After the disaster of England’s last tour to Australia, Duncan Fletcher was brave to write in Friday’s Guardian about his ‘strategy for Ashes victory’.
Andrew Flintoff being made captain, the return of Ashley Giles, the freezing out of Monty Panesar until the third Test - just one of those cock-ups from the 2006-07 Ashes might seem to disqualify Fletcher from this kind of talk.
However, for what it’s worth, he reckons the selectors should drop Alistair Cook in favour of Eion Morgan. This tactic seems to be predicated on the assumption that Morgan is pretty damn good at the one-day stuff, so he must be good at Tests as well.
Surely there is a flaw in this argument – success in one format does not necessarily lead to success in the other. Just look at Michael Bevan (below) – most observers’ choice as the best one-day batsman ever, he finished with a disappointing Test average of 29.07 (compared to 53.58 in ODIs).
Fletcher talks of ‘performing under extreme pressure’, ‘a cool player in a crisis’ and ‘having a steady temperament’. Morgan undoubtedly has all these qualities, but maybe they aren’t quite enough to succeed in Test cricket.
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