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Botham for English Coach

The Argonaut

State Vice-Captain
Surely now is the time to get someone in to motivate this English side to greater heights. Why not Botham. He has been successful against Australia, would have the respect of the players and is home grown so he could instill the passion for playing for your country. I'm not saying that the English team doesn't have that passion but wouldn't Botham be able to increase it.

It's time for a change somewhere high up and if not the captain why not the coach. Hussain is probably still the man to lead the side as Trescothick still needs a couple of years to stamp himself as a high quality test player.

Any thoughts?
 

Blewy

Cricketer Of The Year
I think that would've been a good idea before the last few days, but Botham has just come out and said Nasser Hussain should stand down as captain, and i don't think that to much change is what is needed at the moment...

As much as Nasser has struggled this series Captaincy wise, he has led his team brilliantly in previous series, and look at some of the other captains who have succumbed to this brilliant Aussie side...
The only captain who has really stood out has been Stephen Fleming and even he was vulnerable before last series...

*Pollock got hammered both in OZ and SA
*Pakistan's 50 test captains in the last 12 months ;);););););) have struggled...
*Ganguly was battered and bruised in Oz, India beat Australia but alot of it was great individual brilliance from a couple of players rather than leadership...

So i think England need to keep Hussain and if that means leaving Botham then so be it...

Maybe Nasser should go via NZ on the way home so that next series he will have the goods....
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
Im not too sure Botham is the right man to coach England.

Listening to him commentate during the NZ/Eng series was quite an eye-opener. He rated Flintoff one of the best all-rounders in the world & even challenged Ian Smith into agreeing that he was possibly better than Cairns.

Now he's come out & said that Hussain should be dropped altogether when Hussain has made more runs than most of the others? And picked a captain who has not even represented England yet.
 

royGilchrist

State 12th Man
Ganguly was battered and bruised in Oz, India beat Australia but alot of it was great individual brilliance from a couple of players rather than leadership...
Im not sure if you realize this GB, but you might get face the wrath of the Indian posters for this. Perhaps there might be a thread opened just to counter this statement :)

I agree with Tim on this one, Botham has never impressed me as anything other than a cricket 'player'. As Tim pointed out his commentary leaves a lot to be desired. And as history showed his captaincy left a lot to be desired. Aussies have humiliated a lot of teams, including the mighty SA. Also Nasser/Fletcher duo has been largely responsible for the english team's resurgence, and this series is definetely not enough to let them go. This is not the first time Botham has made premature and sweeping comments. Surely they cant be taken seriously.
 

Blewy

Cricketer Of The Year
LOL Yeah i realise Roy, but what arguments can they throw forward, i mean it was Laxmann and Dravid that scored the runs.....
Ganguly had a very lean series, and his captaincy was nuttin spectacular at all....

And yeah i realised that after i posted it about Sachin...
 

masterblaster

International Captain
Ganguly's bowling changes and his field settings were pretty good in the series against Australia in 2001, just put Harbhajan on to bowl with all these short silly point and short leg fielders!!!

Then the aussies will crumble like a pack of Arnott's biscuits!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Do Arnott's biscuits crumble???
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Listening to him commentate during the NZ/Eng series was quite an eye-opener. He rated Flintoff one of the best all-rounders in the world
Potentially he is one of the leading "dual performers" in the World, but he needs to be given more responsibility with the bat.

Watching how he reacted to having to shoulder a lot of bowling in India last winter in my opinion "made" him as a bowler - even if the figures didn't show that. My view now would be to tell him that from now on he bats at 6, and as such has to bat with a top order mentality.

That allows the keeper (situations vacant) to come in at 7, and I can still see a case for White at 8, Giles 9, and then 2 from Jones, Harmison and Hoggard.

As a top 5, I think we should be looking at Trescothick, Vaughan, Hussain, Thorpe, Key (although in what order the last 3 bat is open to negotiation).
Any comments?
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
One question...why replace someone who has dramatically improved England's performances since he took over the job of England Coach? Since Duncan Fletcher became England Coach he has only lost 3 series (2 against Australia and one against India in India). Why change someone who has made Trescothick and Vaughan into world-class players? Why change a successful combination just because England happen to loose to the best team in the world? I really don't see why people are calling for Fletcher or Hussain's heads after they loose to the best team in the world when over half their squad has been out injured. As I've said before, after the Test Series against Zimbabwe, England will have gained more confidence and normal service will resume. (and by that I mean winning or drawing series)
 

Gotchya

State Vice-Captain
One question...why replace someone who has dramatically improved England's performances since he took over the job of England Coach?
After a bad series thats customary isn't it ? some kind of changes ?
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Originally posted by Gotchya
One question...why replace someone who has dramatically improved England's performances since he took over the job of England Coach?
After a bad series thats customary isn't it ? some kind of changes ?
Yes but Hussain and Fletcher won't quit and have the support of the ECB. Maybe it's customary in Pakistan but luckly it doesn't seem so at the moment in England :D
 

Gotchya

State Vice-Captain
Yes. You are right about the Pakistan bit, its been THE dilemma here. But as far as i know, the English establishment has been fickle as well. Apparently they have silenced since Hussain has taken charge.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Originally posted by Rik
One question...why replace someone who has dramatically improved England's performances since he took over the job of England Coach? Since Duncan Fletcher became England Coach he has only lost 3 series (2 against Australia and one against India in India). Why change someone who has made Trescothick and Vaughan into world-class players? Why change a successful combination just because England happen to loose to the best team in the world? I really don't see why people are calling for Fletcher or Hussain's heads after they loose to the best team in the world when over half their squad has been out injured. As I've said before, after the Test Series against Zimbabwe, England will have gained more confidence and normal service will resume. (and by that I mean winning or drawing series)
Just every so often Rik, you come up with a post that is full of sense and I agree with 100%.

This is one of those occasions.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Originally posted by Gotchya
Yes. You are right about the Pakistan bit, its been THE dilemma here. But as far as i know, the English establishment has been fickle as well. Apparently they have silenced since Hussain has taken charge.
Yeah but if you saw the coaches we had before...Illingworth taking over the entire management of the England Team...David Lloyd who was a great confidence coach but not really good enough for an International Team. Now we have Fletcher who looks at the opposition and changes player's techniques to help them combat them. If Fletcher wasn't coach then I doubt Vaughan would be churning out 100 after 100, he would still be playing gritty defensive innings. The only thing I would change at the moment is Hussain's seeming need to change the field after every ball...it doesn't help the bowlers.
 

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Originally posted by masterblaster
Ganguly's bowling changes and his field settings were pretty good in the series against Australia in 2001, just put Harbhajan on to bowl with all these short silly point and short leg fielders!!!

Then the aussies will crumble like a pack of Arnott's biscuits!!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Do Arnott's biscuits crumble???
Yeah, his captaincy in that series and his "in the face" attitude to counter Waugh's famous "mental disintegration" ploy:lol::lol: were commendable. Waugh did find a taste of his own medicine really bitter when it was combined with a series loss. Ganguly had a lean series as a player, but then so had Waugh.

Another thing, Tendulkar also made a significant contribution in that series. So, it wasn't only Laxman and Dravid, but Harb and Tendulkar too who were the architects of that win.
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
Originally posted by marc71178
Any comments?
I kind of agree, but you have defended Butcher stoutly in recent times, and now you're willing to drop him for Key should Thorpe return? A more realistic line up is probably Butcher, Hussain, Key. Not sure about White, too many of his wickets come from bad balls (ie batsman error), and he's only made runs in the subcontinent. I'd rather have three genuine bowlers in there (Caddick is still good enough IMO). I guess I'm just a stickler for making sweeping changes on the back of one bad series against a blatant superpower.
 

royGilchrist

State 12th Man
This is off topic and we have debated to death over this....but without Laxman's magical innings the series would have been 3-0 in Aus's favor.

The confidence gained by the Indians was only due to that innings, for once I agree with Boycott on something. He said exactly the same thing, it was Laxman alone who India need to thank for the win.

A bit like WI need to thank Lara for their series turnaround in the WI in 1999 (?), althouhg others did contribute but without his perforamnce in adversity no one would have had the morale to do anything.

Eng win against Aus in that famous followed on match is another example, Willis did bowl well and dilley (?) gave good support but without Botham Eng had lost the morale.
 

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