Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have hardly put a foot wrong since replacing the ill-fated reign of Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen, leading England to the cusp of the No 1 Test side position. Yet their credibility is being undermined at present by their blind faith in Stuart Broad.
Broad has taken just 10 wickets in the last five Tests and was curiously not only retained for the current Test match against Sri Lanka ahead of Steven Finn, who had taken 22 in the same period, but also given the new ball. The side must be being picked on reputation rather than form.
Broad is still living off the back of the series-defining five-wicket haul against Australia in 2009 and his hundred in the Test against Pakistan last summer that will forever be remember for the spot-fixing controversy.
England will also be loath to drop a player they recently named as captain of their Twenty20 side. Naming a player with a suspect temperament who selfishly uses up the team's quota of referrals on his own bowling or batting is also highly contentious.
The England management must take a fair share of the blame for Broad's decline since he burst on to the scene as a fresh-faced swing bowler in 2006. He has been developed into the attack's enforcer and wastes too many balls by banging them in short halfway down the track.
Indeed, in bowler-friendly conditions in the current Test he only picked the wicket of Sri Lanka's last man while James Anderson and Chris Tremlett shared eight wickets by pitching the ball up.
kaffleck@thenational.ae
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times
If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.
A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.
The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.
In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.
The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.
Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.
Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.
“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.
The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.
“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.
“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5