English cricket thread

Utd heap said:
Because that's now how it works. If the umpires deem it to dark, then it's dangerous for the batsmen and you can't play
Click to expand...

I just watched it, they needed 26 off 5 overs, got 10 off the first 2 overs from the quicks and then NSW refused to bowl spinners. I don’t think umpires, especially ones that wear sunglasses, are best placed to decide when it is or isn’t too dark and using the set light meter reading can create a rod for their own back. Yesterday Labuschagne was smacking the spinners in the ‘dark’ down the ground for 6, it was rubbish.

I remember going to the WTC final in 2021 and they finished early for bad light when visually the morning was actually worse.

EDIT: In the example Xaviesta gave, they took 8 off a Sean Abbott over only to be told, no it’s too dark now lads at the end of it.
 
There is live play!!!!!!!!!!
























In the county match between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan.
 
covers coming off...

Pitch inspection at 12:15 - then lunch at 12:20, so no play until 13:00 regardless of inspection. Sometimes test cricket, you don't help yourself.
 
Last edited:
groovyalbert said:
covers coming off...

Pitch inspection at 12:15 - then lunch at 12:20, so no play until 13:00 regardless of inspection. Sometimes test cricket, you don't help yourself.
Click to expand...

To be fair the inspection yesterday meant 45 mins to the start of play.
 
Just checked, rain forecast at 1 of course :lol: . Not that 40 mins would have made much of a difference mind you.
 
I hope Australia either bat the day out or play is eventually abandoned due to rain.
 
Last edited:
Swedish_Plumber said:
So frustrating. Decisions made by those that wish to stick to traditions rather than using common sense.
Click to expand...

So what do you suggest they do with the lunch they've prepared? Let it go cold? Throw it away? Have you even considered the environmental effects?
 
Swedish_Plumber said:
So frustrating. Decisions made by those that wish to stick to traditions rather than using common sense.
Click to expand...
They can’t play at the moment regardless , it’ll be absolutely soaking around the wicket. There’s no excuse for not covering the whole pitch, it clearly is possible in the examples we’ve seen from Sri Lanka.

Regarding the light, surely it’s very simple to do a study, agree on what figure on the light meter is too dark, and just use that.
 
Dan_F said:
They can’t play at the moment regardless , it’ll be absolutely soaking around the wicket. There’s no excuse for not covering the whole pitch, it clearly is possible in the examples we’ve seen from Sri Lanka.

Regarding the light, surely it’s very simple to do a study, agree on what figure on the light meter is too dark, and just use that.
Click to expand...

The really annoying thing with this is, based on yesterday's precedent, there is a scenario where England are chasing and the Aussies refuse to not bowl their quicks leading to end of play.

Maybe this was the thinking re no recognised spinner...
 
The frustrating thing is that so far it’s not the massive blob above Manchester but small drizzly fringe showers that’s holding it up.
 
Also as for reserve days, I suppose they can’t really do them in a tightly scheduled series such as this one. For instance, if they played on Monday they have a 2 day turn around for the Oval which isn’t great for the players and broadcasting companies.
 
Lads, there isn’t going to be any play. It’s easier to just accept it now :lol:
 
Not much you can do but accept that rain is part of the game. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn’t
 
Dan_F said:
Lads, there isn’t going to be any play. It’s easier to just accept it now :lol:
Click to expand...

Yep, going about my day. All part of the game. England will kick themselves over those first 2 tests when they weren’t quite at it but still a chance to draw the series in the last one.
 
You got greedy in the first innings, i think you guys could've gone 375-400 and had us well on the ropes with a very small lead to chase down in any rain affected days.
 
WPMUFC said:
You got greedy in the first innings, i think you guys could've gone 375-400 and had us well on the ropes with a very small lead to chase down in any rain affected days.
Click to expand...

Yesterday killed that idea for me. Pitch is good.The last 190 took what, about 30 overs? That’s still not enough angle get a win.
 
WPMUFC said:
You got greedy in the first innings, i think you guys could've gone 375-400 and had us well on the ropes with a very small lead to chase down in any rain affected days.
Click to expand...

Yep we did get greedy but as another poster just said we will be kicking ourselves until next Ashes about first two tests
 
ArmchairCritic said:
I can’t believe people are still going on about that first test declaration. England made more than enough chances to win from there, they didn’t take them. I disagree about Australia being unluckier too. They had the better of the overheads at Edgbaston and weather will probably save them here.

I think England have grown into this series, they were very rusty in the first two tests and 2-2 would be a pretty fair reflection of the series so far. England warming up against Ireland with only one first choice quick whilst Australia had a test final vs India, Leach going down injured, giving Bairstow the gloves after a massive injury (he said the other day he hadn’t kept in 3 years!) and Wood/Woakes only being available from the 3rd test. They just didn’t prepare well enough to be honest, some of those things were out of their hands but looking at the catching in the first 2 tests just shows they weren’t quite ready as a group.
Click to expand...

Yeah a post that sums it up perfectly but doesn't make it any easier to stomach
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Yesterday killed that idea for me. Pitch is good.The last 190 took what, about 30 overs? That’s still not enough angle get a win.
Click to expand...

Aussies have thrown away wickets in this one, and basically Marnus having one good innings in 4 tests got us to the day of rain. almost 600 was needless.
 
WPMUFC said:
Aussies have thrown away wickets in this one, and basically Marnus having one good innings in 4 tests got us to the day of rain. almost 600 was needless.
Click to expand...
Nah if England had just a 100 run lead; they would be looking at needing 2 sessions of play right now minimum given how the pitch was yesterday. Right now if England had just 1 session, they have a chance.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Also as for reserve days, I suppose they can’t really do them in tightly scheduled series such as this one. For instance, if they played on Monday they have a 2 day turn around for the Oval which isn’t great for the players and broadcasting companies.
Click to expand...

In addition all other logistical issues including policing, staff and other preparation. If you have reserve days all your preparations and event management have to be with reserve days in mind. So you're potentially adding 20 % to the cost of hosting a 5 day match and in most cases the reserve day won't be triggered anyway. Seems like a waste of resources.

I think the concept of reserve days would anyway open a can of worms. When does it get triggered? Washed out days only? Slow overrates? Rain and bad light interruptions only? Easier to accept you've got 5 days to force a result regardless of conditions.
 
FlawlessThaw said:
Nah if England had just a 100 run lead; they would be looking at needing 2 sessions of play right now minimum given how the pitch was yesterday. Right now if England had just 1 session, they have a chance.
Click to expand...

Easy to say that now, however, at the time I was pushing for a declaration because I felt it was our only route to forcing a victory - which is playing out unfortunately. Of course at that point, none of us knew how many overs Australia would be able to bat, but I still think the maths stack up that if we batted harder at the end of day 2, we could have declared at 12 on day 3 and chased down the target yesterday.
 
Dan_F said:
Easy to say that now, however, at the time I was pushing for a declaration because I felt it was our only route to forcing a victory - which is playing out unfortunately. Of course at that point, none of us knew how many overs Australia would be able to bat, but I still think the maths stack up that if we batted harder at the end of day 2, we could have declared at 12 on day 3 and chased down the target yesterday.
Click to expand...

It is easy to say but likewise one doesn’t just bowl out Australia who bat to 10 in half a day on this pitch.

And I say this as someone who was in favour of your plan. I just don’t think it makes much of a difference.
 
Don't think England could have done anything else regarding their batting to speed the game along - maybe gone harder end of day 2 but YJB pretty much rectified that. Where they've maybe been a bit poor is their bowling. Could have skittled the Aussies earlier and for fewer runs, and they probably needed to take better advantage yesterday. Labuschagne's innings in particular has potentially saved Australia here.

Edit - also, Broad and Anderson haven't really performed to the required level this test. 3 wickets between them and Broad has been expensive. Hard to win a test match in 4 days without your frontline bowlers taking charge.
 
Dan_F said:
Easy to say that now, however, at the time I was pushing for a declaration because I felt it was our only route to forcing a victory - which is playing out unfortunately. Of course at that point, none of us knew how many overs Australia would be able to bat, but I still think the maths stack up that if we batted harder at the end of day 2, we could have declared at 12 on day 3 and chased down the target yesterday.
Click to expand...
how many overs would we have gained declaring at 12 on Friday? 10 overs? How many runs would we have lost?
 
croadyman said:
Without a doubt and gonna find myself as engaged with Fifth Test as I was in 2019 which wasn't at all when they also retained here
Click to expand...
Can still stop them from actually winning the series. A few of their players said before the start that losing the 5th test for 2-2 in 2019 made it feel a little less special which is understandable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.