So clearly Moores and KP were not the dream team that we are ideally looking for whereas Vaughan and Fletcher may have been a partnership made in heaven.
Looking back over time I am sure there must have been several other volatile combinations of captain/coach but which is the worst of all?
Would it involve our Geoffrey and any one of several - perhaps Illy when he returned?
Did Chappell and Ganguly not see eye to eye in India?
Are there any Pakistani combinations that could outdo Moores/KP?
Not many coaches in the old days (think they called them buses or sharabang's (no idea if that's spelt correct but it matters not) but Boycs and Illy is the obvious one with Illy telling Boycs the captain would have total say on team selection after being given a squad by the coach but, if the captain picked a different side to what the coach would pick too often the the squad to pick from would include only eleven names! Shame Boycs was sacked before Illy reurned because we could have had some real fireworks to look back on!
Boycs and Denness must be a good volatile combo too. ''I've not spoken to him in thirty years and I don't think I've missed much.'' was one of Boycs nicer sentances on the issue.
Johnny Wardle's birhday today, wonder what he'd have made of coaches.
I love Boycott's comment on Denness. Probably right, of course.
But could I just speak up for the humble "charabanc" here? It's an Anglicization of a fine old French expression "char à bancs", which just means a waggon (char originally meant chariot) with benches (bancs). Oddly enough, in sport the French have a word "le coaching", but they use it only to mean "tactical substitution" (e.g. in rugby).
>>>The hours I've spent speculating on the phonetic origins of Charabanc...
Well I've learnt summat today and grateful of it. I now know how to spell bus in French! They make life complicated in France. Geoffrey reckoned they also conduct court cases in French. They probably asked if he'd ever been a bus and he turned round and gave someone a charabang!
1) Johnny Wardle and any member of the Yorkshire Committee.
2) Geoffrey Boycott and anyone who knows less about cricket than he does (i.e. everyone)
3) Lord Hawke and any 'professional' who wanted to be England or Yorkshire captain
4) Fred Trueman and any batsmen who thought Fred couldn't get them out.
nice list HG and you overlook the Gough/Byas one as well from more recent times.
I was hoping to find some more volatile combinations from further afield rather than within our boundaries although I do recognise that we are more likely to have a disproportionately higher number of clashes in view of our heritage, mentality and decision making
Boycott and Hampshire's go slow at Northampton about 30 years ago, taking their feud onto the field of play and costing the team in terms of batting points.
Sorry to be pedantic but Hampshire was batting with Colin Johnson in the 'go slow' ... Hamps was protesting at having to 'hit out' after Boycs had crafted yet another century. Some of us have always wondered if Johnson 'not making it' had something to do with this innings
p.s. A non Yorkshire spat was Mike Brearley & Phil Edmonds ... when ask what was the best thing to happen in his career Mr E said something like "Mike Brearley's retirement". Interestingly both are rather inteligent & very errodite
Was it Agnew who threw De Freitas' kitbag over the balcony at Leicester? Gallian did the same to Pietersen's at Nottingham several years later.
Richard Hadlee nearly caused a mutiny by saying he wanted to keep the car he'd won as ''international player of the year'' rather than put it in the team kitty which was the usual done thing. I think that was finally difused by Hadlee putting the car in the kitty and the team giving it back to him as a ''special gift.''
Boycs latest book nicely sidestepped this best XI so here goes...
1. G Boycott
2. Shahid Afridi
3. K Pietersen
4. M Ramprakash
5. J Miandad
6. A Symonds
7. R Marsh
8. D Cork
9. Harbajhan Singh
10. F Trueman
11. D Lillee
K1 ... Yes it was Agnew who threw De Freitas' kitbag over the balcony at Leicester ... the cause was Daffy covering Agger's food in salt .... all very adult.