English Cricket's Problems: The Uncontrollables

Andrew Flintoff off the field—a familiar site for any England fan. Since 2005 Fred has featured in just 14 of 33 Test matches. All this for someone who could have become the greatest all-rounder of his generation.

The story is similar for many of England's ashes heroes. Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones, Ashley Giles and of course Flintoff himself have each been out of action for prolonged periods of time. Add to that the injuries that Steve Harmison suffered, which meant he wasn't able to prepare properly for a number of series' and the ever present Hoggard beginning to show signs of wear and tear and England effectively lost there entire bowling attack, which was the best in the world in 2005, and two of their top three batsmen.

Aside from that Geraint Jones and, later, Strauss both lost form and were dropped. The side has only Pietersen, a newcomer, and Ian Bell—who some feel lacks the mettle required for test cricket—as well as Paul Collingwood who made a solitary Ashes appearance.

The side lacked leadership, not just from the captain but from the experience of these players. Vaughan, Trescothick and Flintoff have mustered up the small matter of 15,000 test runs between them. Of the bowlers, only Jones is outside of the top 22 all-time English wicket takers. These are major blows to any team.

One could argue that Australia have dealt perfectly well with the losses of Martyn, McGrath, Warne, Langer and Gilchrist but the truth is that, psychologically, these men all decided it was time for them to leave the Test scene. These men have gone, and replacements can get on with cementing their place in the side.

England was constantly using their own missing players as excuses and some of the replacements, like Owais Shah, were discarded as soon as they recovered from injuries.

While all these injuries are ultimately the fault of no one, in my opinion the ECB have failed Andrew Flintoff. I was glad he recently suffered a side strain as Peter Moores confirmed Flintoff would have been included in the first squad to face New Zealand. Lessons haven't been learned and England would still rather have Flintoff involved in the short-term than think of the future, of both the man and themselves.

However, as promised in my introduction, these injuries have had some silver lining. Alistair Cook and Monty Panesar have both had tremendous success at the start of their international careers and i think that both Bell and Colingwood have improved the team and as players.

Stuart Broad and James Anderson have been inconsistent, but i believe that both should be involved in the future of the team. Shah has done well when required, Prior started his batting career well and Ravi Bopara is exceptionally talented but had a torrid time in Sri Lanka.

With the retirement of Giles and most recently Trescothick, England have the chance to look forward. Jones took a few wickets in the last round of Championship matches and Flintoff was apparently bowling superbly at the start of the summer. The selectors have dropped Harmison and Hoggard for younger models whilst sticking with under pressure middle order batsmen.

While these injuries were uncontrollable, England must improve their medical care and look forward instead of back, allowing some players to concentrate on regaining county form and others the chance to cement their place in the side.