Sports Thoughts

I was going to put in a post yesterday about England loosing 5-0 but I wasn't feeling very well.

Firstly I would like to congratulate Australia for a thoroughly deserved 5-0 win that is a worthy end to their era as the world's best side in test cricket.

Secondly (If the first point doesn't make it clear enough) I think this series was the blip not the series in 2005.

When we play them next in 2009 they will no longer have Shane Warne and Glen McGrath. Obviously there are other players that will no longer be playing (Definately Langer, possibly Gilchrist and Hayden) but these two are quite simply different class.

Warne is the best ever Leg spin bowler and officially the highest run scorer to never get a test century. He cannot be replaced.

Saying McGrath is the best ever fast bowler would be difficult as there have been so many greats (and there will be many more in the future). But he is definately the best of his era. No-one else has been as consistently accurate as him. Even when he doesn't get wickets, he won't give the batsmen anything to score off.

No matter what the Australians say about new players coming in for 2009 like Clarke and Tait, they will not be of their class... yet. It's no coincidence that since they've come on the scene Australia have enjoyed an unprecidented spell of dominence in the Ashes (Warne's Ashes debut was 1991 with the famous Gatting delivery, until 2005 we hadn't won the Ashes until the series beforehand in 1989). You could argue that their dominance is as much about them batting at 4 per over but it's easier to play this risky form of cricket when you know you've got the bowlers there to back it up.

Anyway enough about the Aussies, what about us?

Personally I don't particularly care about the score being 5-0 instead of 4-1 or 4-0. It makes no difference, we were well beaten from the very beginning of the series. So why was this? I think it was down to a number of contributing factors:

1. Missing players - How you can expect a side to compete to the same standard when two key players were missing altogether (Simon Jones and Captain Fantastic), another two were unfit (Flintoff and Giles) and another lost the plot (Trescothick) is beyond me. Imagine Australia without Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer and with Warne and McGrath playing while unfit (Although you'd struggle to notice the difference with Warne). Given how even at full strength we had to pull out all the stops to just about beat a complacent Australia in 2005, at half strength we were only ever going to lose to an Australian side determined to make amends.

2. Poor preperation - Regardless of what I've just said, the other factors that led to our demise were unexcusable. A week's preperation going into a test series is piss poor end of story.

3. Wrong Captain - I personally don't rate Flintoff as a captain. I think a captain earns his money in the field when he alternates the bowling. Flintoff struggles in this aspect as he takes on too much for himself. Saying that, it isn't because of my personal rating that I think he was the wrong choice. Andrew Strauss was the Captain in the last test series and England had done well. He CAN rotate the bowlers effectively and more importantly the momentum was with him going into the Ashes. By changing the captaincy, that momentum was lost.

4. Poor selection - Why would you pick a player that hasn't even played for a year ahead of someone who demolished the summer opposition? I'm a big fan of Ashley Giles (he does occasionally play for Warwickshire after all) but he shouldn't have even been put in that position in the first place. Panesar may not be as good with the bat but he's there primarily to bowl the opposition out (which he does very well). And why drop Geraint Jones for Reid in the summer only to pick him again despite Reid being a success?
I can understand dropping players when they're playing badly but not when they're playing well, it's just stupid!

Conclusion - We were always going to lose this series but too many other mistakes were made that I find hard to swallow. It's looking like Fletcher is going to take the fall for it but I think that would be a mistake. We've had a fantastic run of (mostly) wins since he's come on board so to get rid of him for this setback would be stupid. Steve McClaren said his job wouldn't start until England lost (Probably the most sensible thing he's said as England Manager) and the same is true for Fletcher. This is sport not politics.

On a seperate note I would like to say a big thanks to Crystal Palace for not only lending us Kiraly in the first place but allowing him to play for us in the F.A. Cup tomorrow. We'll lose anyway but our chances are much improved with a goalkeeper playing. It's a shame Liverpool can't be so honourable to Charlton.