New Captain, Same Old Problems For England!!

After the recent debacle that has marred England's build up to their forthcoming tour of the West Indies in two weeks, has the appointment of Andrew Strauss been a long overdue breath of fresh air into English Cricket?

It is true that the current build up to the Ashes has been tough for both the English and the Australians.  The Australians have recently lost undoubtedly some of the finest players ever to have graced the game, with the likes of Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, and Langer.  Even Matthew Hayden has said that he is considering retirement before the Ashes after being overlooked for the recent Twenty20 and ODI matches against South Africa.

However, despite their loss to South Africa in the recent test series, Ricky Ponting must be able to afford  smile on his face for the first time in days at the utter turmoil in the English camp.  Not exactly the best of build ups for an Ashes series that promises to be a close contest!

The appointment of Kevin Pietersen as Captain was an interesting choice by the ECB.  Everybody knew that KP has a big ego that does not like to contained by any means.  The promise of fireworks was inevitable, especially as the coaching style of Peter Moores was so contradictory to KP's style?

Before the Ashes in 2006-2007, Michael Vaughan, who will go down as the captain who regained the little urn, was injured and England had a dilemma: Who should be stand in captain?  At the time there were three options: Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Flintoff or Andrew Strauss. 

Sadly for English Cricket, and also for the game in general, Trescothick was to return home with mental issues, and has left a gap in all forms of English Cricket that has yet to be filled. Trescothick had proved in the past that he could be a suitable captain, and it is likely that had he not retired he may have been given the nod ahead of KP in 2008.

Trescothick's mindset and understanding of the game was what helped Michael Vaughan to be such a successful captain.  From early on in Trescothick's England career, under the captaincy of Nasser Hussain, he was involved in the team meetings, an ideal captain, had he still been playing.

Strauss was given the captaincy in 2006, and he performed well.  He won matches, made good tactical decisions in the field and good bowling changes.  He was unfortunately overlooked for the captaincy of the Ashes, as it went to "Freddie" Flintoff.

Here was a man who had not captained the England team before, and was thrown in at the deep end against an Australia team who was seething to get the urn that had, until 18 months before, been sitting quite nicely on an Australian beach getting an tan, and as far as the Australians were concerned was never going to leave in the near future (we all remember Glen McGrath's prediction, as it was the same every time before hand)!

So, here we are, two years on from the infamous Ashes (for England fans anyway) and I can't help but wonder why on earth the ECB didn't pick Strauss to be captain for the 2006-2007 Ashes, and nurtured a man who quite obviously would have been better than both Flintoff and Pietersen.  But that said, it is quite lucky for Strauss he was not picked to be captain in the 2006-2007 Ashes.

Not being one of the more popular England players, might the tabloid press have called for his blood, and a fine cricketer's career be over due to a popularity contest?  Perhaps all the pushing and shoving that has gone on in the England camp since 2005 will help to make Strauss a good and successful captain?

As a cricketing fan I do hope to see a good comptitive and exhillerating Ashes later this year.  As an England fan, lets hope that we beat the Aussies!