English cricket thread

It's not cricket without the pointless elongation of ceremony.
I think ECB need to change the rules on the start of play, the toss should happen 30 minutes before the scheduled time of play regardless of the weather. Had they done that they could have been playing by 1:30. Instead of having the toss at 1:30 and having to wait 30 minutes before starting.

Saying that could be a good thing it didn’t happen with the start we have made
 
England made the right selection call to go with 4 openers in this match.
 
I think ECB need to change the rules on the start of play, the toss should happen 30 minutes before the scheduled time of play regardless of the weather. Had they done that they could have been playing by 1:30. Instead of having the toss at 1:30 and having to wait 30 minutes before starting.

Saying that could be a good thing it didn’t happen with the start we have made
Yeah, I've never really understood this either. Anyone know the principle behind it?
 
Wondering what the record is for the lowest total of four completed innings. I'm not sure players who haven't batted in match conditions for fecking ages know how to bat.

Could end up looking stupid here but I think if either team makes 200 in the first innings they won't lose.
 
Feels like a county game in April.
So much so.

Unrelated, I think Gabriel looks a threat.

EDIT - just so I don't make too many posts - I wish they'd put microphones near the England squad so you could actually hear the odd clap when a boundary is hit.
 
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For anyone who missed it.

Black Lives Matter piece in the build-up:


Michael Holding's post-piece comments:


Nasser Hussain's post-piece comments:


Ebony Rainford-Brent's post-piece comments:


I'm listening on TMS so missed these. Amazing stuff from Mikey and Ebony Rainford-Brent and moving too from Nass.

As for the cricket, it's very nice to have some. Shame Sibley didn't seem to agree :lol:
 
It's days like this that hold cricket back, particularly Test cricket. The uninitiated moan about 'I can't get behind a game that has rain breaks', and while we can laugh such criticism off as myopic or whatever you have to say they have a point when near enough a full day's play is lost to a bit of drizzle and cloud.

Anyway, I've just heard Rory Burns is on 999 Test runs. When he gets his next one he'll be the first opener to 1,000 since Cook in 2007, which says it all about the struggles we've had getting a proper pair sorted for years.
 
It's days like this that hold cricket back, particularly Test cricket. The uninitiated moan about 'I can't get behind a game that has rain breaks', and while we can laugh such criticism off as myopic or whatever you have to say they have a point when near enough a full day's play is lost to a bit of drizzle and cloud.

Anyway, I've just heard Rory Burns is on 999 Test runs. When he gets his next one he'll be the first opener to 1,000 since Cook in 2007, which says it all about the struggles we've had getting a proper pair sorted for years.
Wish Burns was a bit younger, he's 30 next month so we could have the same problem again in a few years.
 
Think the authorities have missed a trick in not allowing for more flexibility in playing conditions for these tests. There's no reason why these tests cannot start earlier and that they cannot react to weather forecasts. The instance we saw this morning where we had to have the toss and then wait 30 mins before starting also needs to be altered.

It must be remarked however that this should be the peak of summer!
 
Wish Burns was a bit younger, he's 30 next month so we could have the same problem again in a few years.
Doesn't worry me too much. Age with batsmen isn't necessarily about age in international cricket... if you'll allow me to go on a weird one. I think the toll of the years of travel is the thing that causes batsmen to go down hill and if you start your career later you can finish it later, to a significant extent. If Burns does prove good enough he will probably still be good enough at 38.
 
WI are bowling well. One of those spells where you feel like it's a matter of time.
 
:cool:

Crawley has a chance to stake his claim when Root returns.

I thought it'd be Burns.. he's played the wrong line once an over at least..

I envy these guys. Rest of us normal people stuck at home in a pandemic.. must be wonderful playing cricket. Weird a few of the WI players turned down the chance to tour.
 
One of England's biggest issues under Bayliss was strike rotation, still an issue it appears.
 
Well the decision to bat first looks utterly shambolic, one of the easiest bowl first decisions ever you'd have thought.

I thought it'd be Burns.. he's played the wrong line once an over at least..

I envy these guys. Rest of us normal people stuck at home in a pandemic.. must be wonderful playing cricket. Weird a few of the WI players turned down the chance to tour.


Really? They've been locked up in a hotel for two weeks in advance of this and not had a life at all (because for some reason the rules are much stricter than they are for footballer?) Sounds a nightmare to me.
 
Well the decision to bat first looks utterly shambolic, one of the easiest bowl first decisions ever you'd have thought.




Really? They've been locked up in a hotel for two weeks in advance of this and not had a life at all (because for some reason the rules are much stricter than they are for footballer?) Sounds a nightmare to me.

Might be coming at it from an Indian perspective.. we had a lockdown in my city and couldn't go out the house for 2.5 months for anything other than essentials..

Still in a partial lockdown with no end in sight.

Top shot by Pope just now..