Wonka out in England selection overhaul

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/43373702

About time... not sure I understand the proposed new system, sounds more like a case of “complify” than “simplify”, but if it helps them identify the right players from county cricket it has to be a positive step, right?

Hope they appoint someone with fresh ideas and detached from the county old boys’ network with their biased and blinkered views on the domestic game.

Ed Smith set to be the new chief selector.

He will be a loss to the TMS team, though they might need to cut their roster a bit anyway having lost the winter tour rights to TalkShite... I thought he would be the next BBC cricket correspondent rather than going into a role like this.

Well, he's defo bright ... which might help a bit.

Jobs for the boys?!
Straussy taking care of his ex. colleagues from Middlesex?!
Ed (Smudge) Smith - an enigma.
Lovely chap, bright, intelligent, educated, coherent well liked and a genial chap with a dry  wit.
However, at best a journeyman cricketer at Kent and Middlesex (albeit a good captain at the latter), didn’t feature much, scored even less in a strong team … went on to be a poet, then The Telegraph cricket writer and finally a broadcaster at TMS.

A chequered career for sure ... let's hope he does better than the journeyman he replaced, Whitaker.

Amid that host of data ... the best captains don't always have to be fluent scorers (though it would help).

See Brearley. Some would argue, Jardine. Hawknose & Brian Sellers (Yorks). Andrew Gale indeed.

And now Ed Smith departs in another restructuring, with coach Silverwood effectively assuming the manager’s role with final say over selection. Which I think is kind of overdue, whether or not he’s the right man for the job.

Tyrion Taylor stays on as “chief scout” (well, he’s about the height of a boy scout, anyway...)

Smith may have a World Cup on his CV but his Test selections were frequently as mystifying as Wonka’s before him, so no great loss in this role, and hope he goes back to TMS.

If it's true that it was Smith who put Moeen in an awkward spot about staying on the Indian tour, then he can fork right off.