Laptop-designed plans no match for on-field education

England must improve their decision making and the best way they could do that is by playing, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.

We got an example of prescriptive thinking at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2006, when a member found on the floor a copy of England's bowling plans – their "dodgy dossier" – and stuck it in the public domain. It detailed how they intended to deal with each batsman, which plans, if executed properly, would mean that Australia would scarcely muster double figures between them. Of particular memory, apart from the worrying fact that "nick" was spelt with an additional "k", was the "bouncer essential" observation for Andrew Symonds. True as this may have been, it was mortifying to see, for five and a half hours, a man set deep on the hook for each of his 156 runs, during which time, despite many invitations to do so, he did not attempt the stroke once. The plans did not cater for that but there was no plan B.