The cricket thread

scrumhalf

I also noticed that Anderson's a bit below par. However, I would leave him out for India and take him to the Ashes, if only because I rate the Ashes as the pinnacle of cricket and a trip to India, whilst not as arduous as it used to be, is still not for the faint-hearted.

Leaving aside the bowling attack, which, when not trying to bowl too short, is very potent, our batting worries the poo out of me. We collapse more often than an MFI dining table and if the ball is moving at speed we're not happy. A fit Philander and a fit Steyn may have made this series far more even.

I wasn't going out for a drink tonight with friends but since one of them is South African I might just haul my arse out there tonight.

Heartfeltdawn

He'll be 34 in July. By the time we get to Australia around November 2017, he'll be 35. He's seen what happens if you go to Australia at less than top level in the twilight of your career (Trott, Swann, arguably Pietersen too). I think he'd retire before that trip. 

All plaudits for Broad and rightly so. Since 1 January 2013 he's taken 158 wickets in 38 Tests at 24. Excellent form but the loss of Steyn was immense for SA when you consider that in that same time period he played 22 Tests and took 107 wickets at 19. 

England aren't alone in disliking the ball moving at any speed. Australia capitulating at Trent Bridge wasn't a quick wicket. They spent the series whining about the pace of all the wickets. They collapsed at Durham. Sides simply don't know how to play the moving ball well now because the focus of batting has changed so much with the introduction of T20 cricket. 

scrumhalf

Time to resurrect this thread.

Congrats to the boys for getting to the World T20 final.

lloyd

Yeah great win against a strong inform New Zealand. I'm not a huge t20 fan to be honest but enjoyed that.

kjdowd

Amazed how easy they made it look! Very un-English(-and Welsh).

crunchman

kjdowd said:

Amazed how easy they made it look! Very un-English(-and Welsh).

They're just building up expectations so that the way they shambles up the final will hurt more.

Actually, they have a chance in the final.  I've never known an England batting line up that is so deep.

scrumhalf

Given how things have been progrseeing so far should Morgan voluntarily get another first-baller in order not to jinx things?

scrumhalf

So, it's the Windies in the final.

Too close to call.

Heartfeltdawn

Perhaps people will now stop bitching about domestic cricket in England now. We've got to the final in one format, we've beaten Australia, India, and South Africa in recent years in the Test format, we've won five out of the last seven Ashes series, and yet there's still this moronic notion that the counties aren't producing international standard cricketers. This squad is a testament to county cricket, both the big Test ground counties and the smaller ones, and hopefully will act as a bit of a silencer to those people who have gone on far too much about how we need to have a domestic T20 tournament like Australia. 

Exciting cricket but I have huge sympathy for a lot of the bowlers as the dew has hampered many of them. Ashwin and Jadeja looked like pub bowlers today with that damp ball. 

lloyd

Well this isn't going as hoped.

lloyd

Oh hello, 5/2 Gayle gone after 1.3 overs, windies chasing 156.

StanleyAccrington

Never judge if a game will be won or lost on the basis of one teams batting total.

lloyd

Wow. What a last over. Great final.

rsvmark

That last over was something else!

scrumhalf

Easy to be wise after the event, but should Stokes have bowled that last over?

Well done, Windies.

Tip of the hat to England as well, 18 months ago reaching the final would have been unthinkable.

Great tournament.

lloyd

scrumhalf said:

Easy to be wise after the event, but should Stokes have bowled that last over?

Well done, Windies.

Tip of the hat to England as well, 18 months ago reaching the final would have been unthinkable.

Great tournament.

Clearly not! No, it's one of those things, gotta feel for him. Great effort to get to the final.

menamestom

lloyd said:

scrumhalf said:

Easy to be wise after the event, but should Stokes have bowled that last over?

Well done, Windies.

Tip of the hat to England as well, 18 months ago reaching the final would have been unthinkable.

Great tournament.

Clearly not! No, it's one of those things, gotta feel for him. Great effort to get to the final.

He was the death bowler in the last 2 matches to be fair, but it couldn't have ended any worse, so in hindsight.... Didn't work out but England did better than expected and the Windies are a team everybody loves to see win. Their swagger and attitude is infectious, I bet most of the England team are out partying with them now! Great final.

lloyd

TMS in work, nice.

crunchman

Batting still looks fragile if Cook/Root don't perform.  Cook better stay for a while.

scrumhalf

Not the greatest second hour of a test match.


:-S