England's 'alarming' acceptance of mediocrity
It doesn’t seem a minute ago since England were slumping to defeat in Sri Lanka, but barely have they shovelled their Christmas turkey down their neck when they’re back into consideration as the next tour team, for New Zealand, will be announced on
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
It doesn’t seem a minute ago since England were slumping to defeat in Sri Lanka, but barely have they shovelled their Christmas turkey down their neck when they’re back into consideration as the next tour team, for New Zealand, will be announced on Friday.
The Sunday Telegraph's Scyld Berry expects England to beat them, but only as he considers New Zealand a weaker team and not through England’s particular prowess. He points out England’s Test side has slipped from second to fifth in the ICC world rankings and bemoans a lack of review following their showing in Sri Lanka:
Nothing is happening, not even the sop of a review, which is the most alarming feature of all: the acceptance of England's mid-table mediocrity.
Vic Marks has a similarly gloomy outlook in The Observer - wins for England would prove nothing - and he gets straight to the point:
There is much talk about England being 'in transition', which is often the euphemism for 'in decline'.
He suggests a Test recall for Andrew Strauss, but not as opener, while he advocates bringing back Essex’s James Foster for one of the keeping spots, and dropping Monty Panesar from the one-day squad.