Anything can happen in the world of cricket. Who would have thought that after their Ashes 4-1 thumping in Australia, England would go for an Aussie to select their national team as well as England Lions?
And it’s not a very acclaimed Aussie cricketer either. The Telegraph has reported that 46-year-old Marcus North has been chosen to be the next England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) selector. Although the ECB is yet to confirm the report, going by the Telegraph’s reputation, it can very well be true.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi needs to be saved, reminded again and again that Test cricket is paramount
North has featured in two Ashes series for Australia. In all, he played 21 Tests, 2 ODIs and 1 T20I during his international career from 2009-2010. The left-handed batsman hit five centuries in Tests and scored 1,171 runs at an average of 35.48. He also bowled a bit, albeit right-arm offbreak and took a five-for in one of the Tests.
Not an easy job for sure!
North is going to join the likes of England Test captain Ben Stokes, England white-ball captain Harry Brook, coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key as people who will decide the future of English cricket.
North, though, has been working in England for a while. During his cricket days, he played for Durham. Ben Stokes also hails from that county. Then, later, since 2018, North has been the director of cricket at the same county.
In the last couple of years, a lot of counties slammed Stokes, Luke Wright [previous selector], Baz and Key for not noticing county players and their performances despite not getting results at the England set-up. However, recently they kind of admitted their mistake and promised not to overlook county cricket anymore.
It’s strange that just a day after Michael Vaughan’s strong criticism, we now have the name of the England selector. “It’s ridiculous how they’re announcing a selector so late,” Vaughan said on the Stick to Cricket podcast.
“I wanted the selector there on 1 April, going out, having a look, gathering information.
“Luke Wright quit at the back end of Australia. We knew, didn’t we?
“It’s a long time, four months, to find someone.”
Next month, New Zealand will be in England for a three-match Test series with the first game kicking off on June 4. That’s likely to be North’s first international assignment. Let’s see how much time the ECB will take before it announces North’s appointment.