Friday, January 16, 2009

What Is Going On In The ECB?

Well it is really interesting at times and somewhat confusing at other times regarding the politics that is found to be going on in the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB). First of those being that the then England skipper Kevin Pietersen was not happy with the selectors excluding the former England captain Michael Vaughan for the one day series against the West Indies. Than comes in the news that Pietersen does not have the patience or has lost patience with the then coach Peter Moores. The reason of the same yet to be disclosed. It was like the Indian team that returned successfully after failing to make it to the super eights of the ICC world cup 2007 in the Caribbean and cites the cause for the same to be the then coach Greg Chappell.

Now, even the present England team is found to do the same. And if the recent newspapers are to be believed, it was said that Kevin Pietersen wanted to resign from the captaincy during the first test against India in Mohali itself. One has to wonder really as to why this took such a long time to come to light. And was Kevin Pietersen aware that the ECB would drop or not include the former captain Michael Vaughan for the tour of the West Indies? If this is true, how great it is. Well, was this the reason as to why the England team failed to win the Chennai test despite putting up a mammoth total of 387 on the board for India to chase on the fifth day, which India did with ease?

And, days later after the exclusion of Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen wants the coach Peter Moores to be sacked. I wonder as to whether Moores is the coach of the England team or a member of ECBs selection panel? What has Peter Moores got to do with the exclusion of Michael Vaughan? May be, who knows! For, some say that it was the then India coach Greg Chappell who was responsible for Sourav Ganguly's sacking for the games against Sri Lanka in 2005. And why shouldn't this be another such issue? It would be interesting to wait and watch out for what all is yet to come out.

As a protest, Kevin Pietersen resigns from captaincy and even threats to quit from the squad if Vaughan doesn't be included and Peter Moores sacked. In response, the ECB selects Andrew Struass as the new captain for the England team that would tour the West Indies and then for the upcoming Ashes this summer. Finally, the ECB sacks the coach Peter Moores too. But, Kevin Pietersen is still not happy with the ECB. Vaughan is to be back for playing in the Ashes. Still Kevin Pietersen is not convinced! Either the coach should have been retained or, the coach sacked and Pietersen retained as the England captain. How come both happenning? Like KP not satisfied with coach Peter Moores, is the ECB too dissatisfied with Kevin Pietersen as the captain? If his birth place (RSA) and his success as captain goes by, even this cannot be ruled out.

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