2013/14 Ashes thread

[DungBeetle]

Fair point.

If KP is that bad an influence on team morale then they can tin him.  But other captains have managed him fine.  Cook simply isn't up to it -  he doesn't inspire and he lacks authority.

It is incomprehensible to me to talk of rebuilding with this man at the helm.    Fine to rebuild without Pieterson if you also relegate Cook to being an opener again without the burden of captaincy.  Saying there isn't anyone else is no reason not to do it, as I can't believe that Bell or Broad wouldn't do a better job than Cook.

[AndrewT]

As baffling as the decision is on the face of it, do you think the ECB would have taken this action if there were going to be any dissenters among the other players? This is clearly a decision which has the support of the senior England players.

I do think it's still wrong though - if the other players want to be able to kick out one of the others because they don't like him then they should really try to spend a few months being not totally shit at cricket first.

[Longy]

If KP is that bad an influence on team morale then they can tin him.  But other captains have managed him fine.  Cook simply isn't up to it -  he doesn't inspire and he lacks authority.

I don't think Strauss found him easy to deal with either, he resigned as captain after the series with South Africa when Pietersen was texting the opposition. The man has far too much history with being disruptive influence to blame Cook for this imo, he left Notts just before his England career started because everyone hated him.

[Acidmouse]

Mavericks are fine when are you winning, when the team is losing they become a real issue and one of the simplist things to cut off and blame.

[AndrewT]

If KP is that bad an influence on team morale then they can tin him.  But other captains have managed him fine.  Cook simply isn't up to it -  he doesn't inspire and he lacks authority.

I don't think Strauss found him easy to deal with either, he resigned as captain after the series with South Africa when Pietersen was texting the opposition. The man has far too much history with being disruptive influence to blame Cook for this imo, he left Notts just before his England career started because everyone hated him.

Has been quite funny watching Strauss on Sky - every piece of commentary he does seems to include a dig at KP.

[kp24]

Firstly I'd like to say I'm a massive kp it's massive shame I still think he should be playing for us but I understand he has many run ins with people over the years but he seemed to have been totally sidelined in the last series,put out on the boundary never asked for his input even though he an ex captain and a great cricket brain,even swann who doesn't like kp said he'd not been no problem in dressing room.in the end only one loser in this England kp will be fine without out it if I was him I'd go freelance playing in t20 comps.

[Woodsey]

Firstly I'd like to say I'm a massive kp it's massive shame I still think he should be playing for us but I understand he has many run ins with people over the years but he seemed to have been totally sidelined in the last series,put out on the boundary never asked for his input even though he an ex captain and a great cricket brain,even swann who doesn't like kp said he'd not been no problem in dressing room.in the end only one loser in this England kp will be fine without out it if I was him I'd go freelance playing in t20 comps.

  KP24 

[rinswun]

The biggest issue I have is that we no longer have any natural stroke makers at the top of the innings. Have a look at the Aussies, Indians and South African top and they all have a couple of players who score with a run rate between 60-70. Ours are at 40. Games were taken away from us regularly due to scoring rates this winter and now we've lost our most fluent batsman at the top of the order and further down (Prior).

I'd love to see someone like Luke Wright encouraged to play more CC stuff to improve his overall technique as players like that could be the difference for us. Sadly our lot seem to be marginalised into T20 players or Test players with no scope for trying both concepts.

[vegaslover]

The biggest issue I have is that we no longer have any natural stroke makers at the top of the innings. Have a look at the Aussies, Indians and South African top and they all have a couple of players who score with a run rate between 60-70. Ours are at 40. Games were taken away from us regularly due to scoring rates this winter and now we've lost our most fluent batsman at the top of the order and further down (Prior).

I'd love to see someone like Luke Wright encouraged to play more CC stuff to improve his overall technique as players like that could be the difference for us. Sadly our lot seem to be marginalised into T20 players or Test players with no scope for trying both concepts.

Agree with most of this

Think Tighty has got the new team pretty much spot on,he could work at Lords with that thnking. Unfortunately it is a backwards step as they are dour and dont score either fast or heavily enough. Watching Ballance play in the ODIs was painful. England got good starts every time and he handed the initiative back with such limited batting.

Luke Wright played a lot of CC for Sussex last season and played some cracking innings lower down the order but a) hes too old for England test team by the looks of it and b) hes looking to drop 1st class cricket and play T20 and one day cricket around the world.

Prior obv gone too by the looks of the media stuff. He just needed time to get his form back in CC as no other wickie comes close atm

 

[Woodsey]

The biggest issue I have is that we no longer have any natural stroke makers at the top of the innings. Have a look at the Aussies, Indians and South African top and they all have a couple of players who score with a run rate between 60-70. Ours are at 40. Games were taken away from us regularly due to scoring rates this winter and now we've lost our most fluent batsman at the top of the order and further down (Prior).

I'd love to see someone like Luke Wright encouraged to play more CC stuff to improve his overall technique as players like that could be the difference for us. Sadly our lot seem to be marginalised into T20 players or Test players with no scope for trying both concepts.

I think I'd settle for regular 400+ totals irrespective how fast they are scored!

[kp24]

Firstly I'd like to say I'm a massive kp it's massive shame I still think he should be playing for us but I understand he has many run ins with people over the years but he seemed to have been totally sidelined in the last series,put out on the boundary never asked for his input even though he an ex captain and a great cricket brain,even swann who doesn't like kp said he'd not been no problem in dressing room.in the end only one loser in this England kp will be fine without out it if I was him I'd go freelance playing in t20 comps.

  KP24 

To be fair I only took this name as my usual one had already been taken and was think I could think off the top of my head, he has done things in the past which have been bad for team morale just think it's a shame as he's a cracking people but England have decided to move on fair enough

[buzzharvey22]

The australian team hated each other in the dressing room 8 months ago. Now Lehman has them all sucking each other off, there lied the problem i think.

[Woodsey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/26082470

[Woodsey]

Talk about one in the eye for the ECB, KP was the only English player sold lol.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/26177151

[Longy]

Talk about one in the eye for the ECB, KP was the only English player sold lol.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/26177151

Well he is one of the few "English" players who now has no international commitments.

To be fair he always has been the marquee player to get from the England setup, briefly Flintoff could rival before his retirement.