The Awfully New Cricket Thread

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Quick runs were obviously going to be important. We should've gone with Bopara.

Shah can't complain he hasn't been given a go now and he's failed on some of the easiest wickets in test cricket against players he was backed to have the right style against too.

He'll have the one-dayers to get himself back in the runs. Maybe it's just the number 3 position he's uncomfortable with in the tests. Re- the one dayers- Luke Wright scored a run a ball century against NZ A so he might be back (oh goooood).

---

SA vs Aus.

Positives for Australia with Siddle/Hughes/Johnson looking like mainstays against a good side. Not sure about Hilfenhaus yet.

The supposedly dangerous South Africa pace attack look less at home on their own turf than they did in Australia. Harris just seems not good enough in any capacity.

[rjd2]

Johnson has being immense for the last few months, probably the best fast bowler in the world right now. South Africa have problems but few solutions! The bowling attack as you said looks toothless but their is few alternatives. Albie Morkel a fine hitter of the ball is their number 12 and he has yet to play a test. Neil Mc Kenzie needs runs ASAP as the knives are out for him. Prince will replace Smith for the next test, interesting to see how he performs.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Just reading on Cricinfo that McKenzie is gone with comments that seem to suggest his career might be over. Morne Morkel's also gone, though clearly he'll be back. Not sure he's been that much worse but it's never a bad idea to introduce a fresh bowler mid-way through a series, especially if you're losing.

Not like the England set-up post-2005 Ashes are they? You do badly, you're out!

[rjd2]

Just reading on Cricinfo that McKenzie is gone with comments that seem to suggest his career might be over. Morne Morkel's also gone, though clearly he'll be back. Not sure he's been that much worse but it's never a bad idea to introduce a fresh bowler mid-way through a series, especially if you're losing.

Not like the England set-up post-2005 Ashes are they? You do badly, you're out!

Mornie has being very poor all series, he cant have any complaints. He will be back soon enough. I would advise everyone here to get all their money and put it on Australia to win the third test. Amala and Prince opening?! Albie Morkel has never played a test before and that Parnell lad they have called up is toilet. Smith being out is huge as well.

[rudi]

Change your avatar rjd, there's a love. It's next to impossible to concentrate with her hanging about my peripheral vision...

[weirdbeard]

This referral system is a joke.  How could that Panesar delivery to Sarwan not have been out.  Even with the predictive element of Hawk Eye, it was blatantly obvious that that was going to hit leg stump.  A shocking call by the 3rd umpire - at 43/3, they'd have been rocking.

And Prior lets another one go through his legs.  For fucks sake.

[joeyzaza]

58/3. We might actually have a chance here. In all honesty, I couldn't say we deserve it though.

[aaaaaaaaaargh!]

According to the BBC the Windies are pressing on with the scoring at a, quite frankly, awesome rate:

West Indies 544 & 789-3 v England 546-6 dec & 237-6 dec

edit - Chanderpaul has gone - Windies are 84/4.  This could be another exciting finish!

Swann's figures are approaching respectibility:

14.5-8-8-3

[joeyzaza]

85/5, 28.5 overs left. Even England shouldn't be able to fuck that up.

Swann's figures are approaching respectibility:

14.5-8-8-3

Anderson's endeavours are finally being rewarded too. 20/2, and more to come, I suspect.

Edit: 109/8. 20 balls left. Come on Jimmy James!

'nother edit: Arses. 2 wickets short of papering over the cracks (and the lack of them in the pitches).

10 wickets in the first 10 sessions, 20 in the last 5. That was a bit more like it, though it still doesn't compare favourably to the 9 wickets + 2 retired hurts within 30-ish overs in the 2nd test between South Africa and Australia.

A 5 game series has basically been decided by one cracking 9-over spell from Jerome Taylor.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

So annoying to think we could've won 2-1, and probably should've drawn the series at least in Antigua.

So a few batsmen have massaged their averages, and are about to get the shock of their lives on green spring pitches in England and then when the New Youth aussie wrecking crew arrive in the summer.

[confettiinmyhair]

In a strange way I think the flat pitches might well make something of Anderson and Broad, in the same way that getting tanked around by Indian batsmen on flat pitches helped Hoggard and Flintoff in the early noughties. Swann had a great series and has somehow become the number one spinner in England, so I guess you have three bowling spots covered for the Ashes.

But who else? Harmison looks harmless, Amjad looked erratic, Sidebottom is probably finished, Flintoff might be patched up and there have been some muted calls for Simon Jones (the Ledley King of Cricket) who might be called upon if he bowls well for Worcestershire early season. Or do they dip into the Lions team and god forbid go again with Plunkett or Mahmood, or perhaps even somebody untested like Davies? Though by the looks of things the Lions attack can't finish teams off http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/fds/hi/statistics/cricket/scorecards/2009/3/15407/html/scorecard.stm

The big problem is that there is a complete lack of pace and aggression in the current England attack, and certainly no strike bowler. Almost every other test playing country has one - Fidel Edwards, Mitchell Johnson, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma.

Is the solution (and I say this half jokingly) to prepare spinning surfaces and hope Monty, Swann and Adil Rashid bowl out the Aussies?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Humouring your idea: Swann and Rashid should be able to bat in theory at least as good as Tim Ambrose, so you might be able to still field

Strauss
Cook
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bopara
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Rashid
Swann
Panesar

The leg-spin/off-spin/slow left arm gives some good variety. Prior would have to play as he's virtually as good as a specialist batsman.

More realistically, Rashid would be a bit of a luxury and you'd play Harmison or Anderson.

What does Harmison need to stop him throwing his teddy out of the cot? What do you need to do to get him to run in and bowl at full pelt? Surround him with postcards of Ashington while he gets a blowjob from a coal miner?

[rjd2]

You would think a country who invented 20/20 cricket wold be a little better at this format would you not?

[rudi]

You would think a country who invented 20/20 cricket wold be a little better at this format would you not?

We invented tennis too, don't forget...

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Help!

http://content.cricinfo.com/rsavaus2009/content/current/story/395497.html

As we neglect to consider Simon Jones, the finest swing bowler in the country, the man who produced the most incisive bowling spells of the Ashes (with the possible concession of Flintoff's to Ponting/Gilchrist).

...Mitchell Johnson's stepped up a gear.

Jones is most likely not going to play unless there's an injury crisis (and if there is one then he will more than likely be a part of it). But boy I wish things could've been different for that guy.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

http://content.cricinfo.com/rsavaus2009/engine/current/match/350474.html

Good start for SA on a pitch that isn't doing much. Ponting and Clarke out for a duck which is usually a good sign. Hussey fails once again.

Good for an English point of view that they're still fannying around with McDonald and a potential all-rounder position rather than just picking their best players.

Interestingly Bryce McGain is debuting at 36 after being the 3rd best leg spinner in the world* for a while and having to wait his turn.

*Exaggeration.

[mikeyg27]

Bizarrely, Cricket was on the front page of ESPN* today, as Manny Ramirez, one of Major League Baseball's top stars**, took part in a brief game for the promotional purposes of DirecTV's cricket package.




*Actually I have seen cricket on ESPN before as they own Cricinfo. Usually it's in the context of terror attacks.
**I only know this because I read Bill Simmons, and he doesn't try to hide his man-crush on Manny.

[rjd2]

http://content.cricinfo.com/rsavaus2009/engine/current/match/350474.html

Good start for SA on a pitch that isn't doing much. Ponting and Clarke out for a duck which is usually a good sign. Hussey fails once again.

Good for an English point of view that they're still fannying around with McDonald and a potential all-rounder position rather than just picking their best players.

Interestingly Bryce McGain is debuting at 36 after being the 3rd best leg spinner in the world* for a while and having to wait his turn.

*Exaggeration.

North is injured and Watson just returned a few weeks ago. I imagine if both are fit for the ashes one of them plays, Watson would be the better option as he is a much better player.
Is anyone following the India match? Ryder when on 98 had to watch in agony Martin try to survive 5 balls so he could start the next over to get his century!
Tedulkar is on 70, hopefully he will get 100, India barring weather should win this match. Its being good stuff so for well worth watching.

[weirdbeard]

HA!  The West Indies have just, literally, thrown away a match.  They were beckoned off by the management, thinking they had the game won on the Duckworth/Lewis method.  They hadn't, they were 1 run behind.  The game is over and England are the winners. 

I'd mention the interviews and reaction but Sky Sports have ended their broadcast just as the game was finished.  Justifying their extortionate subscription rates there - fuckers.   I've had to revert to BBC Five Live Sports Extra for the aftermath.

[confettiinmyhair]

Watched the farce last night, and noticed that John Dyson when wearing glasses looks a bit like Germaine Greer..... Anyway West Indies cocked up big time, Pollard suddenly became preoccupied with looking up at the sky rather then continue smashing England to all parts, they completely handed the intiative back to England after wrestling it back with Chanderpaul smashing another nail in the coffin of Steve Harmison's International Career.

England still have a really weak and predictable ODI plan, and though its effective with the right bowling attack. Set a par score, defend and rely on the opposition capitulating, if the opposition get off to a flyer the game is dead. You see though Broad is now developing into a dependable ODI bowler, he still has no accurate frontline support. Khan, Anderson and Harmison are too inconsistant. As far as batting goes, sticking with Bopara up top is fine but why didn't they give Davies another couple of games? The argument that if Strauss plays he must open is ludricrous.  Why not have him as a floater in order, coming in whenever the situation demands him to bat?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Amazing really how a guy like Shah gets how to play a one-day innings but the others are still trying to work it out. Not being pre-occupied at all by trying to out-hit everyone or play big strokes, he just accumulates runs at about a run a ball without anyone really noticing. And he looked ugly out there, really ugly. Scrambling about, nurdling the ball, top-edging it, doing whatever he needed to do basically.

Bopara showed a good deal of maturity (especially in comparison to Pietersen yesterday who got out in an embarrassingly schoolboy fashion) opening the innings- didn't panic when the run-rate slowed.

It's hard to forget we're so totally useless at one-day cricket, on paper it seems as though we have numerous options, but they all seem to combine to produce utterly insipid and ineffectual performances 9 times out of 10.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

So we screwed up the one-dayer though that's more than we usually get chasing a score.

Just reading the quotes from SA's innings win over Australia, all of them rather bleary-eyed different variations of "fucking hell, CRICKET IS AMAZING!" which is nice to see from old stagers like Ponting.

Oh, and you'll know that Mitchell Johnson scored a century at over a run a ball. There are some really bonkers things happening to cricket right now.

[confettiinmyhair]

That Johnson score is a worry for the Ashes, since he also got a good ninety-odd score recently as well. I can picture it now, first test of the Ashes, England have Austalia at 90/7, the crowd is going crazy and then in walks Johnson who hammers a brutal 150. Australia end up off the hook with 300 and go on to win the test.

Anyone got any thoughts about the IPL being rehosted outside of India?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It's a bit of a shambles and an embarrassment that could possibly undermine other country's domestic 20/20 leagues/cups.

Given the nature of the tournament and what's just happened with Stanford I'm still a bit dismayed at how hospitable other venues seem to have been at the prospect of the IPL landing on their shores.

The IPL being staged, say, in South Africa featuring one team with 6 indians, 2 australians, a sri lankan, a new zealander and a west indian playing 5 indians, 3 south africans, an australian, an englishman and a west indian just seems like an entirely farcical and uninteresting prospect.

At least when it was actually in India, the crowd's bewildering enthusiasm for the affair was engaging to witness and made it less cringeworthy, even in between close-ups of dancing girls and the owner's daughter looking sultry.

I dare say if it is hosted abroad, it'll be a surprise treat for the hosts- it might even help people like me to 'get it'.

[confettiinmyhair]

The problem is you need eight venues for each franchise, which is ok in England, however the weather could literally pour cold water on the event if held over here. And in South Africa as far as I'm aware only Jo'burg and Durban have large Indian populations, but would they have the venues and enough interest in what is a longwinded competition?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Re: Johnson.

He appears to be a better batsman and a better bowler than Stuart Broad who I guess is our equivalent at number 8.

Looking at the potential ashes squads here:

Strauss
Cook
Bell/Shah/Vaughan/Bopara?!
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Harmison
Anderson/Jones/Sidebottom/Khan/
Panesar

Aus:

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Haddin
McDonald/Symonds
Johnson
Siddle/Lee
Hilfenhaus/Tait
McGain/Hauritz/Krejza/White/some utter prannock masquerading as a test spinner.

We did quite shit against a West Indies team we made look good whenever we had to field. Sarwan and Chanderpaul are up there with the likes of Clarke and Ponting respectively but overall Australia have a strong batting attack. The bowling's been quite inconsistent really. Even Johnson looked out of his depth in that last test match but in certain spells looks unplayable. Siddle and Hilfenhaus shouldn't be that much more effective than Kasprowicz or Tait were in 2005. Lee could be back but his form and fitness haven't been found.

I think on balance, both sides are quite flaky at the moment and don't have the quality to carry a sustained threat in the field. Australia look a far mediocre challenge without the constant worry of 'oh shit Warne could be coming on at any point'. This series win doesn't hide the fact they were outclassed in the two previous series by sides playing their best stuff. SA seemed far more up for it in Australia anyway and lost their concentration too often in this series.

Strauss could be really crucial again. If he keeps his form (we know he'll keep his cool) then that platform at the top of the innings should give the likes of Cook, Pietersen and Collingwood enough to get us to a good score. We managed to win the Ashes in England with Ian Bell hardly contributing anything last time so it's not as though every batting position is utterly crucial, so with that in mind I'd like to see the selectors make a brave choice like they did with Pietersen last time.

[rjd2]

Is Tait even played a test match since he returned? Watson if fit will play, he scored lots of runs before in England when he played for Hampshire and he bowled excellently in India. He is still the right side of 30, plus Ponting and the selectors love him.
Stuart Clark will fancy his chances of being in the Ashes team as well. Peter Siddle is improving so quickly I think he is a banker to be in it. Symonds can forget it.
Oz team
Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Watson
Haddin
Johnson
Siddle
Lee
Clark

I think they will try to beat England with just pace, which is very risky but their spinners are awful, so they may have no choice.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ponting's been talking about Clarke having a bigger role with the ball. I remember Katich turning his arm last time around too, and Hussey can apparently bowl so they'll probably share duties to start with and whichever one has the best economy rate will probably take over as the series goes on.

We could try to mess them up with Swann and Panesar if we can prepare some slow dusty pitches. It remains to be seen how dangerous (and in some cases how committed) our bowlers are.

[rjd2]

I seen Hussey bowl before in India he did not look to thrilled about it and that was only for a few overs! I have seen Clarke bowl long spells before so he will have a big role to play.
Is it just me who has noticed that Hussey has begun to look human in the last 12 months? When England toured Australia last he had Bradman like figures but not anymore. It's still impressive but hopefully England can target him especially.
http://content.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5939.html
P.S Anybody here struggling for money feel free to out every penny you have on India in beating New Zealand tomorrow. The difference between both sides is massive. New Zealand looks like a team of one day specialists trying miserably to adopt to test cricket, while India look so powerful right now. The best opening partnership in the world, Sashin, Dhoni, and a formidable bowling line up means New Zealand are fucked.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I would've thought his place is under threat to be honest. Clarke and Ponting have been sparing their blushes for a while now.

Haddin seems to have improved his batting while Hussey really looks off-colour and has done for at least the last 12 months bar the odd good knock.

Australia are probably hoping Ian Bell finds some form and gets picked for the Ashes again.

Going back to what I said about the commitment of our bowlers, it seems like only Flintoff has the right combination of ability and attitude. The other bowlers with the right attitude and a competitive spirit like Sidebottom and Swann are mediocre talents, while Broad isn't ready to be anything but a useful change bowler still in the test format.

On the other hand genuine talent like Harmison/Panesar/Anderson get bogged down in these sort of mental slumps they find themselves unable to get out of for whole series at a time.

At least we aren't having to rely on someone like Daren Powell to take wickets but it's going to be the big problem of this years Ashes, unless either team can pull a 'Simon Jones' out of the hat.

Besides, I fancy their new attack to rip us apart at Lords regardless. There just seems to be a conceded inevitability about it.