Always remember Farokh for his dashing style. Lancashire were the kings of 1 day cricket in the late 60s and early 70s and Engineer was a big part of that. He would have fit right in as far as cricket today is concerned. He was also no slouch behind the stumps and was a part of the Rest of the World team that played England in 1970. That was the first "test" series I actually remember watching. It is funny the things that stick in your head, but the standout memory from that series was that Eddie Barlow wore glasses. Ha ha!
Cricket
- Thread starter EdWeatherall
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I have watched cricket off and on over the years and I have to say the two I enjoyed watching the most have been Lara and Warnie.....Wasim was great to watch in full flight as well.
Didn't realise this
Also had a fabulous average in India and the West Indies (a harder proposition back then, let’s remember), and a good average in Sri Lanka. So his away record wasn’t all bad.
I don't know if we are allowed to share youtube videos so my apologies but I thought you guys would enjoy this considering the discussion over the last few pages, thought this legends game was great. Lara batting like he is still in his prime and both Akram and Lee with a clean bowled!
Does anyone know what Ian Bell's problem was?
At one point average 50+ with 5500 runs. Was the most elegant batsman of this generation and could play spin and swing immaculately with excellent footwork.
Then the Pakistan(UAE) and India tours happened and got destroyed by spin and then never recovered and his averaged fell to 42.
At one point average 50+ with 5500 runs. Was the most elegant batsman of this generation and could play spin and swing immaculately with excellent footwork.
Then the Pakistan(UAE) and India tours happened and got destroyed by spin and then never recovered and his averaged fell to 42.
He only averaged above 50 from his first few tests vs Bangladesh, once Shane Warne schooled him the closest he got to 50 was 49.28 after his test best vs India. He spent most of his career in the mid 40s and retired at 42, that’s pretty much the player he was.
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/e...template=results;type=batting;view=cumulative
His 2011 as a whole and 2013 Ashes series were the high points.
Flat track bully. Like many classy batsmen.
Struggled in the pressure moments and big series.
As he matured he nailed a few big knocks but was never truly great.
Do any of you travel to away England games?
I see Australia's in Sri Lanka in a few weeks. Sri Lanka's a short flight from where I am
I see Australia's in Sri Lanka in a few weeks. Sri Lanka's a short flight from where I am
I have been to England away games but not because I went specifically for cricket, but it was on at the same time.
Barmy army stuff doesn't really appeal to me - I'm not a heavy drinker and spending 5 days perpetually hammered with a bunch of cricket fans sounds like a nightmare.
Did the Ashes tour in 2010. Lucky pick…
I’ve also seen England play in the West Indies and Johannesburg.
Never done it through the Barmy Army, always independent travel with family or friends.
Very nearly did India last year as you may remember after working In South Korea but logistics just didn’t quite match up.
Just watched "boring" Steven Smith playing for Sydney Sixers in BBL. 121 not out.
That was his 3rd century in BBL. He's tied with Ben McDermott for most 100s in the competition. It took McDermott 100 matches, Smith 32.
That was his 3rd century in BBL. He's tied with Ben McDermott for most 100s in the competition. It took McDermott 100 matches, Smith 32.
The local press aren't impressed that Cummins and Head didn't make the list 
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...b/news-story/f36b488ece16c47ecf8a84b4a80b1e96
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...b/news-story/f36b488ece16c47ecf8a84b4a80b1e96
Not a single Aussie or South African made the test team of the year when the World Test Championship final this year is between those two.The local press aren't impressed that Cummins and Head didn't make the list
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...b/news-story/f36b488ece16c47ecf8a84b4a80b1e96
19 wickets on the first day in Multan. No idea where test cricket is going with these pitches
It’s quite funny that when you question these types of pitches people go ‘well did you prefer it when England scored 800+?‘ as if having pitches that can give something for quicks, spinners and bats throughout the test are some type of impossible achievement.
There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of home comforts and touring teams need to adapt of course but Pakistani cricket is digging it’s own red ball grave with these pitches. They’ll push a generation of quicks towards the T20 franchise circuit, kill the confidence of all their bats, make themselves completely uncompetitive away from home and end up in Division 2 of the new test structure as a result.
While I agree with the statement in general, it is annoying that these questions only come up when it's a spinning wicket and not when it happens on a pacy track. People seem to have a greater problem with spin friendly than pace friendly wickets because they are romantasized more by media generally dominated by western countries. It's easy to hindsight after today but I said before that we're going to fall into the same trap as India, where we create spin friendly wickets but our batsman struggle just as much as foreign players in those conditions. If it weren't for Saud and Rizwan in the first test, we would've lost that and can still easily lose this.
Statements like pacers going to T20 cricket or becoming uncompetitive away from home as a result of these pitches are ridiculous. As if our pacemen weren't already going towards other forms of cricket before we moved towards spin friendly wickets, or that we were competitive in Australia and SA before.
We haven't won or drawn a test in SA or Australia in close to two decades now, even during the days when we had more competitive pitches, so pitches would have nothing to do with it. Bringing pace friendly pitches won't make much of a difference in SA or Australia because it's not swing or seam we struggle with but rather extra bounce, and extra bounce is not something you can easily create in Pakistan due to the weather. We haven't had terrible records in NZ or Eng because bounce is less of an issue on those pitches, swing and seam we have been able to deal with better. If you look at our domestic cricket, it's been dominated by medium pace bowlers (Abbas, Sadaf Hussain, Tasbish Khan etc) for a while now because those pitches are seam and swing friendly, so our batsman have been fine with it outside of home.
India have been playing on spin friendly wickets for ages now but seem to be only getting better at playing conditions outside of home rather than struggling . What's more important is exposing your batsman to these foreign conditions through A-tours, something India has been great at over the past decade (I think every young player has come through the A-team) but we haven't used a lot.
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You’re right about the game already pushing players outside of the big 3 towards T20 and you’re right about Pakistan not being up to scratch away from home in general but the point was, it will get worse if you approach the game in such an uneven manner. I genuinely think Pakistan had a great chance in the South Africa tour just gone but they turned up with a pace attack short on practice. There was a window in that first test for Pakistan for sure but there was no one to back Abbas up in the 2nd innings. I can’t see Pakistan touring England and New Zealand with as much success as previously, quick bowlers need confidence in this format they can’t just turn up and be expected to produce at this level.
What’s extremely important to acknowledge is the game is actively pushing teams outside of the big 3 away from test cricket and for teams outside the big 3 there’s significant pressure to make sure test cricket is viable, people need to watch it and play it. It’s not the fault of the countries who are under pressure but they cannot be so willing to walk into the obvious trap that’s being laid. It’s obvious that a 2 division test championship is being setup and if great historical teams like West Indies and Pakistan end up Division 2 without any opportunity to get into Division 1 it’s hard to see the value of red ball cricket in either country. It’s debatable as to whether anyone can actually do much about this but it’s certainly worth trying rather than just giving up.
You’re point on pitches is correct too, Pakistan can only do so much but I think there’s a nice medium right? You don’t need flat decks for 5 days and raging turners, you can have flat decks that wear and bring the result into the game at the back end. I love to see great spin bowling, great fast bowling and great batting but when the game over indexes on one skill set it’s not as fun to watch. It’s vital for every test nation to get that balance between bat and ball right at this stage too, if 20 wickets are falling in day there’s no incentive for people to watch test matches instead of T20s. There’s probably a wider debate to be had on whether players are also declining in skill and concentration level in tests which ends up making these pitches seem worse than they actually are.
In terms of the comparison to India, recent Indian pitches have arguably killed the confidence of much of their batting lineup and it’s likely the same will happen to Pakistan. I think they might have taken a step back in terms of touring recently and Pakistan don’t have the same financial heft to fall back onto.
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I don't mind home teams preparing pitches to their advantage (ignoring for a moment that I think these spin wickets have exposed some of our own batsmen), but seeing 20 wickets fall on day 1 is ridiculous. The first test finished inside 3 days, this might not even make it to 3 days.
I also find the whole you only complain when it's turning stuff so ridiculous. These pitches have very little chance of getting better as the game goes on. I enjoy tough pitches but it should allow batters who dig in & show great technique to then cash in after 30-40 overs but that seems rare here.
Well we might as well stop playing in England then because the weather is a lottery most of the time. Anderson was called Clouderson for a long time for a reason.
Also, a lot of seaming pitches finish the game before it gets a chance to get better, but let's ignore that because you guys (I know your English / Indian living there) love complaining about spin.
You say a lot of rubbish in the cricket threads but this is ridiculous even for you. No clue what you are on about
Rashid has probably just cost England the game with that dropped catch.
I think you say a load of rubbish pretty much everywhere. A simple search of Jimmy Anderson and Clouderson would explain it, or watching cricket for 25+ years like I have.
For the majority of his career he was called "Clouderson" because he sucked for the start of it and then performed in England.. Of course over time he became an all time great (primarily for longevity like Giggs, but still).
Despite the fact I think your posts are dumb, I still make it a point to engage in good faith. I'd suggest you try the same.
Your original post had nothing to do with what I said in my post. What has Anderson being called Clouderson by noobs like you got to do with the discussion about these pitches.
Holy feck you don't understand comparisons. Cloudy conditions are innately unfair as it's a lottery, same as heavily spinning conditions. On ignore you go.
Not a fair comparison really. One is act of man, the other is act of God. You can change the pitch to suit, you can't do much about the weather.
No contest so far in Aus v Sri Lanka
Can't be far away from the end, an innings and lots of runs behind with 1 wicket left.
For the first half of this sentence, I thought you were talking about cricket in Sri Lanka..
That would be tad harsh
I know the Australian women are good, but that was embarrassing by England in the latest Ashes. Lost 3-0 in the T20s, 3-0 in the ODIs and then by an innings in the 1 off test.
The sales of The Hundred franchises, mostly to Indian owners of IPL sides, is pretty depressing but symbolic of the way the sports heading.
It's just the latest in a number of other nations domestic teams now being owned by, again, mostly Indian owners of IPL franchises. It's getting like the Man City multi-ownership group but even more dominant as there's so few cricket nations so it's more encompassing and has more of a dominating and controling impact.
It's not great at all that now a select number of owners are owning so many teams around the world. It's bad enough with the franchise clubs in relatively new competitions - but at least they were always pretty much a corporate, money driven idea anyway and quite new teams.
But with traditional county teams like Hampshire County Cricket Club already owned by Indian IPL owners as well - who also own teams in South Africa, Dubai and USA - you get the feeling it won't be long before most / all of the county championship teams will join The Hundred teams in being owned by the owners of IPL franchises (and the same for most other nations and their domestic sides).
It's just the latest in a number of other nations domestic teams now being owned by, again, mostly Indian owners of IPL franchises. It's getting like the Man City multi-ownership group but even more dominant as there's so few cricket nations so it's more encompassing and has more of a dominating and controling impact.
It's not great at all that now a select number of owners are owning so many teams around the world. It's bad enough with the franchise clubs in relatively new competitions - but at least they were always pretty much a corporate, money driven idea anyway and quite new teams.
But with traditional county teams like Hampshire County Cricket Club already owned by Indian IPL owners as well - who also own teams in South Africa, Dubai and USA - you get the feeling it won't be long before most / all of the county championship teams will join The Hundred teams in being owned by the owners of IPL franchises (and the same for most other nations and their domestic sides).
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India look a strong side without Bumrah. Should just rest him.
You are going to go into the Champions Trophy as VERY strong favourites.
Yea, hard to disagree. Looks like we have 8 batters and 7 bowlers in every starting 11. Then a bunch more to call from the bench.
The original plan was to play Bumrah in the 3rd ODI, and if fit, take him to the champions trophy. We should just play him in world cups and SENA tests.
The only one who can stop them is Australia in a knockout match.