John Stern: Five lessons we learned from Stanford week
November 4th, 2008 by John Stern in England, Stanford Twenty20, Twenty20 and tagged cricket, John Stern, stanford, the wisden cricketer, Twenty20
1. Next time, don’t just change the name, change the team.
The Stanford Superstars are the best performers from the Stanford 20/20 so let’s do the same. Make the English team an all-stars XI from the Twenty20 Cup which would add kudos to that tournament and provide the Stanford event with the sort of context so lacking from last week’s farrago.
2. The jury’s still very much out on Peter Moores.
If the players were, as KP claimed, distracted by “nonsense” then this should have been the perfect opportunity for the coach to show us what he’s made of and ensure the players were switched on to the game. Instead, he trotted the same lame excuses as the rest of them.
3. KP is the new Tony Greig.
The obvious similarities were there before but his revoltingly condescending quotes about how Chris Gayle and his team needed the money more took him dangerously close to ‘grovel’ territory.
4. Leave the Wags at home.
They got plenty of the flak in Ashes 2006-07 and now at least one of them is the centre of another storm, albeit not entirely of their own making. A return to old-fashioned values is the only option – let them admire from afar. Or alternatively go the whole hog and give them the full Ryder Cup treatment. And then you find out which player invites his Mum along, like Jose Maria Olazabal.
5. England are mentally frail.
When push came to shove, they weren’t up for it. Whatever their misgivings about the event, there is no excuse for being completely ill-prepared for a game against a team of mostly sub-international players. The paradox is, of course, had they being playing Australia …
John Stern is editor of The Wisden Cricketer
Posted in England, Stanford Twenty20, Twenty20 | 8 Comments »
November 4th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Making an England All-Stars team would indeed give a semblance of relevance to the spectacle. But the whole Stanford project was partly adopted by the ECB to try and dissuade England players from heading off the the IPL (hence the squad mirrored the one-day and Test one).
Since England lost the game,it’s likely KP and co will play in the IPL anyway. If so, perhaps an England All-Stars team would be possible. Captained by T20 specialist – Chris Lewis, ideally.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Moores has looked totally out of his depth for a while now, yet never more so than in Antigua.
Pietersen totally overshadowed him throughout the Stanford fiasco, and if Moores remains, then surely the dynamic of their relationship will become a major issue for England over the next few years.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Didn’t we try some Twenty20 specialists in South Africa last September and quickly figure out that they were out of their depth. Also, the specialist from Warwickshire that Middlesex borrowed looked rubbish against the Standford Superstars too. Home advantage probably helped, but the plain fact is that the Stanford boys spent 6 weeks grafting hard to prepare for this game, England took 6 days.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Englands churlish attitude towards Sir Allen Stanford and his 20/20 tournament was deplorable.Offered an opportunity to compete in three 20/20 matches all expenses paid with the chance to win a considerable personal prize should have been a great PR trip .Instead Sir Allen’s genuine enthusiasm and love of the game seemed to be thrown back at him.If this is the best our spoilt crew can muster then perhaps we better send a renamed ‘well-mannered & keen to enjoy it ‘
eleven made up of our counties 20/20 specialists.If I was Sir Allen I would be thinking very seriously at hosting england again.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Village, i agree that they did look ordinary – but that was in the face of Brett Lee and Zaheer Khan.
I hate to admit it but Darren Sammy (formerly of Barnes CC) is not exactly Mohammed Asif…
I reckon a highly motivated and well-drilled side taken from the Twenty20 Cup would succeed in this game because it is all about the same standard.
November 5th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Mr Charlton, you don’t give the boy Sammy enough credit. Barnes CC are an excellent outfit. Go the Blues and Wild Geese! Two, two, two.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Good Points.According to Pietersen, the English press and players,playing for money was a bad thing.Yet none has seen fit to join Cricket2012Games.com’s campaign to have cricket in the 2012 Olympics, where they could play for country,love of the game and a an Olympic Medal.None is addressing the travesty of cricket being excluded in the land of its birth.None has addreesed IOC President Rogge’s biase positions,instead they make Stanford the devil.Ah,England show us the character that led the world, and stop acting so French.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I forget, is this the Barnes CC website?