Botham wants 'pig-headed' selectors to be flexible for 'lifting' England's WC campaign

Former England all-rounder Ian Botham has claimed that it is time for the selectors to take a different approach following three successive failures against the top teams in their World Cup campaign in order to give it a lift, insisting that he has been unimpressed with their team selection.

Botham stated that England has reached the crossroads at this World Cup already and it is time to make changes for the good of their campaign. He insisted that he has been unimpressed with team selection and added that after three successive failures against the top teams it is time to take a different approach.

In his column for The Mirror, Botham claimed that there are two issues facing England's One Day side; how would they make an impact out here, and how do they move forward once it is over.

The former Test skipper said that he would address the latter in more detail once their challenge has finished, but added that he would be looking for freshness and dynamism in players they pick, such as Ben Stokes.

Botham claimed that most important though, is what can they do right here right now to give this pathetic World Cup effort a lift, adding that they are nothing if not stubborn, but what some call loyalty, he calls it pig-headedness.

Botham said that it is time to look at which players could win them three games on the bounce, and with Bangladesh and Afghanistan to come, there are two games in which to really put their foot down, adding that it has been plain to him that Alex Hales should have been in this team from the start.

The former all-rounder stated that in fact Hales should have been in the team from the beginning of last summer, but the selectors have ignored him. He insisted that Gary Ballance has made a deafening case to be dropped and they must listen to him.

Botham admitted that Ballance is a quality cricketer, but added that he is trying to learn how to play ODIs as a World Cup when he is in poor form, insisting that that is not very fair on him or the team.

Botham claimed that England are still playing a version of the game 10 years behind the rest of the world and enough is enough, adding that they have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new era.

Botham insisted that the most important thing for the rest of the campaign is that England have a go, adding that they have a lot of catching up to do and they can start by trying to think beyond 300 as a total.