Flower departs

[bwildered]

Andy Flower departs his position has England coach .

[Blocky]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25982894

[Diatribe]

I wonder who will be captain of the ECCC one day squad now that Tendoeschate has been appointed to the post.

[Andy]

Not surprised. However, I hope he's not the scapegoat. Certainly things have got beyond a joke - even the shorter format teams have been mostly chaotic so the last thing we need is Ashley Giles.

Given the ECCC bias in key ECB positions, I'd ask Stuart Law if he's available...

[Blocky]

Andy, well said.  Me and my yorkshire supporting pal at work have just been saying exactly that.  Stuey would be like AF on Steroids. 
England seem to have all the technology but now we need somebody to instill some steel and application.  I think that Andy has done a brilliant job for England and turned us from very average to really good.  Unfortunately, with a few players getting old and or injured, he's had less to work with.

As did the Aussies, we now need a full rebuild top down.  I won't be at all surprised if Alistair resigns as well. 

[cashless]

Now Flower has departed the English post, any chance of Grayson doing the same, although we haven't got Mat Walker as a follow on now, Kent has the glory.

[Oldhasbeen]

And Ashley Giles is the front runner to replace AF.

Can't say I'm inspired

[IlfordEagle]

At a slight tangent I was listening to 5 Live yesterday commenting on the latest T20 thrashing & they mentioned about Dernbach going for 49 off 4 overs, in the series he has taken 1-141 off 11 overs!!
What the hell does he have to do to be dropped, arguably the worst bowler ,certainly the most expensive to represent England at this level. One other point - why didn't Ravi bowl yesterday? He normally does ok & certainly can't be worse than JD - can anyone be that?

[Oldhasbeen]

Good article on the beeb re Flower's replacement:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/26005207

If Gary Kirsten wanted the job, IMO he'd be by far the best candidate. If not - as seems likely - I can't say any of the others inspire me much. I think 4-1 against Mike Newell are pretty mean odds, I think his chances are very low due to his lack of international experience.

Other candidates mentioned on the radio were Micky Arthur and Peter Moores (yes, really).

Are you depressed? If not, why not?

[frank21]

The thing is Ashley Giles made the most of a modest talent he had, he tended to get a few wickets a test match (about three) and the odd batting score. I remember an ODI where he and geraint jones managed to get a tie after england lost about 5-6 quick wickets. My point is he had grit and was able to get the most of him self.  He managed to get warks to win the championship (admittedly he had good players).  The possible disadvantages that he has been Englands chosen son being a part time selector and then the limited overs coach. To be honest its selections i am worried about and maybe tactics i am not convinced that stokes is a number  odi/t20 No3 more a five/six.  To be honest Flower had a slight essex bias hence faith in bopara giles needs to have his warks inclusions reviewed for instance woakes is much more a bits and pieces player than an allrounder, while barker would be a much better player.  Also look at moen ali he needs to be in the wt20 squad as bat/spinner ( and other squads).

Sorry for tangents 

[nat]

AG may be all the things you say ...but he comes across as a bit wet.

[Oldhasbeen]

IT's true to say that Ashley Giles, being of modest natural talents, had to really work at making himself a good cricketer, and this may help him in being a good coach, but I've two major objections to him: one, his involvement in the shambles of the Australia tour (the one-day team were nearly as bad as the Test team) and two, his personality, at least in how he comes across in public - he doesn't appear to be a tough enough character to get the respect of modern-day test players. 

However, no-one will be appointed before the next lot of one-day international competitions are over. Let's see how our lot do. Can't say I'm optimistic.

[Andy]

AG is apparently the closest thing to a 'Friend Of KP'. Whether that is a strength or weakness, given the hash that Flower, Gooch and Cook have made we may find KP back in charge...

[eastsax]

...given the hash that Flower, Gooch and Cook have made we may find KP back in charge...

Nooooo !!! Please,no. Let The Ego ferment amongst the Slurry. 

[eastsax]

...given the hash that Flower, Gooch and Cook have made we may find KP back in charge...

Nooooo !!! Please,no. Let The Ego ferment amongst the Slurry. 

Well, that turned out to be a timely exchange