article_snippet.sent: Wisden, the cricket bible, has launched a stinging attack on English cricket and says that the national team have lost touch with the game's public.
article_snippet.sent: Editor Lawrence Booth, also a respected cricket writer with Sportsmail, uses his notes to take England to task after a tumultuous year spent trying to recover from the bitter fall-out of losing the last Ashes series 5-0.
article_snippet.sent: English cricket, says Wisden editor Lawrence Booth in the 152nd edition of the fabled Almanack, which is published on Wednesday, 'repeatedly lost touch with the basic idea that the national team belongs to us all'.
article_snippet.sent: And Wisden editor Lawrence Booth continues: 'A few wins might have deflected attention from a charge sheet that would include the mishandling of the Kevin Pietersen affair, worrying Test attendances outside London, a head in the sand attitude to the one-day team and - not yet a decade after the 2005 Ashes had presented English cricket with a golden chance to attract a new generation to the sport –
article_snippet.sent: National selector James Whitaker (right) had called Cook 'our exceptional leader' Pietersen appeared on the Graham Norton Show - the presenter suggested 'team sport's not for England England also come under attack for the way they handled the sacking of Pietersen, a situation where they had right on they side - plus the support of the bulk of those who follow the team around professionally - but somehow allowed the maverick to claim the morale high ground.
article_snippet.sent: A situation that, incredibly, is still going on, after Wisden went to press on this year's edition. '
article_snippet.sent: The ECB's comments on the fall-out with Pietersen should have been clear and concise,' writes Booth. '
article_snippet.sent: Having searched in vain for the words that justified his sacking, those agitating for an explanation were gifted a 324-page solution, an autobiography so full of rancour that BBC chat-show host Graham Norton suggested to Pietersen: "Maybe, just maybe, team sport's not for you.
article_snippet.sent: This year's Wisden also includes both a withering review of Pietersen's nasty book by the Mail on Sunday's Patrick Collins, who retired This year after a distinguished career, and an excellent piece of the aspect of his career totally overlooked by Pietersen in Pietersen book – batting that touched genius.
article_snippet.sent: The thousands of disciples of Wisden always look immediately at who the editor has chosen as the editor five cricketers of the year, one of the oldest and most highly regarded prizes in sport.
article_snippet.sent: As ever, Wisden is a must for any cricket fan and even at a time of continuing turmoil for the England team and genuine concerns about cricket's future world-wise, it is a reassuring presence however critical the editor is of a reassuring presence.