i'm stumped, owzat? you married a maiden after she bowled you over, maybe I is wide of the mark. She dropped a hint about a dinner of duck and pancakes and a bottle of champers. You got home and the googlies came out and you bashed her box around on all fours whilst the t.oss went in your favour and you declared your love of her bodyline. During the next days lunch interval you had no balls to ask her to marry you, but by the tea interval you had enough courage to run out on the wicket and announce your proposal of marriage and undiyng love - it's just not cricket, innit!. Pads.
Pretty sad start to the cricketing year. Losing Tony Greig was one thing an able and fearless captain who spoke his mind but losing CMJ was another. TMS will carry on but it will be hard to replace a man with such charm, gentle wit and erudition, a throwback to a far more gentler age of sports journalism , when what you said counted rather than how much you said. Ed Smith could be ideal to come into the box this summer although it will be impossible to replace CMJ.
Did anyone listen to the final hour of play today? Proper defensive display, Broad went 103 minutes before scoring, then two final twists before Monty and Prior saw us home. What a finish.
A great effort on the final day but with the greatest respect to New Zealand we should be winning these games not holding on desperately at the end. We looked as though we thought we just had to turn up and would win. I like Cook but his captaincy on day 4 left a lot to be desired. 9 fielders on the boundary from the first ball of the day will hardly fill the bowlers with confidence and just lacks any imagination. 35 for 3 at the time, a couple of early wickets could have made it very interesting but you're unlikey to get them with that field and it just made it easy for the batsmen. The only good thing to come out of the last few days of cricket around the world is that the convicts look like an absolute shower of ****e!:drinking:
They do look to be in disarray and arguing amongst themselves. Put's our win in India all into magnificent perspective. Dhawan gave them a hammering for instance and Ashwin who looked fairly ordinary against our batters has looked like Warne on steroids.... Disappointing not to win the series in NZ considering the Black Caps limited resources but they had their chances ruined by the rain in one instance. Positives are Super Stevie Finn, Joe Root battling through into form by the third test and Nick Compton surely insuring he will partner Cookie for the summer Test series. Its great to see a grandson of an England cricketing legend in the side purely from a nostalgic point of view. A pity the once also highly rated Ben Hutton did not quite make it. And how we have missed Swann. Monty is a controlling bowler but as with many great bowling combinations the pressure exerted by one often leads to wickets for the other. To be fair the wickets have not been great for Monty either but the NZ spinner Bruce Martin has had the edge over him. At least we have for definite the best wicketkeeper/batsman in the world in Prior. He's taken over Gilchrist's mantle. Over in the Windies a shame to see that Zimbabwe are once again showing how uncompetitive they have become. No surprise considering the turmoil that is still ongoing within the cricketing bodies there.
lets face it it was a poor tour. Rain saved us once and we struggled fr a draw in another. Cook doesn't look aggressive enough as a captin in the modern game, his form with the bat has dipped as well. We seriously lack another quality opening bowler. Anderson is fantastic, even more so when he can get the ball to move, but all the others are first change, stock bowlers, all that will have their day, but none that you can pin your hat on. We need to find another front line strike bowler to assist Anderson. Root is clearly a 3, but you can't drop Trott, Bell a 4 but will never replace KP. The middle order is a bit of a mis-mash jig-saw of very good players not able to play their natural game.
An appalling tale from New Zealand. Best wishes of course to Jesse Ryder and his recovery. Seems like Christchurch is becoming a tad rougher these days. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/mar/27/jesse-ryder-critical-condition
The next Aussie cricket sensation [video=youtube;0wfwjK8JmuU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wfwjK8JmuU[/video]
Needs to concentrate on the running. Should have been one short! The cover drive for shot 3 though is like Vaughan at his best.
Not sure why after he scored two hundreds but I'm not sure about Compton. Clearly he deserves his chance but I reckon Root will be opening by the end of the summer which where he bats for Yorkshire. As Yorksire fan it's great to see Bairstow in the side but not convinced he is a test player. Good one day player but not tests for me.
Agree. I think for the ashes we will need to find a dozen overs a day from someone in the top 6. It does mean that one of the current top 6 needs to make way. To do that we need to find a batsman that can bowl rather than finding a bowler that can bat a little. If we go that route then it means that we will have to move prior up to 6 and find a very decent all rounder for 7. After Broad at 8 we have a long tail. We can't afford to go into the ashes dependant on the first 7 wickets.
We have another 50 or 60 in us yet. Anything over 240 or 250 will be very difficult to get. There was a lot of varied bounce today as well
Theres a couple of games being played at Cardiff in the ICC trophy, and it's £10 for students. Incredibly tempted to go along to the two england games here and the Windies v South Africa game too. Things is I only have someone to go with for the windies game. Still for a tenner a whole day out at the cricket is great value. Anyone else doing the same?
south africa getting absolutely destroyed by england. Wickets falling quickly and our bowling looks terrific. Anderson on form again.
If you can't chase 175 at The Oval we don't deserve to win. I'm sure it won't be an issue. On another note with Pieterson coming back for The Ashes is it time for Root to open with Cook. Harsh on Compton but I don't think he's good enough and Root has opened for Yorkshire
Two Irishmen help England win the ODI at Malahide I see. Irish cricket needs some real help from the established countries to develop further and broaden the playing base. Unfortunately it seems that the ECB is only content to play one measly ODI each year, was upset by countries like South Africa and Pakistan touring there and will continue to pilfer the best Irish talent. England is not alone in this. Australia have done a reasonable job in helping developing Papua New Guinea recently but other countries alongside the ECB can also hold their heads in shame. India in particular has nothing to help Nepal whose young cricketers turn in consistently good results in youth competitions but have no way after that of developing. No inclusion for example in the Ranji Trophy although watching the ball through the air on a Kathmandu wicket would be interesting. Afghanistan are also extremely promising but who knows what will happen in a few years given the expected turmoil when we pull out. Again they would like Ireland merit more competitive ODI's given their ability but have had nothing given to them. And given the meagre number of countries that play cricket at a reasonable level it is sad to see what has happened to Zimbabwean cricket which lurches from one crisis to another. They have just lost Kyle Jarvis to county cricket , unsurprising given that their players have not been paid while Mugabe continues to hoard his fortune along with other members of Zanu PF in Switzerland. Graeme Cremer and it now looks like Brendan Taylor their best player are also on strike. Tatendu Taibu came back but has left to play in South Africa. It is a sad shambles. One of their best juniors Gary Ballance has given up on his own country has excelled for Yorkshire although he has picked up a goose egg today against Ireland and will be a definite for the Lions and a possible for the Ashes down under. The ICC and the people that really control it the BCCI in India aided and abetted by the ACB and ECB need to realize that they must develop the game globally if it is to become a meaningful sport. Currently it is very much a minority sport as is it's counterpart baseball and will remain parochial in nature unless bold decisions are made. Not for the enrichment of the current powers but with a long term vision for more and more competitive countries. Ultimately that would benefit the sport as a whole. The IRB have taken this approach with rugby union and it has been developing nicely since the late eighties. Conversely the Cricket World Cup seems more intent on excluding the Associates and not give them anything to aspire to and the best Associate Ireland nothing but meaningless platitudes tied in as they are with their overseas tour programmes. The current standard of most national teams cricket across the world would see a decent club team from these isles beat them comprehensively. It is sad considering once upon a time cricket was the most popular sport in America and Holland and was thriving in Argentina as well but the MCC did nothing to forward it's development at the time. Now we have the dead hand of the BCCI doing the same. Test cricket looks like an animal on the brink of extinction. If not here then in most other countries.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...for-ashes-series/story-fni2fnmo-1226725542546 Squad: Ben Stokes (Durham) Alastair Cook (c), Monty Panesar (Essex) Michael Carberry (Hampshire) James Anderson (Lancashire) Steven Finn (Middlesex) Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire) Kevin Pietersen, Chris Tremlett (Surrey) Matt Prior (Sussex (w)) Ian Bell, Boyd Rankin, Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire) Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Joe Root (Yorkshire) Monty despite his off the field escapades has managed to get himself into the squad as the second spinner ahead of Simon Kerrigan. No doubt his yips in the Test series ruled him out. Pretty decent choice with Carberry rewarded for a solid county season alongside Gary Ballance. Zimbabwes loss is England's gain. The pace attack does a look bit samey though with hit the deck tall fast pacers in Rankin and Finn and Tremlett. Bresnan will be missed though Ben Stokes will be a capable replacement in time with bat and ball. Compton's dismal NZ adventure last winter must have counted against him over Carberry. However Onions can count himself unlucky after nearly making the Lords Test and excelling with the ball in Durhams title winning season. He should be tearful and furious...... The batsmen who have failed aside from Bell have a lot to prove down under as Australia will be more competitive should they get bowlers like Cummins back. Lehmann will have them better organized and motivated than ever.
Surprised not to see Onions. Interesting to have a few younger names in - good for the experience if nothing else.
I wanted to see Phil Must a rd included..... Bowled Onions. Caught Must a r d...... Stokes and Root should be long term England regulars. Ireland must be miffed at losing Rankin. Something has to be done by the ICC to get Ireland Test status by 2018 and certainly more ODI's than they do now. They are too good for the rest of the Associates aside from Afghanistan.
Ben Stokes will fill the roll as a 5th bowler quite nicely. i would expect to see him at number 6. That then means that we can play at least one out and out fast strike bowler behind Broad and Anderson a good squad
