ECB announcement due today

First topic message reminder :

The ECB last night called a press conference for midday today, leading to wild speculation as to whether it was KP, Strauss or just another boring sponsorship deal.

However, given that the press release was issued at 22:10pm last night, you can be sure that it is going to be a pretty big announcement. Many seem to think that Strauss is about to step down.

So, what are your thoughts? If, as expected, Strauss does step down, would you keep him in the team as an opener? Or, would you blood a new opener? This could go one of two ways - either invest in the likes of Joe Root early, and accept that there will be failures, or go for the likes of Compton or Carberry who are far more experienced but more short term options.

Cook is the right choice imo, he just needs to come out of his shell and show a bit more dynamism and be less dull in interviews.

2 sides of the coin for me on this decision..

1. Not brilliant timing IMO....going to india we face the very real prospect of a batsman debuting in india....possibly root or hales?......also im still not convinced about cook's captaincy however am fully prepared to see how he goes and hope im proved wrong..

flip side is:

2. One of the better english captains his win record proves that, won 2 ashes series as captain the one in OZ will stand out more, got the side to no1, and england under Flower and Strauss have become resillent and difficult side to beat......his batting has been on the slide for 3 years..stats prove that, however a man who is well respected by almost everyone

sad to see him go..

Farewell Straussy

Broad would've reserved all reviews for himself lol.

Trottski's strikes me as the kind of guy who likes to take care of his own game, and Cook got the edge of experience over Prior

Fair enough GSC. I am not having a go at Cook as i feel he has what it takes, just that i thought that there were some other candidates

Dont get me wrong i think Cook was always destined to be captain , i just agree he needs to be more dynamitic in some decisions

I think thats a bit unfair on Cook, ODI cricket as a whole is very formulaic these days. There isn't too much flexibility for a captain

1 test as captain and 1 win for Cook so far though isnt it?

2 I think wasn;t it?

Either way that series was a bit of a throwaway

I cant remember, just that i thought that he had a 100% record

2 tests for Cook

I must admit I'm not a huge fan of keepers captaining sides, as they already have a lot to do. As keeper myself I never particularly liked the added burden of captaincy (though of course in a test match you don't run the risk of most of your players not knowing to switch sides for a right-hander and left-hander or just not moving from one over to the next )

eirebilly wrote:I cant remember, just that i thought that he had a 100% record

Two as skipper with 2 wins against BD. Still!! 100%

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

I must admit I'm not a huge fan of keepers captaining sides, as they already have a lot to do.

Mad - totally agree with that. Comparatively few keepers have captained at Test level and I'm sure that's because keeping is such a specialised and demanding (phsically and mentally) task. I appreciate there have been exceptions but the majority of those have only been fill ins.

I have always like keepers as captains

Each to their own i guess

eirebilly wrote:I have always like keepers as captains

Each to their own i guess

Billy - not looking for any fistycuffs but who do you think has done well in that dual role? I can't think of many (besides Mad for Chelsea obviously ).

guildfordbat wrote:

eirebilly wrote:I have always like keepers as captains

Each to their own i guess

Billy - not looking for any fistycuffs but who do you think has done well in that dual role? I can't think of many (besides Mad for Chelsea obviously ).

Well, I think Dhoni has been a pretty good skipper for India, and there are a few recent/ current examples particularly in one-day cricket.

But going back in time its hard to think of many that have done so successfully. It must be such a tough thing to do - as a 'keeper you have to focus every ball anyway, and then adding that to the additional need to think about field settings and bowling changes must be so difficult.

Andy Flower captained Zimbabwe while keeping wickets. Stuart captained England and kept wicket for some time, Sangakkara kept only in limited over matches Prasanna was the test keeper and even when he wasn't available for a match with injury it was Dilshan who kept.
Moin Khan and Rashid Latif both captained Pakistan from time to time, but in recent times its only been Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has kept wickets in all formats and captained the side.

I dont have to name any as others already have

Seriously, i have always liked a keeper as a captain because from behind the stumps they get a very clear view of what the ball, pitch and batsmen are doing and seem to set up good fields and make good bowling changes.

Just my personal views and nothing else

Fair enough, Billy. I understand your thinking although believe it must be incredibly difficult to concentrate on every ball in the way a keeper has to whilst considering bowling changes etc.

Dhoni is the current one who immediately comes to mind. You could probably cite him to make a case for or against.

msp83 wrote:Andy Flower captained Zimbabwe while keeping wickets. Stuart captained England and kept wicket for some time, Sangakkara kept only in limited over matches Prasanna was the test keeper and even when he wasn't available for a match with injury it was Dilshan who kept.
Moin Khan and Rashid Latif both captained Pakistan from time to time, but in recent times its only been Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has kept wickets in all formats and captained the side.

Sangakkara has kept wicket many times in Tests msp.

skyeman wrote:

msp83 wrote:Andy Flower captained Zimbabwe while keeping wickets. Stuart captained England and kept wicket for some time, Sangakkara kept only in limited over matches Prasanna was the test keeper and even when he wasn't available for a match with injury it was Dilshan who kept.
Moin Khan and Rashid Latif both captained Pakistan from time to time, but in recent times its only been Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has kept wickets in all formats and captained the side.

Sangakkara has kept wicket many times in Tests msp.

as captain?

Has Sanga kept and captained in tests?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

skyeman wrote:

msp83 wrote:Andy Flower captained Zimbabwe while keeping wickets. Stuart captained England and kept wicket for some time, Sangakkara kept only in limited over matches Prasanna was the test keeper and even when he wasn't available for a match with injury it was Dilshan who kept.
Moin Khan and Rashid Latif both captained Pakistan from time to time, but in recent times its only been Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has kept wickets in all formats and captained the side.

Sangakkara has kept wicket many times in Tests msp.

as captain?

Good point, my ignorance

Stella wrote:Has Sanga kept and captained in tests?

yes he done it on numerous occasions...

CF wrote:

Stella wrote:Has Sanga kept and captained in tests?

yes he done it on numerous occasions...

At the same time?

yes

CF wrote:yes

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/50710.html?captain=1;class=1;filter=advanced;keeper=1;orderby=default;template=results;type=allround

hmmm i was sure he had

I must admit I was surprised as well but he only captined 15 tests from 2009-11, he stopped keeping in 2008 (tests)