Sacking will not mend our broken game
IT seems to happen after every single World Cup that someone near to the top of english cricket gets the sack. Whether it be Duncan Fletcher, David Lloyd, whoever, someone always seems to pay the price for our abject failure to compete on the global one- day stage. Paul Downton is just the latest victim.
It is high time that we looked at the entire structure of english cricket and the reasons we are incapable of producing the types of cricketer required to succeed in international one-day cricket.
The system is broken and it desperately needs fixing if england are ever going to compete in limited- overs cricket again. make no mistake, sacking Paul Downton does not mean some magic wand has been waved and all will be well. There are deep systemic problems.
Too many of the current selectors and coaches are from the old guard and have failed to keep pace with the dramatic changes that have occurred in one- day cricket in recent years.
From Downton to coach Peter moores, to selectors James Whitaker and Angus Fraser, these are players from a different era who have been painfully slow to react to situations. even the sacking of Alastair Cook as one-day captain was a slow and protracted affair. They should have acted sooner.
Like so much of english sport, our cricket system seems afraid of the maverick player and that has to change. In my view there is still too much bad blood around for Kevin Pietersen to return, with the fallout from the book causing untold damage to so many relationships that it just seems inconceivable for him to return.
I hate it when things become about one individual and believe me, everything that has gone wrong with english cricket has not been down to the handling of Kevin Pietersen, however badly that has been done.
But what it does highlight is the continued fear of the maverick player. From David Gower to Kevin Pietersen, english cricket has shown distrust for anyone who does not conform or fit into a safe stereotype even though all the players who are thriving on the world stage are nonconformists who do things differently.
You wouldn’t find the audacious shot-making of Brendan McCullum or AB de Villiers in an MCC coaching manual but you will not find two better strikers of a cricket ball on the planet. english cricket needs to learn to embrace the maverick.
I have been asked if I would like to take on Downton’s job and the short answer is ‘no’. I will do anything I can to help the ECB and english cricket but there are far better candidates than me out there.
Whether it be michael Vaughan, Andrew strauss or anyone else, I just hope whoever they appoint is close to the modern game and ahead of the curve. We have been behind it for far too long.
most importantly, it is time to wake up and look at the big picture. stop finding individuals to scapegoat and carry the can and start looking at the system that is failing to produce the kind of cricketers we need.