Cricket

23-5. These are meant to be professional cricketers. This is a man who could barely bowl a length six months ago. Without wanting to sound dramatic this is probably the worst English test side ever. At least against the great Windies side they had to face more than one genuinely fast bowler. These have only got a 32 year old on an Indian summer.

It's also the 'best' side ever. (Apart from the debutantes) How do you justify that?
They're just good players who are woefully off form and demotivated. And like the worst examples of 'overtraining' you see in athletes, it gets worse the longer it goes on.
It was clear from the second test that this would likely be a 5:0 whitewash, you can't expect tired and dissolusioned players to 'play themselves better'.

I think England will be in the top 2 again in a couple of seasons. The young players are more encouraging than they've ever been and although I don't agree that Cook should 'go' or even Flower right now, I do think the dedicated bowling and batting coaches need to be changed.