And England gambles again with Michael Vaughan. Despite his failure again with the bat in his latest comeback match, played between England’s National Academy and the Western Australia second XI. England that looked quite a good opponent when considered against Australia will further deteriorate their position after restoring Vaughan’s position as England’s one-day captain when the squad for the Commonwealth Bank Series with Australia and New Zealand is announced this week.
But what looks more horrible to the English squad is playing without Harmison, who decided to retire after careful consideration and advice from several people who have been close to him throughout his career will now solely concentrate on test cricket. Not only this, the consequences will be disastrous when it comes to World Cup.
But return of Nixon to the squad is a kind of surprise but I am sure pretty fateful for England. At least someone’s finally paid for what he deserves. Despite impressing for Leicestershire over the last couple of years, I don’t know what England was waiting for... I guess an injury.
But ... Oh! Another ‘but’, Ok, this makes me realize now England team has too many ‘buts’ before kicking another tour.
In addition, to doubts and buts there’s one more thing– speculation over the England captaincy.
Flintoff, that has been accused of poor strategy and indifferent man-management, though it should be said that any captain whose attack malfunctioned as badly as England’s did in Brisbane would struggle to come away with a result. However to doubt the cricketing brain of someone who bowls so cleverly and bats so sensibly and not to forget he is the only one that can be considered one man army in the whole English team. ‘But’ this isn’t the first time that captaincy of England has always affected most English captains in recent years, ruin one or both of his skills. However, Vaughan might not be worth a place on merit, as he has a shoddy one-day record.
There are bound to be complaints, doubts and buts over the pattern of speculative English picks and Vaughan’s selection will only make better the speculations. Like Flintoff, Ashley Giles and James Anderson, he will be under pressure to find form quickly, despite fitness concerns and a lack of proper match practice.
Details of England’s 16-man one-day squad will be released on Friday. The selectorial discussions are likely to concentrate on the wicket keeping and spin-bowling positions.
Via:Dailymail
