ENGLAND'S CRICKETERS - HOW MUCH LOWER CAN THEY SINK ?

The final humiliation for England's cricket team was reserved for the fifth match of their series against Australia, played in Hobart, Tasmania, probably the antipodean location most similar to that with which they should be accustomed and comfortable playing in.

But no such luck. How can one adequately describe their abysmal performance in this Ashes series ? Humiliating ? Embarrassing ? Shocking ? Disgraceful ?  These and many other words could be applied, and yet neither the coach nor captain seem to believe that they should be sacked. How can this be ?

Anyone with an ounce of pride would surely have offered their resignation on the back of leading their national team in such a series of shameful performances, or been sacked, but not this lot it seems. Captain Joe Root says that he's still the man to put things right while coach Chris Silverwood is strangely silent about his own future. My God !

Is it possible to contemplate an England football manager surviving a year of results like those achieved by this rag bag of coach, captain and players ? Of course not. Would those at the Football Association responsible for the national team still be procrastinating ? Not a chance ! So why are the bureaucrats who run English cricket so inactive ?

English cricket is a mess. The national team relies on Root and Stokes, who seems to be injured more often than not, Broad and Anderson, while the rest come and go through a revolving door. Yes, these four are fine players but a team needs more than one top batsman, a frequently unfit all-rounder and two ageing bowlers if they are to compete. Broad will be 36 in June and Anderson 40 in July - it's well past time that they had been replaced by up and coming competition, but where is that competition ? Where are the new young batsmen and spin bowlers, pushing for places in the national team ?

The answer is that there aren't any. The decimation of real cricket, the County Championship, and its replacement by a mish mash of limited overs knockabouts has effectively removed the development pathway for the next generation of Test Match players. While responsibility for the appalling performance of the England team in recent times lies fairly and squarely with Silverwood and Root, ultimate responsibility for the mess rests with those who run the England and Wales Cricket Board, the ECB.

Once again they will say that lessons must be learnt and changes will be made. There'll  be yet another review conducted by the same tired old hacks which will achieve nothing. What is needed is a genuine clear out and a genuinely different approach. Fat chance !