English selectors will be on board for West Indies and Sri Lanka tours this winter
England will revolutionise their selection process and make it more professional Selector Ed Smith or deputy James Taylor will tour the West Indies and Sri Lanka. One of them will also be present at England Lions matches in India and the UAE Former selector David Graveney had to join a fan group to watch England abroad
England cricket will put their new selection process on a fully professional platform for the first time in the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Either national selector Ed Smith or his deputy James Taylor will be present throughout the two senior trips abroad this winter, plus the England Lions matches in India and the UAE, even though captain and coach pick the side when abroad.
But Smith believes he or Taylor should be there to increase their knowledge of England performances at home and abroad. This contrasts with the shambolic treatment previous selectors had to endure, especially David Graveney, who picked the team for more than 100 Tests.
He had to join a cricket supporters group to watch England abroad, while Graveney’s successors Geoff Miller and James Whitaker only went to occasional Tests overseas.
Meanwhile, the preparation for the doomed Hundred competition lurches from one fiasco to another.
The latest appears to be a presentation from the organisers to a group from Test Match Special, who were underwhelmed by what they heard.
It transpires that BBC-covered games will be on Thursdays and Sundays but the tournament itself will start on a Wednesday.
Controversy seems to follow former England spinner Monty Panesar as it did again on Friday when he had trouble gaining admittance to Lord’s because his ECB pass was three years old.
Former England captain Alec Stewart, who presented the youthful-looking Ollie Pope with his England cap before play on Friday, raised a laugh when he told the players’ huddle that he remembered handing over an under nine Surrey trophy to Ollie ‘just a couple of years ago’.
On a more serious note, Stewart advised 20-year-old Pope to soak up all the knowledge he could from the experienced England players but always be his own man.
The London Legacy Development Company are in their wisdom paying corporate restructuring officer Alan Fort £10,000 a week to reduce £20million-a-year losses at the London Stadium.
But the LLDC board are well aware of the two main reasons for the huge losses: the deal of the century done by West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady to pay minuscule rent as anchor tenants and the unexpected high cost of turning the stadium into athletics mode.
But the managers of Manchester United and Newcastle found it amusing to be on the same side at this week’s Premier League managers’ summit discussing broadcasting requirements.
Both felt there were too many interview demands on managers and did not want to carry on with the chat with broadcasters before a live game.
Middlesex, relegated from Division One of the County Championship last season and falling way behind London rivals Surrey, have high ambitions of attracting a top coach with former triple-winning Ashes England boss Andy Flower on their shortlist.
It is unlikely he would take the role while he deputises as England cricket director for Andrew Strauss. But it is known that Flower was not happy when Ed Smith was preferred as national selector.
MCC announced that Ben Wright had joined them as head of communications from Team Sky cycling ahead of the first Lord’s Test of the summer, but not that he left a few days later because of a health problem.
Meanwhile, MCC have not just drawn from the Test Match grounds for their shortlist of candidates to replace the retiring Mick Hunt as Lord’s groundsman. Essex’s Stuart Kerrison, who has always provided a wicket at Chelmsford to suit Essex, is on the list.
England cricket will put their new selection process on a fully professional platform for the first time in the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Courtesy Daily Mail