Can't believe this. Swanny was a champion, but to retire like this is pathetic. Where had our fight gone?!

In the long term and seeing the transformation India have made with the young guns, England will not mind this. They have so many youngsters who are hungry and want to win matches. Take stokes for eg.
As we saw with this England team, that once they lose a match it becomes a pyscological thing, and having experianced this with the Indian team, the team is better of having new and fresh players who have no baggages of such a thrashing.

But on the final note, he will be missed and was great spinner for England

Jeez,

1 bad series and they are all jumping a sinking ship

He's just being honest and saying he can't perform as a match winning bowler anymore. Not sure what england do now. Monty? 4 seamers and let root be the spin option? Long term borthwick, kerrigan? What happened with rashid? Seems like this will be a problem position for england now.

comment by Bennythedip (Mr Positive) (U9359)
posted 2 hours, 11 minutes ago
He's just being honest and saying he can't perform as a match winning bowler anymore. Not sure what england do now. Monty? 4 seamers and let root be the spin option? Long term borthwick, kerrigan? What happened with rashid? Seems like this will be a problem position for england now.
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Just being honest , just running away surely . Better off without him, bring in guys who only want to win .

I think it's a pretty selfish decision. If he wanted to retire he should have last summer but now with England in turmoil and no decent replacement he has jumped ship. The team needed him and he's gone and waved the white flag.

Monty is a ok backup but he only performs in spinning conditions now and then. The likes of Tredwell, Kerringhan, Rashid and that other left arm spinner from Hampshire are just not good enough.

Swann was a fine spin bowler. To do so much damage without a doosra has made him one of the best modern day spinners but he should have left at a brighter stage.

What's next IPL?

Good player but a very selfish decision. The going got tough and the Aussies were knocking him all over the park. Took the easy option to retire mid series and leaves England further in the lurch.

Maybe the management told him Monty was taking his place for the next test and he said fak it im off.

Simply the best English bowler of my lifetime. Taken the most wickets in test cricket since 2008, absolutely fantastic bowler. In my view he has earned the right to retire when he wants to.
In my opinion Monty now steps in, as he has proven before he is capable.
I loved the aggression Swanny had with both bat and ball, and how laid back he was off the pitch.

Poor decision made at completely the wrong time. As others have said, he should have finished the tour. Had he done so, his decision may have been different and not made when we have just been thrashed three times.

Many good times from Swanny and should have been thought of as an England great. Now, he will be thought of as a player who quit when the going got tough.

Disappointed in him.

He couldn't go on in the manner he was. THAT would have been the selfish route - know that you are finished but go through the motions in order to collect the full contractual rights.

Footballers do this all the time - sitting on their backsides doing nothing whilst collecting vast sums of money due to being contracted -and are lambasted for it.

His act of retiring was therefore entirely selfless and he has rightly forfeited his pay.




*cough* JOH

Some of the condemnation of Swann has been embarrassing. He's turned his back on a dead series, had lost it anyway. But the Aussies will be loving this.....

UH

Your being abit silly comparing his contract to a footballers. He has 2 tests left to play hardly the same as sitting on your a rse with a 2 year football contract. He should have stayed till the end Imo.

Swann got pelters for 3 poor tests and people ignored the facts he was one of the reasons we won the last ashes no more than 3 months ago. You need to look at why he was poor to. The England batsmen haven't helped him 1 little bit..Seems batsmen get a better fist of it when it comes to their place.. they haven't scored 400 as a team for a very long time.

UH Swann has 255 wickets in 60 tests that's some going. At least give him some credit

Have injuries combined with age caught up with Swann? Still, he's had a great career and it's not his fault if there's no replacement around. Monty can get a go and he's not the worst. We'll see what he does. There are a few youngsters around who don't seem ready but it's up to them and their coaches to trya nd get them ready.

I dont really think its a selfish act. At 34 it was very hard to make a comeback. the question is was swann ready to reinvent himself after this series? was he going to do the hard work and learn new ways of getting wickets? I dont think so. Its fair decision and we have to respect that

If Warne or Murali retired after 1 bad series they would have ended with 200 wickets each rather than the record tally. The Aussie tracks are never ideal for spinners and I never expected him to take many. This is a knee jerk reaction and is probably protecting his sub 30 test average.

Think injury has played a huge part.Swann had a career saving elbow operation before the last ashes series..Its a repetitive action that's caused the damage. Once your joints start to go its very difficult to keep playing. That's the main reason sports men and women retire from cricket and football in their 30s. their bodies just cant do it anymore.

Swan would have had an 100 more wickets if he bowled the illegal delivery that is the doosra.. He once said there is no way you can bowl that without bending your arm and Swann is correct.

Sad he's going he's been a top player but if you sign up for the tour you should complete it IMO.

what a yello livered weasel he turns out to be.

Illegal my ass. He just didn't have the skill to bowl a doosra

Don't see why people are accusing him of selfishness and cowardice. He was more than likely going to retire after this series anyway so now that it's lost he might as well step aside for someone else.
Regardless of your opinion though its such a shame to see one of our best ever bowlers be slated like this given everything he's done for England.

No one give a flying fVck about cricket