The Cricket Thread

[PB1994]

[Sir Tarmo]

Shamar Joseph!

[rowsdower]

Tail enders having a laugh is always fun. I was worried about the scotland game there until berrington teed off at the end.

A random test match video came up on my feed the other day, it was the West Indies at Edgebaston in 1995. That then sent me down the rabbit hole and I found the first test match I watched, from 1994, where my dad taught me the rules and i was immediately hooked. The following summer I was playing league cricket.

So naturally, I un-retired and rejoined my old club yesterday, and next week I will bowl a ball for the first time in 6 years. Absolutely nothing could go wrong.

 

[Boo Khaki]

Just watched the Day 3 highlights there, and jeezy peeps what an obscenely selfish review that was by Duckett.

That's a finger straight up, no doubter even in club cricket, so I'm genuinely baffled as to why he thought he might not be out. Bat was nowhere near it because he was playing all across the line as per usual, so the only thing I can think of is that he hit the deck or some part of his equipment with the toe/edge of the bat and mistakenly thought he tickled the ball, but he actually indicated that he thought the ball was off line for LBW, so 

I'd like to see England bat for most of tomorrow but ultimately get bowled out, two sessions near enough, because there are too few Tests these days that go 5 days while still being competitive, so it would be nice from a spectator point of view to get a lead of 400-450 and give Windies 4 sessions to chase it. No Strauss or Cook around thankfully, so I don't think we'll see another 600 lead and 2.5 sessions borefest even though England are 1-0 up.

Might be a weird case of being grateful for Bazball if it leads to an interesting Day 5.

Edited July 21 by Boo Khaki

[Savage Henry]

If I didn’t  know better, I’d say the West Indies were playing for a draw here.  Couldn’t be easier for England this morning.  Holder seems like a very conservative captain.  

Edited July 21 by Savage Henry

[Boo Khaki]

Hmm... if the Windies can roll the English tail they'll fancy this.

Funny how a couple of quick wickets changes the complexion from looking like England will pretty much bat WI out of the game, to 350'ish looking chaseable.

[Sir Tarmo]

1 hour ago, Savage Henry said:

If I didn’t  know better, I’d say the West Indies were playing for a draw here.  Couldn’t be easier for England this morning.  Holder seems like a very conservative captain.  

I actually liked Holder as a captain. Since being removed from the role his batting and bowling seems to have suffered. He used to be a genuine top 3 Test all-rounder but now seems pretty ineffective.
 

I’d say we have a decent match here, surprisingly. If Root can hang around to get England close to a 400 lead I suspect it’s over as the Windies are unlikely to strike twice, but the current target feels a bit risky on England’s part. 

[Boo Khaki]

England probably have more than enough, but 2nd innings straight it feels like they've left 50-100 runs out there.

Edited July 21 by Boo Khaki

[Boo Khaki]

Just looking at Root's career runs and the all-time table. He turns 34 in December, but I think he has at least 2-3 more years in him if he really wants it, and probably more if he stays fit and his eyes don't go. I can't see him getting anywhere near Sachin, but he could still be sitting 2nd all-time when he hangs them up. He's only 1400 behind Ponting, and although Tendulkar is another 2600 beyond that, I suppose it's not inconceivable Root plays until near 40 and gradually hauls that in.

I still think he's England's best of the "modern" era, because Cook is the only player in the top 9 who doesn't average 50 or particularly close to it (Root is 49.7 something). I suppose a lot of people would argue that Gooch and Boycott are also "modern" era, but I think there is a distinct difference in cricket over the past 15-20 years compared with even the 90s. Bats are much bigger, and pitches tend to be a lot flatter, so I don't really think you can compare guys who did well to average 40 in tougher conditions with guys who averaged 50 in the last 20 years, or at least, when I say "compare" I mean I don't think there's a disparity there, more that I see 40 in the 90's as equivalent to 50 in the current meta. 

Actually, looking at the top 15, Cook is the only guy who averages below 46, and of the others, it's only Root (49.95 after today) and Jayawardene (49.84) who are under 50.00. Pretty significant fall-off. Kumar averaging 57 is crazy.

Edited July 21 by Boo Khaki

[rowsdower]

I was watching some highlights of Gooch the other day, I reckon he would have figured out the t20s.

I liked the look of louis there, there's some potential as a test match opener. I'd love to see WI build a competitive team again.

[Boo Khaki]

12 minutes ago, rowsdower said:

I was watching some highlights of Gooch the other day, I reckon he would have figured out the t20s.

I liked the look of louis there, there's some potential as a test match opener. I'd love to see WI build a competitive team again.

Yip. Played with an enormous bat for the time, and always hit the ball hard and straight. 

Graeme Hick another player who was much maligned as a Test bat, but on a different level altogether in limited overs.

[Boo Khaki]

Windies melting.

[Fuctifano]

1 hour ago, Boo Khaki said:

Just looking at Root's career runs and the all-time table. He turns 34 in December, but I think he has at least 2-3 more years in him if he really wants it, and probably more if he stays fit and his eyes don't go. I can't see him getting anywhere near Sachin, but he could still be sitting 2nd all-time when he hangs them up. He's only 1400 behind Ponting, and although Tendulkar is another 2600 beyond that, I suppose it's not inconceivable Root plays until near 40 and gradually hauls that in.

I still think he's England's best of the "modern" era, because Cook is the only player in the top 9 who doesn't average 50 or particularly close to it (Root is 49.7 something). I suppose a lot of people would argue that Gooch and Boycott are also "modern" era, but I think there is a distinct difference in cricket over the past 15-20 years compared with even the 90s. Bats are much bigger, and pitches tend to be a lot flatter, so I don't really think you can compare guys who did well to average 40 in tougher conditions with guys who averaged 50 in the last 20 years, or at least, when I say "compare" I mean I don't think there's a disparity there, more that I see 40 in the 90's as equivalent to 50 in the current meta. 

Actually, looking at the top 15, Cook is the only guy who averages below 46, and of the others, it's only Root (49.95 after today) and Jayawardene (49.84) who are under 50.00. Pretty significant fall-off. Kumar averaging 57 is crazy.

There was a stat on twitter that given his average runs per test (not innings) and the number of tests England play, he'd have to keep it up to for another 4 years or so (48 tests) to pass Tendulkar 

[peasy23]

You just knew there was no way this Windies side could bat twice and not get skittled once.

[Boo Khaki]

51 minutes ago, Fuctifano said:

There was a stat on twitter that given his average runs per test (not innings) and the number of tests England play, he'd have to keep it up to for another 4 years or so (48 tests) to pass Tendulkar 

Yeah, but my concern is that if he hits 35 or so and starts to tail off a bit, I'd wonder if they'd keep him around for long enough that he gets close to Tendulkar's runs. 

If it's only a slight decline, that still pushes those figures up to 5 or 6 years, but if it's significant I think they'd probably move on from him before it became awkward.

[Savage Henry]

This is excellent by England but feeble by the West Indies - probably not going to see tomorrow.  8 wickets in 90 minutes. 

Edited July 21 by Savage Henry

[Sir Tarmo]

Pathetic from the Windies, but probably going to be common from them with this young lineup they have. It’s hard to see England losing a Test this summer.

[peasy23]

Good news for the likes of Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Daniel Brown is that they won't have to worry about qualifying for next year.

[die hard doonhamer]

Scotland debutant Charlie Cassell opened up his international career with a triple wicket maiden on his way to figures of 7-21 from 5.4 overs against Oman today as Oman were all out for 91 at Forthill. Chase coming up shortly, it’s live on icc.tv 

Edited July 22 by die hard doonhamer

[die hard doonhamer]

Scotland win by 8 wickets with 32.4 overs to spare.

Cassell’s figures earlier are the best ever on debut in ODI cricket, and the 7th best in the history of men’s ODI cricket. He was also the first to take wickets with his first 2 deliveries.