England - predictable and stubborn
In his column for the Telegraph, former England captain Michael Vaughan does not hesitate to list down the reasons behind England's poor run in the World Cup so far, particularly with the ball
02-Mar-2015
In his column for the Telegraph, former England captain Michael Vaughan does not hesitate to list down the reasons behind England's poor run in the World Cup so far, particularly with the ball. He talks about the inflexibility in the batting line-up too, and says the culture in the team and setup need to change.
But the problems run deeper than Peter Moores and Paul Downton. Our stock of talent is just not strong enough. Why is that the case? We have all the facilities, the coaches, the player performance pathways and academy squads in place but for some reason we can't produce fast bowlers or spinners. We are pretty much the only team in the world that does not have a genuine fast bowler. Even India have Mohammad Shami now and he is bowling quicker than our guys. Chris Woakes has become our fastest bowler. How has that happened? Yes we have problems with the coaching of the team because the players are not getting any better but the system is not producing the talent we need. I do not judge England's seam bowlers not against Mitchell Starc or Trent Boult. We have not got their pace. But I judge them against someone like Tim Southee. He is an English-style seam bowler and he is moving the ball. Why are we not moving the ball? It must be length. It can't be the batch of balls. Where are the spinners? Why have we not got a left armer or any variation in this World Cup when we have had four years to plan. We have no alternative to right-arm 84mph seam bowlers and an off spinner. It is an attack that resembles a bowling machine.