English cricket in ruins- What happened after the 05 Ashes?

Yay, one of our batsmen has got into double figures.

Sorry, wrong thread!

I repeat:

Well it's all relative- England cricket's far better off than cricket in the Windies and Pakistan. Still, I've got no faith in those running English cricket on and off the field- if ever there's an example of people always eventually being promoted beyond their level of competency the ECB's an object lesson.

As well as Ian Bell obviously it's all about county cricket- it doesn't even try to create a level of competition to prepare English players for international cricket. Despite everything even just last season you had teams of kolpakers playing half-arsed 4 day cricket against each other in front of a handful of mentals, the nearly dead and a curiousy large number of crows.

Thing is the ECB is the counties- they're not separate entities, county chairmen sit on the board and nothing can be done to reform the game without Derbyshire's total agreement. So England will always be average with moderate highs and terrible lows.

So unless I become the fascist dictator of this fair country and have all those parasitic county b*stards shot Engish cricket will never conquer the world.

If I was lord protector btw I would turn the rose bowl into a great big f*ck off gulag for Shaun Udal, Peter Moores and their like. Giles Clarke would have already been hung, drawn and quartered and there would be an effigy of him forever burning a-top London bridge.

Curiously my rule would otherwise be incredibly benevolent and progressive and I would be known in history as Eric the good and mostly sane.

Except for us being better off than the Windies I stand by it.

Central Contracts - Bowlers not playing enough. Batters becoming lazy. English cricketers need to work day in day out.
Greed - Getting paid too much money for doing very little. From Sponserships and from the above.
Over hype by the media - Made too much of one series win - celebraty status etc....
Lack of collective hunger in the English mentality - not a new problem it has to be said.

Not enough homeless players in the team.

Sans Souci wrote:Central Contracts - Bowlers not playing enough. Batters becoming lazy. English cricketers need to work day in day out.

Scrapping central contracts would take us back to the scattergun selection approach of the 90s. But something in the system needs changing, not quite sure what, maybe just keep them for a handful of important players and let the others earn them.

Sans Souci wrote:
Lack of collective hunger in the English mentality - not a new problem it has to be said.

I think in general that's bollocks spouted by opposition supporters who have better players.

Eric Air Emu wrote:
If I was lord protector btw I would turn the rose bowl into a great big f*ck off gulag for Shaun Udal, Peter Moores and their like

My new sig. Ta...

beamer wrote:

Sans Souci wrote:Central Contracts - Bowlers not playing enough. Batters becoming lazy. English cricketers need to work day in day out.

Scrapping central contracts would take us back to the scattergun selection approach of the 90s. But something in the system needs changing, not quite sure what, maybe just keep them for a handful of important players and let the others earn them.

Nothing wrong with central contracts, only how you implement them. They earn too much money for doing very little and actually playing very little first class cricket.

England have an average system run by below average, non-cricketing personnel, which in turn turns out average cricketers. England does not produce world-class cricketers any more. Or maybe the ones it does produce it ruins (Harmison).

JKLever wrote:

Sans Souci wrote:
Lack of collective hunger in the English mentality - not a new problem it has to be said.

I think in general that's bollocks spouted by opposition supporters who have better players.

Thats your opinion. I'm not saying it for a effect I believe it is true.

Andrew Strauss is the epitome of the steady old school English mentaility of play it cool old son, keep your head down and see your time out. Anyone with a bit too much fire in their belly and the talent to back it up is slightly treated with agast because it takes people out of their comfort zone. KP is a case in point.

Sans Souci wrote:

JKLever wrote:

Sans Souci wrote:
Lack of collective hunger in the English mentality - not a new problem it has to be said.

I think in general that's bollocks spouted by opposition supporters who have better players.

Thats your opinion. I'm not saying it for a effect I believe it is true.

Andrew Strauss is the epitome of the steady old school English mentaility of play it cool old son, keep your head down and see your time out. Anyone with a bit too much fire in their belly and the talent to back it up is slightly treated with agast because it takes people out of their comfort zone. KP is a case in point.

So what happens to this lack of hunger when we win? Does Freddie Flintoff lack hunger?
Fact is, we and by 'we' I mean the system, are no longer producing world class players as Augustus said. Our last world class pace bowler was Bob Willis who last played a test match 25 years ago.

Great English players come through in spite of the system and the mentality that is naturally in the air.

The cosy blanket created by central contracts and sponserships making young players rich who can go weeks at a time during an English summer without bowling a ball in anger is not conducive to creating hungry top class players. True enough, though, it's not stopping anyone coming through with that hard edged hunger but it doesn't help matters.

i think a major problem is the county system. it affords too many old and ordinary players too comfortable a living, at the expense of promising youngsters. seeing the county matches on telly sometimes i wonder if its some village cricket match with a pot-bellied 45 year old behind the wickets. it needs to get a whole lot more competitive and harder, with counties picking players who are likely to get into the national team or players who have at least half a chance of getting there. maybe a retirement age

I also heard from some one that to be an English cricketer you have to "commit" from a very early age which is why parents don't encourage their kids.

There's too many teams, that's been clear for years. But none of the counties are going to vote to reduce the number.

The answer is to introduce 6 to 8 regional/city based teams, playing at the major Test grounds, just bringing in a layer above the counties in effect. Then just quietly remove the first-class status of the current 18 sides when it gets to the stage that nobody with international ambitions plays for them any more.