So, we've got a very decent chap as captain.­ Excellent, and sincere best wishes to him. The ECB are­ probably off to lunch patting each other on the back to­ cries of "All's well that ends well!" and­ the Aussies are sitting on the beach sharpening the­ knives that will finish off any survivors of the­ England dressing room back-stabbers party.

K.P. might­ not be ideal captain material but he's got plenty­ of the 'stuff' that seems to be lacking in­ English cricket.. for example, a young man who had been­ raised in Australia and coached by ex Aussie test­ players, returned to his native England and joined a­ then leading Southern county club. After his debut­ match, were he unleashed some aggressive­ Thompson/Lillie inspired seam attack, he was taken­ aside by the Blazer Brigade and told "We don't­ like to do that sort of thing over here, Old Boy."­ Ignoring what he assumed was a joke he dished out more­ in the following matches until ordered to back off by­ the Chairman. Disgusted, he walked out of cricket and­ England lost a great bowler to industry. Moral.. the­ influence of the Great UK Blazer Brigade is still­ endemic in our attitude to sport. We either accept it­ and 'enjoy the taking part' or allow it to be­ taken over by the Ecclestones of this world who at­ least get it shown on terrestrial TV.

of your systems

Its exactly the bl###y same on this one! Why don't­ you all meet up in a pub car park,have a fight and get­ it out fo your systems.

Well, I wish him well but Strauss is going to have a­ job uniting that bunch of overpaid @#$%. It is­ absolutely no wonder that we are a nation of cricketing­ beggars picking up a scrap of a win here and there. We­ have a player, a mountain of talent and justified self­ belief matched only by his relentless desire to win and­ the chinless never-have- beens at the ECB gather in a­ self protective huddle whilst the so called fans turn­ like a pack of filthy hyenas hurling racist and­ "ego" taunts. If you wish to see the real ego­ in that team, look back to the embarrrassing victory­ parade of 2005 and the drunken idiot and his wife who­ spent his entire time at the front of the open top bus­ occasionally dangling his baby over the edge Michael­ Jackson style. We have slumped way below the depths of­ mediocrity and no wonder when it appears these same­ sort of resentments are harboured in half the team­ also. No one seems to mention that KP has been very­ clear, he says he released none of this to the press,­ not a jot, which makes this public hanging all the more­ disgusting and of course saves the cretins who hail­ themselves as patriots from asking who did, and why.­ Good luck to you KP, such talent and self belief is­ most always resented by lesser men and your desire for­ team success goes unrecognised by the idiot.

post 22 who would want to be an aussie

Deary, deary! what a good time to be Aussie! Ned Kelly

Why do people come onto a cricket blog to sledge the­ game? If you hate cricket so much why are you reading­ the cricket news and blogs?

Playiing might unite you lot, but...er...winning? Dont­ you have to win first?

cricket to me is one of the lamest but popular sports.­ like golf, snooker/pool and darts.

surely its just opinion? theres no right or wrong­ answers. American girl just saying wht she thought. Im­ American(born) and English(parentage) so i can see both­ sides, but at the end of the day, she just said what­ she thought, you neednt vilify her for saying what she­ thought. shes entitled to her opinion just like­ everyone is, i know about bith sports, im an­ anglo-american guy so fortunate to watch both and be a­ part of both. its just what people thing, there no­ right or wrong answers, people wont agree buy some­ will.

Love him or hate him, but you have to admit that the­ current England team is pretty mediocre without KP. He­ is one of only 2 world class players in the squad­ (Flintoff actually barely makes the cut).The truth is­ that England is miles behind South Africa, India and­ Australia. They really belong in the second tier of­ test-playing nations. KP is a cut above the rest of the­ squad and we all know it! Strauss is not world class­ and his best days are behind him. It will be­ interesting how the rest of the squad especially KP­ interact with the new captain. Another complication is­ that Strauss is not good enough for the one-day team,­ so he cannot captain it!

Andrew Strauss will need to have decent hospital­ insurance as Kevin Pietersen will be putting the knive­ into his back as soon as possible. Kevin Pietersen has­ a ego problem as IS the main reason England will­ struggle as he is the most hated player in the­ team.

Kevin Pietersen wake up you are only part of a­ team and each player must work together not work just­ for you

Andy, mate, for goodness' sake, don't keep­ insisting you have Pietersen's support! Yes, he may­ be a countryman, but he's a loser. He's an­ egotist whose own 'I'm bigger than the­ team' attitude got him sacked. Be your own man -­ you don't need him or his support! In fact, you are­ SO much better off without him!

the ECB made Gatting some sort of middle man in 2007 so­ may be he can step up. not that i'm a big fan of­ his but he does have all the right things in place and­ should be good as he nows the tactical side and the­ under 21s sides as he was the development coach for a­ time, plus he is a middlesex man and nows Strauss.
Rob

(NUMBER 4) MICHELLE WHAT IS SOCCER. IF YOU WANNA TALK­ ABOUT AVERAGES. THE AVERAGE PERSON IN ENGLAND WOULD­ CALL SOCCER - FOOTBALL. DON'T COMMENT ON WHAT YOU­ KNOW NOWT ABOUT! ON THE OTHER HAND ,GO AND EXPERIENCE A­ TEST MATCH AND I'M SURE YOU'LL CHANCE YOUR MIND

Well, there is gridiron (or American football - you­ know, the type of football where the foot comes nowhere­ near the ball!!), but I would hesitate to call that­ sport. My advice to Michelle is not to make ignorant­ comments on something about which you know absolutely­ the square root of FA. Moving on...

I agree with Ray;­ we need a strong individual - Graham Ford, John Wright,­ although the most delicious irony would be someone like­ the mighty Shane!!

Nowadays we do not seem to have a­ tour manager - someone who would take control of any­ situation and try to resolve any problems, thus­ allowing the captain to concentrate on what goes on on­ the field of play. If there had been such a person on­ the Indian tour (or even out in Antigua for that­ matter) he would have realised there were problems­ between Pieterson and Moores pretty damn quickly and­ would have stepped in to try and resolve matters before­ they deteriorated to the extent that they did - way­ before Hugh Morris got landed with the job of sorting­ things out and way before they got so publicly­ aired.

The one thing I would ask is why should Andrew­ Strauss rock the boat? Rocking the boat is the last­ thing we need right now. Steady as she goes should be­ the order of the day, so that our players can go out­ and give of their best without the worries of what is­ going on behind the scenes. We need to be united,­ otherwise we don't stand a cat in hell's chance­ in the Ashes series, which would be a huge shame in­ view of the fact that the Australians are not so­ invincible now.... and I am not underestimating them­ either!

Uneducated and unbelievable unintelligent Americans ­ sharing their half a penny's worth of an opinion.­ Stick to your cr** sports that only your country­ participates in. Copy Cricket and name it Baseball and­ coming back to discredit the same sport you copied.­ Copy Rugby and name it American Football when 90% of­ the match the ball is carried in your hands. Cricket is­ an intelligent sport that is followed in England even­ before America came into the world map.

What does a female yank know about cricket? The only­ deent sport they have is basketball?