Music, Politics and Cricket

Hopes were high after the two Twenty20 wins last week (which, incidentally, were all but ignored due to the hype over England’s first football game under new management - a cause of real frustration to all cricket fans). Unfortunately, our cricketers have once again shown how poor they can be at ODI matches.

I wonder how it got to this stage. It seems a distant memory now, but when I got interested in cricket, England had just narrowly lost a World Cup Final, in 1992. When I compare that side to the one that has today been beaten like a schoolboy side, it is easy to see the differences.

Opening in 1992 were Ian Botham and Graham Gooch. And with all due respect to Alistair Cook and Phil Mustard, they are no Botham and Gooch.

The wicket keeper position has, since Alec Stewart’s retirement, been a hot potato for England. With Tim Ambrose set to play in the Test Matches against New Zealand this winter, we will have tried numerous replacements for the ex-Surrey man without success. My opinion is that we should accept that he can’t be replaced. We had never had a player of his calibre in that position before him and it may well be a long time until we find a real replacement, if at all. Australia are soon to go through the same process. The difference, I think, will be that they will readily accept that Adam Gilchrist will not be replaced, his shoes will not be filled. Whoever comes into the Aussie side will never be as good as him. Because of this, the expectations will immediately be lower and the player selected will have a much higher chance of success.

Returning to our side of the 1992 World Cup, in the middle order we had natural hitters of the ball: Hick, Smith, Lamb and Stewart. Lower down we had one-day specialists Fairbrother and Reeve. Unlike the past few seasons, when the one-day side has been used as a testing ground before putting people into the Test Match side, these two were complete one-day players. Only when we were at the depths of despair in the longer form did these players get their chance.

Traditionally, sides have used basically the same sides in Tests and ODIs, with only one or two changes. That is what we did in 1992 and did very well. In recent years we have changed this; we now even have different captains (though this doesn’t appear to be too much of a problem at the moment).

I like what the new Chairman of Selectors has said about our side - that we shouldn’t be picking players with a view to the next World Cup or Ashes series all the time. We should pick our best players here and now. Perhaps, then, we can see an end to the one-day side being a testing ground, have our best players playing and actually win some games for a change. Could Miller’s words even signal the return of Mark Ramprakash?