The Surfer

For a decade West Indies cricket has been characterised by ill-discipline that failed to make the most of its assets. Stanford's squad was together for six weeks prior to the event. They prepared meticulously, practised assiduously, played wonderfully and got their reward. From that they learned the value of putting hard work into an enterprise. Six of that successful side were members of the team that won in Jamaica, led by Chris Gayle, a batsman of immense capacity but hitherto a serial underachiever, a batting dilettante. No more.

I really enjoyed my playing years. Some people still say that I deserved to complete 100 Tests but I have no regrets. These things happen in cricket. Look at someone like (Mohd) Azharuddin, he got stuck at 99. Imagine how he would be feeling. To be frank, I always expected to come back after I was dropped, but the selectors thought I wasn’t good enough to get my place back in the side. Fair enough. Later, I became a selector and I had to drop a few players. This, I believe, put things in perspective.

The key to Bell's immediate future is his mental state and only the captain and coach can know that. Is he shot? Does he need a break from the pressure? If so, he must make way. As Strauss suggested in Sri Lanka, there is much to be gained from time away and it is rare for any batsman not to be dropped at some stage. Demotion need not be permanent.

Any batsman can get out to a daft shot played at an inappropriate time. It is what bowlers work at. But this was just crass, an encapsulation of all that Bell has conveyed for some time. What, precisely, was his thought process? Does his mind compute that having got into that area, around 30 or so runs, that suggests his vulnerability, he must avoid the criticism that would follow his dismissal and so places further pressure on himself to survive? Or does he believe that, having played with panache to that point, he has done the job and can relax? The latter seems more likely.

From the highs of winning the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and the Ashes in 2005, both teams are now so bereft of confidence and hope that the coming weekend looks about as appetising as Antony Worrall Thompson’s balance sheet. Never mind dreaming that we might be the match of New Zealand and Australia, we are about to be hammered by Wales and the West Indies.

There are more theories right now for the dual decline than runs posted on the Sabina Park scoreboard. The rush for celebrity, the rush for money, the rush for excuses: all have been blamed. Yet it is hard to see what is going on as anything other than an exhibition of corporate incompetence on a level we had thought was restricted to the boardrooms of city institutions.

The facts are these. Since Flintoff made his debut at Headingley in 1998, he has played in 72 of a possible 131 Tests (excluding the game for the World XI). With him, England win less than 39% of their matches and lose 33%. Without him, they win 45% and lose 32%. When you consider that he missed three Ashes trouncings (in 1998-99, 2001 and 2002-03) at a stage of his career when he was still some way off becoming the titan who bestrode the 2005 Ashes, it's fair to say those stats could be even worse. Again, this is not to say England should drop Flintoff. Far from it. It's simply to get a few things in perspective.

He was a breath of fresh air compared with grumpy old Border and the ruthless Steve Waugh. Even now, when I listen to Taylor's commentary, he always sounds as if he has a smile on his face, a man who genuinely loves cricket and sees it as a game, rather than warfare. Yet when he was on form (and it came and went) he was one of the world's best batsmen. Not a bad slip catcher, either.

The most fundamental issue of all is the absence of authority at the heart of the England team. We have a new captain and a temporary coach but whose hand is on the tiller, steering the team through a difficult period that poses such awkward challenges as the Indian Premier League (IPL)? For all the backroom staff with the team — masseurs, spin doctors, physiologists, you name it — there is one crucial position missing; that of a manager, a decision-maker who is ultimately responsible and ultimately accountable.