The Cricket Thread

[David Kelly 1224]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

The daft thing is they'll probably still take Jennings this winter as he's a decent player of spin but it's just delaying the inevitable iyam. Plus there's only 7 tests before the Ashes to bed in 3 new batsmen at the top of the order (on the assumption Jennings will have to be discarded at some point). I do think anyone would've struggled against that India bowling attack in English conditions though.

The lack of alternatives is certainly an issue I think.  I think they will have to give Burns a try.  I hear he has a bit of an unorthodox style but then so does Steve Smith.  With the amount of runs he's scoring year after year he has to surely be given a chance.  I wouldn't be completely surprised if they give Roy a try out.  I know he plays middle order for Surrey but the fact that he's a success at international cricket in the shorter forms might be enough to get him a try.  In the same sense it wouldn't be a complete shock if the gave Bairstow or even Buttler a move up the order.  The way Ed Smith has been talking is very much, just play the best players we have regardless of what position/format they are used to playing.  I'm personally not convinced you can do that with an opener but we might see it happen.

[Dr Gloom 21861]

What a way to go for cook. went out like he started in Nagpur with a 50 and a ton. Piers Morgan has been in turmoil over it too, which is a bonus. 

Surely Jennings has got to go? Take that 100 in his first test out and he averages about 16 in tests. His average in the CC this year isn't much better. 

Not ideal to be throwing two new openers in for a winter tour but I don't see a better option. Fuck knows who they go for though. 

[Alex 34938]

Just now, David Kelly said:

The lack of alternatives is certainly an issue I think.  I think they will have to give Burns a try.  I hear he has a bit of an unorthodox style but then so does Steve Smith.  With the amount of runs he's scoring year after year he has to surely be given a chance.  I wouldn't be completely surprised if they give Roy a try out.  I know he plays middle order for Surrey but the fact that he's a success at international cricket in the shorter forms might be enough to get him a try.  In the same sense it wouldn't be a complete shock if the gave Bairstow or even Buttler a move up the order.  The way Ed Smith has been talking is very much, just play the best players we have regardless of what position/format they are used to playing.  I'm personally not convinced you can do that with an opener but we might see it happen.

Crazy Burns not playing in this test. Gone past 1,000 runs for the 5th summer in a row, averaging 60-odd this season and he could've played at 3 in a dead rubber just to get him a bit used to test cricket. I actually think Hales was discarded too soon as I think he could do a job at 3. He's got a bit of a suspect technique outside off stump but who hasn't out of those who've been tried. Roy might be a decent shout. Moeen Ali is never a test number 3. Especially with the Ashes coming up. It's frustrating because a line up with Root at 4, Buttler / Stokes at 5/6, Bairstow at 7, Moeen at 8 then Rashid or Hales at 9 is about as good as it gets so far as a middle order is concerned.

[Dr Gloom 21861]

Hales? 

[Dr Gloom 21861]

Jinx

[David Kelly 1224]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

Crazy Burns not playing in this test. Gone past 1,000 runs for the 5th summer in a row, averaging 60-odd this season and he could've played at 3 in a dead rubber just to get him a bit used to test cricket. I actually think Hales was discarded too soon as I think he could do a job at 3. He's got a bit of a suspect technique outside off stump but who hasn't out of those who've been tried. Roy might be a decent shout. Moeen Ali is never a test number 3. Especially with the Ashes coming up. It's frustrating because a line up with Root at 4, Buttler / Stokes at 5/6, Bairstow at 7, Moeen at 8 then Rashid or Hales at 9 is about as good as it gets so far as a middle order is concerned.

Hales would certainly be a formidable number 9.

[Alex 34938]

Just now, David Kelly said:

Hales would certainly be a formidable number 9.

I meant Woakes

[Alex 34938]

On 07/09/2018 at 17:21, Dr Gloom said:

Root carrying his form at 3 to his favoured number 4 spot 

[David Kelly 1224]

Hales is a player I do feel sorry for getting jettisoned so quickly.  But he does illustrate the risk of moving someone up the order just because they open well in the shorter form.  The fact that they've given him an unsuccessful try (combind with his part in the Stokes incident) might make it more likely Roy gets a chance over him going forward.

[Dr Gloom 21861]

I think when you look at the chances given to the likes of Jennings and Vince, Hales is definitely worth another punt, though a bit higher up than number 9. Buttler showed his class when he was recalled.

Hopefully Burns is the answer. It sounds like he values his wicket at least. The issue with this England team, is the lack of balance. We've got a handful of excellent all rounders, but they're all destructive players best suited to playing at 5 or 6. Where are the players capable of occupying the crease for long periods when boundaries are hard to come by? 

 

 

[Dr Gloom 21861]

Just now, Alex said:

tbf, he could have batted any position this summer playing like he has and he would have struggled. nice to see that he has finally rediscovered some form, albeit in a dead rubber. hope he finally converts a 50 into a ton. feels like it's been a while

[Alex 34938]

Just now, Dr Gloom said:

tbf, he could have batted any position this summer playing like he has and he would have struggled. nice to see that he has finally rediscovered some form, albeit in a dead rubber. hope he finally converts a 50 into a ton. feels like it's been a while

I was right though. You were wrong. That's what really matters here

[PaddockLad 17131]

34 minutes ago, Alex said:

It was Mark Taylor. He declared overnight when he was on 334, which equalled Bradman's record. But it wasn't the world record score for a test innings, it was (at that time) the record for an Australian. It was the world record when Bradman scored it but Wally Hammond beat it not long afterwards before Len Hutton's famous 364, which Garfield Sobers eventually went past about 20 years later. Lara beat that with his 375 before Matthew Hayden beat it. Lara then set the current record with 400 not out against England (same opposition and ground as the previous record).

 

Cheers, that’s really great 👍 

 

This is why I don’t post in this thread much, I like cricket but am a bit vague on it  

[David Kelly 1224]

We've said it before but Hameed looked like the answer but his form is so shot you wonder whether he can ever recover.

[Alex 34938]

3 minutes ago, David Kelly said:

Hales is a player I do feel sorry for getting jettisoned so quickly.  But he does illustrate the risk of moving someone up the order just because they open well in the shorter form.  The fact that they've given him an unsuccessful try (combind with his part in the Stokes incident) might make it more likely Roy gets a chance over him going forward.

So long as the 4 day cricket is mostly player in Spring and September then you're going to struggle to find test openers and number 3s. It's obvious but money is more important so the one-days and T/20s take precedent

[Dr Gloom 21861]

5 minutes ago, Alex said:

I was right though. You were wrong. That's what really matters here

i dunno about that. let's see what happens in the winter. he made a big hundred shortly after moving up to 3 before he started to struggle to convert 50s into tons. 

i still don't see a better option at 3 out of the current batch of players, and searching for an entirely new top three is going to be tough, when we arguably have some middle order batsman capable of moving up to 4. but it's irrelevant as root clearly feels happier at 4, that's where he wants to bat, so as skipper i imagine that's where he'll stay. 

[Alex 34938]

2 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

 

Cheers, that’s really great 👍 

 

This is why I don’t post in this thread much, I like cricket but am a bit vague on it  

Mark Taylor was captain at the time and his form was really poor. That innings possibly saved his career. He was actually going to bat on a little bit the next day just to make it a bit awkward for the Pakistani opening batsmen (i.e. they wouldn't quite know when the declaration would be so it was just to sow a bit of doubt in their minds). It was pointed out to him that he was equal with Bradman's record and he thought it would look bad, i.e. batting on for another 10 or 20 minutes just to beat the record so he declared. Probably didn't matter as it ended up as a draw anyway.

When was in Adelaide and had a look around the Oval but the Bradman Museum was closed for refurbishment, which was a bit of a shame as I would've liked to have seen it. You might know this but he was from rural New South Wales rather than South Australia. He moved to Adelaide to work in the Stock Exchange there. So you had the greatest sporting hero ever in a sport daft country needing to find employment to make decent money while he was still playing at probably at the peak of his powers.

[Alex 34938]

13 minutes ago, David Kelly said:

We've said it before but Hameed looked like the answer but his form is so shot you wonder whether he can ever recover.

Had two poor seasons now as well. Averaging about 10 this year I think in FC cricket. He's still really young but following on from what I was saying earlier about the County Championships being shunted to the margins and his game only being suited to the longer format then you could just seeing him fading into obscurity. He's still really young though.

[Gemmill 44539]

Draw laying at 3.75 if anyone fancies it ....

[Alex 34938]

Just now, Gemmill said:

Draw laying at 3.75 if anyone fancies it ....

Already on it from when it was about 4 when England had a decent opening partnership on day 1. It's still possible of course but that's generous I reckon.

[Gemmill 44539]

Get some more on....

[PaddockLad 17131]

3 minutes ago, Alex said:

Mark Taylor was captain at the time and his form was really poor. That innings possibly saved his career. He was actually going to bat on a little bit the next day just to make it a bit awkward for the Pakistani opening batsmen (i.e. they wouldn't quite know when the declaration would be so it was just to sow a bit of doubt in their minds). It was pointed out to him that he was equal with Bradman's record and he thought it would look bad, i.e. batting on for another 10 or 20 minutes just to beat the record so he declared. Probably didn't matter as it ended up as a draw anyway.

When was in Adelaide and had a look around the Oval but the Bradman Museum was closed for refurbishment, which was a bit of a shame as I would've liked to have seen it. You might know this but he was from rural New South Wales rather than South Australia. He moved to Adelaide to work in the Stock Exchange there. So you had the greatest sporting hero ever in a sport daft country needing to find employment to make decent money while he was still playing at probably at the peak of his powers.

 

Yeah there was pictures of him as a kid in NSW, they said he practised with a stump rather than a bat & shots of him at his graft, seems mad nowadays. Lots about Larwood & Bodyline. I’d read  Duncan Hamilton’s brilliant book on Harold Larwood a bit before going out there, it’s a great story. Jardime the England captain was an incredible figure too, he sussed Bradman’s alleged weakness against pace by watching specially prepared cine footage of him for hours, sounds to me he basically invented video analysis in sport in the 1930s. 

[Gemmill 44539]

I laid Khan at 1.12 on Saturday night and completely fucking forgot to cash out when he got put on his arse. Cost me £12 in the end....

[Alex 34938]

Just now, PaddockLad said:

 

Yeah there was pictures of him as a kid in NSW, they said he practised with a stump rather than a bat & shots of him at his graft, seems mad nowadays. Lots about Larwood & Bodyline. I’d read  Duncan Hamilton’s brilliant book on Harold Larwood a bit before going out there, it’s a great story. Jardime the England captain was an incredible figure too, he sussed Bradman’s alleged weakness against pace by watching specially prepared cine footage of him for hours, sounds to me he basically invented video analysis in sport in the 1930s. 

He used to chuck a golf ball at a water tank. When it bounced off at an angle he used to hit it with a stump. I imagine most of us would struggle to edge it one time out of 5. And aye, I really like Duncan Hamilton and the Larwood book is great. After Larwood moved to Australia he actually became good friends with Jack Fingleton who was a bit of an enemy of Bradman's. They played in the same Aussie team but didn't get on. There was a bit of a NSW / Victoria, Protestant / Catholic split apparently. Fingleton (along with Bill O'Reilly, another former player who was on Fingleton's side of the dressing room schism) later became a journalist. They both covered the Ashes series in '48 and were both apparently pissing themselves laughing when Bradman was dismissed for nought in his final innings. Charles Williams Bradman biography is a good one.

[Alex 34938]

11 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

Get some more on....

Slightly reticent as teams tend to bat until they are absolutely safe which would eat up a bit of time. England probably have enough already but I bet they want a lead of at least 450 before declaring.