Jamaica (West Indies), Feb.9 (ANI): England's cricketers who are currently on a tour of the West Indies will need to pull up their socks, and be brutally honest about their latest performance at Jamaica's Sabina Park, a report in The Independent says.
According to the paper, while they must move on, they also need to look back and learn, and quickly.
The innings and 23 run defeat against the West Indies, will ensure that the England cricketers have a rethink on whether they do really have the abundant talent in their dressing room that they keep speaking about in public.
"England are now in the classic position of all such sufferers. Until they recognize their shortcomings nothing can be done to address them. If being bowled out for 51 by a largely unsung West Indies side and losing the first Test by an innings and 23 runs does not put an end to their sophistry, then nothing will," warns the paper.It further goes onto say that the "seeds of this destruction were sown in the wake of the Ashes triumph of 2005. They began to take deep root during the return series against Australia 18 months later and have since sprouted in several corners of Planet Cricket from Galle to Hamilton."
The trumpeting about their talent now seems risible as each batsman came and went, undone by ill-conceived strokes and extremely high-class bowling.
The West Indies, on the other hand, were a revelation.
"The way they ended the match might have been bewilderingly spectacular but over the course of the three-and-a-bit days that went before those final 150 minutes they had been the more dogged and disciplined side," says the paper.It has been a shocking start to Andrew Strauss's captaincy. The result was bad enough but he had made it plain within days of assuming office that his tenure would be based on players taking responsibility. Instead responsibility was a stranger, almost an enemy, and nobody wanted any truck with it.
"These batsmen have been given plenty of latitude by the selectors. The top six who failed lamentably on Saturday were the same top six who left Sydney abjectly two years ago after being beaten 5-0 by Australia.
Indeed, eight of the team who lost in Sydney in January 2007 lost in Kingston. This is taking to the extreme the idea that everybody deserves a shot at redemption," the paper concludes. (ANI)
According to the paper, while they must move on, they also need to look back and learn, and quickly.
The innings and 23 run defeat against the West Indies, will ensure that the England cricketers have a rethink on whether they do really have the abundant talent in their dressing room that they keep speaking about in public.
"England are now in the classic position of all such sufferers. Until they recognize their shortcomings nothing can be done to address them. If being bowled out for 51 by a largely unsung West Indies side and losing the first Test by an innings and 23 runs does not put an end to their sophistry, then nothing will," warns the paper.It further goes onto say that the "seeds of this destruction were sown in the wake of the Ashes triumph of 2005. They began to take deep root during the return series against Australia 18 months later and have since sprouted in several corners of Planet Cricket from Galle to Hamilton."
The trumpeting about their talent now seems risible as each batsman came and went, undone by ill-conceived strokes and extremely high-class bowling.
The West Indies, on the other hand, were a revelation.
"The way they ended the match might have been bewilderingly spectacular but over the course of the three-and-a-bit days that went before those final 150 minutes they had been the more dogged and disciplined side," says the paper.It has been a shocking start to Andrew Strauss's captaincy. The result was bad enough but he had made it plain within days of assuming office that his tenure would be based on players taking responsibility. Instead responsibility was a stranger, almost an enemy, and nobody wanted any truck with it.
"These batsmen have been given plenty of latitude by the selectors. The top six who failed lamentably on Saturday were the same top six who left Sydney abjectly two years ago after being beaten 5-0 by Australia.
Indeed, eight of the team who lost in Sydney in January 2007 lost in Kingston. This is taking to the extreme the idea that everybody deserves a shot at redemption," the paper concludes. (ANI)
Oneindia Login