Breaking news: Pietersen and Moores quit as England's captain & coach

According to Sky News, Kevin Pietersen has quit as England's captain. Cricinfo reports that Peter Moores, England's coach, has also resigned.

This follows the publicized clash of views between the two that required hurried intervention by senior folks at the ECB.

Pietersen had been named England captain 5 months ago.

I guess we'll have to await confirmation from the ECB, but this is about the worst thing that England cricket needs now with a tour of West Indies starting in a couple of weeks and a team that hasn't beaten significant opposition for 3 years now, the last one being the home win over Pakistan in 2006.

Now who'll be made captain? Strauss? But he isn't in the ODI team. Vaughan? Isn't that a retrograde move? Flintoff? He was cast aside after the 2006/07 Ashes thrashing. Collingwood? He gave up the job 5 months ago and I'm not sure how much of a certainty he is in tests because he seems to be in the team on a per-test basis. Cook? Far too early! My guess is that the ECB, if it does accept Pietersen's resignation, will opt for Strauss as test captain & persuade Flintoff or Collingwood to be the ODI captain.

As for the coach, that's a toughie because the main candidates that people have talked about are associated with either Pietersen or Moores. Andy Flower is a Moores pick while Graham Ford was being backed by Pietersen. I guess that also rules out Warne!

Do I love it when England cricket is in trouble? Of course!

Update: I just had a rather evil thought. Does it seem like Pietersen doesn't quite enjoy it when things don't work out the way he wants? He quit South Africa claiming that the system was unfair. Now he's quit as captain because he can't have his way with the coach.

Labels: breaking news, captaincy, coach, england, pietersen

Thus spake Jagadish @ 7:19 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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The coach question

It increasingly looks like the BCCI have found an answer to the question mark which was hanging over the Indian cricket team ever since Greg Chappell decided to stop being coach of the team. Looks like, it would be Gary Kirsten, who has really tormented the Indian bowlers in the late 90s especially in the ODIs. Let's keep our fingers crossed until the official announcement is made and also hope that this coach doesn't turn Ford.

Labels: chappell, coach, ford, greg chappell, india, kirsten, south africa

Thus spake Ganesh @ 7:46 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Circus or a red herring?

Just when everyone thought that Dav Whatmore was a shoo-in for the job of India's next coach, the BCCI dropped a couple of bombshells.

Yesterday, it clarified that Whatmore was out and that Graham Ford and an anonymous firang foreigner were the ones left standing. Today, the identity of the anonymous one was revealed - John Emburey.

Firstly, although it'd be useful to know the basis on which Whatmore was ruled out, it is surely too much to expect transparency from the BCCI. Secondly, now that John Emburey has been identified as a contender, it seems like he wasn't too successful when he coached Northamptonshire or Middlesex. It is interesting to note that India's last coach was not exactly too successful when he coached in domestic cricket.

If the BCCI (or the players, for that matter) has seen something in Embers that the ECB hasn't (I don't recollect him being anywhere in the reckoning after Duncan Fletcher quit), we sure would love to know what Emburey 'brings to the table'.

Labels: bcci, coach, emburey, farce, ford, india, whatmore

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:32 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Andy Flower picked for book cricket XIs

Andy Flower has quit first-class cricket and is now assistant to Peter Moores, England's coach after Duncan Fletcher quit during the World Cup.

As a result, Flower thus becomes eligible for the all-star book cricket XI. Given his awesome batting and safe wicket-keeping, he edges out Ridley Jacobs from the one-day XI. I'm also tempted to include him in the test XI ahead of Jack Russell, since the team would have 5 bowlers.

So the new teams, following Andy Flower's retirement and McGrath quitting cricket at the end of that whats-its-name tournament which involved 15 minnows, are:

Tests: Mark Richardson, Michael Slater, Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Andy Flower (wk), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak (c), Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Glenn McGrath and Allan Donald.

ODIs: Craig Wishart, Michael Slater/Nasser Hussain, Damien Martyn, Graham Thorpe, Andy Flower (wk), Michael Bevan (c), Chris Cairns, Heath Streak, Glenn McGrath and Allan Donald.

Labels: andy flower, book cricket, coach, england, flower, retire, zimbabwe

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:55 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Duncan Fletcher is England's former coach

Duncan Fletcher has joined the list of 'former coaches' after the World Cup, a few weeks after Greg Chappell announced his decision.

Fletcher took over as England coach after the 1999 World Cup. Eight years is a very long time! In that time span, England won 42 out of 96 tests and won 74 out of 165 ODIs.

Although England did win the 2005 Ashes, the overall scoreline against Australia is 4-14. England did overall become a better test side, like the series record of won 14, lost 7, drew 6 shows. But England regressed bigtime after the Ashes, winning only 5 out of 18 tests after the 2005 Ashes, one of them a forfeit.

It was in one-dayers that England proved quite hopeless, despite a shock win in the one-dayers in Australia earlier this year. Winning 74 out of 165 doesn't look too bad. Scratch beneath the surface and take out Bangladesh (yes, them!), Zimbabwe and other minnows and the scoreline becomes 'Played 128, Won 41, Lost 79'. There were 3 teams against who England played at least 20 games (after the 1999 World Cup). The highest was Australia (26). Number two was (surprise!) Zimbabwe (23), more than India and Pakistan. Maybe it was the ECB's ploy to do a lot of confidence boosting.

I'm not even going to harp on Fletcher's constant excuses on unavailability of personnel. When he had some chaps with ability, he chose to keep them under wraps!

Overall, I suppose England will miss him. He obviously could coach, but, like a lot of others have pointed out for a while, it was time for him to go!

Labels: coach, england, fletcher

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:24 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Present tense for players, future tense for the BCCI

The BCCI's announcements today after a high-level meeting indicate just one thing - they've just bowed to public pressure. Endorsements and the coach did not result in India's pathetic show at the World Cup. Yet, that is the impression the BCCI has given.

The entire exercise has resulted in player contracts being scrapped, payment-for-performance, controls on endorsements etc. as far as players are concerned. These are with immediate effect. The actual endemic problems in the BCCI and Indian cricket which I touched upon last week will not be sorted out. Efforts 'will be made' to ensure greater participation of international cricketers in domestic tournaments. State associations 'will be directed' to prepare good wickets for domestic cricket. All state associations 'will start academies' by 2009. Under-19 tours to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand etc. 'will be undertaken'. A gag order on players (writing columns, talking exclusively to the media) makes the situation worse. The players are not children, neither is the BCCI their guardian. The BCCI needs to first act upon its officials who routinely speak on and off the record.

There is no timeframe mentioned for most of what the BCCI's units need to do. Yet players' contractual commitments are voided with immediate effect. This is as knee-jerk a reaction as you can get. The only good decision is appointing a bowling and fielding coach for the tour of Bangladesh.

Labels: 2007 world cup, bcci, coach, india, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 8:11 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Greg Chappell is India's former coach, what more do people want?

A little less than two years after he was named India's coach, replacing John Wright, Greg Chappell chose to not seek a renewal of his contract, ending speculation if the BCCI would sack him. In a sense, he has gone out on his own terms, rather than the BCCI confirming that they wouldn't renew his contract. Was it a case of his way or no way?

The next question is about who the BCCI will choose as the new coach. When the same question came up in 2005, I wrote about my preferred choice

I firmly think that the experience he has of coaching sub-continental sides would be his best trump card. I know that coaching Sri Lanka from being the no-hopers of world cricket to the World Cup in 1996 is totally different from handling India's players, who have certainly achieved a few things. It would also be very different from coaching today's no-hopers, Bangladesh (joint holders along with Zimbabwe).

Dav Whatmore has hinted that he'd be keen to pursue an opportunity if the job did have a vacancy. It is pathetic that Indian cricket keeps having this cycle every couple of years. Why should a coach/captain be appointed keeping a specific tournament in mind? If India, under Chappell/Dravid failed to get to the second round of the World Cup, does this mean they are a pathetic side? What will the tenure of the next coach be? Till the 2011 World Cup? Till the 2008 Champions Trophy? Till the 2010 Champions Trophy?

Mind you, when Chappell took over as India's coach, the side was ranked #7 in ODIs (97 points) and #3 in tests (107 points). Compare this to the rating now: #6 in ODIs (106 points) and #4 in tests (107 points).

So, Chappell hasn't done anything spectacular, purely in terms of the ICC ratings. Is that sufficient reason to doubt his ability? I can't think of any side other than Australia which has consistently remained in the top rung of the ICC ratings over the last two years. England were ~ #2 in tests for a while, but sunk to new depths during the Ashes and a few times before. It is only in the last year that South Africa have done well as a one-day side. West Indies, barring winning against India and reaching the ICC Champions Trophy final, have been as inconsistent as they've been for a decade. New Zealand, as usual, have been there or thereabouts, having an odd great series here and there. Sri Lanka have recovered marvellously from a walloping in India in 2005.

I'm not even for a moment suggesting that I'm happy that India is #3 in tests and #6 in ODIs or that it has been inconsistent or that it didn't get to the Super Eight stage or that it seems to have regressed in recent times. What this shows is that most teams, other than those named Australia, go through ups and downs. This happens when the team management doesn't plan well, and when players don't bat/bowl/field well or execute the plans well. If there was a sense of collective responsibility, which is what you'd assume given that everyone in the BCCI and the Indian touring party seemed to target the World Cup semi-final at the least, everyone ought to quit. Why Chappell alone?

Labels: 2007 world cup, bcci, chappell, coach, greg chappell, india, whatmore, world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:53 pm | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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Excreta hits the roof - Part II

Part one was played out at the start of Greg Chappell's period as India's coach. Part two seems to be all set to be played out over the next week.

There's enough innuendo and enough leaked SMS messages/reports floating around about Chappell being disgusted with the attitude of 'senior players', the 'senior players' being disgusted with Chappell's attitude, etc. Add to it the enormously transparent BCCI whose officials, including former ones, go on record about what they feel about the coach, captain etc.

Although my belief is that Chappell and Dravid should stay, I fully expect the BCCI to not renew Chappell's contract. I hope Dravid accepts to continue on as captain because I believe he still has it in him to turn Indian cricket around, as well as because the alternatives (Tendulkar, Ganguly, Yuvraj or Sehwag) are unacceptable as far as I am concerned.

After India lost to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, my feeling was that there was a golden opportunity to clean up the mess that is Indian cricket. I use Indian cricket in a fairly generic sense. I include domestic cricket, youth cricket, etc. Basically start afresh, similar to how Australia did after losing the Ashes in the mid-80s. Take a guess about who one of Australia's national selectors was. He and his team picked guys like Steve Waugh, David Boon, Craig McDermott etc. despite some fairly average Sheffield Shield records because they felt that these players had the mental strength to cope with international cricket far better than others with superior domestic records.

But it is easy for Australia's selectors to identify mentally tough players. It's nearly infinitely tougher for India's selectors to do so - 27 first-class teams (Gujarat & Maharashtra have 3 teams in the Ranji Trophy), around half-a-dozen zonal teams, more than half-a-dozen competitions between these teams, etc.

I've read several arguments about why it wouldn't be possible to restructure the domestic system, how a 'foreign' coach can't understand Indian cricket (can someone define it please?), how an Indian coach is as good as a 'foreign' coach, why questioning the performance of some of Indian cricket's holy cows is tantamount to questioning their parentage, etc. My fear is that the administrators will also buy these arguments. I fear that the administrators, and everyone else who has a part in decision making, will miss the wood for the trees.

Meanwhile, Tom Moody, who didn't get the India job, must be giggling away merrily.

Labels: bcci, chappell, coach, dravid, greg chappell, india

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:27 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Australia have a new coach

Tim Nielsen is Australia's new coach with effect from the end of the 2007 World Cup. He takes over from John Buchanan, who had a very successful stint, helping Australia win just about everything in sight. Maybe those successes did give Buchanan a carte blanche to say a few stupid things.

After the 2003 World Cup, he bravely predicted that in 2007, the Australian side would have ambidextrous players.

A few weeks ago, he said that his bowlers' and fielders' development was being stymied by inept opposition.

Labels: australia, buchanan, coach, nielsen

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:22 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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