Jobs For The Boys
Cook - fortunate to make the Stanford squad.
Sky Sports columnist David Lloyd reveals who he feels should be in the Stanford squad and why a national cricket stadium is needed.
England have named 15 players to go to the Caribbean to try and win a share of that Stanford booty.
Funnily enough it's exactly the same 15 players that are going to play India in the one-day internationals.
Do the selectors not realise that Twenty20 cricket is a different game? It's simply not the same as 50-over cricket.
I'm not an expert on rugby, but when you pick a sevens team you go for a different type of player. You're not going to use the big lumbering blokes in sevens rugby, you're going to go for the more mobile guys.
In a similar way, Twenty20 requires different disciplines to one-day cricket.
Clearly the selectors are trying to ensure that the contracted England players are happy and I'm certain they are trying to keep certain players away from the IPL.
But as a selector, you're not there to be popular; you're there to pick the best team.
There will be plenty of players looking in and thinking how difficult it is to break into that squad. I thought Joe Denly was an absolute shoe in and it seems to be very difficult for him to get up to that top rung.
Somebody like Alistair Cook is a fine cricketer, but there's no way he's a better Twenty20 player than Denly. Cook hasn't even played for the one-day team recently and still finds himself in the Stanford squad.
I think it's a bit weak to say that "Alistair is working hard on his one-day game". Where's he doing that? I don't see how you can work on your one-day game in the nets.
Another guy who has been really good for England in Twenty20 cricket is Dimi Mascherenas, but he doesn't get a look in either. Here's a guy that tends to hit the ball for six, which isn't a bad problem to have!
If you look at Australia - as we always do - they took a view on Michael Slater and Justin Langer and decided they weren't suited to one-day cricket.
But instead we are trying to keep people happy and give them a chance to earn a bob or two. Denly and Mascherenas will be scratching their heads and wondering what they've got to do.
The central contracts have also been dished out and I'd have liked to have seen them give one to Matt Prior.
It seems the wicketkeepers are still on trial and I think it's time to put that situation to bed. It's time to make a decision and say "he's our man".
As it is, Prior will be standing behind the stumps, looking around at his team-mates thinking "this lot are on big bucks and I'm still on trial".
We've had long enough to make a decision and it's time to give him the thumbs up.
Also, I'm not sure if it was necessary to give one to Michael Vaughan. Central contracts are there to manage the players, but Michael doesn't need any management.
He said himself that he needs to go away and score runs. He's not playing much one-day cricket for Yorkshire, he's not in the Pro 40 squad and there's no need to protect him from overkill. He needs as much batting as he can get, so it's not necessary to give him a central contract.
It's a nice cushion for Michael, but I don't see the point of it. If Michael Vaughan scores consistent hundreds, he'll play for England. It's as cut and dried as that and a central contract makes no difference.
I wonder what Owais Shah thinks of it because I'm sure he feels that he's the next in line.
Good news to report. Accrington have won the league and cup double.
We were top of the league by 17 points going into the final weekend, but there was no cricket played because of the weather.
It's a fairy story for the club because we were down and out and didn't foresee being in this summer. Everyone at the club is pinching themselves.
There were many casualties as the celebrations got in full flow over the weekend. I went up there for an hour and got the ball rolling with some jugs from the bar. The boys seemed to attack it with great gusto.
We're thrilled with the way things are going but we've still got a lot to do. We need to make the club financially viable and I feel paying professionals in the league is starting to become unsustainable.
The clubs haven't got the money to pay professionals in this day and age. The glory days of Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Allan Donald and the rest have gone.
Professionals nowadays tend to come and go and you're always looking for a substitute. It's just not sustainable now.
My view is that there should be a moratorium of two years without professionals. That would get some finances back into the clubs and would also allow us to see if it works without them.
If it doesn't work, we can go back to the way it was, but something needs to be done because too many clubs are in dire straits and are right on the edge.