Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Swann has added that he doesn't mean his colleagues. I fear he may be referring to some opponents in this series...

Most people who retire do so at fairly inconvenient times. They may have carried on too long, which takes in their own decline. They may have decided they have had too much at a troubled time for their team mates. Flintoff was criticised for retiring during the final round of county championship matches!

Mostly the appropriateness of your leaving is just luck, or judged with hindsight, as the most celebrated of English retirements, Nasser Hussain. Many will hold on for too long, and realise they have too quickly.

Anyone who goes at a time of crisis for their team will be criticised. But I am a little surprised how much hate and anger has come the way of Swann.

Surprised you are surprised , Arthur. There are - sadly - a lot of people out there with plenty of hate and anger to spread around...and this handy Internet gadget assures them all of a ready means to spread it...

Retiring in the middle of a dead series to give extra opportunity in live games to a possible replacement? Is that selfish?

I dont want to get involved in Swann's character assassination at all. People should have more respect for a player that, imo, spearheaded everything that England have achieved in recent memory.

Having had a day to think about the retirement of Mr Momentum, I can't say that I'm really surprised. I don't think he was in decline, but he was having a poor series. If he was planning to retire at the end of this series (presumably with England winning) then going out now with the urn lost does make sense. With the next Ashes series only 18 months away, England will look to rebuild asap, and there is no time like the present. From an Oz point of view, I'd love to see the pie thrower we saw at the Oval get another run, but my guess is that Monty will fill the role until somebody better can be found. Long term, I reckon the future England spinner will be a kid I was reading about from one of the northern counties, Yorkshire probably.

The future for Mr Swann is likely to see him playing in the IPL, and maybe one or two other T20 leagues around the world. Should Murali be in his last season of the Big Bash, Swann could very well turn up for the Melbourne Renegades, especially if Fawad Ahmed gets called up to national ranks. Beyond T20, Swann will almost certainly move into the media, especially since he loves opening his mouth. I think that since he does like speaking his mind, that he would be a popular commentator.

Regarding the comments Swann has made about people in cricket being up themselves, I'm sure he said that in the hope of selling a few books when he gets around to writing them, and I'm pretty sure that the comment was largely directed at Australian players and other personnel associated with the game. The Oz players are definitely up themselves... and I would be too if I was playing Test cricket!

When all is said and done, Graeme Swann has been a fantastic servant for English cricket. His efforts were instrumental in helping England reach the pinnacle of the Test world. He gave England something they haven't had since goodness knows when; a world class spinner. He played the game the way it should be played, and will sorely be missed by a team now in transition.

m@tt wrote:People was, understandably in some respect, quick to jump on this and say he's referring to KP. They may be correct. But he does say "in the game" not "in the England team", so could be referring to members of the Australian team (instead, or as well as).

It couldn't possibly be Pietersen he was referring to. It must be a reference to all those players at Nottinghamshire that he plays with so often.

D/L wrote:

m@tt wrote:People was, understandably in some respect, quick to jump on this and say he's referring to KP. They may be correct. But he does say "in the game" not "in the England team", so could be referring to members of the Australian team (instead, or as well as).

It couldn't possibly be Pietersen he was referring to. It must be a reference to all those players at Nottinghamshire that he plays with so often.

He did slag Smait Patel off previously

from_the_stands wrote:When all is said and done, Graeme Swann has been a fantastic servant for English cricket. His efforts were instrumental in helping England reach the pinnacle of the Test world. He gave England something they haven't had since goodness knows when; a world class spinner. He played the game the way it should be played, and will sorely be missed by a team now in transition.

Nice tribute Stands. Going on newspaper blogs, Swann has wound up a lot of people down under. But quite a few have appreciated him, some for his larrikin persona, some, like Nathan Lyon did, generously, for his ability and achievements.

It’s a bit of a stretch to think that Swann wasn’t referring to some of his current England team mates with those remarks. Realistically, who else could he mean?

Still, it may promote additional interest in the inevitable volume 2 of his autobiography.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Swann has added that he doesn't mean his colleagues. I fear he may be referring to some opponents in this series...

Most people who retire do so at fairly inconvenient times. They may have carried on too long, which takes in their own decline. They may have decided they have had too much at a troubled time for their team mates. Flintoff was criticised for retiring during the final round of county championship matches!

Mostly the appropriateness of your leaving is just luck, or judged with hindsight, as the most celebrated of English retirements, Nasser Hussain. Many will hold on for too long, and realise they have too quickly.

Anyone who goes at a time of crisis for their team will be criticised. But I am a little surprised how much hate and anger has come the way of Swann.

Good post Arthur. Its the personal nature of some of the attacks on him and his motives that I find astonishing, given it comes from people who don't know him.

We have to cover for injuries. If we wanted to play Borthwick, who is conveniently in Australia, we wouldn't have called up Tredwell from the UK, who will arrive during the fourth Test. There was evidence that England picked Monty with a little reluctance for this tour, given they overlooked him for the Oval. So it's unlikely either of these two call ups are seen as attractive choices by the selectors.

Swann was never going to "have the wood" over Australian batsmen this series and I said as much in a pre tour post on the subject. I thought during the 2O13 series in England that his talents were on the wane ( it is inevitable with every sportsman) and I remember defending Laker when others were saying Swann was England's greatest spinner In my book he was behind past finger spinners Laker Underwood and Verity He was, however; a very good finger spinner mainly because he could beat batsmen on both sides of the bat and we shouldn't forget his abilities in the slips either. I am disappointed that he has retired mid tour but if his heart was no longer in it then I suppose it was the right decision.

His ineffectiveness could have something to do with his elbow injury but a contributing factor must be the lack of form of Anderson with whom he bowled well in tandem. He will not be easily replaced.

D/L wrote:It’s a bit of a stretch to think that Swann wasn’t referring to some of his current England team mates with those remarks. Realistically, who else could he mean?

Still, it may promote additional interest in the inevitable volume 2 of his autobiography.

He's already denied it. Though that could of course change when, as you say, another autobiography comes out.

If we didn't know it already this confirms it, Johnathan Agnew is a 'big girls blouse'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25483730

He’d have to insist he meant something else when it would seem obvious that his unguarded remarks, perhaps no longer subject to team PR scrutiny, were referring to some of his current colleagues.

Few would dispute what an asset he has been for England - he's been our bowling version of Mike Hussey. I can't think of a more fitting analogy or tribute.

Assuming all legal things were in place and he'd retired in his mind then what would have been the point of staying on available for selection?

This will soon be old news - and Swann will take his rightful place in cricket's long history - mostly for the right reasons.

KipperJohn wrote:This will soon be old news - and Swann will take his rightful place in cricket's long history - mostly for the right reasons.

Indeed. I think people slagging him off need to take a step backwards.