Well the way the whole England scenario has been dealt with since the Ashes has been absolutely shambolic, not just the captaincy issue. The Flower resignation/sacking/nobody knows quite what, the Pietersen situation, the way that situation has been handled even long after it was made, the choice of coaches to have a dead man walking in charge in the T20 world cup, the total lack of planning in selection and just picking 11 players who don't come close to making a balanced team, the ECB, the BCCI and Cricket Australia shitting all over the Future Tours Programme, the idea that ANOTHER Ashes in 18 months is a good idea, the total inconsistency in picking players with knocks/injuries and then resting totally fit players who are in prime form. Even down to asking groundsmen to prepare the closest possible approximations in English conditions to Galle and Colombo as the 2 pitches. It's been a true old fashioned English shambles from start to finish. Back to the good old days of the 90s!
Cricket
- Thread starter EdWeatherall
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I think Anderson's heroics at the end almost covered up for a terrible England performance. Their first innings collapse from 311-4 to 365 all out didn't help-but the real problem was that England's bowling in the second innings was toothless.
Is Ali the answer as a first-line spinner? Cook looks like an automatic out as opener. They got great efforts from Robson and Ali and still lost.
Not sure the team's moving in the right direction.
Is Ali the answer as a first-line spinner? Cook looks like an automatic out as opener. They got great efforts from Robson and Ali and still lost.
Not sure the team's moving in the right direction.
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I'm not sure how you can come to that conclusion? There's definitely promise.
Ali scored a wonderful century today, one of the best you'll see anywhere. Robson scored a very good century in the first innings and Ballance in the last game when the team was collapsing and Ben Stokes will come back in. Root scored a double century. To add to that, Jimmy took wickets at 20s in a series for the first time in years, Plunkett looked at home in test cricket too.
The only real let down was Cook, obviously, Prior (his keeping mostly), and Bell (imo) who should be averaging higher than 30 something in series these days. England have basically gone from not having a team to having a pretty good idea of what they want, against India will be something like.
Cook (sadly), Robson, Ballance, Bell, Root, Stokes, Ali, (keeper), Plunkett, Broad, Anderson looks pretty nailed on, hopefully Cook will trust in Ali more, looks good enough for a bigger role.
Ali scored a wonderful century today, one of the best you'll see anywhere. Robson scored a very good century in the first innings and Ballance in the last game when the team was collapsing and Ben Stokes will come back in. Root scored a double century. To add to that, Jimmy took wickets at 20s in a series for the first time in years, Plunkett looked at home in test cricket too.
The only real let down was Cook, obviously, Prior (his keeping mostly), and Bell (imo) who should be averaging higher than 30 something in series these days. England have basically gone from not having a team to having a pretty good idea of what they want, against India will be something like.
Cook (sadly), Robson, Ballance, Bell, Root, Stokes, Ali, (keeper), Plunkett, Broad, Anderson looks pretty nailed on, hopefully Cook will trust in Ali more, looks good enough for a bigger role.
@NinjaFletch I respect your opinion-maybe it's a glass half full/half empty thing. England are in transition-as they need to be as the team that did so well over the past 5 years or so needs to be turned over.
I think Root, Ballance, Robson and Ali are nice prospects-but still need to prove themselves over time. Bottom line is that SL are an OK side-and did well in England. Of course it may be the last hurrah for their stars. I think India will be a good test-especially as the series will have more than two tests.
Oh of course. Its not anything concrete yet, but compare it to the end of January when literally 3 places (if that) were assured. Now we at least have some idea of the players who will make it and all the newbies have done well.
True. Nice to see the team getting past the whole KP soap opera-and stabilizing the ship. Still a work-in-progress; maybe they have to lose some tough ones to learn how to win. Looking forward to the India tour.
No Ali is not a frontline spinner, he's a good batsman and a useful 5th or 6th bowler but England need a frontline spinner. A spinner could have held up an end allowing the quick bowlers to be more agressive. That is what Herath did for SL.
I would stick with mostly the same team but take out Jordan and bring in a spinner. I'm not who yet though as we have a real lack at county level. Borthwick and Kerrigan seem unready. Panesar is a bit all over the shop. Real lack of options.
Thats the problem for me, its all well and good saying 'play a frontline spinner' but England don't have one good enough imo. The best bets are probably Kerrigan and Riley but they're both a long way off. If England had one then play him, but they don't. Its all well and good pointing to Herath, but he's one of the highest ranked test bowlers in the world, picking a club level spinner for the sake of having a spinner isn't going to win you games.
I think Ali is a good enough spin option in England if he is allowed a bigger role, he turns the ball, has a couple of variations (see taking Sangakarra's wicket with an arm ball/minimum turner and then ripping one past Thirimanne's bat) and is reasonably accurate. South Africa went to the top of the rankings with Duminy and Peterson their spin options, Ali is not significantly worse than that.
I think Ali is a good enough spin option in England if he is allowed a bigger role, he turns the ball, has a couple of variations (see taking Sangakarra's wicket with an arm ball/minimum turner and then ripping one past Thirimanne's bat) and is reasonably accurate. South Africa went to the top of the rankings with Duminy and Peterson their spin options, Ali is not significantly worse than that.
The only thing I can think of is to bring in Samit Patel as a little bit of variation with the left arm slows, and hope he, Ali and Root could do a sort of Ashley Giles type job between them. But then Stokes will come back into the team which means you have to drop one of Broad, Anderson or Plunkett or one of the batsmen to fit Patel in. The only batsman who can go is Cook, but then we're missing an opener again. It's really not obvious how to fix it.
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Don't like going with an all seam attack. It's not like England's pace bowlers are in the same class as WI circa 1990. So-either they take wickets quickly or you need someone to chew up overs while the big guys rest.
Spin options are pretty thin-which puts even more pressure on Anderson, Broad and whomever to take wickets. No obvious solution-but a real problem.
Spin options are pretty thin-which puts even more pressure on Anderson, Broad and whomever to take wickets. No obvious solution-but a real problem.
It is hard to believe that 8 months ago England were on top of the world, now it appears that they are back to the 90's.
I honesty think that Cook needs to have the captaincy taken off him and given to Bell who does look like the attacking type.
I honesty think that Cook needs to have the captaincy taken off him and given to Bell who does look like the attacking type.
The only trouble with handing the captaincy to Bell, although I do kind of agree with you, is that it can be a curse to batsmen. I don't know the stats for Cook's averages before and after he became captain but I suspect they will point towards him batting better without the added responsibility.
You might find if Bell becomes captain then Cook will start scoring runs but Bell will start to struggle! I wonder if Broad might be a better option, aggressive, still got plenty of cricket ahead of him, not phased by much and will free up all the batsmen. The only problem would be juggling all the bowlers including himself.
There's no question Cook needs some help at the moment in leading the team, but he's also been found out in terms of technique more than once and it won't have gone unnoticed in the India camp.
You might find if Bell becomes captain then Cook will start scoring runs but Bell will start to struggle! I wonder if Broad might be a better option, aggressive, still got plenty of cricket ahead of him, not phased by much and will free up all the batsmen. The only problem would be juggling all the bowlers including himself.
There's no question Cook needs some help at the moment in leading the team, but he's also been found out in terms of technique more than once and it won't have gone unnoticed in the India camp.
Conversely some players respond well to the added responsibility, I wonder if Bell would be one of those. Its still more often than not that you'll see Bell dismissed softly rather than got out and I wonder if the added responsibility would lead to greater substance still to his batting.
There's a few players who have noticeably higher averages as captains. Mathews (78 at the minute), Sangakarra (69), Misbah (61), Gooch (58 as captain vs 42 career) just at the top end, and theres a list of players the likes of Jayawardene, Ponting, Clarke (who could merit a place in the other category), Steve Waugh etc... where its had no impact.
There's a few players who have noticeably higher averages as captains. Mathews (78 at the minute), Sangakarra (69), Misbah (61), Gooch (58 as captain vs 42 career) just at the top end, and theres a list of players the likes of Jayawardene, Ponting, Clarke (who could merit a place in the other category), Steve Waugh etc... where its had no impact.
Im in the Sack Moores, Sell Cook, sign Pieterson camp.
I feel sorry for Yorkshire. After basically no one turning up for the past 2 days of the Test they've now had a Roses T20 sell out washed out without a ball bowled.
SA may have gone top, but one of the reasons they did not dominate like great teams before them was their lack of a spinner. That really worked against them. They also had Steyn and Philander who have great bowling averages. For England, Jordan doesn't look like he's going to take wickets, if you haven't got a frontline spinner then they need to have 4 good seamers. Maybe Finn needs to come in for Jordan. He is having a great season taking a lot of wickets.
Isn't Bell a bit shy and mentally suspect to ever be captain? Broad is the only other obvious choice after Cook. Still, it's not like it does much good for the short form sides so what else do you do?
I see Shane Warne has ripped into Cook again. Cook's going to cry this time
Indeed, but when their only real option was Imran Tahir they didn't really have much choice.
Infact, I'm not even sure Tahir is a better spinner than those two and a quick look at test bowling averages and economy would support that.
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Tough it out with Cook.
I'm inclined to agree. Either it works out over the next couple of years or we give other players time to come through and develop until we do have some obvious captaincy material.
I don't think Bell is shy, in a cricketing sense, yes he's not a man who turned down rugby to play cricket in way McCullum did, nor is he a man whos going to threaten players with broken limbs ala Clarke, but he's an attractive stroke player with controlled aggression when he bats, and I think that would transfer to his captaincy.
Moreover, I think the mental toughness is there. This is a man who fought off the Sherminator tag, the style over substance tag, and the inability to score tough run tags. He doesn't seem to care what people think about him, unlike Cook.
Moreover, I think the mental toughness is there. This is a man who fought off the Sherminator tag, the style over substance tag, and the inability to score tough run tags. He doesn't seem to care what people think about him, unlike Cook.
I fecking hate Ian Bell. Would hate for him to ever become captain.
Whisper it, but Hales is putting together a top class season for Notts...
Its nice of you lads to be actually following domestic as well as national cricket. I live in the subcontinent and in the recent years, we've been bombarded with constant cricket at all times. There is no break. Gone were the days when you would be excited with India touring Australia once every 3-4 years. Batting records that meant something because they would not be easily broken or the time when you looked in anticipation of players' performance because they could only be seen once in a while. These days tests run up to 400 scores easily, batsmen score 200 in ODIs, and don't even get me started on T20s. Too much money in the game to not play I suppose, but it has totally destroyed my appetite from the game.
Kane Williamson is one of my favourite players right now. Another century for him last night, seems to get at least 1 big score every series Kiwis play. The series with the Windies has been a decent watch.
He's a quality player. You only had to see some of the shots he plays in T20i's to realise theres a lot more to him than just a shot format slogger. I'm not quite sure how he fits into Englands ODI side when the two most senior players both open but he should be there now.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/756461.html
Seems like Day-night test cricket is on its way. I think it's a great idea for spectators.
Seems like Day-night test cricket is on its way. I think it's a great idea for spectators.
Bizarre timing given how badly the trial went.
- Do you believe the day-night Sheffield Shield matches were a success?
- Yes - 11%
- No - 44%
- Unsure - 45%
- Do you believe day-night Tests should be played in the future?
- Yes - 24%
- No - 51%
- Unsure - 26%
- Did the pink ball show similar signs of wear and tear as the traditional red Kookaburra ball?
- Yes - 6%
- No - 94%
- Did the pink ball show similar characteristics, eg swing and seam, as the traditional red Kookaburra ball?
- Yes - 11%
- No - 89%
- Did the pink ball provide a fair contest between bat and ball?
- Yes - 25%
- No - 75%
- Was the pink ball easy to see while batting and fielding in natural afternoon light?
- Yes - 58%
- No - 42%
- Was the pink ball easy to see while batting and fielding under lights?
- Yes - 51%
- No - 49%
So Lou Vincent has been banned for life for match-fixing by the ICC Corruption committee, and everyone's trumpeting what a brilliant decision it is and how it will deter people from fixing in the future. Is it just me that doesn't get it at all? He confessed, after retiring from playing completely, and has now been banned for life purely because he owned up? Strikes me as a stupid decision to be honest.
Jason Roy is so hot right now.
Nice to see the Oval packed out for a Wednesday night domestic T20
Nice to see the Oval packed out for a Wednesday night domestic T20
MCC vs ROW today in 2 hrs 15 min.
Marylebone Cricket Club Team S Chanderpaul, R Dravid, AJ Finch, BC Lara, B Lee, CMW Read†, Saeed Ajmal, SW Tait, SR Tendulkar*, Umar Gul, DL Vettori
Rest of the World XI Team
[URL='http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/51436.html']TL Best, PD Collingwood, AC Gilchrist†, M Muralitharan, KP Pietersen, V Sehwag, Shahid Afridi, PM Siddle, Tamim Iqbal, SK Warne*, Yuvraj Singh[/URL]
Marylebone Cricket Club Team S Chanderpaul, R Dravid, AJ Finch, BC Lara, B Lee, CMW Read†, Saeed Ajmal, SW Tait, SR Tendulkar*, Umar Gul, DL Vettori
Rest of the World XI Team
[URL='http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/51436.html']TL Best, PD Collingwood, AC Gilchrist†, M Muralitharan, KP Pietersen, V Sehwag, Shahid Afridi, PM Siddle, Tamim Iqbal, SK Warne*, Yuvraj Singh[/URL]
Sachin looks like a kid.
Sachin vs Warne again
Sachin vs Warne again
And lo and behold, the first article saying what I knew people would start saying when Vincent was banned:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/28174220
But instead of sense, the ICC gravy train will just roll on and on blissful in its own ignorance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/28174220
But instead of sense, the ICC gravy train will just roll on and on blissful in its own ignorance.
When the head of the ICC is someone who is being investigated for fixing in India,you shouldn't expect better from them.. To have no lenience for a whistle blower is baffling!!
Sachin bowling now