Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
As soon as England decided to bat, I muttered to myself "another 40-3" then. That's what England are, a 40-3 team unless the pitch is absolutely flat. Cricket in this country is going through a crisis - the art of what I call "proper" batting in my old fuddy-duddy way is dying and, judging by the plans to bring an even shorter version of the game, because 20/20 is seemingly too long and boring to capture the market they are looking for, the question is does anyone in authority care?
I've just watched Messrs Hussain, Gower and Botham telling us that England could just as easily turn up in the next game at Headingly and overwhelm Pakistan in just the way that they have been overwhelmed themselves these last few days. They have a point, England have made a habit of doing that in this country for a few years now, but it ignores the fact that their record in their last eight test matches reads drawn two and lost six, with each of those losses being a trouncing - the trend over a period of years has been downwards when it comes to test cricket and it's accelerating.
In lots of countries, that wouldn't be thought of as too much of a problem because there is a perception that test cricket is dying on it's feet, but in this country there's still a sizable following for the original version of the game and they still want far more from an England team that is as weak now as it's been at any time this century I'd say.