Jonathan Agnew's views on England

England in need of change

Jonathan Agnew - BBC cricket correspondent
17 Apr 07, 08:44 PM


Barbados - England did not deserve a place in the semi-finals - the only reason they were in with a sniff at all was because South Africa arrogantly underestimated Bangladesh - and Graeme Smith's team mercilessly drove that point home.
Every weakness in England's game was ruthlessly exposed and they were shown to be wholly inadequate to challenge the leading international teams.
The manner in which Ian Bell, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss calmly and routinely defended the new ball at the start of England's innings verged on the comical. This is not a new approach, but the one we are repeatedly told is the way that best suits England’s players. What a joke!


All that happened was Shaun Pollock and Charl Langeveldt were never pressurised, and were able time and again to pitch the ball up and swing it away from off stump. Not once was there an attempt to hit them off line or length. It became rather funny, in a sad sort of a way.
Of course, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers then showed England how you do bat at the start of a one-day innings. You don’t have to slog, but you have to play your strokes, not merely to score runs, but to snatch the initiative - something that is anathema to England. How they made James Anderson and the worryingly fragile Sajid Mahmood suffer.


Vaughan is a shrewd tactician and a good leader. He is also a fine Test batsman. However, his record as a one-day cricketer speaks for itself, and he should not be chosen again. You simply can’t carry people these days, captain or not, and he should be replaced by Paul Collingwood.
I believe that relationship will work not only because they are friends, but Collingwood has no realistic hope of leading the Test team, and therefore he should not tread on Vaughan’s toes.


And what about Duncan Fletcher?
This is a more complicated issue than merely replacing a captain, but it does seem now that a fresh face is needed. Fletcher has done a great deal for English cricket since taking over from David Lloyd, but new ideas and a more aggressive and positive approach has to be instilled.
Time is an issue, because the right man has to be chosen, but I don’t see any problem in Fletcher announcing now that he will stand down at the end of the summer, giving the England and Wales Cricket Board plenty of time to select his successor.


This defeat, and particularly the manner of it, was chastening, devastating, and embarrassing. Perhaps just as well that it was, because unlike the temporary distraction the CB Trophy created in the wake of the Ashes debacle, English cricket was laid absolutely bare at the Kensington Oval.


Change is necessary and unavoidable.