That assumption tells only part of the story. Let us say that there are certain 'individual' reasons why I do not support the England team. But that does not mean that I do not support indivudual English cricketers. Hoggard, Collingwood and Cook are among my favourite players. I still believe that Collingwood can turn things around if given the captaincy.

Fair enough, you dont have to support England, in fact you can support who the heck you like! On the same token though you dont need to spend your time England bashing, there are enough of us England fans to do that. To paraphrase a football chant "we're c**p and we know we are!"

Regarding your favourite English players Hoggard for one is massively underrated. He's crept along to almost 250 test wickets without anyone noticing, along the way making massive contributions in winning a few tests away from home.

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Mark.

That is where you are wrong. The England team has a few problems, but is certainly not "C**p" while is has some genuine hardworking players (like those mentioned above) are around. What they need is old fashioned leadership and commitment and not be exploited by the popular press mentality.

I personally think the inclusion of players well short of being up to international standard most notably Nixon who would struggle holding down a domestic team position in Australia is one of the biggest reasons England is in its current predicament

The biggest dual reason though is the continual firing of blanks by its impotent two leaders Vaughan and Flintoff.

The selectors need to be shot for continually selecting a team thats half beaten by the time they set foot on the field. Also Fletcher has overstayed his welcome. Who's responsible for choosing Mahmood in the team? The guy is a slower-ball bowler whos only variation is a standard full pace delivery. Plunkett has more talent in his little finger with both bat and ball as displayed in Australia. Joyce was showing potential but than got dumped and replaced by someone who was in shocking form. As for Vaughn he should of never been on the tour. Australia dumped one of the greatest captains in history 12 months out from the 03 World Cup. Someone needs to be more ruthless and make the tough decisions rather than blaming poor performances on players just trying to cement a place. Have more faith in the youngsters.

Whilst we do have some hardworking and talented players we are carrying a few passengers in the side, we also dont seem to be playing as a "team". IMO the three best ODI teams are Aus, NZ and SL and i reckon thats because they play well as a team and yes youre right they do appear to have more comitment than England.

I wouldnt disagree that we need some strong leadership and a bit more commitment to the cause.

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Mark.