Cricket Betting: Sir Beefy can lead England back from the brink

England Cricket / Ralph Ellis / 12 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

Ralph Ellis believes that after the debacle in the West Indies, the England cricket team requires a coach who will not be afraid to speak his mind and implement radical changes. Only one name springs to mind...

I was once interviewed by a firm of headhunters about a job with the FA. We sat and talked for an hour about how to improve relationships with the press, and it struck me that the bloke doing the interviewing didn't have a clue about how journalists work and the best ways to create positive PR. Or maybe it was me who didn't have a clue because I didn't get the job!

Either way, I've had very little confidence in the process for finding a new head coach for England's cricket team since I learned it was being placed in the hands of a similar firm. Managing director Hugh Morris has taken on a company called Odgers Ray and Berndtson to draw up a shortlist. And the word is the firm have in turn created a list of 37 people they want to meet to establish exactly what the head coach should be capable of doing. It sounds a recipe for disaster - the old saying about a camel being a racehorse designed by a committee.

One of the people they apparently will be asking for advice is Sir Ian Botham - and in my view there's only one question they should put to him: "Would you take the job?" Because after the latest debacle in the West Indies only something as radical and drastic as that is going to make a difference to the way England's cricket team performs.

This morning's papers are full of talk from Andy Flower, the guy who has been in temporary charge in the Caribbean, about the positives to be drawn from the series and his thoughts on what he'd do if he was given permanent control. It's full of aggressive quotes like: "You have to make sure you hit the ground running."

Sadly, when Flower twice had the chance in the series just finished to back up his words with actions he didn't have the confidence to do it. He should never have allowed a nightwatchman to be sent in during the Antigua test. And having let that game slip away he should not have made the same mistake again and insisted captain Andrew Strauss declared earlier on the last day in Trinidad.

England have got themselves into a complacent mindset for too long. Kevin Pietersen tried to shake them from it and his reward was to lose the captaincy. Now it looks as if they are ready to comfortably slip back to the same bad habits and [20.0] for an Australia 5-0 in the Ashes is only a bad bet because there's likely to be at least one Test ruined by rain. Sadly [1.76] for the Aussies to win the series looks compelling value unless there's a huge change in thinking.

Sir Beefy has it spot on in his column in the Daily Mirror this morning. "England were scared of their own shadows for much of this series and if we show this attitude when the Australians arrive then they might as well just pick up the Ashes, turn straight around and go home. We won't beat anyone of note with this mindset and that is the biggest lesson we must take from this series - get positive or give up. We were ranked second in the world not too long ago by playing in-your-face, aggressive, positive cricket - what has happened since then? The last time I checked we had slumped to sixth, yet all I hear is about how many positives we can take from this defeat."

Incidentally, England are amazingly [1.89] favourites for Sunday's Twenty20 bash against the West Indies. Given how badly they lost in the Stanford series, and how they've performed in the Tests, that has to be one to lay.

Five things you might not know about Ian Botham

1. His careers teacher at Buckler's Mead comprehensive school ranks with the man at Decca records who turned down the Beatles - telling him: "Fine, everybody wants to be a sportsman, but what are you really going to do"

2. He left school at 15 to sign for Somerset, but has since been awarded two honorary degrees by the University of Bath and by Leeds Metropolitan University

3. He met wife Kath at a party organised by Somerset captain Brian Close who is her godfather

4. His epic charity walks began by chance. He went to Taunton's Musgrove Hospital for treatment on a broken toe and took a wrong turning to enter the children's Leukaemia ward.

5. His 383 Test wickets is still the record for an English player. He also remains the fastest in world cricket to reach the three doubles of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, 2,000 runs and 200 wickets, and 3,000 runs and 300 wickets