England Cricket: Underground, Gone & Buried

For all of English Cricket’s heritage, they find themselves out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. England have been woeful for the last 18 months now. While they continue to brush aside One Day Cricket & uphold Test Cricket, the fact of the matter is they have been no good at any form over the last year and a half.

''Denial’ a word which the ECB hates and English media love has once again proved to be their biggest undoing. Some would say Mitchell Johnson’s sensational barrage brought about this; but the cracks had begin to appear long before. Despite England’s 3-0 victory over the Aussies in the 2013 Ashes in England, the writing was on the wall. Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann may have well lost their first assignment together but they had seen the cracks. They knew what they had to do in the return series.

The problem with England is rules, regulations, uptight & therapy. In an age of T-s & Shorts, our English folk still love their bow tie. The up tight stuck up nature of English cricket had to have repercussions. The only exception to this was famously tossed out of the English setup after the 5- 0 Ashes debacle. Someone had to be made a guinea pig & Kevin Pietersen was that.

So where did it all go wrong?

It began with the return Ashes of 2013 where the England team was skittles for 5 to nothing. The series had such a large impact that the following was the casualty list of that tour:

1. Kevin Pietersen
2. Jonathan Trott
3. Graeme Swann
4. Andy Flower
5. Ashely Giles

English Cricket was thrown into disarray. Paul Downton was firm about Kevin Pietersen despite Piers Morgan’s chants of #BringBackKP. The ECB wanted to clean the slate & sacking Pietersen was a way of doing that. They idea was to begin a new era of English cricket and build it under Alastair Cook & Peter Moores. What happened thereafter has been a comedy of errors.

English Cricket had a few months to cool their heels over the Ashes before India came over for a Test & One Day International Series. England recovered against India to beat them in that Test Series. All seemed to be well with English cricket. They had fought back. What England did not realise is that India have been notoriously poor travellers & helped England immensely in that Test series.

England lost the ODI series that followed and were still looking for their first ODI series victory in close to a year. Alastair Cook after a brief resurgence in form against India once again could not buy a run. And he was One Day captain of England and was all set to lead them into a World tournament. The pressure on England grew as they lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka and Alastair Cook was sacked as Captain of England less than 8 weeks before their World Cup opener against Australia. Eoin Morgan’s fresh approach and ditching of IPL 2014 was all set to earn him the mantle of England One Day Captain.

This is what England’s performance has looked like in the last 18 months. England have been so pathetic, it’s hard to believe.

England in World Cup 2015

England came into the World Cup on the back of another disastrous tour. But they were buoyed or so they said. They were not thinking of what happened in Australia a year ago. Everyone in the team said that there were very few players from that Ashes encounter & it was a fresh unit. What England did realise was while the team had changed, their mindset and approach was still colloquial.

They got hammered in their first game at the MCG against a rampant Australia. But that was expected. They then got battered against New Zealand. After having being bundled out for a 120 odd, England let New Zealand get the runs without a fight.

Stuart Broad said he was jolted after Varun Aaron’s blow to his head and was still finding ways to deal with it. If Stuart Broad felt that way, why was he on England’s team bus? What sort of International cricketer makes those remarks in the middle of a World Cup. England still had to play 4 more games in the pool stage. Kumar Sangakkara put on another class performance to chase down what England put on. Finally, the Bangladeshis fought tooth and nail and held their nerve to win a close encounter.

England have had one of their worst World Cup performances. What lies ahead?

What now?

England are left to pick up the pieces. Colin Graves has made a bold statement mid World Cup about a way back for Kevin Pietersen. There will be introspection, firings, but hopefully Kevin Pietersen can make his way back.

For England to stand a chance to become a force in World Cricket, they need to reinstate KP even if it is just for a couple of years. He must play Ashes 2015. The Clique culture within the dressing room must go. England need to change their approach to the IPL & One Day Cricket. A fresh breed of cricketers must be encouraged to play freely and their natural game rather than coached out of it.

Steven Finn is a classic example of a player over-coached out of the game. Finn who once clocked speeds of 150 is now struggling to get to 135 on a regular basis.

England have become a laughing stock with tweets Globally mocking their World Cup campaign

"Eng had the wrong team, the wrong style of play & everyone could see it tonight's result not a shock, I feel for Morgan, coach is in trouble." - Former Australia great Shane Warne

"DO NOT SAY WE HAVENT PRIORITISED ODI CRICKET! We played a back-to-back Ashes to make sure England played 6 months of ODI's before this WC!" - Exiled England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

"I CANNOT BELIVE THIS! I JUST CANNOT! But, well done Bangladesh! You deserved it!

#ENGvBAN." - Pietersen

"Dear @ECB_cricket, this might not be a great time, but as there's room in your schedule, fancy a game in Japan on the way home? #challenge." - Japan Cricket Association

When can we play @ECB_cricket? - Malaysian Cricket Association

"WTF....... I am lost for bloody words....." - Former England captain Michael Vaughan.

"I'm currently #1 in the UK, India, Australia, NZ and SA, and am available to either captain or manage the England cricket team - or both." - author Jeffrey Archer.

JUST IN | Bangladesh has avoided embarrassment, holding off a brave challenge from World Cup minnow England by 15 runs in Adelaide.- Australian radio station 3AW

The World needs a strong England team. We hope this calls for a radical change in the ECB and in the England team with approach changes rather than personnel changes.