Viewing 40 posts - 4,361 through 4,400 (of 6,928 total)
  • My dear old things, it's STW TMS!
  • lunge
    Full Member

    The light is something test match cricket needs to have a some discussions about. All to often if feels like the teams are taken off when the conditions are very playable, particularly with floodlights.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    the fat lady is clearing her throat.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Had to be Broad!

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    Houns
    Full Member

    *ripples*

    Well played England

    Klunk
    Free Member

    lunge
    Full Member

    Lovely. Well played.
    Sets my up perfectly as, and I apologise for being smug, I have tickets to Edgbaston on Saturday. Can’t wait.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    And it is a big ‘THANK YOU’ to the West Indies for touring here this summer.

    They really didn’t have to, after all.

    Jeez cricket needs Windies back at the top table….

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Good afternoon, evereeeebodeeee!

    England win toss and bowl first. Glorious sunshine over Hampshire!

    lunge
    Full Member

    2 spinners and a lot of attacking intent in the England side. Could be fun.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Good start!

    lunge
    Full Member

    I fear this won’t last long…

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    Oh dear.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Oof. Not good from Ireland.

    RichPenny
    Free Member

    Willey on fire! (#theresacreamforthat)

    Houns
    Full Member

    Oof. Not good from England.

    nicko74
    Full Member

    Doh, late to the party. Still, there’s Vic Marks and Alison Mitchell and an England collapse – plus the #bantz of telling Irish friends that England’s captain and best batsman being a native-born Englishman…

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Just got roped in to a game for the village 2nd XI tomorrow.

    Please send your #ThoughtsAndPrayers

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    A grand day out.
    Scored a patient, rusty Chesney.

    We won, though!

    Now, on to today’s game. Roy out as cheaply as I was!

    And Bairstow follows. Urgh.

    nicko74
    Full Member

    It’s a good job Vince can bowl, otherwise we’d be wondering what, exactly, he’s here for…

    dannyh
    Free Member

    You’ve got to love Josh Little – he’s a proper filthy club cricketer who has briefly made the big time.

    I’m not sure what his send-off to Bairstow was, but I enjoyed it.

    You just know that when he bats, Jonny will be giving him all sorts of shit with the pithier stuff being between overs (out of stump mic range).

    dannyh
    Free Member

    The test series against Pakistan could be interesting.

    Decent wheels for a sixth former!

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UyRck54fAWw

    nicko74
    Full Member

    So James Vince. 57(?) runs this series, 1 wicket and a howler of a dropped catch. He’s not good enough for the Test side; it’s tough to argue he’s good enough for the ODI side

    dannyh
    Free Member

    So James Vince. 57(?) runs this series, 1 wicket and a howler of a dropped catch. He’s not good enough for the Test side; it’s tough to argue he’s good enough for the ODI side

    I can’t remember which commentator said it today, but it was something along the lines of:

    “You can watch him bat for a hour in a game and think he is one of the classiest players we’ve produced, but if you go away on holiday, don’t follow the cricket and come back the figures will show that he’s scored a hundred runs in five innings and has had a poor series”.

    He just doesn’t do his talent justice. He will wear the ‘enigma’ hat as well as Graeme Hick.

    nicko74
    Full Member

    Excellent explanation!

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Superb batting performance from Ireland there.

    Worthy winners!

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    And we’re back underway again!

    Pakistan opting to bat under leaden skies. Bold.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    Pakistan opting to bat under leaden skies. Bold.

    I don’t think so. It is windy which means the effects of cloud cover are vastly reduced. The wicket is dry and flat and more likely to break up than any of the wickets so far this summer.

    There will be balls hitting the seam and beating the bat, the opening bowlers have 1000+ test wickets between them, but once the shine and hardness have gone I think it will be very good batting conditions.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Wasn’t sure they had the batting to back it up!

    Nicely balanced start to this game though, England possibly just nudging ahead.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    great tight bowling this morning…. putting the squeeze on!

    dannyh
    Free Member

    @CaptainFlasheart

    Wasn’t sure they had the batting to back it up!

    To be fair, if the captain wins the toss, opts to bowl and gives the reason as “we haven’t got the batting to back up the decision to bat first” they either need a new captain or they should get on the next plane back!

    Not that it doesn’t happen in practice. Quite a few mid-90s England ‘put-ins’ in Australia had the whiff off “we don’t fancy this at all, so let’s put off the inevitable for a day or two”.

    But you don’t, as a rule, admit to it publicly!

    dannyh
    Free Member

    My prediction: Pakistan will win this. Properly quick bowlers and two world class spinners. Pitch is dry and the foot marks were chewing up on day 1.

    300+ with the length of their tail is a fail by England.

    I reckon England will trail on 1st innings and end up batting last on a minefield.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    The big danger for Pakistan is if one of the seamers goes around the park and forces the leggies to have their first bowl against well set batters.

    England let Pakistan get 50 runs too many methinks.

    lunge
    Full Member

    Agree dannyh, this’ll be a touch match to win. Burns gone early as well.

    Related, is Ben Foakes in the bubble and can he come into the next match? Buttler is not looking good behind the stumps.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    Pakistan are all over England here!

    😳😳😳

    lunge
    Full Member

    Sibley gone.
    I had a fear that having 2 openers with very unconventional techniques would get taken apart by better bowling. I’m just not sure you can play against quality bowling in the way those 2 do.

    lunge
    Full Member

    Stokes gone, 12-3.

    nicko74
    Full Member

    Ah, a good old-fashioned England top-order collapse. Haven’t seen one of those for a while; now to wonder if it becomes “grimly hang on for the remaining 3 days and make the inevitable draw feel like a win” or “just carry on in this vein until the whole sorry affair finishes with a heavy loss inside 4 days”.

    Such a stark contrast with the last WI test – now it’s clear the lineup’s unbalanced with not enough batting depth. And the additional bowling strength didn’t really pay off today

    lunge
    Full Member

    Woakes at 7 is scary enough before a collapse happens, that he’ll come in so early is very worrying. That Buttler is coming in at 6 is also a touch concerning.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    Woakes at 7 is scary enough before a collapse happens, that he’ll come in so early is very worrying. That Buttler is coming in at 6 is also a touch concerning.

    I was just thinking about that because Buttler is nearly as bad as Iron Mitts Bairstow behind the stumps.

    Given the number of allrounders we supposedly have (admittedly when Stokes can bowl) you would have thought we could afford a proper keeper. But then you see Woakes at 7 and the doubts set in.

    On a totally unrelated point, much as I am mega excited by Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, I don’t see them having long careers, and certainly not as out and out quicks. The reason is this:

    Despite Aggers et al going on about Naseem as having a beautiful sideways on action, he actually doesn’t bowl with the classic (if you are talking side-on) cartwheel action. Both of them bowl with what I call a ‘fold-away’ action. The front arm doesn’t pull straight down and away, but pulls back across the body. Both of their arm swings that actually propel the ball are pretty short. Not wanting to tar them with this brush, but think Martin McCague (if any remembers). He was notionally ‘side-on’ but he actually bowled the ball with a flick of the arm that began with the arm pointing down, not a full swing around.

    This type of bowling action suits a youthful, whippy physique. As they both fill out, I expect they will lose pace.

    I guess time will tell, but for now it sure is great viewing/listening.

    lunge
    Full Member

    Given the number of allrounders we supposedly have (admittedly when Stokes can bowl) you would have thought we could afford a proper keeper.

    I actually think Stokes at 5 really unbalances the side, they could never drop him if he’s not bowling but should they bring another bat in instead and leave him at 5? Bring in Denley who can bowl spin along with Root and leave out a spinner maybe?
    The 2 openers are to be persisted with for the moment, though I think Sibley will get found out against good bowling, James Bracey could be the answer here. Pope will end up at 3 I suspect.

Viewing 40 posts - 4,361 through 4,400 (of 6,928 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.