The last few days have hinted that, despite the best attempts by authority to confirm that all is right with England, there may yet be changes.
Andy Flower, who departed after the miserable Ashes tour, is to have an influential role in charge of elite coaching and it seems that his deputy Ashley Giles will be coach to the Test team.
Until this week it appeared that Alastair Cook was a shoo-in as captain again despite the dramatic tour in which England won only one One-Day International. The suggestion was no-one else could possibly do that job.
Now the situation has changed.
Stuart Broad, a young man with a rod of steel where many have a spine, has beaten West Indies and might win the T20 World Cup.
Such a triumph would surely reopen the debate on the captaincy.
It might be the best outcome if he were to lead the Test side — he is 27 despite being universally known as ‘Young’ Stuart Broad — and he has gathered round him a bunch of keen young ones who have, to their joy, seen little of the in-fighting that was the England dressing room when Kevin Pietersen was around.
Cook, I am sorry to say, is not a captain and is losing his magnificent batting in his attempt to be both opener and leader. For his own sake he should be asked to step down.
As might be expected of a great-grandfather, I am not entirely happy that grown men hug, cuddle and kiss at the fall of every wicket but even in their victory in the second match of the one-day series in the Caribbean, there was a freshness and enthusiasm about England that was absent Down Under this winter.
English cricket fans argue all night long about what has gone wrong over the past year but at least they have no need to discuss the subject that wracks football at the moment: should that immaculate defender Sol Campbell have been captain more often.
As part of the publicity for his autobiography, this black, powerful, sombre man has argued that he should have led England for 10 years; instead they preferred white players. Of course they did.
One of Campbell’s teammates, a frequent captain, was David Beckham who was a big personality in his own right, had a glamorous wife frequently in the headlines and learnt his trade at Manchester United. Beckham was an automatic choice first as a player and then as a match-winning captain.
His free-kick, from outside the penalty area to the least accessible corner of the net against Greece, is one of the most frequently shown clips on British TV and ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ was not just a lovely film but almost a brand name for the footballer who had the personality to lead his country and, incidentally, play a major part in chasing down the 2012 Olympic Games for London.
Campbell suggests that the colour of his skin was responsible for his failure to establish a firm grip on the captaincy. Surely the Beckham personality was the real reason.
Oh, that either England football or England cricket had someone of the star quality of Beckham or Graeme Smith, who has just announced his retirement. The first time I saw this towering South African bulk, I guessed he must be an instinctive leader.
Now, 117 Tests later, he has, aged 33, decided he has had enough, knowing his team has in A.B. de Villiers a natural successor, and that he has handed over a team still on the up.
He deserves to be proud of his achievements and no doubt he is.
