The Cricket Thread

[peasy23]

[Eednud]

17 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

 

Extras should open the batting

[Dunning1874]

OYF. Stuck the replay on this morning without having checked what happened, didn't think there was any way it wouldn't be going to a fourth day 

Incredible stuff from Boland.

[dirty dingus]

Was good watching the build up when the pundits were predicting Root and Stokes to carry the team into a 100 run lead then who knows. An hour later they were blaming everything from Covid uncertainty to a lack of getting to batter teams made up of fishermen from the Torres Straits as a warm up. Joe Root aside the batting line up is guff.

[Mark Connolly]

The 100 has some cool graphics though, eh lads?

[Clockwork]

Logged on the sports news but only to check that the inevitable had happened, I can’t stay up to sit through this embarrassing shite, even just to admire the Aussies. They’re just not being provided with any level of competition. As mentioned back up the thread, the white ball that now dominates the domestic game in England, plus the diluted County Championship, no more than an irritant side show these days, is no preparation whatsoever for the patience required in the Test Match Arena. England’s top order have been abysmal over three tests to date, it’s hard to see any optimism for The SCG (destroyed there in their last two visits) or the inaugural Hobart Test.

[sparky88]

Massive 'SPFL team thumped by Maltese part timers' energy from the English media at the moment. 

[peasy23]

Logged on the sports news but only to check that the inevitable had happened, I can’t stay up to sit through this embarrassing shite, even just to admire the Aussies. They’re just not being provided with any level of competition. As mentioned back up the thread, the white ball that now dominates the domestic game in England, plus the diluted County Championship, no more than an irritant side show these days, is no preparation whatsoever for the patience required in the Test Match Arena. England’s top order have been abysmal over three tests to date, it’s hard to see any optimism for The SCG (destroyed there in their last two visits) or the inaugural Hobart Test.

If you had sat up, you would have been safely tucked up in bed by 1am.


Thinking back to this time last year with the Sri Lankan and Indian tours, Silverwood's mantra was all about how the rotation system was in place to make sure that the squad were in top condition for the Ashes series. That worked out well....

[codfish]

If you had sat up, you would have been safely tucked up in bed by 1am.


Thinking back to this time last year with the Sri Lankan and Indian tours, Silverwood's mantra was all about how the rotation system was in place to make sure that the squad were in top condition for the Ashes series. That worked out well....

Yep - I stayed up for the start, dozed off on the sofa just after the Stokes wicket and woke up to see Wood depart. All entirely predictable for this England side though.

I’m no cricket expert, but although I enjoy watching the shorter formats more, Test cricket will always be the pinnacle in my eyes - spells like Starc delivered at the end of day 2 don’t happen in T20, and batsmen finding ways to simply survive is compelling. England don’t have a single player who knows how to ‘survive’ - at least Root’s technique allows him to play balls on their merit, the rest are utterly spineless at Test level.

[peasy23]

Post mortems are well under way among the English pundits.

Nasser Hussain - Root shouldn't be exempt from criticism as he has made errors with tactics and bowling plans, but he has been let down by Silverwood, Giles and other coaches.

Mark Ramprakash - has heard from ECB board members that county championship performances are no judge of how a player might perform in test cricket. What chance do you have when the ECB don't rate their own red ball tourney?

Aggers - Ashes: England never stood a chance in Australia - Jonathan Agnew - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59808295

[Benjamin_Nevis]

1 hour ago, peasy23 said:

Mark Ramprakash - has heard from ECB board members that county championship performances are no judge of how a player might perform in test cricket. What chance do you have when the ECB don't rate their own red ball tourney?

Thing is, they're probably right, but only because they've so marginalised the County Championship themselves to accommodate the white ball stuff that it almost becomes irrelevant.

Steve Harmison pointed out that with the CC being played at the margins of the season, games are often done and dusted in 2 days (he's right, there were some laughable scores last season). Playing red ball cricket in order to learn how to get yourself in, set and build an innings is utterly pointless if the games are being played in conditions where teams are regularly being bowled out for under 150. 

The bowling unit has largely papered over the cracks in the last few years, but once Anderson and Broad retire, that's going to be ruthlessly exposed as well. They can't even settle on a decent wicket keeper.

England are going to be a bang average test-playing nation for a good few years to come, and that's even if major changes are made now, which they won't be. 

 

[peasy23]

Thing is, they're probably right, but only because they've so marginalised the County Championship themselves to accommodate the white ball stuff that it almost becomes irrelevant.
Steve Harmison pointed out that with the CC being played at the margins of the season, games are often done and dusted in 2 days (he's right, there were some laughable scores last season). Playing red ball cricket in order to learn how to get yourself in, set and build an innings is utterly pointless if the games are being played in conditions where teams are regularly being bowled out for under 150. 
The bowling unit has largely papered over the cracks in the last few years, but once Anderson and Broad retire, that's going to be ruthlessly exposed as well. They can't even settle on a decent wicket keeper.
England are going to be a bang average test-playing nation for a good few years to come, and that's even if major changes are made now, which they won't be. 
 

They've got a lot of tough series to play before the next Ashes too, so it's going to be hard to introduce fresh blood into an already struggling team.

Your point about the county championship is spot on, they've prioritised all the short forms of the game and young guys coming through all want to play those, as that's where the quick pay days are.

I like Root, but I think he hasn't dug his heels in enough at times as skipper. The rotation farce last winter was one. He also doesn’t get on to his bowlers quick enough when they are chucking pies. To go to India with anything less than your best team was madness. He should have been insisting the best squad available went there, even if it meant effectively a B squad went to Sri Lanka without him too if necessary. If he decides to throw in the towel as captain then god knows who they turn to, there's hardly anyone else guaranteed a place in the team on current form.

[peasy23]

Watching the Sixers v the Heat in the BBL. Been some very ordinary batting, but there have been several superb catches. Heat scored 105, Sixers currently 36-7 after 10 overs.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

7 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

If he decides to throw in the towel as captain then god knows who they turn to, there's hardly anyone else guaranteed a place in the team on current form.

I don't even know if this is on the radar for the ECB. Root must surely be considering it though. He scored 1700+ runs last year in a team which largely still failed. He must know that without Anderson and Broad the future is pretty grim and Root himself is pretty much England's only decent spin option at the moment 

Root seems a decent lad and is a magnificent batsman, however is he going to want his name down in history as a captain of an era of such complete and utter failure? As you say there is literally no one else reliable enough. A year or two ago you'd maybe say Ben Stokes, but he looks done at the moment and lumbering him with the captaincy is hardly going to help that. 

[Scorge]

17 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

Root seems a decent lad and is a magnificent batsman, however is he going to want his name down in history as a captain of an era of such complete and utter failure? 

It didn't really hurt Atherton's reputation in the 1990's to be fair, so doubt it would with him. He's the only consistent quality test batsman on a burning deck of others who aren't quite there for one reason or another, mostly to do with technique. Stokes is the only one who could take over, but he's not in great nick, and making an allrounder captain seldom works well (A. Flintoff, I.T. Botham, etc). The upward curve of the white ball team since 2015 has been matched by the downward one of the long form game, the downswing just now is very big. The Windies, who they play next, are roughly their level at the moment (although England's bowling attack is slightly better).

5-0 now, barring weather/miracles.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Scorge

[peasy23]

Watching the Sixers v the Heat in the BBL. Been some very ordinary batting, but there have been several superb catches. Heat scored 105, Sixers currently 36-7 after 10 overs.

Ended up a cracking finish. Sixers were 47-8, but hung in there and needed 2 off the last over, it came down to the last ball, which Sean Abbott managed to thread through a crowded infield to win it.

[Mark Connolly]

That was some game in the BBL

[Ignoramus]

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/worst-ever-england-ricky-ponting-ashes-shake-up-england-batting-conditions-county-changes-australia/2021-12-29 

Ponting getting wired in here and basically saying that the focus on the white ball/red ball split is a bit of a red herring because the Indians play more of it than anyone and are as good as anyone.

It sounds like he doesn’t rate the coaching in England for letting batters with crap techniques be allowed to persist when that will get them hammered against Test players.

County cricket in England has always felt a bit tinpot to me in terms of the standard and professionalism and so to make an essentially county-level coach the head guy and chief selector was just madness. Hashim Amla was the sixth highest run scorer in the CC in 2021 and he’s about 40 odd

[Left Back]

7 hours ago, Scorge said:

It didn't really hurt Atherton's reputation in the 1990's to be fair, so doubt it would with him. He's the only consistent quality test batsman on a burning deck of others who aren't quite there for one reason or another, mostly to do with technique. Stokes is the only one who could take over, but he's not in great nick, and making an allrounder captain seldom works well (A. Flintoff, I.T. Botham, etc). The upward curve of the white ball team since 2015 has been matched by the downward one of the long form game, the downswing just now is very big. The Windies, who they play next, are roughly their level at the moment (although England's bowling attack is slightly better).

5-0 now, barring weather/miracles.

If Root quits Stokes is the only realistic option.  The fundamental reason being he’s the only other player guaranteed his place in the team if fit.  Whether you’d get another series out of Broad and Anderson is debatable but it seems like neither is capable of playing 5 tests in a row.

Unless England miraculously come up with a Graeme Smith like option and give an untried youngster the gig and time to build there are no other options.

[Eednud]

Ross Taylor retiring from international cricket after NZ home series against Bangladesh, Australia and The Netherlands

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/ross-taylor-announces-cricket-retirement/100731308