure about Cook's before/after captaincy averages, but Cook's batting was superb when he took over as captain, and for some time after that. He outperformed Michael Clarke on this tour (in terms of runs - though the timing of those runs, and the weight they carried was significant also). I think this is more a slump of form akin to the other top order batsmen, possibly with the same somewhat nebulous reasons, as well as the not at all nebulous reason of match defeat becoming psychological defeat, which was a team-wide issue. So, in a sense I agree with you, but for the opposite reason, I'd get rid of him for the captaincy and not the batting.

I heard that Agnew interview, and while it was telling that Cook was hesitant in response to Agnew's question about whether it would be good to get people in from the outside to see what's gone wrong, the tone of his question made Cook's response understandable, ie. 'Yes, I agree, but from the outside people can have a lot of differing opinions and that isn't always helpful.' It sounds like some sort of restructuring will take place, even if it isn't Cook and Flower - Gooch surely has to go - new ideas and new views will hopefully come in that way. Maybe Peter Capaldi?

Feel sorry for the lot of them really, especially Prior, who I love.

I want him to be got rid of as captain not player (however he does need some county cricket behind him as do all the batsmen but it seems that tests arent til june not may , so that might work out for him, prior, bell & kp)

You think its possible that Trott/KP/Bell/Prior/Anderson/Bresnan/Monty/Tremlett will all join Swann in being dumped? (Pretty sure Swann was told he was being dropped and given the chance to 'jump' first)

Or will they blame Carberry/Root/Bairstow/Rankin etc and bring in other young players in their place?
Flower says its an end of an era but with him and cook staying who will they scapegoat? I honestly dont trust them to do the right things.

Also is Finn dumped for the foreseeable future as he wasnt even considered at all for the tests?

Only Stokes & Broad have come out reputations enhanced (cook is obviously safe for now)

Since Flower and Cook are staying on then there's no doubt Gooch is scapegoat for the batting and possibly Saker for the bowlers. But the batsmen & bowlers have to take the blame too. It really does look to me KP is the only senior batsmen that is under real threat.

wdve thought bell has to stay. don't imagine Trott will come back. Prior will compete on the county circuit for the wk spot with others, but he's getting on a bit now isn't he? Carberry and Rankin don't look right. Root will stay I think.

Stokes, Anderson and Broad all ok.

so basically KP to carry the can?

I guess. it feels harsh like you say, annoying as he can be, he did have one good-ish innings. but it's equally difficult to see them embracing him in any way.

all parties may feel a long sunset of county cricket and IPL is best.

A sad end if that's the case as I think he still has a few years left in him. Poor man-management AGAIN if that is the case.

It could be worse though. The most negative spinner ever ashley giles could get the job so gotta keep flower in just to avoid that!

pietersen is the same age as debutant carberry and three years younger than australia's two best batsmen for this series. the england management are insane if they get rid of him and use age as the excuse - it'd be falling for the australian selectors' disease of turning to the unfinished wunderkind for renewal (p. hughes, marsh, khawaja, etc). cook, bell and pietersen are your core - they don't need to be dumped, they do need to work on getting their shit together.

+ should probably select a full-time keeper and find a bowler with express pace too, seems to have worked out ok for us.

Age would only be the excuse for the press if they dump KP. Form/Ability has nothing to do with it either. The only reason he will be dumped is if Cook/Flower dont like having him around.

Total lack of man management amongst our "leaders". That is the problem not KP.

I think its stupid to think that anyone of us can look at this disaster from the outside and see what the problem was. otoh I've had enough of KPs bullshit and he's not even scoring enough runs anymore.

he still top scored!

from http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25621244

The tactics

This England team got to the top of the world rankings by playing tough, defensive cricket: dry up the runs in the field, wear down the opposition when batting.

That strategy was made to look one-dimensional by an Australia side that rediscovered the aggression and relentless competitiveness that has defined so many of their best teams. England could neither score the runs (five times they failed to total 200 in an innings) nor take the wickets they needed to dictate as of old.

"England play too much by numbers and not enough by instinct out in the middle," says Vaughan.

"I'm not sure England's gameplan has been about beating the best team of the current era, which is South Africa. They have not been at the races."

Those tactics need to change but I dont think they will. At all.

The tactics, as bloodless as they have been, did work for a period of time - I wasn't complaining when we were beating the aussies around and in possession of the Ashes.

We are not as good as SA because we don't have the players that are quite up to the challenge - whatever the tactics.