Monday 9 February 2009

Square heads, round holes

Entirely unpredictably, the media was awash with advice for England. All friendly, of course. Duncan Fletcher felt they should drop Bell and Harmison. Bob Willis's internal selection meeting gave Ronald the flick too, edged KP up to number three and brought Owais Shah in at five. Boycott recommended personal responsibility. Mike Atherton decided Bell should open and Cook should go for being caught at slip too often*.

53 all out does not leave you short of targets. But the real target should be England's lack of options. The squad carries just one replacement batsman along with its three spinners. And who picked the squad? Step forward Geoff Miller, who has handed choice of the actual team over to those on tour, and Peter Moores. Remember Peter? Blond chap, very keen on his procedures.

* Ah, Athers. Caught a mere 133 times himself. 


5 comments:

Leela said...

Don't mean to be cruel.. but wasn't it 51 all out?

The Old Batsman said...

Damn, you're right!

Anonymous said...

Killer postscript!

The Old Batsman said...

I think I was counting those two that Colly ran after he was bowled...

Anonymous said...

While we completely appreciate what the ex-cricketers say, we equally know how they fared in their playing days.