The interim Managing Director of the England Cricket Board (ECB), Sir Andrew Strauss, has said that the board will introduce a high-performance review into English cricket to fulfil its objective of making the England men’s cricket team the best in the world cricket across all formats.
If we look at the recent performance of the English side in Tests, it’s nothing short of abysmal. Statistically, England has lost ten games and won just once in the last 15 Tests played.
Moreover, they still haven’t found their best possible opening pair for all conditions and the successors of their two legendary seamers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.
This sort of continuous mediocrity in the longest format of the game has strongly called for some actions from ECB to revive their test cricket. Introducing a high-performance review, which aims to restructure the English season from 2023, is nothing but a significant first step to achieving this goal.
In fact, Strauss has said that this review, for which recommendations are due to be published in September, has a broader aim to make English cricket great in tests and the other two formats.
“The perception so far is that it’s all about red-ball cricket and that it’s all about the domestic game. But the way we’re approaching it, and I believe the only way you can approach these things is to start at the beginning, which is what is the scale of our ambition for the game in this country?” Strauss told Espncricinfo.
“And I believe we’re looking very strongly at being the best in the world in all formats. I think the knock-on effects are enormous right the way through the game if the shop window is functioning well. Hence, as a game, we need to get alignment behind that ambition”, he further added.
As per the latest reports, this review will be led by an independent body which is yet to be decided. This review is only one of the numerous developments expected to be introduced by the ECB in the upcoming days.
In another development, the governing body is set to fill the vacancies of a head coach and some full-time senior management positions including that of a managing director which Strauss currently performs in an interim capacity.