Odd And Varied Choices Have Only Fuelled Instability

ENGLISH cricket must scarcely believe its eyes and ears, let alone the scoreboard. The nation that ritually tormented it, derided it, delighted in its every failure, mocked its incompetence and danced so lustily on its grave, is suddenly out-blundering the original. We appear to have appropriated ineptitude as our national sport and raised the bar. Both on and off the field, Australian cricket is embarrassing itself.
Now, it seems, there's an underground move to destabilise the captain. As if the task before Ricky Ponting wasn't mountainous enough. The apparent campaign to replace him with Shane Warne, whose unrequited ambition for the national leadership could prompt him to make a showbiz-style return if the chance presented itself, is a heartless undermining of both leader and team.
The descent into chaos with every new day of this Ashes contest is extraordinary. Each news cycle brings a new slant. The media is awash with theories from ex-players as to what's gone wrong. That's the nature of the media; it only becomes a problem when the national selectors give the impression they're reading everything, taking notice and firing the scatter-gun. Read Full Story