Did the three-skipper formula work for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013?
Many teams have experimented with two different captains for the Test and One Day International (ODI) matches in the past. Some see this as a wrong choice, but others consider it as an innovative approach.
One of the teams which believed to get results from having different skippers was England. The Poms had gone one step ahead of everyone this year, by naming three different captains for each format of the game.
England enjoyed a very good time last year in all three formats of the game. The team was victorious in the Twenty20 World Cup, played in the Caribbean, and managed to retain the Ashes against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 on their home soil. The results in ODIs were also promising
for them, as the team did a terrific job in the bilateral series played against different countries.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964 was given charge of the team in all three formats of the game, but he retired from Twenty20 cricket, which forced the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to make some changes.
All-rounder, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup 2011.
A few months before the start of the Mega Event, England were rated as one of the favourites to claim the trophy. However, fortunes changed dramatically for the Poms and they even struggled to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup. Although the
team managed to reach the quarter-final, they were defeated by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
The dismal show in the World Cup forced Strauss to step down from the ODI captaincy, but was retained as the skipper for the Test matches. Opening batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026, was named as the new captain for the 50-over game. He was not in 15-member squad of
the World Cup, but earned the confidence of the selectors by his improved performances in the County Championship games.
On the other hand, England’s only World Cup winning captain, Collingwood, was sacked from his Twenty20 captaincy and the responsibility was handed over to youngster, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465.
Collingwood was in utter disbelief after the decision, but claimed to support his successor.
Working with three new captains was exciting for the team’s coach, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Flower-c44362. However, the Zimbabwean was unsure whether the idea will be successful or not as it hasn’t been tried by any team until now.
England had lacked consistency in the recent past and considering that, it would have been difficult for the team to adjust under three different leaders. The players, especially the ones who are a regular part of all three formats, would have found it hard
to settle down. All three skippers had their own policies and methods of approaching things and that could have led to chaos for the Poms.
An ideal choice would have been to select two different captains rather than having three. Cook had been unable to justify his spot in the limited-over cricket and was not considered for the Twenty20s.
Considering that, Broad was the right man to be handed over the ODI and Twenty20 captaincy.
Although the new idea brought some confusion, it had some positives for the team. The pressure was shared between the three skippers and the team became more flexible.
Time prove that ECB was not wrong in appointing three different captains, as the team performed decently during 2011. Such things are also healthy for cricket, as they increase the involvement of fans more in the sport.
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