The cricket thread

scrumhalf

Well done Windies, but the Aussies must be having a bit of a chuckle.

Heartfeltdawn

£50 up thanks to slipping some cash on a Windies victory

Stoneman doesn't have a stellar first class record but you wouldn't expect someone who played for nearly ten years opening the batting at a seamer-friendly Durham home track to be walking about with a 45+ average. Trescothick didn't come into the Test side with a stellar record, averaging low 30s for five seasons prior to his international debut, and one knock against Glamorgan is what turned Fletcher's head back in the day. Hales is proven against international bowlers operating with fielding restrictions. As you say, no clue about off stump and it wasn't so long ago that the Indians twigged that he's not great against the short ball into the body. Test cricket.. not a hope. 

Quite honestly, the crowing from some in the England journalist camp was vomit-inducing prior to this Test. So let's dissect some shit:

-Stoneman: did his job as did Malan in the second innings. The concept of grafting and making ugly runs appeared to be lost to many on Twitter. The West Indies got the ball in the right areas and used the conditions. Even someone like Roston Chase, not someone I rate much as a spinner, got some rip, albeit helped by some English batting that retreated into full EEEK IT'S TURNING mode. It's time to give someone a committed run in the side. After all, we've just seen a West Indian who had a shit average prior to this Test come up with two centuries after the selectors stuck with him. We need to do the same. 


-Picking Woakes: it's one of the things that I can never understand with successive English management teams. Lost count of the number of times bowlers have been picked far too early after coming back from injury. You saw it clearly a few years ago with Broad when he was down on pace at the World Cup and people wrote him off for good. When you come back from something like a knee injury, you need to get miles in the legs and get the rhythm. Prior to this Test match, since the start of July, Woakes had bowled 35 overs: 15 overs in a 2nd XI game, 20 overs in a CC match. Since the start of May, in all cricket prior to this Test he'd bowled 45 overs, a season wrecked by the injury he sustained at the start of June. I don't care how many net sessions you have, that's never going to get you ready to bowl in a Test match. TRJ should have played. You can get people who are less than physically 100% through a game with injections and physio but if you're not what I think of as match fit as a bowler, you're fucked. 

-Dismissing the West Indies seam attack. It's not strong but we're not much better. Pull JA and SB out and we're looking shaky again. Wood isn't going to be a long term player for England (sadly), Finn might need some new surroundings as reports are that he might leave Middlesex, Woakes needs some serious overs under his belt now, TRJ will never be a fashionable player, which leaves not much in the reserves. 

With the day-night Test and this result, you'll continue to have peopel asking how we can make Test cricket better. The answer is simple: you make first-class cricket better. It's why the Windies have been so shit over recent years. They play poor FC cricket on slow turning decks which make shit spinners look like Grimmett and destroy their quick bowlers.

Heartfeltdawn

scrumhalf said:

Well done Windies, but the Aussies must be having a bit of a chuckle.

I think they'll leave the chuckling until the current match against the Bangla boys is over. 

scrumhalf

Michael Holding pointed out how Woakes' left arm was coming down differently during delivery, which indicated he wasn't over his injury yet.

Broad continues to annoy. He's obviously a decent bowler, having taken that many wickets, but when he's not on song he's really not on song. I get the impression he can't be captained easily, otherwise why does he continue to bowl short when he shouldn't?

I would have preferred us to not pick our first-choice bowlers for the final test and to give the likes of TRJ, Ball and Finn a run-out, I may be old-school but for me the Ashes is the most important thing in English cricket.

crunchman

Heartfeltdawn said:

scrumhalf said:

Well done Windies, but the Aussies must be having a bit of a chuckle.

I think they'll leave the chuckling until the current match against the Bangla boys is over. 

Wise words

Heartfeltdawn

scrumhalf said:

Michael Holding pointed out how Woakes' left arm was coming down differently during delivery, which indicated he wasn't over his injury yet.

Broad continues to annoy. He's obviously a decent bowler, having taken that many wickets, but when he's not on song he's really not on song. I get the impression he can't be captained easily, otherwise why does he continue to bowl short when he shouldn't?

I would have preferred us to not pick our first-choice bowlers for the final test and to give the likes of TRJ, Ball and Finn a run-out, I may be old-school but for me the Ashes is the most important thing in English cricket.

It was so obvious from how he was bowling that he was still coming back. The like of Michael Vaughan said that they'd have picked Woakes over TRJ because Woakes was the better bowler. Right now, he isn't. 

Heartfeltdawn

crunchman said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

scrumhalf said:

Well done Windies, but the Aussies must be having a bit of a chuckle.

I think they'll leave the chuckling until the current match against the Bangla boys is over. 

Wise words

Bangladesh are finally preparing pitches that play to their strengths. We saw that against England, now we're seeing it against Australia. 

The 'roos now have Starc, Hazlewood, Siddle, and Pattinson on the injured list. The A tour had Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers, Chris Tremain and Jason Behrendorff as their four main seamers. That's not exactly an intimidating reserve list. 

Most sides are the same. The reserves aren't that strong. The exception is India who do seem to churn out Test batsmen because their first class game allows batsmen to play long innings. 

ICBM

WTF?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41103549

Someone thinks they're William Tell?

crunchman

Edit:  posted in wrong thread.

RandallFlagg

ICBM said:

WTF?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41103549

Someone thinks they're William Tell?

I hooe this doesn't become a 'thing'. A couple of these and there could be a serious problem.

ICBM

RandallFlagg said:

ICBM said:

WTF?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41103549

Someone thinks they're William Tell?

I hooe this doesn't become a 'thing'. A couple of these and there could be a serious problem.

There certainly could. One of those falling from a reasonable height could kill someone.

Given that it landed about 10m from the middle of the pitch, whoever did it was either extremely lucky or had been practicing - it's not easy to get the range right when you're shooting over an obstruction at a target you can't see. Or it was completely random, but that does seem to be stretching coincidence a bit...

Gassage

Bumped into one of the people close to the England side yesterday and delighted to hear that I'm under serious contention for England to Australia.

He said "Even you've got more chance of playing for England than KP.'

Very excited and fingers crossed.

Heartfeltdawn

ICBM said:

Given that it landed about 10m from the middle of the pitch...

A projectile launched by an individual that landed 10 metres from the middle of the pitch at the Oval... more accurate than Jade Dernbach. 

cj73

England resting Stokes for Durham T20


Shocking decision, do they just want Durham to go away and stop being so northern?

scrumhalf

Well done Jimmy Anderson, first English bowler to get 500 Test wickets.

This is another enthralling test match, nice to see the bowlers having the upper hand for once. So much better than a 550 v 500 batting fest.

crunchman

Got a ticket for Sunday.  What's the odds of the game getting as far as Sunday?

RandallFlagg

crunchman said:

Got a ticket for Sunday.  What's the odds of the game getting as far as Sunday?

Slim by the looks of it!

scrumhalf

Well, that ended in a bit of an anti-climax.

Anderson has bowled beautifully, you have to acknowledge that he's magnificent.

And farewell Blowers, my dear old thing. You have been wonderfully entertaining over the years.

cj73

Looks like Ben Stokes has been a naughty boy.

Gassage