Before moving onto the issues of who will be the Next England Cricket Coach, I’d just like to say that I believe the handling of Peter Moores’ sacking – in my opinion – was an absolute disgrace, and I couldn’t agree any more with Michael Vaughan’s take on this issue.
Whether you rate Moores or not, he didn’t deserve to be sitting on the balcony/in the dressing room at Malahide while news was circulating of his sacking to all and sundry. Just imagine how this must have felt for – what seems on the surface – a thoroughly decent man to get news, probably from his agent, that his sacking was imminent, while he was still in charge of the team at a game? It’s absolutely disgusting, and this sort of behaviour from the ECB has to change.
It’s also interesting to see that outspoken critics of Moores’ such as Pietersen and Boycott, alongside supporters such as Andrew Flintoff, seem to be queuing up to condemn the ECB’s handling of the whole affair.
Over the last 18 months we have had the Pietersen affair, when news leaked out he would be sacked, followed by numerous subsequent leaks. Then we had the sacking of Alastair Cook as ODI captain, another badly handled affair in which the player found out first through the media, and now this latest sorry affair regarding Peter Moores.
I know it is probably hard to always keep these things under cover, but it is only a handful of people making these decisions, so why is the media always all over this information long before the individuals in question are informed?
Some might deem it good journalism, some might think it’s a hell of coincidence. I firmly stand on the side of the latter. Is having a mate/contact on the inside tipping you off now regarded as good journalism? Probably, in the eyes of some journalists!
I hope things improve under the Colin Groves regime. He is spoken off in very high regard by people who know him and who have worked with him, and whatever I think of how the decisions have come about, he seems to be making the required changes on the cricketing side of things.
Things have got off to an indifferent start for Graves though. For any positives on the cricketing front, there have also been the negatives of the West Indies comments, followed by the poor handling of Moores’ sacking. In fairness to Graves, he has barely got his feet under the table though, but when he starts the job and has full control, I hope he gets a full grip of these types of issues.
With a vacancy for a new English cricket coach again, it will be interesting to see what develops from here. Most observers seem to be suggesting that nothing much will change under Strauss, and that any chance of a Pietersen comeback is now dead.
I’m not so sure though, can you really see Jason Gillespie or Justin Langer being told who they can and cannot select? I can’t.
At the moment, Jason Gillespie is the 6/4 favourite with bet365 (more info on bet365 offers for new customers here), followed by Justin Langer at 3/1, and Paul Farbrace at 11/2.
The next coach selection will go a long way to showing what the real intentions are. If it is a safe selection with others pulling the strings in the background (ie you can have the job, but you can’t pick these guys) then it will show nothing is really changing.
Or will it be a bold selection, where a new coach will come in and totally change the dynamics, doing things his way, and making his own decisions? Only time will tell.