England's "New" Coach

I know this is a bit late but I thought I'd add my thoughts on Andy Flower's appointment as England coach. It initially appeared to be a somewhat last-ditch appointment as everyone else interviewed/head-hunted/casually chatted to/begged to apply said no.

However Flower appears to get on well with Strauss and the results from the tour to the West Indies are not as disastrous as some people suggest. Strauss and Flower had to pull the team together after a emotionally and mentally tiring tour of India. Teams don't just suddenly become good again - it can take months or even years for a team to work successfully. Flower appears to be someone who will spend the time needed to fix the team.

In addition, he appears to be completely unimpressed with the current culture in the team - these guys are paid an awful lot of money and should be able to improve their game and work hard enough to be ready for each game they play. If it means missing out on the IPL like Stuart Broad or doing the necessary fitness work, they shouldn't need to be told what choices to make. Everyone in this England team has enough experience to know what suits them.

Here's hoping the press and the fans give Flower enough time and space to work and we'll see what happens.

The return of me

If any one is still reading then good news. I'm back. To stay hopefully. I had one of those months except in this case it was three in a row. Apparently med school is quite hard work. I'm hoping that once exams are over next week I'll be back to posting regularly.

But for now a quick summary of what's been happening:
- Australia recovered from losing to SA at home - not feeling quite so good about the Ashes any more
- Graeme Smith broke his hand again!!! As exciting as it is to see Mitch Johnson swinging the ball at pace and making batsmen look stupid why does it always have to be Smith!! (As you may be able to guess my love for the Saffers and Smith especially remains undiminished and may have even increased a little)
- The IPL is now the SAPL - could be exciting. There are no words to express how much I wanted it to be in England. Weekends of cricket - Ricky, Graeme, MS, Albie and Sachin.
- England are still rubbish but Strauss appears to be the man for the job. If only the rest of the team would remember how to play the game we could so alright.
- India are being crushed by New Zealand in the Second Test - the fat boy can bat (see CWB for JRod's take on Jesse Ryder).

What's coming up:
- England take on the West Indies again
- India keep playing NZ
- Australia and SA keep fighting it out to be the kings of the castle in the one day series