Three captains, Ken, Barbie and a whole lot of confusion

 
England now has more cricket captains than Osama bin Laden had wives, so just why have they gone down this route? The Reverse Sweep has been on the case.

The anointed successor

England clearly see Alastair Cook as Andrew Strauss’ eventual successor as Test captain. With Strauss wanting to give up ODIs, that created vacancies for a captain and an opening batsman. Who do the selectors go to? The man who they see as Strauss' anointed heir - even if he wasn’t actually in the ODI squad for the recent World Cup? Or do they pick their best ODI XI first and then choose a captain afterwards?

Having already nailed their colours to Cook, the selectors probably felt they had no choice but to give him the ODI job. Even if they felt it would be stretching credibility too far to give him the T20 gig as well - hence the entirely compromise solution of three captains.

Sending a subliminal message to prospective AV voters

It cannot be coincidence that the ECB made the announcement on the same day the nation was voting in a referendum to change the electoral voting system. The Reverse Sweep can only deduce that the ECB prefers first past the post as (if supporters of the current FPTP system are to be believed), this is exactly the sort of unworkable compromise that AV is likely to produce.

Ken and Barbie mania

Has anyone else noticed that Ken and Barbie are now the captains of the England ODI and T20 sides? If you don’t believe us look at the picture above. Has anyone actually seen Cook and Broad in the same room as Ken and Barbie? Thought not.

Is Andy Flower the new Henry VIII?

Andy Flower is now halfway to emulating one of England’s most notorious rulers, but whilst Henry VIII famously had six wives, at least he had the decency to only have one at a time. How is Flower going to manage with three captains at the same time? Will one of Strauss, Cook and Broad meet the same grisly fate as Anne Boleyn or Katherine Howard? Watch this space.

Spare a thought for…

Ian Bell - arguably a better choice to lead the ODI and T20 teams especially given his impressive and innovative leadership of Warwickshire to the CB40 crown last summer.

You may also like to spare a thought (but we doubt it) for Kevin Pietersen, who has about as much chance of leading England in any form of the game again as Nick Clegg has of regaining his credibility. It doesn't matter whether it is AV or FPTP - there were still no votes from the England selectors for KP.

Where next?

Should Alastair Cook be England's new ODI captain?

Is it time for the County Championship equivalent of Match Of The Day?

Lay off England after World Cup proves a bridge too far

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Comments

[Vim]

Ian Bell is too short obviously.

[Dean @ Cricket Betting Blog]

I agree with your point about KP. When you look at it, surely he had to the best option if England really wanted to keep it down to 2 captains.

Flower as good as said it wasn't ideal to have 3 captains and Pietersen gave them a real option to avoid this.

Flower's not stupid, he has obviously deliberately overlooked Pietersen for a reason.

Taking this into account I can only assume it's for one of two reasons:-

1) Andy Flower was on board during the Peter Moores affair and doesn't feel he can have a proper working relationship with, or trust KP.

2) The England management are that unhappy with Pietersen's early return from the world cup and general attitude towards playing, that they are deliberately snubbing him and possibly thinking about giving him the boot.

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced this will become a 'watch this space' story.

[The Reverse Sweep]

The third option Dean could be that they want to give KP a kick up the arse; making him mad so that he will start to perform to the level his ability demands

[The Reverse Sweep]

Well done Vim - that must be it. The England selectors are shortists (is that even a word?).