Long Way Round For Strauss

Having to appoint a new captain and a head coach is not the best start to an Ashes year but it became more inevitable as the week progressed. Any chance Pietersen had of clinging on to the captaincy disappeared when Flintoff and others refused to back him. Flintoff recently spoke about how in his experience the captaincy was a lonely job and would always support his skipper 100% because of that. Those words seem a bit hollow now after he chose to side with Moores.

The ECB knew exactly what they were getting when they decided to appoint Pietersen and he raised concerns at that early stage about the head coach. It was no secret that some elements of the dressing room were indifferent towards him even before he became skipper. The same whispers get wheeled out about him being selfish and arrogant although some will say he is a confident player who does not lack self belief. Whatever you want to call it all great sportsman have it in abundance. Pietersen is a winner and that might not go down well with the people who accept losing.

Many people were not completely convinced that KP was captaincy material in the first place. He is in good company because most of his team mates are not potential skippers either. It seems most of the team has attempted captaincy in the past few years and the fact most of them did not excel in the role tells its own sorry story. Flintoff got drunk and decided to become the skipper of a boat, Collingwood did not want the one day job preferring instead to concentrate on playing and even Vaughan stood down from his role as test captain.

After leading the team to an impressive series win over Pakistan in 2006, it was widely expected Andrew Strauss would keep the job for the Ashes series in Australia. Instead the ECB sprung a surprise and gave the job to Flintoff instead. He never enjoyed any success during his short reign and said he felt let down by some players. That sounds familiar they should put it in the job description.

Rumours suggest the next coach will be Tom Moody if things go according to plan. He is an experienced coach who ticks all the right boxes. The appointment of Moody would command respect among senior players. How ironic it would be if both he and Strauss get the jobs they should have been offered a long time ago.

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