One thing that the Europeans don't get involved in is cricket, which is just as well given the shocking performance of the English team in the first test match in the West Indies.
In the last couple of years, England have been lauded as one of the best sides, while the West Indies have been struggling to recapture their glory days. Well, if this England team thought they'd have it easy in the Caribbean, how wrong they were !
The first of three encounters has just ended with the third biggest victory by runs ever achieved by the West Indies - a little matter of 381 runs; having set England a victory target of 628, they bowled them out for 246, the last six England wickets falling for just 31 runs on a wicket that really appeared to show little venom. Astonishingly, a spinner, Roston Chase, ended up with figures of 8 wickets for 60 runs, once of the best ever performances by a spinner for the west Indies, and on a wicket which offered him little assistance.
What went wrong for England ?
In the first place, their first innings batting performance was abysmal, the top score being 17 and the team's total of 77 being one of the worst ever by an England team. Batsmen played without what might be called 'due care and attention' and simply gifted their wickets to the home side, leaving themselves over 200 runs behind at this stage. They followed this up with a pretty spiritless performance in the field as the West Indies, having subsided to 61 - 5 and 120 - 6, rallied to a remarkable 415 - 6 declared. Could this have been on the same wicket on which England made a combined total of 77 ? Yes, and it was a shocking indictment of England's batting, bowling and captaincy.
As a batsman, Joe Root is of the highest quality but as a captain he lacks authority and leadership. Watching the team's miserable performance in the West Indies second innings, Root showed no enthusiasm for the task in hand, he did nothing to galvanise his team, his bowling tactics were highly questionable and one felt he was just going through the motions. The measure of a captain is how he manages difficult situations and Root failed this one to an epic proportion. It might be the modern way of captaincy but the likes of Mike Brearley or Brian Close would have been far more involved and active; they wouldn't have let things drift the way that Root did.
The final ignominy was to see England's second innings fold up. From a good start, reaching 134 - 1, they surrendered without struggle, only one batsman passing 35. The West Indies bowled and caught well, but nothing like so well as to excuse this miserable collapse. England were exposed as a team with many frailties.
So what is the problem ? Firstly, the team seems to have been selected on the basis of having as many reasonably proficient batsmen as far down the order as is possible. Thus, only Jimmy Anderson, at number 11, was without a first class century. Secondly, players have been selected to play out of their normal positions in order to satisfy the first condition. This means that having truly international batsmen has been sacrificed for having lots of batsmen. Thirdly, the opening partnership was effectively untried and hoped that a player who had already failed would 'come good'. Fourthly, the bowling selection was wrong - Stuart Broad, a bowler who has proved himself over many years, was omitted in favour of playing a rather problematic 'second spinner', who was hardly used, although he's scored a few first class centuries ! Fifthly, the captain was the wrong captain.
To correct this list of problems, the selectors need to do various things, most of which they won't. The worst scenario will be if England rally to win the next 2 matches when, of course, they will feel totally vindicated in whatever they've done; the best scenario will be if England are blown away and change is enforced.
My solution, for what it is worth, is firstly to change the captain. Root may be a fine batsman and one of the first names on the team sheet, but he's no captain. Secondly, I'd look at picking a properly balanced team; we need 5 or 6 proper batmen, 3 or 4 proper bowlers, a wicketkeeper and an allrounder. If some can 'double up', that's fine but let's not have the number 5 batsman as the third seamer. Let's also find a genuine opening partnership and a genuine batman to be either number 3 or number 5 in the order. Root ought to be number 3, Bairstow might be a number 4 but is probably more like a number 5; this leaves a vacancy at number 4. Neither Stokes nor Butler is appropriate for this.
At number 6, Butler or Stokes could fill the role, and Stokes probably gets the vote, as did the great Gary Sobers for the West Indies in days passed. Butler could be number 7 if he doubles as wicket-keeper. At 8, it is then a choice between Moeen Ali and Sam Curran dependant upon the conditions, while for 10 and 11 there can surely be no choices other than Stuart Broad and the ageless Jimmy Anderson.. This leaves number 9 which, depending on the conditions, could be filled by Curran, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Jack Leach or Adil Rashid.
In the way of this approach is that England's selectors appear to have given up on finding any real batsmen to fill the voids at opener and number 4. They've also surrendered the appointment of captain to the media, rather than picking the best man for the job. In truth, I don't really see a captain in the current team, so it may be that resolving the issues over opening and number 4 might also find us a true captain.
Captaincy is a very specific skill which few possess and finding the right man might prove galvanic to the team as a whole, even if he's not quite top class as a batsman, as was the case with Brearley. Interestingly, ever since captains have been appointed for their batting rather than their captaincy ability, their results have been shocking - Cook, Gooch, Atherton and Gower have the worst records of England captains who've survived for 30 or more matches; Root's record so far isn't bad, though it's far from the best, but is that more luck than judgement ? He often wins, but he also loses far too many.
Captaincy is a very specific skill which few possess and finding the right man might prove galvanic to the team as a whole, even if he's not quite top class as a batsman, as was the case with Brearley. Interestingly, ever since captains have been appointed for their batting rather than their captaincy ability, their results have been shocking - Cook, Gooch, Atherton and Gower have the worst records of England captains who've survived for 30 or more matches; Root's record so far isn't bad, though it's far from the best, but is that more luck than judgement ? He often wins, but he also loses far too many.
Sadly, I'm not an England selector, so my notions will go unheeded and we'll continue to play unbalanced teams and to rely on the occasional brilliant performance to bail us out. It's an approach that certainly didn't work on its latest test.
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