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Never have I felt so disengaged from the England Cricket Team
My love of cricket developed in the late 80s and early 90s. Appropriately enough, given who we’ve just played and who is still to come this summer, the first bits of cricket I can distinctly remember are England’s 1988 series against the West Indies and the 1989 Ashes: both humiliating 4-0 defeats. (It says nothing for my cricketing judgement that out of a bowling line-up including Marshall, Ambrose and Walsh, I recall bowling to my older brother in the back garden and saying “I’m Patrick Patterson”.)
So it is not that I am a fair-weather fan, or a “new” fan used only to success: the particular lows that stand out for me include our failure to dismiss Danny “Duckman” Morrison in 1997, Nasser Hussain being booed on the Oval balcony in 1999, almost any World Cup since 1992, and dropping Jack Russell for Richard for Blakey in 1993. Despite all that, I didn’t just follow cricket but fell in love with it. The period had some highs too – I remember Gooch scoring a triple hundred against India in 1990 and carrying his bat against West Indies in 91, Atherton and Russell’s defiance in Johannesburg in 95, finally beating West Indies in a series in 2000… Even Ashes series were not completely depressing – Thorpe and Hussain’s stand at Edgbaston in 1997, where we took the lead in an Ashes for the first time since 1986/7, and Goughie’s hat trick at the MCG in 1999 were particular high points.
For all that, I’ve more or less reached breaking point with the current side and set up. I have never felt more disengaged as a fan – not in 1999 when we’d been humiliated in a home World Cup and ranked bottom in the Test table, not when Darren Pattinson was selected in 2008, and not even in either of the Ashes Whitewashes.
Everything about the current England set-up, from the ECB through the coaches, captain and players reeks of arrogance and entitlement.
The odious Giles Clarke, outgoing Chairman of the ECB, whored out the England team to Allen Stanford and sold out the entire game in a disgusting carve-up with the BCCI and Cricket Australia, leaves office with the England team ranked 4th, 6th and 8th in Tests, ODIs and T20s respectively and with cricket the only major sport with no live free to air coverage and yet is rewarded with the creation of the position of Honorary President.
The coach, having failed once in the job and been inexplicably reappointed seemingly on the basis that he had once fallen out with Kevin Pietersen has been equally calamitous second time around yet remains in denial, giving palpably dishonest press conferences about “good tours” and “good things happening” after a humiliating defeat.
The captain remains in denial about his ability and apparently is “still learning” about tactics after 112 tests, 31 of them as captain. Appointed because he came from the right sort of family rather than for any strategic or leadership ability, his tactics and selections remain wilfully conservative, even negative – both Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott have been erroneously picked in the last 12 months to prop up this weak, unsuitable captain who has delivered Ashes humiliation, a first ever home series defeat for Sri Lanka and created the conditions for the terrible World Cup yet remains convinced he is the best man for the job. Having first scapegoated Kevin Pietersen, he now seeks to scapegoat the new ECB chairman for his comments regarding a “mediocre” team that Cook could not beat. I don’t know how Cook remains clean-shaven, because he has certainly never looked in the mirror.
The players, whether mocking a teammate simultaneously behind his back and publicly via twitter, urinating on turf most people would give anything to play on, or dismissing any criticism from former players with an ungracious “the game’s moved on”, seem an unlovely bunch: I struggle to think of a single one I’d like to share a beer with, which is not a statement you could make in the recent or not-so recent past.
Colin Graves, the incoming chairman, is utterly discredited before even taking office. Having made an ungracious comment about the West Indies and promising enquiries if we failed to beat them, has already gone back on his word. Having promised change, he looks set to deliver Andrew Strauss.
The objection to Strauss is many-layered. Firstly, his closeness to Cook and the senior players he led just a few years ago calls into question his objectivity where they are concerned, as does his on and off-record comments regarding Kevin Pietersen – that his disparaging comments on Pietersen are the only interesting or enlightening thing he’s said in over two years in the commentary box tells its own story. But the most damning thing about the potential appointment of Strauss is that the problems with the England team today lead back directly to Strauss.
The negative, attritional play; conservative selection; an obsession with stats; the emergence of a damaging clique and the running sore of the Pietersen saga; the bullet-proofing of Alastair Cook regardless of form: all can be traced back to Strauss’ captaincy.
A quick word on Pietersen, I personally believe the time has passed and the likes of Taylor, Hales and Lees should form the next generation of batsmen when our selectors finally (please) run out of patience with Ian Bell. Nevertheless Pietersen has been treated disgustingly – persuaded to give up a lucrative contract which he did in good faith in the belief he would be given a fresh start and judged on form. The imminent appointment of Strauss shows that is clearly not the case and he has been shamefully deceived. It is hard to think of someone less fit for the ECB Chairmanship than the odious Giles Clarke, but Colin Graves seems to be giving it a damn good try.
Being an England cricket fan has not always been easy but has seldom been so hard, or joyless. The current regime is so patently unfit for the job that each victory is soured by the thought that the regime might be bolstered; and since each defeat brings closer the day when the whole rotten house of cards comes crashing down, you’re not even as disappointed as you should be. When victory or defeat leaves you with the same “meh” response, you wonder why you watch.
I watch of course, because I remember the history, I remember that even when we had a losing team we had a team worthy of support, I remember that English cricket is bigger than those who are currently such careless custodians, and I hope beyond hope we will get the change we need.
I just hope that by the time the change comes, the kids who should be falling in love with cricket as I did 27 years ago don’t do as I did on Sunday: shrug their shoulders and go “meh”.
Continue reading the Original Post.
Never have I felt so disengaged from the England Cricket Team
My love of cricket developed in the late 80s and early 90s. Appropriately enough, given who we’ve just played and who is still to come this summer, the first bits of cricket I can distinctly remember are England’s 1988 series against the West Indies and the 1989 Ashes: both humiliating 4-0 defeats. (It says nothing for my cricketing judgement that out of a bowling line-up including Marshall, Ambrose and Walsh, I recall bowling to my older brother in the back garden and saying “I’m Patrick Patterson”.)
So it is not that I am a fair-weather fan, or a “new” fan used only to success: the particular lows that stand out for me include our failure to dismiss Danny “Duckman” Morrison in 1997, Nasser Hussain being booed on the Oval balcony in 1999, almost any World Cup since 1992, and dropping Jack Russell for Richard for Blakey in 1993. Despite all that, I didn’t just follow cricket but fell in love with it. The period had some highs too – I remember Gooch scoring a triple hundred against India in 1990 and carrying his bat against West Indies in 91, Atherton and Russell’s defiance in Johannesburg in 95, finally beating West Indies in a series in 2000… Even Ashes series were not completely depressing – Thorpe and Hussain’s stand at Edgbaston in 1997, where we took the lead in an Ashes for the first time since 1986/7, and Goughie’s hat trick at the MCG in 1999 were particular high points.
For all that, I’ve more or less reached breaking point with the current side and set up. I have never felt more disengaged as a fan – not in 1999 when we’d been humiliated in a home World Cup and ranked bottom in the Test table, not when Darren Pattinson was selected in 2008, and not even in either of the Ashes Whitewashes.
Everything about the current England set-up, from the ECB through the coaches, captain and players reeks of arrogance and entitlement.
The odious Giles Clarke, outgoing Chairman of the ECB, whored out the England team to Allen Stanford and sold out the entire game in a disgusting carve-up with the BCCI and Cricket Australia, leaves office with the England team ranked 4th, 6th and 8th in Tests, ODIs and T20s respectively and with cricket the only major sport with no live free to air coverage and yet is rewarded with the creation of the position of Honorary President.
The coach, having failed once in the job and been inexplicably reappointed seemingly on the basis that he had once fallen out with Kevin Pietersen has been equally calamitous second time around yet remains in denial, giving palpably dishonest press conferences about “good tours” and “good things happening” after a humiliating defeat.
The captain remains in denial about his ability and apparently is “still learning” about tactics after 112 tests, 31 of them as captain. Appointed because he came from the right sort of family rather than for any strategic or leadership ability, his tactics and selections remain wilfully conservative, even negative – both Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott have been erroneously picked in the last 12 months to prop up this weak, unsuitable captain who has delivered Ashes humiliation, a first ever home series defeat for Sri Lanka and created the conditions for the terrible World Cup yet remains convinced he is the best man for the job. Having first scapegoated Kevin Pietersen, he now seeks to scapegoat the new ECB chairman for his comments regarding a “mediocre” team that Cook could not beat. I don’t know how Cook remains clean-shaven, because he has certainly never looked in the mirror.
The players, whether mocking a teammate simultaneously behind his back and publicly via twitter, urinating on turf most people would give anything to play on, or dismissing any criticism from former players with an ungracious “the game’s moved on”, seem an unlovely bunch: I struggle to think of a single one I’d like to share a beer with, which is not a statement you could make in the recent or not-so recent past.
Colin Graves, the incoming chairman, is utterly discredited before even taking office. Having made an ungracious comment about the West Indies and promising enquiries if we failed to beat them, has already gone back on his word. Having promised change, he looks set to deliver Andrew Strauss.
The objection to Strauss is many-layered. Firstly, his closeness to Cook and the senior players he led just a few years ago calls into question his objectivity where they are concerned, as does his on and off-record comments regarding Kevin Pietersen – that his disparaging comments on Pietersen are the only interesting or enlightening thing he’s said in over two years in the commentary box tells its own story. But the most damning thing about the potential appointment of Strauss is that the problems with the England team today lead back directly to Strauss.
The negative, attritional play; conservative selection; an obsession with stats; the emergence of a damaging clique and the running sore of the Pietersen saga; the bullet-proofing of Alastair Cook regardless of form: all can be traced back to Strauss’ captaincy.
A quick word on Pietersen, I personally believe the time has passed and the likes of Taylor, Hales and Lees should form the next generation of batsmen when our selectors finally (please) run out of patience with Ian Bell. Nevertheless Pietersen has been treated disgustingly – persuaded to give up a lucrative contract which he did in good faith in the belief he would be given a fresh start and judged on form. The imminent appointment of Strauss shows that is clearly not the case and he has been shamefully deceived. It is hard to think of someone less fit for the ECB Chairmanship than the odious Giles Clarke, but Colin Graves seems to be giving it a damn good try.
Being an England cricket fan has not always been easy but has seldom been so hard, or joyless. The current regime is so patently unfit for the job that each victory is soured by the thought that the regime might be bolstered; and since each defeat brings closer the day when the whole rotten house of cards comes crashing down, you’re not even as disappointed as you should be. When victory or defeat leaves you with the same “meh” response, you wonder why you watch.
I watch of course, because I remember the history, I remember that even when we had a losing team we had a team worthy of support, I remember that English cricket is bigger than those who are currently such careless custodians, and I hope beyond hope we will get the change we need.
I just hope that by the time the change comes, the kids who should be falling in love with cricket as I did 27 years ago don’t do as I did on Sunday: shrug their shoulders and go “meh”.
Continue reading the Original Post.
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