The Cricket Thread

[Uncle Psychosis]

Cricket really needs to get past the whole "not in the spirit of the game" thing. If you don't want it in the game, change the rules instead of relying on entirely arbitrary applications of what is and isn't ok. 

Every single team does this, then every single team whines like little babies when it happens to them. McCullum pretending like his Murali/Sangakarra runout didn't happen and Broad pretending like 2013 wasn't a thing particularly hypocritical. 

If you ever want to see a grown man's head explode, find one of these "spirit of cricket" types and ask them to justify why umpires are even necessary in a world where the spirit of the game is king. 

[Mark Connolly]

I see Stokes has said he “wouldn’t want to win a game that way”.

Happy to win a World Cup because you got a jammy bounce while you were running though, eh?

[Bully Wee Villa]

12 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

I see Stokes has said he “wouldn’t want to win a game that way”.

Happy to win a World Cup because you got a jammy bounce while you were running though, eh?

That's some quite desperate whataboutery.

[Mark Connolly]

1 minute ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

That's some quite desperate whataboutery.

It’s the “Spirit of the Game” argument. Either you play to the rules that are in place, or you don’t. You can’t pick and choose where some things that are a wee bit unfair shouldn’t count.

[Bully Wee Villa]

The two aren't even vaguely similar.

[Todd_is_God]

As a fan of shithousery I'm all for it.

Similarly, if England were to grab the first chance to mankade in the next test i'd be all for that too.

Either way, as it is currently trending, seeking to gain an advantage whilst not breaking any rules cannot be classed as "cheating"

[The Holiday Song]

McCullum came out and said the umpires called over. Did they? If so I can definitely see why England are annoyed. If not, I'd like to see McCullum correcting that on record if he's really into the whole spirit of things.

I kindof think it's just a bit of an unfortunate incident. Don't feel Carey has done anything wrong (he wasn't sleeklit about it) but Bairstow has obviously considered it as dead at that point. It's a bit daft from Bairstow and he doesn't strike me as being the most detail orientated guy in the world so could say it's his own fault, but think a bit unlucky too.

Anyway, delighted the Aussies won!

Edited July 2, 2023 by The Holiday Song

[Dunning1874]

Good thing Bairstow has never done similar himself:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/video/2639763/de-grandhomme-run-out-first-ball

Good thing Broad has never talked about a winning at all costs approach being a good thing when he knew was out and stayed at the crease in 2013:

Quote

"We've been accused of all sorts, but those things aren't remembered - it's winning the series that will be remembered," he said.

"We do have a win-at-all-costs mentality. I think we're quite an unpleasant team to play against at the moment.

"Teams won't play against us and enjoy the experience. That's what we want."

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Dunning1874

[Ro Sham Bo]

9 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

As a fan of shithousery I'm all for it.

Similarly, if England were to grab the first chance to mankade in the next test i'd be all for that too.

Either way, as it is currently trending, seeking to gain an advantage whilst not breaking any rules cannot be classed as "cheating"

Exactly, I'm hoping for both teams to plumb the depths of "that's just not cricket" over the last three tests as they indulge in petty tit for tat after this. 

[Boo Khaki]

I'm one of the 'spirit of cricket' types, normally. I've said on here before that I think you give a batsman one warning before you Mankad him, but this isn't a Mankad situation. Bairstow never turns his head to see where the ball has gone, so that's a basic lack of attention to detail on his part. If he had, he'd have seen the ball on its way to his stumps and grounded the bat. The fact Carey throws the ball in while Bairstow is still in his ground leads me to think that Carey had noticed Bairstow doing this repeatedly and decided to chance it. If that is the case, then I really have no sympathy for JB whatsoever, indeed, it's just good heads-up cricket on the part of the keeper.

Different if the ump has indeed called 'over', but even then, that does not excuse JB for a sloppy inattention to detail. It's quite fitting with this brand of cricket England play - get all wistful about last-day heroics by the captain, when there would have been no need for someone to play that sort of innings if a few more English batters had played with any circumspection whatsoever in the first inning. I don't understand why England seem to think that Bazball will compensate for turning off their brains the moment they set foot on the field. They wont get away with it against the top Test sides.

[Bairnardo]

The mankad is one of sports greatest acts of shitbaggery and so was today. If you don't like it, do it back or petition the rules which both moves exist within. 

I'm no aficionado but The WK literally couldn't have executed that move Any faster. There was no delay to make the ball seem dead and let Bairstow leave his crease. As said, Bairstow switched off the second the ball was past him and the Aussies are in no way duty bound to respect Bairstows desire to wander down the wicket whilst the ball is still in flight. Had the ball evaded the Aussie lad, Stokes wouldn't have been impressed if Bairstow wasn't ready to capitalise with runs. No one would have considered the ball dead then. 

No different from over zealously charging down the wicket to a spinner, missing it and getting stumped IMHO 

[Bully Wee Villa]

I don't know if "Bazball" is really to blame. For me England are two down because of two pieces of arrogance.

Firstly, declaring in the first test when they had the Aussies on the ropes. They could easily have added another twenty or thirty runs the way they were hitting out and that would likely have made the difference between losing and winning.

Secondly, having had the good fortune to win the toss on a seam-friendly morning this week, they seemed to just think all they had to do to get Australia out cheaply was to turn up. The bowling was massively lacking intensity and, again, that probably made the difference between losing and winning.

Twice the Aussies, who have the better XI on paper, have given England chances to win and twice they've fucked it. I don't think either defeat was the product of being overly-aggressive in batting, though. Yes, they probably gave away a few wickets playing at short stuff this test, but it was Stokes' ultra-aggressiveness that got them back into the game.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Bully Wee Villa

[Ro Sham Bo]

2 hours ago, Flybhoy said:

Stuart Broad calling Alex Carey a cheat, takes one to know one I guess. 

 

 

 

Broad was also playing when this happened...

[craigkillie]

Not long after it, McCullum himself ran out Collingwood in very similar circumstances today, when he walked down the field after a bouncer. Vettori did call him back that time.

[peasy23]

43 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I don't know if "Bazball" is really to blame. For me England are two down because of two pieces of arrogance.

Firstly, declaring in the first test when they had the Aussies on the ropes. They could easily have added another twenty or thirty runs the way they were hitting out and that would likely have made the difference between losing and winning.

Secondly, having had the good fortune to win the toss on a seam-friendly morning this week, they seemed to just think all they had to do to get Australia out cheaply was to turn up. The bowling was massively lacking intensity and, again, that probably made the difference between losing and winning.

Twice the Aussies, who have the better XI on paper, have given England chances to win and twice they've fucked it. I don't think either defeat was the product of being overly-aggressive in batting, though. Yes, they probably gave away a few wickets playing at short stuff this test, but it was Stokes' ultra-aggressiveness that got them back into the game.

Nailed it. The sun has hardly shone this match, conditions have been pretty much as good as England could have hope for to make the ball swing but they've done nothing with it.  

Bizarrely, I don't think England would have got as close to winning as they did today without the run-out shenanigans. It seemed to light a fire under Stokes which almost carried England home. Whether that was down to him being raging or knowing he was running out of capable partners, who knows.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

I remember watching Bodyline a few years ago. Reckon the serial bottlers could resort to that again.

[Bully Wee Villa]

You can't bowl more than one bouncer per over under the current rules.

[Salvo Montalbano]

Good to see some perspective about the stumping/run out. The fact Carey threw it when he was still in his crease (something Bairstow does fairly often I think) and that the England player often went walkabout without grounding his bat first makes me think more it was ok. I was watching the highlights on BBC there and interestingly during the "live" commentary, Simon Mann said something like "what a sloppy way to get out" as soon as it happened. He wasn't critical of Carey or Cummins; it wasn't until later where Tufnell and Cook were discussing it that it was framed differently, and even then Cook played a straight bat as you expect and seemed to think it was fine. 

England could have been 2-0 up or 1-1 if they'd been a bit smarter and a bit less careless. It's what makes a 5 test series between fairly evenly matched teams so good to watch. 

[peasy23]

McCullum as mentioned earlier.

 

 

[Boo Khaki]

It's one of the fundamentals that's drummed into you as a young player. You just don't go wandering in the space between the creases for any reason whatsoever, unless the ball has obviously been deemed dead. I really don't understand where the ire at the Aussies is coming from because it's entirely Bairstow's own intransigence that has led to this. I doubt he'll be as lackadaisical for while, so it's a learning experience, but unfortunately for England they are playing Test cricket with a wicketkeeper who commits the sort of simple, rudimentary mental errors that would get you reamed by the old heads at club level. It's an embarrassment for a supposedly top-tier cricketer, that's where the attention should be really.