The cricket thread

scrumhalf · May 2015

Excellent start to the summer's cricket. Some great performances, some good performances, and a couple of rusty 'uns that will hopefully get some metaphorical WD40.

Not sure about this Bayliss bloke as coach. I mean, since when did inventing the wind-up radio qualify you as a cricket coach?

Teetonetal · May 2015

Well done England, some fine individual performances and a fine team performance.. encouraging. If they keep sticking to it like this, then the Kevin question becomes irrelevant.. keep him out by being too good to get dropped.

Neil · May 2015

Very exciting yesterday.

Stokesy was wonderful.

Glad to see Cook doing well at last with the dependable Root but what has happened to Bell lately?

jpttaylor · May 2015

Fantastic day of cricket yesterday. Great to see Cook, Root and Stokes all playing with confidence and freedom.

It's interesting for Strauss to choose Trevor Bayliss as the new head coach when Gillespie was probably the favourite and a more immediately obvious choice. Hopefully this shows the ECB have a clear vision of where to go across all formats rather than just because of Bayliss' ODI success. Maybe it also shows how highly they rate Paul Farbrace as an asset to the test sides, even if it is only as a number two.

Heartfeltdawn · May 2015

jpttaylor said:
It's interesting for Strauss to choose Trevor Bayliss as the new head coach when Gillespie was probably the favourite and a more immediately obvious choice. Hopefully this shows the ECB have a clear vision of where to go across all formats rather than just because of Bayliss' ODI success. Maybe it also shows how highly they rate Paul Farbrace as an asset to the test sides, even if it is only as a number two.

The team performance showed how they rate Paul Farbrace. The England balcony at Lords looked very at ease even when they were under the cosh at times. I'm well happy about Bayliss coming over.

Gassage · May 2015

At the T20 @ Lords tomorrow.

lloyd · May 2015

Jesus, terrible (non) shot from Taylor, nice ball from Broad LBW NZ 68/3

Heartfeltdawn · May 2015

B-Mac's is worse. That's as brainless as anything that's come out of the West Indian Book of Fuckwit Dismissals over the last two years.

lloyd · May 2015

Solid start today by the openers

jpttaylor · May 2015

Agreed. Boult and Southee have been bowling well today. There's something in this pitch for the bowlers, hence patience from Lyth and Cook.

Great for Lyth to get a half century under his belt and a fine record for Cook to break as well.

lloyd · May 2015

Patience from Cook is shown on any type pitch!

He's going to be holding that record for a while I think, plenty more to come from him too.

Heartfeltdawn · May 2015

jpttaylor said:

Agreed. Boult and Southee have been bowling well today. There's something in this pitch for the bowles, hence patience from Lyth and Cook.

Great for Lyth to get a half century under his belt and a fine record for Cook to break as well.

Irritating the number of people on Twitter saying England are going too slowly and asking why they're not scoring like NZ did. They don't need to do so. Make a platform, wear the opposition down, cash in whilst the weather is good (forecast is poor for Sunday). The Twittidiots don't seem to realise that you've got two sides playing different games. NZ need to win. England can bat for three days as far as I'm concerned. Cook's renaissance continues and Lyth has been bedded in well and now know he will be playing in his first Ashes series.

jpttaylor · May 2015

Given how easily our openers have given away their wickets in the past few series (I dare say years) I don't have a problem with Cook and Lyth playing it safe at all. England have been struggling to find an opening partnership for ages and they need time to work with each other. Early days yet but they seem to be on the same wavelength for the most part.

Keeping the runs ticking over and not playing any silly shots, England are edging closer to being unable to lose this test. They probably won't play tomorrow and a series win overall will hopefully set them up well for the Ashes. This side could do with the confidence that comes with a result against good quality opposition.

NZ will win a lot of the plaudits and it's nice to see a side playing bold, aggressive cricket, but it won't necessarily win them the series. They blew the first test trying to do it and they've been chasing England since. That balance between positive play and grinding out results is a tough balancing act.

Heartfeltdawn · May 2015

jpttaylor said:

NZ will win a lot of the plaudits and it's nice to see a side playing bold, aggressive cricket, but it won't necessarily win them the series. They blew the first test trying to do it and they've been chasing England since. That balance between positive play and grinding out results is a tough balancing act.

This is why I scoff at the plaudits being dished out about New Zealand under Brendon McCullum. His Win-Loss-Draw record is no better than Cook's. As captain he's had series wins against West Indies, Sri Lanka, and India at home (all three sides are lousy tourists), a draw in the UAE against Pakistan, and a sole overseas series win against the West Indies. Nothing up to the level of Cook winning as captain in India and Australia. NZ haven't won against the top three (Australia, South Africa, England) in that time. They got stuffed in South Africa, lost the 2013 series in England, will not win this current series, and haven't played Australia for a while.

Bold aggressive cricket won't win you a series. It can win you a session and it can win you a Test but not a series.

Another great day of play. Like Lords, the weather had a major say. Easy for England early on then the new ball with cloud cover caused some problems. Bad forecast for Sunday so we could have two intriguing days Monday and Tuesday.

iseverynamegone · May 2015

NZ bowled well without luck early on. 350 was 50 too many to concede but with butler, bell and Ali we should still get a lead which we will need.

jpttaylor · May 2015

And from what was a really promising position, England have collapsed. So many cheap wickets gone with not nearly enough runs added to the score. NZ have bowled well, credit where it's due, but the middle order has disappeared by playing totally unnecessary shots.

Funnily enough I reckon those that were criticising the run rate with Lyth and Cook are oddly quiet at the moment.

rocktron · May 2015

The unelected bureaucrats at the EU are to ban bouncers on Health & Safety grounds. LOL

crunchman · June 2015

Have we got anyone who can bowl consistently at 90mph, or spin it and consistently land it on a length?

scrumhalf · June 2015

Holy shit, their tailenders are carting our bowlers all over the place. It's carnage.

Looking at the pitch map on Sky they seem to have decided not to try and bowl full and straight for a couple of balls to see if it works. That's bad captaincy.

The Aussies musy be quaking in their boots.

lloyd · June 2015

NZ declare at 454-8. Big job for England to chase that down. Fingers crossed for rain or Cook to bat for 2 days....

Heartfeltdawn · June 2015

crunchman said:

Have we got anyone who can bowl consistently at 90mph, or spin it and consistently land it on a length?

You don't even need that. Someone who moves it off the seam and lands it right in the zone on this pitch would do nicely. Any county tyro from David Masters to Darren Stevens would know where to bowl on this pitch. Dredge up Neil Mallender, he'd tell you where to drop it.

The pitch map Sky dragged up five minutes ago of where people have bowled to Southee tells the story. It's been either short or in the slot. No yorkers, very little pitched up. It's really been as bad a bowling performance as I've seen from England for a long time.

What's worse is that the press and fans are laying into Moeen. He's not had a great game. The seamers have been worse. It is unfathomable as to why they persisted with the short pitched form of attack. The Kiwis racked up 116 runs in 16 overs. Madness.

Heartfeltdawn · June 2015

Cripes. Here's a Headingley attack from the ages. And we won! Pringle, Munton, Mallender, and Lewis...

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63578.html

jpttaylor · June 2015

It's not often I agree with Boycott, but he had it spot on in the 5 highlights show last night. This pitch at Headingley will give the bowlers something if they put it into the right areas and yet England are still bowling the obvious deliveries.

So often this has been the problem in recent Tests - there's just not enough variation in line and length. Bowling short against this NZ is just asking for trouble at times yet they keep on plugging away.

crunchman · June 2015

I'm guessing that McCullum is a bit concerned about the weather. They would have had time to bat for another 2 or 3 overs and still get 20 minutes at England before lunch.

Heartfeltdawn · June 2015

jpttaylor said:

It's not often I agree with Boycott, but he had it spot on in the 5 highlights show last night. This pitch at Headingley will give the bowlers something if they put it into the right areas and yet England are still bowling the obvious deliveries.

So often this has been the problem in recent Tests - there's just not enough variation in line and length. Bowling short against this NZ is just asking for trouble at times yet they keep on plugging away.

It's not really a lack of variation, it's the lack of consistency to get the ball on a good length. Drop it there, nibble the ball about, you will get wickets. The short pitched attack is simply absurd on this wicket.

crunchman said:

I'm guessing that McCullum is a bit concerned about the weather. They would have had time to bat for another 2 or 3 overs and still get 20 minutes at England before lunch.

Declaring at the time he did meant that New Zealand, if they rushed things a bit tomorrow, would get 78 overs today and 90 overs tomorrow assuming a full day's play. That means 168 overs so they'd be getting three new balls over the course of that time. One at the start of their bowling stint, a new ball early on tomorrow morning, and then one right at the end of play if needed.

crunchman · June 2015

If England had batted for 168 overs (unlikely I know) then they would have probably won the match before the 3rd new ball. At 3 an over you would only need 152 overs to get 455 runs. If weather isn't a concern you would bat on for another 3 overs and try to get another 20 or 30 runs. In theory you would still have 5 overs with the third new ball. His declaration must have been taking into account the weather.

He probably should have declared a bit earlier. Looking at this I'm not sure there will be any more play today:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/leeds/ls1-6/weather-radar/712327

Heartfeltdawn · June 2015

What would have been the point in those extra 20 or 30 runs gained by delaying the declaration? Only four scores of 400 or more have ever been achieved in Test cricket to win a game. Another 30 runs on top of that wouldn't really have helped NZ.

I agree that it's unlikely that England would have batted for 168 overs, we'd either win or be dismissed earlier. But one should always think of the potential of a long rearguard England action, particularly with Cook in good touch. Leaving enough time for a third new ball was there to counter the possibility of England losing wickets and simply shutting up shop. Jo'burg in 1995 and Atherton's match springs immediately to mind, a poor SA declaration and stubborn English resistance meant they only got 5 overs with the third new ball.

Quite agree on the lousy weather forecast. Back tomorrow, lads.

scrumhalf · June 2015

Oh cock.

Three wickets down so far this morning and we haven't got to drinks yet.

crunchman · June 2015

Between their batting, dropped catches, and running out Lyth, Ballance and Bell have been a complete waste of space. Would have been better playing Chris Jordan as a batsman.

scrumhalf · June 2015

Bell's lost form badly, the question is whether or not it's permanent. The Aussies will be targeting him, no doubt.

I think we have to stick with Lyth, if only because we've gone through almost every other opener other than the likes of Hales and the other big hitters.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

The cricket thread

Comments