Boycs : ECB Dinosaurs must be removed

by Big_Bad_Bob Mon 12 Jan 2009, 21:28

Outspoken and, for me, spot on assessment from Sir Geoffrey of Boycott on the dweebs at the ECB.

David Collier, the chief executive, and Hugh Morris, the managing director, put Peter Moores in charge without advertising the position and they both had a say, along with the selectors, in appointing Kevin Pietersen four months ago.

On Sunday Pietersen told his side of the story. He is quoted as saying that before he left India: "The last words from Collier and Morris during the last Test match in India were for me to do a strategy plan as to how I wanted to take the English cricket team forward."

They asked him. He did not give them the ultimatum. They requested a report. When they got the report they obviously didn't like what he said because he wanted a coach "to be my ally who I trusted and was tactically aware. I didn't have that".

That was his reason for saying he could not continue with Moores as coach. He was not saying he wanted to resign. He was being truthful and frank and for that he got the bullet.

If they had kept Moores against Pietersen's advice and sacked the captain it would have been the wrong decision but there would have been some kind of logic. To sack the coach they must have felt he was not up to his job because Moores has not said anything. He has been very diplomatic.

Moores must have thought if he kept quiet the ECB wouldn't have noticed he was not very good at his job. But they did. They sacked him. So they must have felt he was not up to it. I say it again, this is the guy they appointed without advertising the job.

Collier and Morris agreed Pietersen could go on holiday and a meeting with the ECB was fixed for the day of his return. He presented his ideas by email on New Year's Eve. But before he could sit down with Collier and Morris he was relieved of his position by a phone call from Morris accepting his resignation followed by an email. He had not resigned but they apparently chose to take umbrage at his ideas and turned his report around in order to get rid of him. This was a masterstroke of double dealing and bad man-management. It is an appalling way to treat any England cricketer and particularly the captain. If Morris and Collier thought he was not up to the job they should not have appointed him.

Once they sacked Moores, why get rid of the captain? Why ask him for his "way forward" in the first place if you are not going to give him support?

Giles Clarke, the chairman of the ECB, is up for election in March. He projects this image of being a strong leader who will front up. That is good. But at the moment his silence is deafening; it is not good enough to disappear when the flak is flying. He is the only man who can force Collier and Morris to give a proper explanation.

There are a lot of questions that Morris and Collier should be answering. So far they have acted like dinosaurs telling the public nothing. Collier and Morris will try to keep quiet and hope it will all blow over just because they have now appointed a good man who will be no trouble as captain and everyone likes him.

If that is what they thought was best for English cricket why didn't they do it four months ago? In Andrew Strauss's own words "he has changed his game" to play a Test anchor role which is not suitable for one-dayers, a game he has not played for nearly two years. Now they back-pedal and hope in one-dayers he will be like Mike Brearley and handle the 10 other players well even if he doesn't make much impression with the bat. In Tests he did a good job as captain and he will do a good job in the future.

Andy Flower, in temporary charge in the West Indies, is exactly the kind of coach I would have demanded if I was captain. He has played Test cricket successfully and has experience of playing abroad. If he does well maybe he could throw his hat in the ring, if the job is advertised. But let's hope it is not Collier and Morris making the permanent appointment.

We are not the best cricket team but we are the best at making ourselves a laughing stock.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/4218818/ECB-dinosaurs-must-be-removed.html

by Eric Air Emu Mon 12 Jan 2009, 21:39

They're not really dinosaurs - you have to say they're bang up to date with modern management practices for what it's worth.

Clarke's a bit of an autocratic nutter with questionable judgement. F*ck knows what David Collier does, but he looks like and probably acts like the guy out of the Nationwide ad. Hugh Morris seems decent enough but if you're the "managing director" of team England as this has all happened- deary me.

Geoff Miller just has the pox madness that afflicts all chairmen of selectors.