The cricket thread

Sarge · July 2015

Hats off to the boys, outclassed a fairly decent Aus team in every department.
Great test to start a probably close run series, superb bowling by both sides, good batsmen reading the ball well, good catching, especially cook.
Anderson with the new ball was far too good for them, broad and wood were exceptional and a good cameo with bat and ball from ali. Magnificent cricket!

iseverynamegone · July 2015

Root and Ballance won the game On the first day Or you could say Haddin dropped it. Clearly lots of other pivotal moments but for me without that partnership game would Likely have been very different .

menamestom · July 2015

All the Aussies predicting a whitewash, I assumed they meant for Australia, maybe they meant England!
Great result. Positive cricket brings results.

Gassage · July 2015

Gassage · July 2015

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

scrumhalf · July 2015

Gassage said:

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think the Aussies came into this game seriously undercooked (ironic, since they were overCooked in the game itself) and I'd rather hold judgment until such time as I've seen our boys bat against Johnson et al on a surface that is less quickie-unfriendly.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

Gassage said:

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

Oh yes there is. English journalists backtracking is better. Any number of journalists have been saying Broad was finished when it was quite obvious to anyone who understands bowling that Broad came back too early from the World Cup and was looking better and better with each match played in terms of rhythm and effectiveness. I like George Dobell's output normally but he's come out with a tremendous amount of shit about Broad in the last few months.

crunchman · July 2015

scrumhalf said:

Gassage said:

Not that I wish to disenfranchise myself from our Antipodean cousins, but I have to point out that there is no finer sound in world sport than the resounding splatt of the Australian cricket team falling off their self-appointed perch of arrogance and superiority.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think the Aussies came into this game seriously undercooked (ironic, since they were overCooked in the game itself) and I'd rather hold judgment until such time as I've seen our boys bat against Johnson et al on a surface that is less quickie-unfriendly.

Australia do have genuine issues.

Haddin is probably the biggest issue. He's only averaging 15 since the last Ashes and his keeping isn't looking great either - not just the drop of Root, but also he gave away quite a lot byes.

Without Harris their bowling isn't as good as last time. Johnson seems to have dropped 2 or 3 mph as well.

The other issue is their fielding. The do have several relatively old players and people like Rogers are not mobile. When you add the fact that Anderson and Wood are not your typical lumbering fast bowlers in the field, England definitely have the better fielding side. Fielding is often overlooked but it is important.

Gassage · July 2015

@heartfeltdawn

Very very few cricket writers, save for those who play the game, have anything close to a clue about the sport.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

scrumhalf said:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I think the Aussies came into this game seriously undercooked (ironic, since they were overCooked in the game itself) and I'd rather hold judgment until such time as I've seen our boys bat against Johnson et al on a surface that is less quickie-unfriendly.

I don't think they were undercooked. Playing on slow wickets should not have been a problem given that most of the side played in the two-match series in the West Indies prior to this on wickets that were more docile.

They simply didn't bowl or bat in the right way for this pitch and the selections were wrong. Before the Test, I said that MJ was not firing right and that he wouldn't be part of my three man pace attack. Had Harris been fit, it would have been a Harris-Hazlewood-Starc combination. Harris retiring threw everything up in the air. With him going and MJ nowhere near full bowling effectiveness, then they should have gone with the extra bowler to make up for a lack of Harris a a lack of form for MJ. Instead they went with Watson who doesn't get into the side through either discipline. They could have picked Mitchell Marsh who frankly wouldn't have offered anything more. His bowler has never been up to Watson at its best nor has his batting. Australia essentially went in there with 10 men and it showed when they were bowling.

Another query: Why did Steve Smith not bowl? Yes, his overall career record is rubbish. Ignore that. In England he averages 26, 11 wickets, strike rate of 53. Leg spin scares English bowlers (even Bryce McGain scared county batsmen). Throwing a blonde Aussie tweaker on for a few overs at the start of an Ashes series? Totally worth it when Root and Stokes were getting started. Mystified as to why Clarke didn't give him a go.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

Gassage said:

@heartfeltdawn

Very very few cricket writers, save for those who play the game, have anything close to a clue about the sport.

I agree. I'd say Mike Selvey is the best writer out there now and has been for a while. He's a cricketer that writes rather than a writer who does cricket, if that makes sense. Seeing some of the folk around the table for that Sky cricket writer's show... laughable.

Gassage · July 2015

@heartfeltdawn

I don't think the deck had the pace for a leggie at all.

Hazelwood by far the most impressive Aussie seamer, and on a personal note, delighted for Bucky Rogers as I've skippered him a number of times and he is the most genuine bloke out there.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

@gassage

Pace ain't everything. Tennis ball bounce like that, bring it on. If you're a leggie like me who got good bounce out of most wickets, I'd be very happy bowling on a track like that. And was very happy bowling on that track some twenty years ago!

Hazlewood is a serious bowler. Seeing the way Tim Southee improved over the last two-three years, Hazlewood has so much potential to get better. Really like his approach.

Gassage · July 2015

Heartfeltdawn said:

@gassage

Pace ain't everything. Tennis ball bounce like that, bring it on. If you're a leggie like me who got good bounce out of most wickets, I'd be very happy bowling on a track like that. And was very happy bowling on that track some twenty years ago!

It is for a test leggie.

scrumhalf · July 2015

Selvey's rubbed too many people up the wrong way, hasn't he? I'd put Atherton up at the top, on telly his mischievous side has emerged whcih is no bad thing.

By contrast, Sky's Cricket Writers Show seem to choose people with an inflated view of themselves.

crunchman · July 2015

Can't read Atherton these days. He's behind the Times paywall.

Selvey is good.

Might not have quite the insight but Andy Zaltzmann is the one I enjoy reading most.

Gassage · July 2015

scrumhalf said:

Selvey's rubbed too many people up the wrong way, hasn't he? I'd put Atherton up at the top, on telly his mischievous side has emerged whcih is no bad thing.

By contrast, Sky's Cricket Writers Show seem to choose people with an inflated view of themselves.

Andy Afford being the worst offender.

I have a piece going in this month's Cricketer mag

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

Gassage said:
It is for a test leggie.

If pace were everything for a leg spinner, then Warne should have had a far better record at the WACA then he ended up with. The idea that a Test leg spinner can only succeed on a pitch with pace in it is strange when so few Test pitches are genuinely pacy. Sri Lanka and the UAE Test venues aren't pacey affairs but Yasir Shah hasn't found them too bad. A slow wicket with uncertain bounce like Cardiff offers a lot to the slow bowler of either hand or style who is prepared to vary their pace a bit, to bowl a bit quicker and slower.

The stats certainly suggest Cardiff was far from a slow bowling graveyard.

Australia seamers: 802 balls for 14 wickets = strike rate of 57.2

Australian slow bowler: 241 balls for 6 wickets = strike rate of 40.12.

England seamers: 707 balls for 13 wickets = strike rate of 54.38

England spinners: 225 balls for 7 wickets = strike rate of 34.14.

With those figures out there, I'd say that Steve Smith would have been well worth a punt for two or three overs at least.

Heartfeltdawn · July 2015

Gassage said:
I have a piece going in this month's Cricketer mag

Is it the one about bats you emailed me a while ago? I liked it.

Gassage · July 2015

^ Yup.

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