Roger Alton Roger Alton

Spectator Sport | 15 March 2008

Foul play

issue 15 March 2008

Two dismal showings by England teams in less than 24 hours make the strongest hand reach for the Paracetamol. What on earth are England playing at? Stuffed by the Scots in a Six Nations match of mind-numbing tedium, then a few hours later the cricketers humiliated on the other side of the world by New Zealand in the first Test. Let’s look at expectation — and coaches.

In the Ashes series of 2005, thrilling sure, but over time elevated into some preposterous mythic feat, there was roughly a cigarette paper between the teams. Or a dropped catch — Warne’s off Pietersen at the Oval. But it was like England were the all-conquering West Indians of the 1980s. Please. The Ashes seems to have marked the end of a process, rather than the beginning. Since then England’s bowlers, Monty apart, have gone backwards, and shouldn’t they be a bit fitter?

The England coach Peter Moores was given a fairly tough welcome.

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