Time for England overhaul

It’s time for Andrew Strauss to relinquish the post of England’s ODI captain says Steve James, writing in the Daily Telegraph. And how, he asks, could England expect to win a 50-over World Cup when they do not play that length of game domestically.

To call for Strauss’s resignation should in no way be seen as a slight upon the job he has done. Considering the mess he inherited after the Kevin Pietersen/Peter Moores imbroglio in early 2009, Strauss has performed admirably … [but] it is time to move on.

Strauss must, and of course will, continue as Test captain. And he will find the extra rest periods invaluable, just as he did when missing a tour of Bangladesh last March. Alastair Cook deputised then, in both ODIs and Tests, and he should take over now as ODI opener and captain, starting with the match against Sri Lanka at the Oval on June 28. Although the T20 at Bristol three days before could be interesting. Surely Paul Collingwood cannot continue as T20 captain, and Cook would seem a little miscast there. Kevin Pietersen anyone?

On the Guardian website, Mike Selvey writes that England's schedule took a heavy toll and suggests a number of players won't be seen in one-day colours again.

After the most intensive five months any England cricket team can have undertaken, the touring party – players and management alike – return home shattered men. There has been no escape. The cruellest of itineraries, agreed unthinkingly four years ago, saw them on a four-hour coach ride to Canberra the morning after their Sydney Ashes triumph and practising the next day. All Andy Flower wanted was a week's down time for his players – the Great Barrier Reef, anywhere – to escape cricket, before picking up the second half of the winter. By the end they could not select Jimmy Anderson, not because he was injured or out of form, but because he had nothing left to give. If Flower and the players are willing to take responsibility for the performance since the Ashes – as indeed they are – then so too should the administrators who put them through the mill.

Jonathan Agnew is another to be heavily critical of the workload placed on the England players in his BBC column, but also says that they just weren't good enough at the World Cup.