Tag Archives: moores

England Humiliated

Posted on by

The problems of Australia and Sri Lanka seem trivial when compared to what transpired with England today. When West Indies were out for 392 on the 4th morning of the Test, hardly anyone in the world would have imagined that the game would be over in less than three hours, with England bowled out for their third lowest score in a Test innings.

Until England’s innings, there was not much to choose between the two teams. Obviously, England had under-performed against their potential, allowing the West Indies to grab a 76-run lead, but the major damage was caused by the two WI centurians, Gayle and Sarwan. But there are no excuses to the events that happened after that. Taylor bowled the spell of his lifetime. And surprise, surprise! They got there without a significant contribution from Chanderpaul.

This is an incredible mess for England. After the public linen-washing in the Pietersen-Moores flap, the ECB and Strauss, the new captain, would have hoped to turn over a new leaf against an opponent, currently the weakest of the Test-playing nations bar Bangladesh. That was not to be. It will take enormous mental strength from the team to overcome this setback. Echoes of the Adelaide debacle come to mind. Will a demoralized England be even competitive in the remaining Tests? This is going to be the biggest challenge for Strauss.

As for our prediction about the match winner, we seem to have egg on our face, probably a few rotten vegetables too! But models are there to be improved using results. And so, we will come up with an improved model for the upcoming matches.

Kevin Pietersen – Captaincy Cameo

Posted on by

Just when I felt England has found the right captaincy in Kevin Pietersen, someone possessing the stature and caliber of Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith, M S Dhoni (Fast and Furious) to lead from the front, and thus provide a healthy balance among cricketing nations, guess what? KP’s relationship with the coach Moores derailed. Moores was fired and KP was “forced to resign“, as he called it.  Though he should be back playing I wonder how his performance would be affected by these drastic events.

It is physically and mentally challenging enough for any cricketer like Pietersen to work hard from the bottom to the top, proving himself game after game and achieving the proud feat of leading the side. If on top of that, all of a sudden, he is dropped, it could dramatically alter his career performance.  The analogy sounds similar to surviving a executive role in any corporate culture.

All I can wish is that others learn lessons from such incidents and resolve issues with team players, coaches, senior players in team, and the cricket management before it bubbles up. Hope KP will continue to prove a solid player for England. He still has time to lead the side in the future. Watch out for IPL shenanigans, because guess who is a free agent!

The Captain in Cricket

Posted on by

sydgregory1905

The Pietersen flap reminded me once again how unique the role of the captain is in cricket when compared to other games. Since cricket is a stop-start game, there are literally hundreds of decisions made by the captain throughout the entire match. Who should bowl? From which end? With whom at the other end? Try bowling short? Stop the singles or boundaries? How many slip fielders? Where to hide the poor catching fielders? How to apply pressure? Also make sure that overs are bowled in time.

Continuous games like soccer and basketball seldom allow that kind of decision making. Volleyball doesn’t have many variations in tactics. American football is based on choosing plays decided ahead of the game. Baseball, the closest cousin of cricket, is more dependent on the skill on the main pitcher.

Of course, the captain’s role is greater when the team is fielding. But even when the team is batting, the captain can make important decisions about batting order and target scores, though much of this is usually done in consultation with senior team members.

The coach is responsible for the performance of the players in the team, while the captain makes many of the real-time decisions that affect the game. This makes for greater tension between the captain and the coach. When teams are winning, this isn’t a problem because both can bask in the credit. But when faced with losses, each can point fingers at the other. That is certainly what happened in England’s recent household feud. But it could happen to any team that is placed under high expectations.