moores sacked, pietersen resigns, strauss gets the nod

Lets face facts about the latest episode of English cricket. The sacking of Peter Moores, with his frankly dismal record, came as no surprise. Kevin Pietersen, jumping before he was pushed however came as a shock to the system that was naively overlooked by World Cricket Watch. Ruptures caused in the England camp were clearly deeper and more serious regarding areas outside of the coaching and management than previously recognised.

Pietersen resigning his captaincy cannot deter the naked truth that KP is the best “English” cricketer (a debate for another time) and their only true world-beater (unless Freddie Flintoff hits form).  No other English cricketer could justify their selection in a world XI.

With Pietersen out the picture and Flintoff’s penchante for off the field antics – Fredalo case in point – there really only was one candidate that the selectors could go for, the Middlesex man and England stalwart Andrew Strauss. Whilst the obvious choice, you only have to think back a year when Strauss got dropped for the Sri Lanka tests after poor form scratching  around desperately trying to hit it off the square. His rejuvenation has been a godsend for the England side as the top order consistently fails to convert good scores into centuries.

Best of luck to Straussy. England should fare well against the Windies, one of the few teams still ranked beneath them in the ICC rankings. He might have bigger clouds hanging over him with the daunting prospect of the Ashes only six months away.  A testing time for English cricket, some might say a perennial testing time . . .

At least it’s never boring for the barmy army.