Vaughnabe summons the will to write an article: Five reasons for England's decline in cricket

[Spiderguy252]

Michael Vaughan: the Kevin Pietersen issue is a key factor behind England's decline 1 Over-confidence England deservedly reached No1, beating India and Australia on their way, but I started to worry when I heard comments from players such as "we are going to be the team of an era" or the "Man United of the cricket world". It was too early - England's legacy was always going to be made or broken in 2012. It was this year when they would be tested by better teams and in difficult Asian conditions where we traditionally struggle. They have not risen to the pressure of being No?1. Other teams have raised their game to play us and we have not coped with that. I don't think they have been complacent. They have worked as hard as ever but Pakistan and now South Africa have been better in all facets of the game. This series could have been 3-0. South Africa have been that much better. After the first day of the series at the Oval, England were 267 for three. Last year they would have made 550. But the difference has been the quality of the bowling. South Africa can change the game in an hour. India in 2011 simply had no answers. While England have declined our opponents have improved. England need to regroup but I can't think of a tougher place to do that than India this winter. 2 Batting England have not made big first-innings scores. Even against the West Indies they struggled. In previous series we have crushed them with the bat. Not this time. There have been too many top-order collapses. We have consistently been 50 for three. It started on the first morning of the first Test against Pakistan in Dubai. We were 43 for five and it set a trend. When you make big scores it gives the whole team, the bowlers included, a huge lift. But when you are consistently collapsing it drags you down. We have to acknowledge the bowling attacks have been better. In 2010-11 the Australians were poor. Last summer India lost Zaheer Khan in the first Test and never posed a threat thereafter. But this year we could not unravel the mystery of Saeed Ajmal against Pakistan and the slower pitches in England have caused problems. Our batsmen and bowlers have been found wanting. 3 Swann nullified The way Graeme Swann has been countered has put enormous pressure on the seamers and as there are only three of them they have had to bowl more and have tired quicker. In 2010-11 Swann could rapidly change a game. But South Africa have used a different technique and now Swann will have to think again about how he bowls in Test cricket. South Africa batted outside off stump and the left-handers played him more with the bat. The result is Swann lost a bit of confidence. He has taken seven wickets in his past four Tests and he is now going to have to work hard because other teams will copy South Africa. The next tour is to India which is the hardest trip of all for a spinner. He will be expected to bowl India out but they are masters of playing spin. 4 Catching Pressure can do strange things and one area where it has an impact is catching in the outfield. With the batsmen failing to make big scores, the pressure has been on England to take every opportunity, particularly with their bowlers failing to carve out as many chances. England put down nine catches against South Africa. In Australia 18 months ago they didn't drop a ball. They also knew that if they missed a chance it would not be long before Australia offered up another one. Not so with South Africa and they have grabbed anxiously at chances with hard hands. 5 Pietersen saga It has simply run on too long and I suspect has been going on far longer behind the scenes. There have been major issues as relationships have broken down in the dressing room between Kevin Pietersen, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the team management. It has festered in the background since he returned from the Indian Premier League. The coach would have had so many meetings about one man. There will have been other issues to address such as the performance of the team but they have had to spend too much time and energy on KP, deciding whether to drop him, how to discipline him and talk to him. It drains the management and ruins team spirit and unity. That will have to be cleared so they can move forward with or without Kevin. I hope they can get him back in but it will take time. This is still a good set of lads who have a lot of good things going for them. But they have to sort out the KP situation quickly. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9488795/Michael-Vaughan-the-Kevin-Pietersen-issue-is-a-key-factor-behind-Englands-decline.html :laugh:

[vvvslaxman]

6 . England sucks balls :cantstop:

[Spiderguy252]

7. Kamran Akmal is England's catching coach.

[Ultimate_Game]

6 . England sucks balls :cantstop:

This! Rest are all excuses. Would love to white-wash them later this year at home. BCCI pls prepare turning tracks for the series

[asterix]

Nice writeup, Spiderguy.. You should write more..

[Spiderguy252]

Nice writeup' date=' Spiderguy.. You should write more..[/quote'] It's Vaughan's piece, mate.

[asterix]

It's Vaughan's piece' date=' mate.[/quote'] So where is the link?

[Spiderguy252]

So where is the link?

There ya' go! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9488795/Michael-Vaughan-the-Kevin-Pietersen-issue-is-a-key-factor-behind-Englands-decline.html

[asterix]

There ya' go! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9488795/Michael-Vaughan-the-Kevin-Pietersen-issue-is-a-key-factor-behind-Englands-decline.html

Thanks, mate. Would be good if you add it in your OP as like me many will think that it's your writeup.. :icflove:

[maverick451]

I actually think the reason Is that England team have become mentally and physically tired out, they play cricket all year round and I think that has contributed to lacklustre performances.

[asterix]

I actually think the reason Is that England team have become mentally and physically tired out' date=' they play cricket all year round and I think that has contributed to lacklustre performances.[/quote'] Yeah, right... :cantstop:

[rkt.india]

I actually think the reason Is that England team have become mentally and physically tired out' date=' they play cricket all year round and I think that has contributed to lacklustre performances.[/quote'] That was the case with Indian team too.

[Ultimate_Game]

I actually think the reason Is that England team have become mentally and physically tired out' date=' they play cricket all year round and I think that has contributed to lacklustre performances.[/quote'] Funny that when India said that following a home series against NZ, tour to SA, a gruelling World Cup and 2 month IPL, English said it was an excuse :haha: Fact is English are not that good.

[phaedrus]

na, its the IPL

[Trichromatic]

I actually think the reason Is that England team have become mentally and physically tired out' date=' they play cricket all year round and I think that has contributed to lacklustre performances.[/quote'] But they don't play mickey mouse leagues. :nervous: England does play lot of matches. Cook has played 80 tests in just 6 years. I don't think any other player might have played so many matches in such short span of time. It's not that teams like India have less scheduled matches. Ian Chappell wrote something about the issue of international cricket schedule.

[maverick451]

I really cant believe people on here We lose to South africa by a mere 50 runs and all of a sudden they are gods and we are shite, you couldnt make it up, we were very close to drawing the series 1-1 and last month nearly went top of the rankings in all forms. England havent been at their best against South Africa and in my opinion they look tired and not fresh, specially the bowers who were down on there usual speeds, its not an excuse, we lost to the better side by there isnt a big difference between them, if we had played like we did in 2011 we imo would have won. Fair play to south africa but I find its ironic to here Indian fans bashing England so much when they have been absolutely torn apart any decent side in the last year and are down in 5th pace in the rankings

[Sehwag1830]

I find its ironic to here Indian fans bashing England so much when they have been absolutely torn apart any decent side in the last year and are down in 5th pace in the rankings

Pakistan 3-0, SA 2-0 . That is not a single test victory against top 4 side since ranked no.1 . :hysterical::hysterical: ENG were the worst no.1 ranked side in history of cricket.

[rkt.india]

I really cant believe people on here We lose to South africa by a mere 50 runs and all of a sudden they are gods and we are shite, you couldnt make it up, we were very close to drawing the series 1-1 and last month nearly went top of the rankings in all forms. England havent been at their best against South Africa and in my opinion they look tired and not fresh, specially the bowers who were down on there usual speeds, its not an excuse, we lost to the better side by there isnt a big difference between them, if we had played like we did in 2011 we imo would have won. Fair play to south africa but I find its ironic to here Indian fans bashing England so much when they have been absolutely torn apart any decent side in the last year and are down in 5th pace in the rankings

We fans, our media, our cricketers, our ex-cricketers never big mouthed like yours. Ian Botham: I can see this England team to dominate test cricket for years.

[phaedrus]

I really cant believe people on here We lose to South africa by a mere 50 runs and all of a sudden they are gods and we are shite, you couldnt make it up, we were very close to drawing the series 1-1 and last month nearly went top of the rankings in all forms. England havent been at their best against South Africa and in my opinion they look tired and not fresh, specially the bowers who were down on there usual speeds, its not an excuse, we lost to the better side by there isnt a big difference between them, if we had played like we did in 2011 we imo would have won. Fair play to south africa but I find its ironic to here Indian fans bashing England so much when they have been absolutely torn apart any decent side in the last year and are down in 5th pace in the rankings

ifs and buts man. you guys have been terrible ever since you became no1, coming up with one excuse after the other for losing matches. and i'm not having a go. i havent and wont make fun of another team, supporting a team that did that badly in the recent past. Mind you, you guys have no right to make fun of anyone from now on either.

[Trichromatic]

I really cant believe people on here We lose to South africa by a mere 50 runs and all of a sudden they are gods and we are shite, you couldnt make it up, we were very close to drawing the series 1-1 and last month nearly went top of the rankings in all forms. England havent been at their best against South Africa and in my opinion they look tired and not fresh, specially the bowers who were down on there usual speeds, its not an excuse, we lost to the better side by there isnt a big difference between them, if we had played like we did in 2011 we imo would have won. Fair play to south africa but I find its ironic to here Indian fans bashing England so much when they have been absolutely torn apart any decent side in the last year and are down in 5th pace in the rankings

Sure performance of Indian team has been absolutely shambolic, but probably now you can see that how difficult is it to maintain the intensity. England reached the no 1 and soon after that they lost everything. On the other hand Indian team maintained it for 7 series after becoming no 1, planned for WC, won it, participated in IPL and yet they were constantly questioned and bashed by English media. They won't on to assume how this performance, loss in intensity means that they don't value test cricket and money is everything for them. What was not said for them? Probably this is the reason why many Indian fans are enjoying what has been direct downfall of English since day 1 of their rank 1. No matter how well team would played they would have lost series in UAE and if India had played anywhere they did in SA, they would defeated this English side. But these are just ifs and buts.