No, England have not sacked Strauss. And he hasn't even resigned like Pietersen, Collingwood and Vaughan. Strauss has been rested for the Test series against Bangladesh so Alastair is the stand-in captain. This may prove to be too much responsibility for the young lad who is making a comeback in one dayers on the tour of South Africa. He has been trying to get into the one day side by scoring runs at a good strike rate in County.
England have made dramatic changes to their squad for the tour of South Africa. Luke Wright, Steven Davies and Adil Rashid have been included in the Test squad. Liam Plunkett is making a comeback while his Durham teammate Steve Harmison has been left out. Talks of Harmison's retirement are the talk of the town but he's only 30 so I believe he has some hope for the future.
In the One Day squad, Cook is making a comeback and the exclusion of Shah is a shocker. England scored 323 against South Africa in the Champions Trophy and Shah contributed 98 to that score. I don't think any English batsman has played such a smashing knock in the past few years. The only reason could be that he is playing for Delhi in the Champions League Twenty 20. It may seem bizarre but this is all I can think of. Trott, after playing only one Test, has been included in the squad. I'm not saying he is a bad option for One Dayers but if they wanted to bring him, then why not in the Champions Trophy, why now? By the way, Sajid Mahmood is also making a comeback to the England side.
England make a lot of changes in every series. Onions made his Test, One Day debut this year, Bresnan made a comeback, Trott made his debut and guess what, the year isn't over yet! Every year, a lot of players make their debuts for England, their dreams come true. But most of them fade away after a while. Then they make their comebacks. So why does this happen? Why does ECB picks so many new players every year? I just found out, Luke Wright's average in County (4 day matches) this year is 52. And ECB officials usually talks about County performances when they announce the squad. There are 18 Counties in domestic cricket in England and so many good players. I guess they just look at the stats each year and pick the players but changing the team again and again will not let them settle down. During Champions Trophy, I thought England would finally become a really good, consistent one day side but hell no! ECB wouldn't let that happen.
James Anderson is in Manchester while Swann and Broad are in South Africa. I don't know what they are doing there,with a month to go for the 1st Twenty 20 International against South Africa. Luke Wright is with them too, though he was supposed to play for Sussex Sharks in the on-going Champions League Twenty 20. What's so lovely about South Africa which is keeping them there?
Until next time, take care.