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[smokem]

Cook hasn't done too badly as captain though has he? Assuming England lose today, his record stands at 9 wins, 5 losses and 6 draws whilst averaging 49.18 with the blade. Surely with there being no obvious replacement he has to stay? By comparison Clarke's record as captain is 16 wins, 10 losses and 7 draws, not that dissimilar to Cook's...

That does not illustrate the fact that Cook has led pretty much the same side that won the Ashes at home, to one that is staring down at a 5-0 whitewash. Meanwhile Clarke has done the opposite with a side that is still in a rebuilding phase. Stats tell only half the story...

[Over Gully]

Just getting back to the winners for a second. To Darren Lehmann, thanks for putting the "Australia" back in the Australian cricket team. There were slight signs of it in England, but I don't think that our side has looked as though it has been enjoying its cricket this much for a long time. The players look relaxed, not worried about their place in the side, and it seems as if Boof has stripped it right back and brought it back to basics in terms of enjoying the game. As far as the style of cricket, it's backtrack o being what an Aussie side should be; Hard, aggressive, in-your-face, no backward steps. Clarke's captaincy is brilliant, always looking to do something, never let's the game drift, whereas Cook looks bereft of ideas and paralysed by taking a risk.

[iand123]

I think the key thing you say is the not worried about their place in the side. Before lehmann it seemed you Aussies were chopping and changing your team every test. Now the team looks settled, balanced and as you they are enjoying their cricket. A complete contrast to England

[Vic Nicholas]

Having a settled team certainly doesn't hurt.

Having said that, a good number of this Aussie team will not be around in 12-18 months purely because of age.

[FattusCattus]

Well I'm going to say it, because it's true IMHO -

Congratulations to Australia, you've given us a right beating and it is because you have been by far the better team. I know there have been some comments about England being poo and only being beaten by an average Aussie side - but lets be honest here, those you think are average Aussies have played really well - Siddle has bowled well to plans and taken planned wickets, Lyon has been tidy and even chipped in with dogged runs at the tail, apart from Bailey, the batters have all scored runs when needed. Average players or not, they have played well and we have been frankly, poo!

We need to accept this, refresh personnel and coaching staff to give us a set up that can start winning again and regain the Ashes in the future.

I've watched enough of this series to see Cook as an unimaginative Captain, I don't think Carberry has a long-term test future, Root needs to be hidden down at 5 for a while, we need a keeper and a decent spinner, plus our 3rd seamer needs to be able to take wickets.

I'm as one-eyed as some of the other English fans on here, but there's no use trying to spin the English and Aussie performances on this series. We having been shockingly crap the whole way through, and their guys have done their jobs very well.

[FattusCattus]

And whilst I'm building up to a full rant, Cricinfo seems to think that Ashley Giles is favourite for the post and Broad the most viable option as Captain.

Lots of people have cautioned against wholesale changes, but why not? We've got a whole pre-season to go through and I assume 2 x home series to bed some people in. Why not be brave and shake a few things up?

Also, why are Bell and Broad the only viable captaincy candidates? For me, I don't see either captaining England - Broad is a petulant child and in my opinion doesn't need to be given too many things to think about! Why can we not cast about for a Mike Brearly-type character from within our own county game - someone unbattered by this tour, and untouched by it's coaching regime?

I think it would be fair to jettison Carberry, Bairstow, Monty and keep Bresnan on ice. It would allow some people to come in and may statements in key positions (ie Keeper, attacking seamer, spinner etc).

I do not feel the England ODI side perform amazingly well, or are innovative world-beaters, so I'm not sure why Giles is the best candidate to coach us, and is he a chest-thumping, Bulldog motivator that needs to wake this squad up and get them going.

There will be a few youngsters coming in to this squad over the next year, and they are very talented too - but they will need powerful, vocal, motivational leader to get the best out of then and to stir up the pride and passion of playing for England.


Bit like the Go Aussie Go attitude that seems to have come in with Lehmann - that seems to have worked, doesn't it!

[Ayrtek Cricket]

We need to change something im jut not 100% sure what as its not like one area has been a disaster...its been all of them!

Cant see what James Taylor has done so wrong to go from getting a couple of test caps and captaining the Lions to being out of the England set-u all together, he would have been the type of dogged character who we needed on this tour. Willing to put his body on the line and occupy the crease to hold up an end.

Your only as good as the opposition put in front of you and the Aussies have out batted, out bowled, out fielded and out played us from ball 1 of the series.

Lots of sole searching and reflecting on their own individual performances from the England boys in the next few weeks i would imagine.

[Johng]

Mitchell Johnson or Anderson your choice boys. Anderson is as good as his average!!!!!

[Ayrtek Cricket]

Hats off to Johnson, he wasnt even in the squad 6 months ago which must have been the motivation he needed to bring his A game to the series.

What baffles me is why we look like we have never faced any genuine pace before? Surely prep and practice would have been done in the nets so people were used to the angle/speed he bowls at

[Number4]

To be totally honest I don't think one English batsman looked comfortable facing Johnson. It's like when you were a junior and you heard rumours about this super fast bowler in the opposition... You practically got yourself out before even facing a ball

[Number4]

They need someone with a bit of (No Swearing Please) in them to coach them... Like Beefy!!!!

[FattusCattus]

I'm with you there Thomasina - we seem to be failing in all places against what I feel to be a reasonably good side!

In the terrible 90's when the Aussies and the Windies were bumming us regularly, there were a few candidates who stood out amongst the wreckaage for grit and determaination (particulalrly against pace)  Athers, Russell, Robin Smith, Alan Lamb - and some of theme weren't even bloody English!

Something has changed either in the coaching, or the motivation techniques to enable them to 'grit it out for England'!

Anyway, that's the blood-letting, I only hope the powers that be are willing to do something about it,and to get some of these talented youngsters in to see if they are up to the mark-


Robson
Chopra
Ballance
Taylor
Buttler
Foakes
Borthwick
Vince
Ali
Rankin
Topley
Harris
Roland-Jones


and many more I have forgotten - that's a massive pool to start working with!

[roco]

I'd like to see Jordan and mills develop as 90mph bowlers plus Jordan can bat

To much medium pace from England no bite

[Number4]

Just watched an interview with Botham and his concerns are the lack of up and coming batsmen for England, plenty of bowlers but no batsmen that are good enough to push any of the batsmen already in the team

[uknsaunders]

England went 13 tests unbeaten before this tour. They haven't become a bad team, but Australia have completely outplayed them. If you accept that and realise the best XI is out there (getting smashed) then why change the team and make it weaker? Let's not forget we were whitewashed by Pakistan in the UAE not so long ago and we bounced back pretty well in Sri Lanka and India.

Overreacting makes things worse. England had 4 captains in the 1988 series against the Windies and it was like a revolving door between 86-00. Had we shown faith in the likes of Ramps/Hick then who knows how they would of developed?