Preparation Preparation Preparation

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The Ashes is the cricket test series played between England and Australia every 2 years alternating between England and Australia. This dates back to 1877 which the bails in that match were burned and now those ashes are the trophy the team contests for. Every cricket fan watches this event even if they do not support wither team as this is more about the love of the sport and the rivalry between these two teams. The Poms hate the Aussies and the Aussies hate the Poms. Putting the rivalry into perspective for an Aussie to lose to an England sporting team it is seen as more of a disgrace.

Fail To Prepare = Prepare To Fail

Today the Australian cricket team won the Ashes test series against England inside of 11 days which kind of sums up England. The English press before the series started were all about a 5 nil series white wash of what they called an under par Australian team.

The English press were right with the score line because it could be 5 nil, but instead of being to England the Aussies could now pull this off. Australia has not had their strongest side to select from due to injuries, but they have been more than capable of defeating what now seems like a very underprepared over rated English team.

This England touring team had one warm up match against another English team
who are also touring in Australia and there lies the problem. The same players playing against players they already know and there are no new challenges. Every touring team as part of their preparations would play at least 2 or 3 matches before heading in to the main event. The conditions in Australia along with the bouncy faster pitches tells you time playing in those conditions is what will benefit the team.

Preparation and mind set is 90% of a winning formula and when that is not right then nothing goes right. This year the SA rugby team played Australia in their first match of the Rugby Championship and the SA team lost that match for the same reason they had not prepared correctly. Preparation leading into a match is vital especially these days when any side can beat you if you are not playing to the standards required.

When you look at the England cricket team you do wonder what players they have as back up replacements to the players who have not been performing and the cupboards are looking rather bare. The problem with English cricket is they have stuck with players even when they have not been performing with more of hope, hoping they will play themselves back into form.

England has one or two players they could bring into the team, but these players are not any better to the players they already have so the standards remain the same or even drop off. The problem is there is no depth with players pushing for their places unlike with other cricket teams around the world.

I harp on with SA rugby using them as an example as they normally get the preparation correct for major events like world cups as this is a set cycle of allotted time. SA rugby has used 54 players this year alone and has another 10 juniors all under 21 years of age playing and travelling with the squad. This allows for the progression of players coming through the system which more importantly keeps the standards the same.

In order to win you cannot be scared to lose matches along the way in order to give your players in the squad experience so that when the big matches come around you have the depth and experience available to win those matches. This I do not see happening in English cricket and sometimes it is harder to be dropped from a team once you are in the framework which should never be the case.

Australia rotated some of their players during the 3 matches thus far for various reasons as they were selecting certain players for various conditions. England tend to stick to the same team from one test match to the next besides the exception if a player is injured. From an outsiders point of view you would not be picking the same team for every game and would be selecting different players, but we all know once you are in you are in and it is a problem with the entire management set up.

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