5 Cricketers England Has Failed
England has failed time and time again to get the best out of the talent at its disposal. By failing to accommodate special talent, through poor management and by making knee-jerk decisions, the best players in the country haven't always played regularly for the international side. The two best performing batsmen in the County Championship over the last few seasons, are both Englishmen who do not play internationally.
Mark Ramprakash (41 Not Out)
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Mark Ramprakash last played for his country in 2002, and recently stated on a UK radio show that he has not ruled out playing for England again at the age of 41. In an eleven year international career, he played 99 innings, averaging 25 runs per innings.
Yet just two seasons ago, Ramprakash averaged 90 in a First Class Cricket season with a high score of 274 in that season. Quite simply, Ramps has been destroying County bowling attacks for years, and yet he has not had an international call-up for nearly 10 years.
We are extremely unlikely to ever see him in an England shirt again, and rather sadly it is extremely unlikely that we will ever see his like again. Ramprakash didn't perform at international level as he has so consistently in County cricket, but he has too much talent for that to have been entirely his fault (in fact a lot can be blamed on a terrifying West Indies attack). And even if you put those 11 years firmly in the past, criminally, one of England's best Batsmen has played out the best years of his career, without three Lions on his shirt.
Marcus Trescothick
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Banger (nicknamed because of his love of sausages) has suffered desperately though mental illness in recent years. Still badly missed by the England camp, his trials and tribulations have been well documented since 2006. But what was clear from his woes, was that he wasn't able to play for England on tours abroad. On home soil however, Trescothick is this season's top scoring batsman and is finding runs very easy to come by.
It would be harsh to criticise England strongly for their handling of the Trescothick affair, as they would genuinely argue that they did everything they could to support Banger. What they probably would have done however, was everything they could to support Trescothick as dictated by policy. It is not good form to single a player out for special treatment, but ultimately, every extra international innings they could have got out of Trescothick (had they tried harder) would have been a valuable innings.
Trescothick retired from international cricket with a Test batting average of 43.
Ricky Ponting
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In 2010 England travelled to Australia to try to prize the Ashes away from Australian soil for the first time in over two decades.
On the first day of the First Test in Brisbane the Aussie tails were up, and whilst several England batsmen got themselves in, none of them went on to make an innings defining score. England were bowled out for just 260 runs. With English bowlers toiling, Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin set about the English attack scoring 195 and 136 respectively to give the Australians a 221 lead and smiles from ear to ear.
England came out to bat knowing that a defeat in the First Test would be a devastating blow to their series hopes. Scoring a record breaking 517 runs between just the three top order batsmen, England turned Australian joy in to Australian frustration, as soon to be man of the series Alastair Cook finished his innings 235 not out.
The visitors went on to lift the famous urn on Australian soil in Sydney, and failed Ricky Ponting, by beating his men 3-1, and subjecting them to three innings defeats.
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Gary Kirsten
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Gary Kirsten said goodbye to the India team he coached to World Cup success, and walked in to the job with his native South Africa.
Kirsten was in charge of the Indian national side for three years, and left them as the number one ranked Test playing nation (as well as World Cup winners). India travel to play in England this summer, as the English look to improve their own Test ranking by beating the best.
Kirsten will lead the Proteas in to a Test series against Australia in the South African summer. But England have failed Gary Kirsten. Born in Cape Town, the 30 year old Jonathan Trott was a key part of England's success against the Aussies last time out. In just 18 Test matches, the South African born Trott has scored an amazing 1,600 runs.
And whilst Trott was busy piling on the runs, Kevin Pietersen from the Natal Province was getting up Mitchell Johnson's nose, and Johannesberg's finest, Andrew Strauss, was leading the troops.
Just for the record, Graeme Swann was born in Northamptonshire.
Nasser Hussain
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Nasser Hussain was born in Madras, India, in 1968. Unfortunately for Nasser, he ended up living in England and playing international cricket for the national side.
Despite having one of the best Test records as Captain in recent history, Hussain took over the reigns of a failing England side, and was lambasted by fans after defeat in his first series in charge at home to New Zealand.
In the 2003 World Cup with Nasser at the helm, England failed to qualify for the second round surrounded by criticism for refusing to play against Zimbabwe (giving the reason that they had security concerns). However, reports suggest that a lot of responsibility was placed on Hussain's shoulders, a level of responsibility and decision making that maybe should not have been levelled at the England Captain. Ultimately, he was left to make the decision, and it clearly played on his mind.
You don't need to know much more than those bare facts, to start to wonder just who passed the buck, and whether Nasser really had the right support at his side. In fact reports at the time suggested that Hussain had gone against the view of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
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