Re: 3rd test
wookieI do like Barney Ronay's ability to cut through the crap
[www.theguardian.com]
Why are England so poor at Test cricket? Because the talent pool is tiny, because this thing is essentially invisible outside of the pre-converted and those who can pay. The poverty of England’s red-ball team comes from exactly the same place as the revelations of institutional racism that drew such deeply unconvincing gasps of surprise from the chief executive once public pressure demanded some kind of response.The ECB has overseen this decline in reach, knowingly and in plain sight, registering no sense of duty to anything other than profit and loss during the quarter century of its existence
He's spot on
I’m not sure he is - it is more complex than snobbery and racism although both seriously limit the number of players at all ages in the county system.
Why are we so good at short form cricket - same counties, same talent pool, same snobbery and same institutional racism etc etc?
It’s the obvious question isn’t it? Whilst undoubtedly the England team’s focus has been on the shorter formats since the 2015 World Cup, I see little reason why they cannot simultaneously succeed in test matches. Indeed, just look at Australia (3rd in the test rankings and T20 world cup champions) and New Zealand (test champions and 2nd in the rankings, 1st in ODI rankings, ODI and T20 world cup runners up)