A cunning plan by Dyson
Coach John Dyson's miscalculation of the D/L chart cost West Indies the first one-dayer against England in Guyana but the Times ' Patrick Kidd wonders whether it was not all part of a cunning plan by Dyson.
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
Coach John Dyson's miscalculation of the D/L chart cost West Indies the first one-dayer against England in Guyana but the Times' Patrick Kidd wonders whether it was not all part of a cunning plan by Dyson.
By allowing England to win a game - and win it in farcical almost miraculous fashion - Dyson knows that the English media, which had been getting a bit down on their team, would start to ramp up their claims that now England are ready to win back the Ashes. Stuart Broad would be hailed as a new Botham, Andrew Strauss a new Brearley and Matt Prior a new, if less reliable, Bob Taylor. We'll all get carried away, England will get their hopes up and Australia will be inspired to rub our noses in it.
Richard Hobson says in the Times it has been a good few days for Andy Flower as he presses his case for England's revamped head coaching position. Hobson points out the decisions of the other contenders, Kent’s Graham Ford and Dyson, over the past week.
Firstly, Kent, where Graham Ford is coach, decided this week to sign Stuart Clark as overseas player for the start of the county season, thereby giving Australia a pre-Ashes lift by helping one of their frontline bowlers to gain match practice after injury. Kent may well benefit, but that may not be answer Morris wishes to hear from Ford if he is called to interview.
And now Dyson, another man linked to the post after his role in supervising West Indies to their success in the Test series. Duckworth/Lewis tables are not easy on the eye - those of a certain age before calculators will see comparisons with logarithm books - but to mistake victory for defeat by reading the wrong column of figures does not say much for his ability to work under pressure.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo