The cricket thread

guitars4you · July 2021

So about a week to go before the Hundred starts

At the moment I can't even get excited about it - I'm not even sure who my team is to support - Yorkshire is my regular team to follow, so there is some logic to following the Northern Supercharges but they are not Yorkshire

I dare say that I'll watch games as and when time allows, but I don't see me dedicated time to the event

crunchman · July 2021

guitars4you said:

So about a week to go before the Hundred starts

At the moment I can't even get excited about it - I'm not even sure who my team is to support - Yorkshire is my regular team to follow, so there is some logic to following the Northern Supercharges but they are not Yorkshire

I dare say that I'll watch games as and when time allows, but I don't see me dedicated time to the event

I won't watch any.

Growing up in East Devon, around 20 miles from Taunton, I support Somerset. I have no affinity with any of these teams. They are artificial constructions that completely ignore the history of English cricket.

2020 cricket is bad enough. When Somerset were involved in finals day I would watch 2020, but otherwise I don't watch 2020. The format of this is even more ridiculous and contrived.

Our best bet is to ignore it completely, not go to any games, not click on any links about it, not watch it on the TV, and hope to kill if off as soon as possible. If all cricket fans did that it would die very quickly.

Jonathangus · July 2021

crunchman said:

guitars4you said:

So about a week to go before the Hundred starts

At the moment I can't even get excited about it - I'm not even sure who my team is to support - Yorkshire is my regular team to follow, so there is some logic to following the Northern Supercharges but they are not Yorkshire

I dare say that I'll watch games as and when time allows, but I don't see me dedicated time to the event

I won't watch any.

Growing up in East Devon, around 20 miles from Taunton, I support Somerset. I have no affinity with any of these teams. They are artificial constructions that completely ignore the history of English cricket.

2020 cricket is bad enough. When Somerset were involved in finals day I would watch 2020, but otherwise I don't watch 2020. The format of this is even more ridiculous and contrived.

Our best bet is to ignore it completely, not go to any games, not click on any links about it, not watch it on the TV, and hope to kill if off as soon as possible. If all cricket fans did that it would die very quickly.

But is it aimed at cricket fans? I think it's aimed more at people who hitherto have had no real interest in cricket, in an attempt to make it attractive to those with ever-decreasing attention spans. TBH, I've always pooh-poohed the concept of T20, but I watched most of last night's Eng - Ind game and it was quite entertaining.

Three formats (T20, 50-over and 4/5 day) is plenty, IMO. If you can't get kids interested in cricket by taking them to an evening of T20, I think it's safe to say they're never going to be a cricket fan. Hopefully they like it, and you can move them on to the proper stuff.

The ECB is behaving like Henry Juszkiewicz and Gibson. Trying to tell the public what they want, instead of just asking them and listening.

crunchman · July 2021

Jonathangus said:

crunchman said:

guitars4you said:

So about a week to go before the Hundred starts

At the moment I can't even get excited about it - I'm not even sure who my team is to support - Yorkshire is my regular team to follow, so there is some logic to following the Northern Supercharges but they are not Yorkshire

I dare say that I'll watch games as and when time allows, but I don't see me dedicated time to the event

I won't watch any.

Growing up in East Devon, around 20 miles from Taunton, I support Somerset. I have no affinity with any of these teams. They are artificial constructions that completely ignore the history of English cricket.

2020 cricket is bad enough. When Somerset were involved in finals day I would watch 2020, but otherwise I don't watch 2020. The format of this is even more ridiculous and contrived.

Our best bet is to ignore it completely, not go to any games, not click on any links about it, not watch it on the TV, and hope to kill if off as soon as possible. If all cricket fans did that it would die very quickly.

But is it aimed at cricket fans? I think it's aimed more at people who hitherto have had no real interest in cricket, in an attempt to make it attractive to those with ever-decreasing attention spans. TBH, I've always pooh-poohed the concept of T20, but I watched most of last night's Eng - Ind game and it was quite entertaining.

Three formats (T20, 50-over and 4/5 day) is plenty, IMO. If you can't get kids interested in cricket by taking them to an evening of T20, I think it's safe to say they're never going to be a cricket fan. Hopefully they like it, and you can move them on to the proper stuff.

The ECB is behaving like Henry Juszkiewicz and Gibson. Trying to tell the public what they want, instead of just asking them and listening.

The Hundred is the 2015 Les Paul with the horrible signature, wide neck, and the robotuners nobody wanted. People voted with their wallets, and it finished the Henry J era off. Lets do the same with the hundred. Leave them with empty grounds and woeful viewing figures.

scrumhalf · July 2021

The Hundred is a marketing exercise with an even more bastardised form of cricket in the background.

The powers that be are banking on people who have never been to a cricket match suddenly taking a shine to a cut-down version being played by teams with very little in the way of links to the area in which they are playing.

It's buggered up the season for those of us with no allegiance to made-up teams. I hope it dies a death so we can get back to what's important - winning back the Ashes.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2021

https://i.imgur.com/BZLPuiz.png

Points of interest:

1. "A terrestrial audience of 1.6 million watched the opening game of The Hundred, making it the most watched women's cricket match ever televised on the BBC."

-can't imagine the previous record was high.

2. "The crowd of 7,395 in attendance at the Oval also broke the modern-day record for a domestic women's match."

-Elizabeth Ammon in the Times reported 5,000 tickets were freebie giveaways.

3. Not one T100 article has a reader comments section. Protective!

4. The main article here isn't attributed to any BBC writer which is odd for a lead article. To say it is riddled with bullshit is an understatement:

"The crowd was undoubtedly younger and more diverse than those seen at men's internationals, or in the current Twenty20 Blast."

-Diversity by what metrics? Undoubtedly younger but hardly surprising if two-thirds of your spectators paid fuck all to get in.

"Groups of young girls wandered into the famous old ground. Families took their seats with some children too small to hold a cricket ball, never mind swing a bat."

-Are we planning to indoctrinate them before they're capable of sentient response or do these little ones already possess an opinion on why you shouldn't open up with YJB and Jason Roy together?

"Instead of the bars, it was caterers selling pizza and ice cream that had the longest queues."

-So the teams are sponsored by junk food and the audience scoffed junk food.

"Other new inclusions were white cards held-up by umpires to signal the end of an bowler's set of five balls, an LED tunnel through which players entered the field and the flames that erupted from the boundary edge after a four, six or wicket."

Flames are a new inclusion. Durham in 2015 didn't get the memo clearly.

Durham Jets v Birmingham Bears- NatWest T20 Blast News Photo

Durham Jets v Birmingham Bears- NatWest T20 Blast News Photo

"In total around 7,400 people attended the game, a number believed to be a record for a women's professional, domestic cricket match anywhere in the world.

A large number of those were given away free - but when the object is expanding in the game, does that really matter?"

It does when you're claiming records when 30 seconds on Google would tell you that 13,432 people attended the Australia-India World T20 game at Sydney Showground Stadium on 21 February 2020. You might then look to check out how many attended the Final...

https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/1651971

https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/womens_t20_world_cup_2020/t20_world_cup_final_smashes_womens_cricket_attendance_record_mcg.html

As for the final line...

"The next question - can the men ride the wave the women have provided?"

Given the commercial history of women's cricket in this country, I'm allowing myself a long long laugh.

scrumhalf · July 2021

I have not liked the idea of the Hundred since it was announced but I thought I'd give it a try on the telly.

I lasted about three balls before the on-screen graphics destroyed my eyesight.

Chad Valley cricket, I hope it bombs.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2021

scrumhalf said:

I have not liked the idea of the Hundred since it was announced but I thought I'd give it a try on the telly.

I lasted about three balls before the on-screen graphics destroyed my eyesight.

Chad Valley cricket, I hope it bombs.

I watched the rerun on iPlayer this morning. The graphics aren't the worst around. The intro and early interview with Mady Villiers was excruciating.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the cricket but no real difference in the cricket between this and T20.

Overall: it's a horribly packaged thing that claims to reinvent the wheel, doesn't, and is already applauding itself for audience numbers and diversity based on one game in the diverse kingdom that is London.

crunchman · July 2021

Getting back to cricket, does Hameed displace Sibley against India? 112 out of a total of 220 in the first innings, and a not out in the second.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2021

crunchman said:

Getting back to cricket, does Hameed displace Sibley against India? 112 out of a total of 220 in the first innings, and a not out in the second.

This is the grand ECB plan: fast paced fun with the Hundred, England 31 for 0 at lunch on Day 1 with those two opening up.

guitars4you · July 2021

Ref my earlier comment about who do I follow/support as a Yorkshire man - My players are all over the place - Bairstow/Root etc are not even in a northern team - Part of me says watch it - Part of me says don't bother - Don't bother is winning

Bairstow is now Welsh - Malan and Root have gone to the midlands - Crazeeeeee

guitars4you · July 2021

guitars4you said:

Ref my earlier comment about who do I follow/support as a Yorkshire man - My players are all over the place - Bairstow/Root etc are not even in a northern team - Part of me says watch it - Part of me says don't bother - Don't bother is winning

Bairstow is now Welsh - Malan and Root have gone to the midlands - Crazeeeeee

Then you look on the BBC site, cricket section and there is a Royal London One Day Cup going on at the same time - We've just finished a 3 day 20/20 v Pakistan - A test match series is about to start v India in a week or so - How can the 'domestic' counties put together a decent team - more crazeeeeeee

crunchman · July 2021

I refuse to even click on the links about the Hundred on the BBC site. The more clicks they get, the more they will think it's a "success".

scrumhalf · July 2021

Of course the Beeb are flogging it to death on their website, it's always been their way.

If they have the rights to cover a tournament it is the greatest tournament of all time. If they don't it gets relegated to a couple of paragraphs after the Vietnamese horseracing results.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2021

scrumhalf said:

Of course the Beeb are flogging it to death on their website, it's always been their way.

If they have the rights to cover a tournament it is the greatest tournament of all time. If they don't it gets relegated to a couple of paragraphs after the Vietnamese horseracing results.

And that's the misery of the Hundred. So much self-congratulatory fluffing less than two games in.

It feels like Stanford all over again only without the BBC legal department sending me emails telling me to shut up.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2021

guitars4you said:

Ref my earlier comment about who do I follow/support as a Yorkshire man - My players are all over the place - Bairstow/Root etc are not even in a northern team - Part of me says watch it - Part of me says don't bother - Don't bother is winning

Bairstow is now Welsh - Malan and Root have gone to the midlands - Crazeeeeee

Don't bother. In purely cricketing terms, it is offering nothing new whatsoever.

crunchman · July 2021

Heartfeltdawn said:

guitars4you said:

Ref my earlier comment about who do I follow/support as a Yorkshire man - My players are all over the place - Bairstow/Root etc are not even in a northern team - Part of me says watch it - Part of me says don't bother - Don't bother is winning

Bairstow is now Welsh - Malan and Root have gone to the midlands - Crazeeeeee

Don't bother. In purely cricketing terms, it is offering nothing new whatsoever.

FTFY

Teetonetal · July 2021

Noticed the hundred on TV tonight so having a look. what where they thinking with the highlighter pen graphics. Urgh

Heartfeltdawn · July 2021

Teetonetal said:

Noticed the hundred on TV tonight so having a look. what where they thinking with the highlighter pen graphics. Urgh

And they're letting Michael Vaughan speak about it without putting his voice through Autotune to get that modern sound. HOW OLD FASHIONED.

Stuckfast · July 2021

Heartfeltdawn said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with the cricket but no real difference in the cricket between this and T20.

This is the key, for me. It's not different enough. T20 accidentally revolutionised the way the game is played. It created new tactics, new shots, new bowling techniques. It created a platform for legends of the game to spend their twilight years touring the world topping up the pension.

It's hard to see how the Hundred requires different tactics, shots and bowling techniques from T20.

crunchman · July 2021

Stuckfast said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with the cricket but no real difference in the cricket between this and T20.

This is the key, for me. It's not different enough. T20 accidentally revolutionised the way the game is played. It created new tactics, new shots, new bowling techniques. It created a platform for legends of the game to spend their twilight years touring the world topping up the pension.

It's hard to see how the Hundred requires different tactics, shots and bowling techniques from T20.

If you want a gateway into the game for people who don't know the game, then T20 is less bad. At least it introduces concepts like 6 ball overs, and is more like the proper game.

The big problem for me is the whole franchise system. How can I support one of these teams that I have absolutely no connection to? The players are just a bunch of mercenaries who will change from year to year. If I watch a Somerset game, you get institutions like James Hildreth, and you get local boys like Lewis Gregory and Craig Overton. I have a connection with that.

sixstringsupplies · July 2021

I’m ashamed to say I’m actually quite enjoying The Hundred *hides behind sofa*

I’m enjoying the glitz and effort put into it, the cheesey 80s graphics and as I’m a fan of Tuffers and Vaughan I enjoy the commentary.

but I suspect I’m only enjoying it because it is a form of live cricket on terrestrial TV and with sod all on, I’m watching it.

i don’t get the 5 ball overs, nor do the commentators as they have to keep correcting themselves. Sorry, I mean “set of 5”

Some of the games have actually been appalling.

But to me it really begs the question. They really didn’t need to introduce a new competition, just put the same effort into promoting, re-vamping and re-branding the T20 blast competition. It could easily rival the IPL a d the BBL in Australia.

Oh and less of the random interviewing of kids in the crowd saying how much they love it. Definitely seems a bit forced!

Last week I said to my mate I hope the Hundred crashes and burns after one year and it gets scrapped and forgotten about. Now I just wish they would have re-designed the T20 blast. Now it’s too late.

Anyway, the test squad looks to be full strength with the exception of Woakes and Archer who are both injured.

i think Sibley will play first test and then Hameed, depending on Sibley’s form, will get a game at some point in the series.

pedalo · July 2021

I was wrong to be cynical about the hundred I think it’s great. Jemimah Rodrigues innings yesterday was great!

scrumhalf · July 2021

Never mind the Hundred, Kent just chucked away a game against Worcs in the 50-over cup.

sev112 · July 2021

I have a great feeling of dread with so many kids and babies encouraged in, at the same time as encouraging the batsmen to hit balls into the crowd
I can’t believe this won’t end badly.
normal cricket crowds include people who watch what’s going on, track the ball and potentially are able to catch it
but the demographics are different, and even a dropped cricket ball onto the head of a kid in the row below doesn’t bear thinking about

comes from a recurring nightmare I still have from about 40 years ago playing cricket on a proper pitch in a park in London, and watching the batsman slog one to square leg where there was a woman pushing a pram in the path. Came down from a massive height and missed the pram by a foot

HerrMetal · July 2021

A few thoughts on the new tournament. The core skills and potential for decent T20 style excitement are still there. Yesterday's games were very good, both mens and womens. I have no idea who the teams are ... one was in yellow pretty much sums it up. The 5 ball 'sets' are a pointless change. The commentators have no idea what to call them. In changing this they have lost the concept of runs per over and one of the key concepts in any form of limited overs cricket is how the required run rate changes. The BBC coverage is just absolutely execrable. The non-interviews, the graphics, it's just childish shite that won't appeal to anyone over about the age of seven. Laughable. The saving grace is the ability to watch the games streamed on Youtube via Sky where the inane 'BBC agenda' bollocks is absent.

guitars4you · July 2021

So no Ben for the summer Test matches - Hope that now allows Sam Curran to establish the all rounder slot - Probably bat at 7, with Jos Butler at 6

This will allow 5 dedicated batsman + 4 dedicated bowlers (Root a few overs if required ) with Jos/Sam at 6/7

scrumhalf · July 2021

Is Woakes still crocked?

crunchman · July 2021

guitars4you said:

So no Ben for the summer Test matches - Hope that now allows Sam Curran to establish the all rounder slot - Probably bat at 7, with Jos Butler at 6

This will allow 5 dedicated batsman + 4 dedicated bowlers (Root a few overs if required ) with Jos/Sam at 6/7

Need to find a way to get Foakes in if he's fit. No good having Buttler or Bairstow dropping catches and missing stumpings.

Stuckfast · July 2021

I'd still rather have Woakes as all-rounder than Curran. Come to think of it I'd take Ollie Robinson ahead of Curran too.

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