The Cricket Thread

[Arthur Orton]

Incidentally who is the best player anyone has seen in flesh.

For me batting wise saw Dravid 3 times, just superb and bowler wise probably Warne and Mcgrath.

English wise batting Root and bowler Jimmy.

[Left Back]

12 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

Between Cook and Root imo. Pietersen was brilliant to watch but too often tossed his wicket away in pursuit of personal glory instead of knuckling down for the team. He was also a divisive arsehole who caused dressing room unrest and probably the most ridiculous choice for captain ever. Root has time on his side and could smash every English batting record going.

Don’t disagree with the comments about KP.  He was however tossed aside too early by England, largely down to Strauss not liking him.  A talent like that handled correctly could have been up there in the discussions of GOAT along with Richardson, Tendulkar and Lara.

[die hard doonhamer]

10 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

Incidentally who is the best player anyone has seen in flesh.

For me batting wise saw Dravid 3 times, just superb and bowler wise probably Warne and Mcgrath.

English wise batting Root and bowler Jimmy.

I've seen Root and Steve Smith score double hundreds live, it's a tough call between them, tbh. Smith probably edges it because of the magnitude of an Ashes series.

Best bowling performance I've seen was Flintoff to Kallis at Edgbaston in 2008, probably the second best spell he produced in his career (behind that over at the same venue in '05). Incidentally, that was Vaughan's last test as captain, before the ridiculous KP appointment.

Edited August 14, 2021 by die hard doonhamer

[Left Back]

10 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

Incidentally who is the best player anyone has seen in flesh.

For me batting wise saw Dravid 3 times, just superb and bowler wise probably Warne and Mcgrath.

English wise batting Root and bowler Jimmy.

Saw Cook get a double hundred at the MCG.  Seen Muraltharan bowl at the Oval when England posted 450 and still lost by an Innings.  He took 16 in that match I think.

[Fuctifano]

I'd throw Graham Thorpe in as one of the best English bats in last 30 years. 16 tons and an average of 44 in generally rotten England teams and won at least two matches single handedly. Wouldn't put him forward as best ever though. 

I was at the 2015 WC and saw two of Sangakkara's four consecutive tons which is an insane stat. Seen Anderson a few times as well. 

Pietersen could probably / definitely been managed better but even now from his 20 minute commentary spells on the Hundred he's an incredibly difficult guy to like so you'd need a better man than me to do it. 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Fuctifano

[Arthur Orton]

3 minutes ago, Fuctifano said:

I'd throw Graham Thorpe in as one of the best English bats in last 30 years. 16 tons and an average of 44 in generally rotten England teams and won at least two matches single handedly. Wouldn't put him forward as best ever though. 

I was at the 2015 WC and saw two of Sangakkara's four consecutive tons which is an insane stat. Seen Anderson a few times as well. 

Pietersen could probably / definitely been managed better but even now from his 20 minute commentary spells on the Hundred he's an incredibly difficult guy to like so you'd need a better man than me to do it. 

 

Thorpe was a top player, back problem hampered him

Always feel for Athers, average under 40 was so wrong, much better player than that but his injuries killed him.  Also played against walsh/ambrose,  donald/pollock ,  waquar/wasim , mcgrath/Warne,   vaas/murali  etc all at their best in a great era for bowlers 

[Left Back]

Greatest individual performance I’ve seen live.

Stokes at Headingley in the last Ashes.  Unfuckingbelievable.

[Left Back]

6 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

Thorpe was a top player, back problem hampered him

Always feel for Athers, average under 40 was so wrong, much better player than that but his injuries killed him.  Also played against walsh/ambrose,  donald/pollock ,  waquar/wasim , mcgrath/Warne,   vaas/murali  etc all at their best in a great era for bowlers 

That’s a sair yin for Athers and I’m not talking about his back which he struggled with as well.

[die hard doonhamer]

Thinking back, I've been incredibly fortunate to have witnessed some pretty special cricket, while only attending a few games.

First test was in 2007, England v West Indies at Chester-Le-Street. I think I was there on days 2 & 3, remember Chris Gayle hitting a 6 and thinking how out of step that was in test cricket. Chanderpaul hit what was an inevitable ton, then saw Strauss make a nice half century.

In 2008 I was at the Edgbaston test v South Africa from start to finish. The already mentioned Flintoff spell was probably the peak, KP made a 94 (I think) and then got caught in the deep trying to get to his ton by smashing a 6 (so very much on brand). Paul Collingwood then showed him how to do it, and got there with the 6. Graeme Smith played a captains innings in the end, and guided South Africa to the victory.

The same year I went to a T20 v NZ at Old Trafford, which was pretty unremarkable. However, I then went to the ODI v the same opponents at Durham, which was the game that KP first played the switch hit. That, genuinely, is a moment that changed the game.

2009, a day at the Ashes test at Edgbaston. Onions with a wicket first ball of the day (Shane Watson LBW, as it usually was). Ponting went past a milestone (can't remember which, 8 or 9k I think).

Then a big gap as I went to uni, started a family, cricket fell off my radar a bit.

2014 Scotland v England in Aberdeen. Reduced game but Michael Leask played a lovely innings.

2016 - England v Pakistan at Old Trafford, days 2-4. Root double ton and a convincing England win.

2018 - Scotland v England at the Grange. You guys know the score here.

2019 - Ashes at OT. Days 2-4. Smith double ton.

Even the one domestic game I've been to, a T20 blast Roses match at OT in 2018, was memorable. Slightly reduced by rain, but finished in a single run victory for the mighty Lancs.

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, die hard doonhamer said:

 

2018 - Scotland v England at the Grange. You guys know the score here.

Had tickets to this but then Mrs.  Back booked us a holiday that clashed.  I was watching it on my iPad on the veranda of a lovely bar in Rhodes.  The bar staff were all wondering why I was going ape and all kept coming round for a look. They were all cheering for Scotland by the end of the game 

[Boo Khaki]

11 hours ago, Tynierose said:

Incidentally who is the best player anyone has seen in flesh.

For me batting wise saw Dravid 3 times, just superb and bowler wise probably Warne and Mcgrath.

English wise batting Root and bowler Jimmy.

Sunil Gavaskar. Dilip Vengsarkar was one hell of a player too.

I saw VVS Laxman play before his eyes went, and he's possibly the classiest, purest technique I've ever seen.

I don't really take any notice of bowling because as we all know that's just blind luck, and reliant on the actual cricketers making mistakes. 

[Boo Khaki]

10 hours ago, Tynierose said:

Thorpe was a top player, back problem hampered him

Always feel for Athers, average under 40 was so wrong, much better player than that but his injuries killed him.  Also played against walsh/ambrose,  donald/pollock ,  waquar/wasim , mcgrath/Warne,   vaas/murali  etc all at their best in a great era for bowlers 

Atherton suffered from the same issue as Gooch, namely, opening the batting against some of the greatest bowling attacks of all time.

I still maintain that Gooch's 154* is the greatest, grittiest, Test innings I've seen played in my entire lifetime. More so than Athers' Joburg epic, because it wasn't just about survival. He had to tough it out against an outstanding attack on a difficult surface, but he also attacked the bowling with a confidence and imposed himself in a way that nobody else managed in that entire Test.

[Clockwork]

Looking at the stats on the ‘today at the test’ highlights last night. Root scored just 6 runs out of his unbeaten 180 between Mid Off & Mid On. Find that incredible given his time at the crease and for such a technically correct batsman playing straight. Equally surprising I guess, that the Indian bowling attack insisted/continued to bowl just short of a length at him. A wonderful knock either way. As others have said, still at just 30, Root has plenty of time to surpass Alastair Cook’s record tally of Test runs for England.

[Jimi Shandrix]

Time for Pujara to step up to the plate here. It's unbelievable  to think that his place is under scrutiny,  but he has been really poor so far this series.

[die hard doonhamer]

India 2 down and England's tails are very much up. 2 out of form bats at the crease, this hour before lunch is absolutely massive.

[peasy23]

Excellent spell by Wood, averaged over 90mph in the first innings, steaming in again here.

[peasy23]

Kohli gone, edging Curran to Buttler right before lunch, a ball he could have left. Pujara might bat out the rest of the day and score 8.

[Jimi Shandrix]

1 minute ago, peasy23 said:

Kohli gone, edging Curran to Buttler right before lunch, a ball he could have left. Pujara might bat out the rest of the day and score 8.

They don't call Pujara The Wall for nothing. At the  moment India need him to grind like Shakira. The win has gone for them.  It's all about eeking out a draw now. The weather won't save them as it did England in the last test.

[jaggyness]

Just had to say, had it been Sibley, Crawley or Bairstow getting out to the delivery that dismissed Kohli we'd have had endless hours of analysis on how they weren't test quality. Just shows what having credit in the bank does.

[die hard doonhamer]

3 minutes ago, jaggyness said:

Just had to say, had it been Sibley, Crawley or Bairstow getting out to the delivery that dismissed Kohli we'd have had endless hours of analysis on how they weren't test quality. Just shows what having credit in the bank does.

These questions really should be getting asked of him. Nearly 2 years of averaging under 25 in tests, and no international centuries in any format. He should be a man very much under pressure.