Graham Swann retires from all cricket with immediate effect.

[fat old seagull]

Mmmm curious to say the least, is there bad feeling in the camp ? Surely he hasn't gone into a boyish strop.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

the team clearly has very little morale left.......i wish pietersen would **** off as well and let us get on with building a new team.

This

It's a great shame to see Swanny go, but he has been a shadow of himself in the last year. I believe he is making the right choice for England as well as himself.

There are too many players in the current team who can't be dropped, but who are not performing anymore.
Pietersen equally needs to go. We don't have the team to allow us the luxury of Selfish Pietersen at 4 anymore.

Bell, Cook and Broad are the three veterans who must stay.

Hopefully Monty will get a few wickets in the next 2 tests.

 

[Pevenseagull]

f**k

 

[Pevenseagull]

This

It's a great shame to see Swanny go, but he has been a shadow of himself in the last year. I believe he is making the right choice for England as well as himself.

There are too many players in the current team who can't be dropped, but who are not performing anymore.
Pietersen equally needs to go. We don't have the team to allow us the luxury of Selfish Pietersen at 4 anymore.

Bell, Cook and Broad are the three veterans who must stay.

Hopefully Monty will get a few wickets in the next 2 tests.

whoa there !!!........... I sometimes have issues with KP's personality and injudicious shot selection, BUT he is f***ing different gravy when it all comes together.

 

[atfc village]

Lack of morale fibre ,hey aussies we beat you we'll rub your nose in it P1SS on the pitch .Oh we're 3 nil down i've been sh1t i'm off

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

whoa there !!!........... I sometimes have issues with KP's personality and injudicious shot selection, BUT he is f***ing different gravy when it all comes together.

There's some interesting thoughts on KP from Mike Selvey in yesterday's Guardian. He puts forward the view that KP his being exposed and is unable to play his "normal" game because of the chaos in the upper part of the batting order - ie KP is always in too early.
I don't like KP myself but if you're going to pick someone who, like him, is clearly not a "team player" then you have to ensure that the rest of the team you pick fits with this. Clearly this isn't the case atm and, perhaps with a bit of hindsight, wasn't so when the team left for Australia.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

Why all the superlatives?

Yes what a player, what a bowler, what memories.

BUT - what a pathetic and weak willed individual he's showing himself as to quit at this time. We're in the middle of an Ashes series (albeit we've lost) for Christ's sake?

He's had a shocker of a series, he's f**ked up big time last week with the whole Facebook thing and he will now always be remembered for deserting a sinking ship.

What a shame.

Have to say I'm very inclined to agree with this.

 

[Pevenseagull]

I think 'The Hold Steady' put it best; 'Lord I'm Discouraged'.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

This

It's a great shame to see Swanny go, but he has been a shadow of himself in the last year. I believe he is making the right choice for England as well as himself.

He was the leading wicket taker in the summer series! Granted he had been planted over the ground in the past 3 but that is on wickets prepared for anyone but him.

More to come out on this story.

 

[dougdeep]

Top trolling Spank.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Unplayable when bowling on turning pitches against left handers. Not quite so otherwise.

Don't much care about the timing. This tour needs to be written off and the team rebuilt for our summer. The bowlers will always take tap when our top 6 ensure our first innings total will be between 150 and 250.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Fantastic player. Right time to go, might well have been dropped soon.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Cracking player, best spinner England have had that I can remember. I'll forgive his timing.

Maybe this also explains the baffling decision to play Kerrigan in the 5th ashes test in the summer. Maybe time for Adil Rashid to step up and fulfill his potential

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Funny because when I think of Zidane I think of one of the greatest ever players to play the game. I think of his champions league final volley and his brilliant performances to guide France to the World Cup in 98...

But then some people are just negative I suppose and like to think of others bad points before all the great achievements...

This. It's that volley which is the first thing in my mind.

 

[Return of the Rev]

right time to go...?? in the middle of a tour...?? you are joking right...??

i think you find it was at he start of the tour

 

[KZNSeagull]

This

It's a great shame to see Swanny go, but he has been a shadow of himself in the last year. I believe he is making the right choice for England as well as himself.

There are too many players in the current team who can't be dropped, but who are not performing anymore.
Pietersen equally needs to go. We don't have the team to allow us the luxury of Selfish Pietersen at 4 anymore.

Bell, Cook and Broad are the three veterans who must stay.

Hopefully Monty will get a few wickets in the next 2 tests.

Interesting that they are thought of as veterans, as they are all coming into or in their prime. Cook particularly MUST carry on as he is only 28 and has a bucket load of runs left in him for the next 6 years at least.
KP has to go now - he can concentrate on smacking every ball he faces in a form of the game that requires that.
Very surprising timing by Swann though - I wonder what has triggered this?

 

[knocky1]

Derek Underwood took more wickets and he could not take advantage of the review system. Swann was good though but annoying with his cheeky , choppy persona.

 

[blockhseagull]

Some very harsh comments on here.

I feel whatever Swann had done regarding his retirement he would be slagged off by some.

Probably a case of he was going to get dropped for the 4th and 5th tests and he always had his eye on retiring after the series. After the service he has given and the major part he has played in the resurgence of the England team who could deny him the chance to retire as a member of the team rather than a player who isn't picked.

I'm sure the negative people on here would have commented on his 'lack of fight' to get his place back if he'd been dropped and then retired.

English cricket isn't in a good place right now, but you can't overlook how important some of these players have been and need to look beyond the current gloom and give them the credit they deserve.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

whoa there !!!........... I sometimes have issues with KP's personality and injudicious shot selection, BUT he is f***ing different gravy when it all comes together.

The problem being, it rarely does come together these days. Most top bowlers have sussed his weakness, especially Siddle who has him owned. Pieterson has served England well but its got to be odds on he will retire from Test Cricket at the end of this tour anyway - Unless he retires early too. Time for Pieterson to be dropped and give Gary Ballance a run at the number four position. Or move Bell to four with Ballance at five. As someone has previously said, Pieterson is far too much of a risky luxury at the moment.

 

[maltaseagull]

whoa there !!!........... I sometimes have issues with KP's personality and injudicious shot selection, BUT he is f***ing different gravy when it all comes together.

Agreed, but it does seem to be coming together less and less often these days.

I think his last test century was Nov 2012.