Has there ever been a worse England performance or more pathetic post-match comments from a team's leaders ?
The Ashes have been lost after less than an hour and a half into play on the third day of a planned 5-day match. England weren't just beaten, they were destroyed, utterly humiliated and yet the leadership had only the usual tripe to serve up after the game.
Head coach, Chris Silverwood, after seeing his team lose for the ninth time in their last 12 matches, opined that he believed the players still supported him and his methods. "We just have to put performances together and start pushing back", he is reported as saying. Are such statements of what might be called "the bleedin' obvious" the best he can dream up ? Is it not HIS JOB to achieve such an end ? Are not the team's miserable performances principally a consequence of his failure to do 'HIS JOB' ?
Then there are the words and demeanour of captain Joe Root. Poor Root seems to have but one downtrodden expression on his face and his body language is equally gloomy. He trots out the same worthless banalities after every defeat, spouting such rubbish as "My energy has to be all about trying to win the next game" and "You've got to rally the players. That's a big part of captaincy". Sadly for Root, it's also where his most abysmal failure lies. "We know the areas we need to improve. We have to keep getting better ...... ", says Root; what ? "keep getting better" ? when all they've done is get worse. This is utter rubbish and shows Root trotting out what is little more than a programmed line for the media. Where are the real words of a real leader ?
Root is a fine batsman who is, perhaps, bordering on greatness in that role, but he is no captain; Silverwood has proved to be a failure as head coach. Both must go, Root back to being the team's best batsman by far and Silverwood to obscurity. While there may be no immediately obvious alternative to take on the role of captain, the truth is that almost anyone will do as they can do no worse. As for the role of coach, surely there is some inspirational figure waiting in the wings, some former player who can take over at least for the next couple of games before a permanent appointment can be made.
And finally, there is the role of the ECB, the body ultimately responsible for the almighty mess in which England's test match side finds itself. It is the ECB that decided to banish the real cricket of the county championship to the outer reaches of the season, to days when the weather is often dull and damp and players have little chance to hone their skills in preparation for more arduous contests. Instead, the best months of the season are reserved mostly for assorted limited overs competitions in which bashing the ball around takes precedence over the demands of longer forms of the game. Rather than looking to enhance the championship with innovative ideas, the ECB has chosen to whittle it down to a point at which it is now largely pointless and played at times when spectators will often be discouraged from attending due to the weather, thus providing perfect ammunition in favour of still more cash generating, knock-about tournaments in mid-summer.
So if head coach Silverwood and captain Joe Root have failed, as they surely have, it is not their failure alone. At the top of the pile are those at the ECB whose failure has been even greater, for not only did they appoint Silverwood and Root, but they have also destroyed the main nursery for future test match players. The ECB is a disaster, simply one of the myriad bureaucratic bodies that now infest our society and set up to meet political ends as much as the needs of the sport.
English cricket needs a total revamp. The ECB will no doubt set up a committee to review "what went wrong" in Australia and that will be expected to "make recommendations" at some future date, recommendations that will largely exonerate the ECB itself and will suggest various bits of tinkering at the edges of the national structure. Phooey !
The ECB should, and must, be disbanded and consigned to the rubbish heap. A far simpler and more reactive body should replace it, with a return to a system much more like the days when the MCC ran things. The county championship for 2022 must be dramatically enhanced and promoted, while the insane concentration on ever shorter forms of the game must be ended. Touring, both to and from England, must be more realistic, with touring sides allowed the opportunity to become acclimatised by playing matches against counties, states, islands or whatever the local structure provides. Trying to cram umpteen test matches, ODIs, 20-20s and heaven knows what else into as short a period as possible must end.
English cricket is in a parlous state. Only major surgery will save it.
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