Kmflett's Blog

English & Welsh cricket. Key & McCullum stay. The old is dying but the new cannot be born

The quote of course is from the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci who died in a fascist jail. The next line refers to monsters or morbid symptoms but let’s not get carried away. It’s only a game we’re talking about.

The upshot of the review into England’s dire Winter Ashes series is that while it would apparently have been ‘easy’ to sack Rob Key and Brendan McCullum the difficult thing has been done and they have been left to clear up their own mess.

Most of the actions to be taken are already well known. There will be some actual coaches employed for things like fielding. Staying out after midnight at least during matches is not encouraged. Drinking is apparently more difficult to sort out. I like a beer of course but for top class professional athletes in 2026 it is perhaps something that requires at best moderation.

There remain therefore issues

Is McCullum going to play less golf and focus on more bowling and batting practice.

Is McCullum going to stop picking players on a hunch after he has watched a video and actually engage with the Counties who are the bedrock of the game

How is the Ben Stokes situation going to be managed. A brilliant cricketer and often a great captain, when the team under performs too much often falls on Stokes and that leads to injuries and time out of the game. He like us all is not getting any younger.

Until recent times English cricket was regarded as and often was the most conservative of institutions and recent events have left it looking rather like its being run like the Conservative Party is.

Leaving Gramsci and looking to Lenin: What is to be done? Burning questions….