Also expect the report to do near enough bugger all.

Post from: EveryJoe

Schofield report tomorrow

I hope Steve has screwed his head back on. If he has, then watch out West Indies.

Post from: EveryJoe

Steve Harmison – a reminder

“That was the probably the only way we’d have got him out. There was a chance he might have got 400 – I think there were about 20 overs left in the innings,” Dawson added.

Crikey. Of course, all this has done is build the speculation on whether Tresco should be playing for England. This is only one innings but given the recent performances of the England side, they could use all the help they could get. He certainly has the form to play – but does he have the mental fortitude? Should he even be allowed to play again, after twice ditching the England side?

My gut feeling is no, he shouldn’t. The England side needs form, but it also needs consistency and to have Tresco’s mental well-being as a constant concern would not help build that consistency, especially when the younger players, such as Ravi Bopara are taking every opportunity to make a mark on the side. If Tresco said he was fit to play, would we really be able to believe him?

However, there’s a feeling of “cutting off your nose to spite your face about it” as Trescothick is undoubtely one of, if not the, best opening batsman in England and he could make a massive difference on the England line-up. Emphasis on the “could”. At the moment, it’s wait-and-see time. But before long, the question will need to be answered and there’s no easy answer.

What do you think?

Post from: EveryJoe

Tresco back on track?

Of course, when I say “we”, I’m referring to everyone interested in England’s success MINUS the 11-or-so men who are actually out there representing us. The team. They should not expect anything. They should prepare for each and every game in the same manner and it doesn’t matter against whom you are playing. Australia or Canada, this is International cricket and you don’t take it for granted. The problem is, however, that I’m sat here writing this watching England play Canada in their second group match. The side is without former captain and England stalwart Andrew Flintoff. And for once, it’s not due to injury. He was dropped. Dropped. The man who recently captained England in the Ashes tour. And why? For outrageous and irresponsible behaviour. After the New Zealand game on Friday, a few of the boys went out to let off a little tension. I can make my peace with that, everyone needs to relax. Unfortunately, however, Flintoff’s way of relieving stress is to get pissed up out of his tree and steal a pedalo at 4am in the morning. And fall off it, requiring rescuing. He wasn’t alone – Ian Bell was there, and a few others, but it seems they’ve singled Flintoff out for the “making an example” treatment.

And I’m happy with it. In fact I applaud Fletcher for finally growing a pair and doing what was required. Andrew Flintoff has made a mockery of what they’re out there to do. A mockery of English supporters. A mockery of poor mugs like here who sit here day in day out, willing the boys to do well. How can we be sure that they’re trying their hardest when they’re probably going on to the cricket field with a hangover? I’ve done it, and believe me, you don’t play good cricket. Hell, this pot-kettle-black-stuff right here, because I’ve had 4am drunken errors before. But I don’t play cricket for England. These men (apparently) are out there to do a job. They are being paid to go the Caribbean, to play cricket, and to win the World Cup for England. The trophy that says “we are the best”, a piece of cricketing regalia that could be used to rub everyone elses noses in it and say “yeh, we’re better than you”. The other such trophy is, of course, the Ashes, but we all know what happened when we tried to secure our grip on that.

We were told, after the Ashes, that the England camp were sorry for what happened in Australia and that they could make things right in the Caribbean. Instead I’m sat here reading about fines against our men and the fact that Flintoff has been “sacked” as England vice-captain. We know that Flintoff has always been “one of the lads”, the big hearted joker, who likes a drink, but plays his cricket hard. Hell, that’s why we love him so much. But this latest escapade shows a serious lack of judgement on his behalf and he ought to be ashamed of himself. Not only has he let himself and the fans down, but he has directly impinged on England’s chances in this World Cup. There’s no doubt that his batting won’t be missed against Canada, but his bowling will be. Ravi Bopara will get his chance in the side, but surely he would not have wished it to come in such circumstances.

England, even without Flintoff, should win against Canada today, and of course I want them to win. I don’t want this to be yet another “wake up call that they sorely need” because they’ve had plenty and I’m fed of hearing and/or saying the expression. But were we to lose, I think it would be fair to place a large amount of blame on the one man who is supposably the pinnacle of English cricket.

Post from: EveryJoe

Idiots.

Post from: EveryJoe

Literary genius

* I do like the idea of the chaps “sharing drinks”. It was 4am and what that really means is that they were having a proper session. Fortunately, The Sun isn’t afraid to print that: “Batsman Strauss, 29, said: “It was in the early hours of the morning and most of the players were in the bar celebrating the win. It was a bit hairy especially because we’d had a drink or two.” And why not. (I just hope Strauss hadn’t previously phoned his wife and said he was tired and getting an early night.)

Post from: EveryJoe

Bitter end to tour

Well, a revival in fortunes has seen them do exactly that, after first beating Australia and then New Zealand. Collignwood finally clicked with the bat, scoring a hundred, with Strauss backing him up with a consecutive 50. Mal Loye will arguably be annoyed at losing his place to Micheal Vaughan, who could only manage a first-ball duck, but the value of having Vaughan in the side, scoring runs or not, is becoming increasingly hard to quantify. What has ultimately worked in England’s favour in this series is that England and New Zealand are moreorless on an even keel, that is, Australia have been so consideradbly better, that it was never a contest to see who could beat Australia, more, it was a contest of who would win out between England and New Zealand. That contest was drawn 2-2, but England’s shock defeat over Australia sealed the deal. England now get a chance to continue the revival with three more chances to mop up the mess they made of the Ashes. The chance of that is decidedly slim, but it is a chance nonetheless and there would be a delicious irony in it all if they were able to snatch a victory here.

Post from: EveryJoe

England do the unthinkable

“I was surprised Panesar didn’t start and I couldn’t really work out why Read didn’t start, either. He certainly looks the part with the gloves and he did OK in the Pakistan series with the bat. At the end of the day, you have to pick your best players and in the last couple of Tests it became pretty apparent that Read is a better keeper than Jones. When those sort of things happen in a team, it unsettles a few players.”

I don’t actually need to say anything else, do I? I just hope someone calls Ponting as an expert witness at the inquest. Full article by Angus Fraser at The Telegraph.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ponting says it all

I know that Australia is a big country, but my extremely rough calculations, our boys will have done 26,000km travelling by the end of this tour (not including the 17,000km or so each way in just getting there). It’s no wonder they’ve been a little out of sorts. I hope they’ve been collecting their airmiles.

No doubt planning a tour schedule is a very complicated matter, involving all kinds of authorities and interested parties, but you can’t help but wonder if things could have been a little more sensible. For example, the 4th Test was played in Melbourne, they then went to Sydney to play the 5th Test, and then straight back to Melbourne to play the first one day match. It’s indicative of the extent to which cricket has become a commodity, something that can nowadays be sold to the highest bidder, with the quality of the cricket and the effect on the game and its players seemingly not even a secondary consideration. For example, by the conclusion of the CB Trophy, 15 matches will have been played. By the conclusion of the World Cricket League, 15 matches (well, OK actually 16, the final between Kenya and Scotland) will have been played. The different, though, is that there were 6 teams in the WCL. The CB Trophy really is a mockery of one day cricket. Teams should have played each other at most twice, with one final. It’s no wonder that injury in cricket is spiralling out of control. If the cricket authorities aren’t careful, they won’t have a game to sell, any players to play, nor any spectators to watch.

(The other obvious question is what’s wrong with Northern Australia? Does cricket not have the same following or are the conditions not correct for producing decent wickets?)

Post from: EveryJoe

Relent! Relent!

Words actually fail me.

Post from: EveryJoe

England fans: do not read this