The cricket thread

guitars4you · December 2021

Have missed a couple of days on FB - Sad to see the passing of Ray Illingworth - You could do with that type of grit and determination today - I think my first experience of international cricket was the 70/71 tour when Boycott broke his arm at the end of the tour and only really caught some radio coverage - Growing up in Yorkshire - Geoff and Ray were certainly my earliest influences - I watched the 1972 game at Headingly - 1st day when something like 15/16 wickets fell and we bowled the Aussies out for under 150 - Grit is certainly missing today

UnclePsychosis · December 2021

Here was me thinking that Lessons Had Been Learned and Honest Conversations had.

Surely that wasn't just PR spin?:-D

Mellish · December 2021

@guitars4you totally agree. That gutsy fire is what's lacking. There's a lackadaisical approach mixed with glimpses of defiance.

Tannin · December 2021

Stuckfast said:

Trouble is there's no county cricket to go back to... except the matches played in April where it makes no difference what angle your bat comes down because the ball's hooping in circles.

I wonder if the ECB are going to have the humility to acknowledge that this is ultimately down to their marginalising of four-day cricket in the summer?

Just so. See here for a more detailed piece that provides chapter and verse evidence to prove your point.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-26/australia-ashes-dominance-england-product-of-red-ball-priorities/100726340

camf · December 2021

Tannin said:

Stuckfast said:

Trouble is there's no county cricket to go back to... except the matches played in April where it makes no difference what angle your bat comes down because the ball's hooping in circles.

I wonder if the ECB are going to have the humility to acknowledge that this is ultimately down to their marginalising of four-day cricket in the summer?

Just so. See here for a more detailed piece that provides chapter and verse evidence to prove your point.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-26/australia-ashes-dominance-england-product-of-red-ball-priorities/100726340

Bang on!

crunchman · December 2021

It's the standard of the county game as well. The best English players rarely play. There are a lot less top quality overseas pros than there used to be. The Kolpak thing has been tightened so we don't get the grizzled old South African pros any more.

At one point there were also rules to encourage counties to field young players, which were admirable in their intent, but it meant that experienced county pros got the boot while raw 19 year olds were played instead. I'm not sure if those rules are still in place, but that also lowered the standard of the game.

Playing on greentops in the early and late season is a major issue, but it's not the only issue. It's back to two divisions in 2022, which means that the standard of play will be higher in division 1, but it still won't be a good preparation for test cricket.

scrumhalf · December 2021

Stuckfast said:

I wonder if the ECB are going to have the humility to acknowledge that this is ultimately down to their marginalising of four-day cricket in the summer?

Yes.

At a press conference fronted by Lord Lucan.

Teetonetal · December 2021

UnclePsychosis said:

Here was me thinking that Lessons Had Been Learned and Honest Conversations had.

Surely that wasn't just PR spin?:-D

Hard lessons and honest conversation cannot work miracles. They need to be brought home and worked on.

scrumhalf · December 2021

22-4.

"Lessons will be learned."

The first lesson is surely - don't be 22-4.

chris78 · December 2021

Got to feel for the bowlers. Utterly superb, including a certain 39 year old who must ache all over. He goes inside to put his feet up and watched our batsmen do that. All so inevitable after their tail wagged.

Mellish · December 2021

Labuschagne and Smith dismissed cheaply was a good start by our seamers. Labuschagne has been a pain in the... But with the first two Tests won, Australia have got momentum.

Gassage · December 2021

Has to do the Day 3 preview for our cricket site- here’s my thoughts:

3rd Test, Melbourne, Dec 26 - 30 2021, The Ashes

England (12 ov) 185 & 31/4

Australia 267 A/O

Start of Day 3 - England trail by 51 runs with 6 second innings wickets intact.

With England well ahead of Australia in the six hitting stakes, any marginal perceived advantage that the hosts may hold will surely be blown away in the early stages of what promises to be a third day that will define the success of this wonderful and exciting Pommy touring side.

Whether it be batting on one leg, dropping catches with one hand, or teasing the Aussies by selecting an attack totally unsuited or unprepared for any sort of cricketing conditions they may encounter, England are surely edging ahead (in fact they’re edging most things) in the race to securing the Ashes.

The great Telegraph scribe Martin Johnson once wrote that there were only three problems with the English cricket team – they can’t bat, they can’t bowl and they can’t field. Now, cricket records are there to be broken and the class of 2021/2 can add an enviable inability to select coupled with a magnificent talent to do precisely the wrong thing at the toss to their list of growing ineptitude.

Nevertheless, there’s been many things to be proud of in the series thus far for the visitors- Dawid Malan has powered past Mason Crane to become England’s most prolific wrist spinner in Australia this century, whilst Jack Leach has already become the batsmen with the highest proportion of sixes in his series run aggregate since Ian Botham in 1985.

One has come to rely upon this stoical English side- their ability to collapse has the same metronomic rhythm and explosive accuracy of a drum solo by the late, great Neil Peart. No side offers more entertainment- often going hours beyond the 6pm scheduled finish in their attempts to bowl enough overs to ensure a total value for money package for the spectators that travel the globe to support them with their witty and pithy songs (neither of which possess either the lyrical or rhythmic ability of either Peart or a batting collapse.)

Last night, a glimmer of hope saw Jimmy Anderson produce a bowling rhapsody of such Bohemian nature that Freddie Mercury would have watched him glowingly as he put Australia under pressure to snare a magnificent 4-33. Sadly the rhapsody with the bat was more akin to Kayne West’s performance of the same song at Glastonbury in 2015, described by many that saw it that fateful day as utter rap, (until they corrected their typo and prefixed the letter ‘c’.)

As England’s new dawn emerged brightly, so the storm clouds of their batting loomed; Zac Crawley, a man whose shot selection resembles the frenzied fervour of a chocolate addict on Easter Sunday, vacated the crease to allow Dawid Malan the ignominy of a first baller. Hasseb Hamed, who has spent so much time batting on one leg that he now resembles a cricketing pogo stick, bounced up and down until his edgy nature ensured that England’s cricketing answer to Douglas Bader pogo’d off to the pavilion and with Leach falling, England found themselves at a crushing 31/4, some 51 runs behind the Aussies.

On the plus side, England’s dismissals during this series have been so benevolent that they might yet qualify for tax relief at source as ‘charitable donations’, and the uphill climb they have is as steep as Eyres Rock itself.

They must dig deep on day three- use every marginal gain they have at their disposal and do their home country proud.

Never again must the creators of the Commonwealth struggle against a tin pot desert nation whose greatest global innovation is the Rotary Clothes line.

England expects.

3rd Test, Melbourne, Dec 26 - 30 2021, The Ashes

England (12 ov)

185 & 31/4

Australia 267 A/O

Start of Day 3 - England trail by 51 runs with 6 second innings wickets intact.

Mellish · December 2021

England 68 all out. Nothing more to add *rolls eyes*

crunchman · December 2021

This is the worst I can remember - and England have had some woeful moments over the years.

Mellish · December 2021

If I'm right, mate, 68 all out is the lowest England total since 1901/2 or thereabouts.

crunchman · December 2021

Mellish said:

If I'm right, mate, 68 all out is the lowest England total since 1901/2 or thereabouts.

You don't have to go that far back:

Scott Boland is not Curtley Ambrose though. This is definitely the worst I can remember.

Mellish · December 2021

They keep saying "Lessons will be learned". That works the first time it's said, and maybe even the second or third Test series, but to keep saying it when nothing changes is just ridiculous.

UnclePsychosis · December 2021

I never fail to be impressed at the many ways in which England find new ways to disappoint.

Surely several heads will roll after this.

UnclePsychosis · December 2021

Mellish said:

If I'm right, mate, 68 all out is the lowest England total since 1901/2 or thereabouts.

According to TMS England made 67 at headingly in 2019.

Tannin · December 2021

You have to grant it as one of the least-impressive batting performances in test cricket history when a side faces a 32-year-old bowler playing his first test on a fairly decent batting pitch, a quick ranked no higher than seventh best in the country behind Cummings, Hazelwood, Starc, Pattinson, Richardson, and Neser - and let him take 6 wickets for 5 runs.

scrumhalf · December 2021

Just woken up for my nocturnal piss to find that England have already taken it.

They can't say it wasn't on the cards with the way the red ball game has been downgraded domestically. What makes it worse is that we've been thrashed by a team who managed to do reasonably well in the last T20 world cup.

There will doubtless be the usual investigations and reports, when half an hour with the average club cricketer is all they really need.

I know that playing away from home in a covid-secure bubble must be hard, but surely playing cricket would be a release from that, it's the thing they're supposed to be good at.

Sixty fucking eight!

chris78 · December 2021

We’ve made mistakes in trying to get one day players into the test team, but the only guy I can see who can sort this out, either as captain or coach is Eoin Morgan.

Teetonetal · December 2021

It's really sad to see, series like this and it does no favours for test cricket at all. No one really wants to see no contests in any sport, there is no drama, no story. In the short term, I'm sure Australia will enjoy giving us a thrashing, but how many series like this do we need.

Something is clearly wrong with the English setup - the test team is getting worse each year, especially the batting and there seems to be no player development.

Needs a shake up and change in attitude from the ECB if they really want tests to survive... maybe they dont.

Mellish · December 2021

There'll be a review but the depressing thing is, nothing will change. If it was going to, it would have before now.

FastEddie · December 2021

Aggers and Gower nailed much of the problem this morning. 4 day cricket is played when it's chilly in March/April and the pitches are dead in Sept.

If we turned our gaze away from the money and ran the 4 day competition throughout the year then the 'purist players' would stay 'red' and the likes of Livingstone (whom I think is an ideal short format player) will do their thing.

I also think the selection of our wicket keepers over the past years has been awful. Foakes should have had 50 caps by now Foster 100.

The coach also has too much power. I'd like to see Morgan in the leadership set-up. He is ruthless, and a ginger, and I think could put a bit of steel into the team.

This series has been awful. No preparation, bad selection at the Gabba.

RobDavies · December 2021

Money money money.

How many more formats can the ECB introduce where the aim is to sell as much beer as possible, rather than nurture good cricketers?

The sport is pretty much run by TV companies and breweries these days. The four day format at county level is dead to them as the audience is a hundred blokes who bring their own sandwiches.

How do you change that?

guitars4you · December 2021

Teetonetal said:

It's really sad to see, series like this and it does no favours for test cricket at all. No one really wants to see no contests in any sport, there is no drama, no story. In the short term, I'm sure Australia will enjoy giving us a thrashing, but how many series like this do we need.

Something is clearly wrong with the English setup - the test team is getting worse each year, especially the batting and there seems to be no player development.

Needs a shake up and change in attitude from the ECB if they really want tests to survive... maybe they dont.

Probably sums it up - Saw an interview with Ryan Sidebottom a day or so ago and he was saying that the ECB need to look at themselves - What they need to do to produce a competitive red ball league, so the players can be picked from such a base, and spend time at the wicket to develop

I'm not a fan of the Hundred but can see why some are behind it - But do we really need a Hundred and a 20 over competition - One or the other surely - With the ECB, via central contracts, controlling players time spent with their counties, some players are almost getting no time at the crease in a match to develop, find form in a red ball game

Others will know more detail on this than me, but I recall only 1 or 2 counties are financially successful in their own right from a revenue stream from their own base - Oval/Lords and that is mainly down to other commercial options/activities taking part at the venue - All other counties are propped up by the ECB with the revenue from Test Match cricket, TV, sponsorship etc - Yet more performances like this a Test Match interest will decline - I'm a test match fan but this tour is a farce and think I'll value a good nights kip now over a late night in front of the TV

Mellish · December 2021

In order to change they have to want to, face the fact that it isn't working and do what they need to to put it right.

scrumhalf · December 2021

The Hundred is a prime example of what is wrong with the powers that be.

Here's a format that nobody else plays, shoe-horned into an already crowded schedule, at the cost of reducing playing in formats that actually matter.

You can't buy Test cricket success, it comes from hard work and proper technique, not ramp shots, made-up teams and gaudy clothing.

crunchman · December 2021

scrumhalf said:

The Hundred is a prime example of what is wrong with the powers that be.

Here's a format that nobody else plays, shoe-horned into an already crowded schedule, at the cost of reducing playing in formats that actually matter.

You can't buy Test cricket success, it comes from hard work and proper technique, not ramp shots, made-up teams and gaudy clothing.

I refuse to watch the Hundred on TV, and I refuse to click on any links about it on Cricinfo. Everyone else needs to do the same. Let them get dismal viewing figures, and let it get to the point where it's not worth covering for sites like Cricinfo. The sooner it's killed off the better.

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