Sriram Sridharan

Published: 31 July, 2014
by STEVE BARNETT

SRIRAM Sridharan, a professional Indian cricketer who coaches the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League, is currently coaching at South Hampstead Cricket Club. Here he analyses where England’s finest are going wrong…

HAS English test cricket hit an all time low? 

A 5-0 drubbing in the Ashes, a home series loss to Sri Lanka and now struggling against India. 

There is so much for the team management to think about. Alastair Cook’s woeful form, bowlers’ inability to get tail-enders out and the fact that they just can’t find a full-time spinner. Is Cook even the right man to lead this side? And is national team coach Peter Moores taking the team in the right direction? 

While England are trying to brush this aside as a rebuilding process, my major concern is that the interest in the game among the younger gener­ation may be dwindling.

 I already find among youngsters I coach in this country that their affinity for a club is much greater than the passion to play for their country. 

I still remember when England won the Ashes in 2005 – there was this huge wave of patriotism, and every kid wanted to become the next Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Kevin Pietersen. They wanted to grow up and play for England. 

England miss the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen, players who took the game to the opposition whether they were batting or bowling. Their attitude rubbed off on the others and England became a potent force. 

The way the current crop of England batsmen approach the game is too one-dimensional. There is no one to counter-attack when two wickets fall quickly. 

An interesting stat would be to compare the run-rate that England had during the Flintoff, Pietersen, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick era, and the run-rate they play at now. 

Pietersen fell out with the team management and England have taken a decision to move on. But before they did that, selectors needed to identify someone who could take his place and make the game move forward at a certain pace. 

Cook had a phenomenal tour of India because Jonathan Trott and Pietersen took the pressure off him. 

The same was the case with India when they were the world No 1 test side.

Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar complemented Rahul Dravid with their individual style of play and the fact that Sehwag played at pace gave the bowlers more time to take plenty of wickets. 

A lot of Tendulkar’s great innings came about because Dravid at No 3 blunted the new ball. (I am not saying that Sachin couldn’t play the new ball but just that it made his job a little easier with “Dravid the wall” holding fort at the other end). 

Come on England! Find someone who can ignite the passion back in the young children, someone who can take the bull by the horns, someone who is a mercurial character playing a fearless brand of intimidating cricket. 

Selection to me should be about the prediction for the fut­ure rather than a reward for performance. 

I urge the England selectors to be bold, innovative and prudent by picking players who have the character and ability to turn things around rather than picking “yes-men” who average 50 in first class cricket. 

After all, you guys in­vented this glorious game.