ENGLAND ARE DONE 4
From Ashes heroes to one-day zeroes
THREE WEEKS ago today England won the Ashes.
Eight weeks ago Freddie Flintoff claimed five wickets in front of a pulsating Lord's crowd. At 5.30pm yesterday afternoon you could hear a pin drop.
Same ground, different format, dire England.
Andrew Strauss's team are in serious danger of undoing all the good work, not to mention goodwill they earned over the summer.
Low
Four nil down already in this desperately poor NatWest Series after yesterday's seven wicket defeat, the most likely outcome now is a 7-0 whitewash.
And skipper Strauss admitted: "The batting hasn't fired for four matches now and a few of the guys are clearly low on confidence. There have been no telling scores and no telling partnerships and that's something we have to address.
"The cancer we have to avoid is getting too negative and too tentative. We have to show more thought against the bowlers we are up against."
England have got steadily worse in this series and their body language yesterday suggested they would rather be anywhere else.
Dross
The 29,000 spectators who parted with up to £75 each to watch this dross should demand a refund.
Most cleared off long before Australia overhauled England's weak total of 220 with 38 balls to spare.
Not that ECB boss Charles Clarke could care less. He'll have gone to bed counting his pennies last night, apparently blissfully unaware that the insane amount of cricket currently being played is killing the product on the field.
When will the administrators listen to the desperate pleas to reduce the gruelling schedule? No time soon if Clarke's comments yesterday are anything to go by.
Entertainers
"International cricketers are entertainers and have a period of time where they can earn substantial rewards," he said.
"In the outside world, strange as it may seem, people tend to work five or six days a week for about 47/48 weeks of the year.
"So, yes it is hard but this is international cricket."
Clarke is completely missing the point.
We are talking about athletes supposedly at the top of their game. This lot are on their knees.
England lost their last five wickets for 20 runs as Brett Lee cranked up his speed to a sizzling 95.8mph.
Only Strauss can hold his head high.
He hit another fifty in a losing cause yesterday as his team simply repeated the mistakes of the first three games.
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This article has 3 comments
There has been no clear direction with England's strategy or selection with regards to the One day game for a while now. KP & Freddie have just covered the cracks with their match winning displays. Take the coaches, when did Flower or Gibson win any international honours? Appoint a proven winner like Jayasuriya as England one day coach. At 40yrs old he hammered the Indian bowlers for 90 plus runs yesterday. He also did some damage last time Sri Lanka were here and won 5-0. Jayasuriya helped revolutionise one day cricket with his explosive batting and his bowling is not too bad either. I am sure the young England lads would gain a lot from his experience.
By V Bale. Posted September 13 2009 at 1:37 PM.
Sorry for grief Lads. Weve only lent you the ashes as we were cleaning out our trophy room for the painters.
You'll just have to more "swiss" Just like our Ponting. Try again in a couple of years.
Brisbane. QLD. Aust;
By Frank. Posted September 13 2009 at 12:39 PM.
What a disgrace,people should get some sort of refund,and england should give up there pay for this game to charity.These guys are paid well,they should at least make a decent effort to win,what a joke.
By paul spencer. Posted September 13 2009 at 1:17 AM.