Andrew Strauss has began his stint on a disastrous note © Getty Images
No amount of adjectives will suffice the present, horrendous and mirthful state that England cricket has landed itself in. Andrew Strauss, new Director of England Cricket, has begun his tenure in such an absolutely shambolic and risible manner which only a few can match. By offering Kevin Pietersen a role with England and at the same time denying what will help them the most, Strauss has pretty much laid down the blueprint of what lies ahead for England, their supporters and fans.
By closing all doors on Kevin Pietersen, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has not effectively ended the return of a modern day great who hardly has staunch critics, but have also robbed England fans, who deserve to see their best cricketers representing them.
A batsman is supposed to make runs and a bowler is supposed to grab wickets. Unfortunately, as far as ECB and their management of a simple game of cricket are concerned, the qualifying criterion lies far beyond that. It is a complex tangled web of over-management, over-thinking and over-doing almost everything that takes their cricket away from how it should be done, and England are headed nowhere but towards disintegration.
“Trust factor”
Trust is a two-way process. Pietersen, having being openly betrayed by ECB management — not once but multiple times — has all the right to list down the blames in a newspaper column and feel grossly cheated.
Pietersen was asked to play in the County Championship and Surrey were requested to make him an offer. The request was made by Colin Graves, who will take the role of ECB chairman on Friday, May 15. They both obliged. READ: England cricket must be profoundly ashamed for its treatment of once-in-a-generation cricketer like Kevin Pietersen
Pietersen did what he was supposed to do: he scored a delightful 355, one of the finest innings The Oval has witnessed. One cannot help but feel for Pietersen for what he has gone through. For ECB, these runs from Pietersen do not matter. Astonishingly, even before he takes up the role, Graves has presented clear reason why ECB and its officials cannot be trusted.
Why did Graves request Surrey to make Pietersen an offer, if he was out of contention? Pietersen must be baffled.
One would still have accepted that England never wanted Pietersen back, but the proposal of a job with the limited-overs side, an area in which England plummeting, was a farce. To tell a cricketer in his prime he cannot play but can be given a consulting role is absolutely insane, and there is no one who can decipher what Strauss and England tried to achieve with such a proposal.
ECB has been very unfair on Pietersen, and that is an understatement. Did Pietersen get all the answers that he wanted in the case of fake Twitter account on his name? Not entirely. Did Strauss get penalised or sacked from the Sky commentary team for calling Pietersen a ‘c**t’ on air? No.
But Pietersen got the sack on all times he went wrong. Pietersen was dropped for sending text messages to South African cricketers. And Strauss continued to do whatever he was up to. READ: Kevin Pietersen to apologise to senior England players personally
ECB’s obnoxious ways have caused more harm to its cricket; alongside its supercilious officials and excellent public relations machinery. The simple process of Pietersen returning to the national side was labelled ‘reintegration’, back in 2012 after the infamous SMS scandal. Everyone makes mistakes; to err is human, goes the saying. And Pietersen did apologise, in public. But unfortunately, by look of things, some English egos were far from satisfied.
Managing cricket
For the other countries, like Australia, South Africa and even the money-minded India, the ways of handling players are very, very simple and straight forward. They go wrong at times, but never divert from the primary objective of winning cricket matches. This is why these teams get more on-field success. England, on the other hand, remain entangled in issues that not only hamper their on-field performances, but also bring disgrace to the rich history they possess.
Strauss was one of the leaders that England were blessed with at the turn of the decade. But the manner in which he has begun his tenure as Director, attracting stinging criticism from contemporaries like Kumar Sangakkara and Graeme Smith on social media, is something which he in an ideal world cannot ignore. Strauss should be mortified deep inside after what Sangakkara and Smith have said. READ: Kevin Pietersen vs ECB: Fraternity censures England cricket management on Twitter
Not a single incident can be recalled in the recent past when a modern day cricketer has been humiliated as openly as Strauss was by Sangakkara and Smith. Strauss really needs to ask himself: Did he do all right?
Be a sport!
On Tuesday, the official Twitter account of ECB went on blocking users who were going all guns blazing at criticising them. One cannot recollect any cricket board’s account stooping to the level of shutting the doors for criticism in such a way. It shows how ECB have strayed away from the primary role of being a cricket body, which is supposed to merely facilitate cordial relations between the fans and the sport.
One cannot miss but to compare ECB with a tyrant who does not like any voice of protest. ECB were completely wrong by blocking England fans on Twitter. It was simply not cricket.
Andrew Strauss (left) and Alastair Cook — a partnership that was expected to keep Kevin Pietersen away © Getty Images
“Knowledge of the IPL”
On Tuesday, at Lord’s, Strauss spoke about how desperate he is to take England ahead. Alongside the sackings of multiple people, the Director laid high confidence on Eoin Morgan, ‘who knows a lot about the IPL [Indian Premier League] and he being a ‘specialist one-day player’.
Since when did England start talking about IPL? Since when did England start putting knowledge of IPL as a stepping stone for laying a pathway to success in limited-overs cricket? How many England cricketers have been parts of IPL? Even India does not depend on IPL to a large extent for its progress in limited-overs cricket!
Wish Strauss could have been wiser with his words and in action.
Exciting group of young players and future
England want to concentrate on building for the future and Strauss thinks they have an exciting group of young players. It is never wrong to induce fresh talent, but that has to be some method. But in England’s case, there is only madness.
Steven Finn missed a couple of matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 despite starting the tournament with a four-wicket haul (and a hat-trick).
James Taylor, one of the most exciting talents to look forward to, was not taken to the West Indies for no apparent reason.
Moeen Ali, a specialist batsman, is presently all at sea as far as his batting is concerned, and has been reduced as England’s best man to replace Graeme Swann. He, too, was playing County cricket when England were playing the first Test in West Indies.
Despite being in decent form, the likes of Nick Compton, Michael Carberry and Sam Robson are not sure if at all they will get a second chance to prove their worth at international circuit.
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Ashes 2015 is impending. The rampant Kiwis have already reached England’s shores. They have routed Somerset though their front men were not around. It will not be easy for England to get back on their feet and look into their opponents’ eyes and maintain their excellent record at home, which is under serious threat.
An extremely tough summer is on the cards for England, amid the farce that continues to persist in name of cricket management.
(Devarchit Varma is a reporter with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)