I really don't agree with you. Which captain has NOT opened with a spinner?(okay, maybe i am going too far) but really opening with a spinner is nothing new. WI have done it, SA have done it with a lot of success. India has done it, I think even Bangladesh has done it.
Big Gamble also doesn't strike me as it. What's the worse that could have happened? Gayle could have hit him for a couple of sixes? I have never found Gayle to be very dominant against spin.
I 100% agree, it's more an "accepted tactic" than an innovation and while you can argue about the choice of person to impliment that tactic is not the obvious one, who says it has to be? Is Strauss not picking the best two opening bowlers "innovation"? Is bowling 4-5 overs of nothing with Shight innovative or just plain stupid? Is "innovation" dependant on result, if it don't work it is a mistake, if it does work it is "innovative" ?
Perhaps therein lies a key, with most things if something different pays off we credit the captain, but they probably try 20 things and one pays off for which they claim credit when in fact they try so many things you can't really claim intent. Was turning Yardy into a spinner "innovative" ? England did something that most wouldn't have bothered, perhaps again it wasn't exactly innovative because Sussex did it in T20s, but had it worked would it have been "genius" ?
England opened the bowling with Yardy, look how that worked out. He copied Smith with a bowler that simply isn't ODI quality. That "innovation" nearly cost England, South Africa were set for victory while Yardy was whatevering. And that same game, was it "innovation" to make Broad the FIFTH bowler he turned to? Or to give Pietersen eight overs (0/30) and Yardy nine (1/46) yet the match winner Broad only got 6.4 and seemed to be last resort?
While I do feel captaincy is WAY more important in ODIs than Tests, changing bowlers, who to use and how etc, I think it is still only really clever when it works. Move a fielder and a catch goes straight to him then the captain gets credit, but other times he moves a fielder and the ball goes where he was at catchable height...............................