[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/23839985 ]Ever the optimist…..[/url]
Clark made a game of it, err no... stupid declaration, never enough overs to bowl England out the only realistic outcome was a draw or England win. Clark risked everything to gain nothing he didn't already have or lose 😕
Seriously Zokes, what would you expect him to say? You are captain of a team that has lost but faces the same oppo in the near future. Leaving aside the commercial obligations (!?!) imagine if he had just said, " yea, we're crap and the POMs will batter us at home as well"?
Plus, who pushed who at the end? It was a bit that I was actually watching and it seemed Clarke wanted to see for himself what the meter was showing but the umpire pushed him away dismissively rather like a prep school teacher to a little kid. I can see why he (the umpire) found Clarke annoying but can't see how any of this ends up in the conclusion that Clarke pushed the umpire.
...unless its "red-rosé" tinted spectacles?
On balance, it seems we slightly underperformed and the Aussies slightly outperformed. But what will the series be remembered for. A 3:0 win for starters and that's great. But great cricket and a respect for the spirit of the game? Hardly. Ok an exciting finish and a prematurely ended second attempt yesterday. But far more for strange rules, odd officiating, poor technology, gamesmanship from both sides, ""blatant cheating" (?), Boycott's hypocrisy, measured responses from the likes of Hughes and Aggers, a fun debate between Athers and Warnie yesterday ...oh and thru "Warwickshire-tinted" lenses, Bell proving the doubters wrong. Good on him....fun to watch "Bernhard Langer" playing cricket!
Lets hope for a better series all round in Aus, but with the same result. Test cricket should be the pinnacle of the game and an Ashes series especially so.
Yes what could he say and it seemed reasonableSeriously Zokes, what would you expect him to say?
On balance, it seems we slightly underperformed and the Aussies slightly outperformed.
This
England did not perform well and it could , weather aside, have been a 3-2 series
It certainly wont be remembered for the cricket as THM notes
More bad blood when it goes to Oz is my guess
Anyone got a vid / picture of the broad/Anderson high five to the face? I burst out laughing on the train when I heard that
Red-rosé ???? Damn auto spell check!!
Seriously Zokes, what would you expect him to say?
Dunno, but as most of the locals seem to be counting that as a nearly-win for oz, and the series as "we'll, we lost, but deserved to win", it would be nice to have some straight talk
Meanwhile, in the other Ashes
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Are you watching Haddin?
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Zokes, any good links to "fun" newspaper articles from your locals?
Sadly not. They seem to have got their knickers in a twist about some late night urination, but mostly it's just buried under the absolute farce that is the (potentially) massive drugs scandal in the AFL
Dunno, but as most of the locals seem to be counting that as a nearly-win for oz, and the series as "we'll, we lost, but deserved to win", it would be nice to have some straight talk
Sports fans , and aussie ones [ and england football fans]in particular, are known for their fair , reasonable and impartial views on their teams performance.
Still think ,weather aside, they would have won two tests which I certainly did not predict
it was not a one sided 5-0 whitewash and they were unlucky to not get a win tbh
Clark made a game of it, err no... stupid declaration, never enough overs to bowl England out the only realistic outcome was a draw or England win. Clark risked everything to gain nothing he didn't already have or lose
He was hoping to humiliate England and get to claim the moral high ground by watching them shut up shop and play for the draw. No other reasonable explanation IMO.
The panic when it all started to go wrong was pretty funny.
Still think ,weather aside, they would have won two tests which I certainly did not predict
Possibly but that was far from guaranteed. They've shown a lack of killer instinct when it counts pretty consistently.
The panic when it all started to go wrong was pretty funny.
I seem to have been the only person in my office who saw it this way.
Can't imagine why 😆
Anyone got a vid / picture of the broad/Anderson high five to the face? I burst out laughing on the train when I heard that
Reminds me of the Twelfth Man sketch, which I have to dig out from somewhere...
Found it:
"They lack the experience required to do them properly, the high five, and if they run around throwing them around willy nilly, then accidents like this are bound to happen..."
😆
[Richie O'Benaud]
Top of the morning, everybodeeeeeee
[/Richie O'Benaud]
Great start by Australia this morning in Manchester...
😆
[url= http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/articles/icc-makes-drs-changes ]Oh dear lord no…..[/url]
This DRS nonsense just rumbles along.
The solution. No DRS during the game. The umpires umpire. The players accept the decisions or face sanction. The umpires performance is reviewed after each game using whatever technology is available. The umpires are promoted or demoted up or down a rating system as a result. You have your elite panel as a result, the top 15 perhaps.
Net result, the game doesn't become a farce while it is being played. The umpiring should be of the best standard available. Job done.
Umpires should also be given discretion on bad light. For example, telling Moin Khan to piss off when he complained his fielders couldn't see the ball, when he had slowed the over rate down deliberately himself. Sure, the end of that series looked farcical, but it showed that cheating ought to be negated if possible. It was Moin that caused that farce, he should have been told by the ICC after that game "unlucky mate, you've lost the series, and you've got a $100,000 fine. You can pay it yourself, or split it amongst your team".
