The Cricket Thread

[Dunc2610]

Ahmed bowling a blinder this morning! Seems preparing a turning mess of a wicket is back firing a little here.

 

[SE Spurs]

Those 8th and 9th wicket partnerships have really given Pakistan the advantage. Gonna have to bat incredibly well, and have some luck to get a match winning total from here.

 

[Arnoldtoo]

They won't make it to lunch tomorrow at this rate, let alone get a match-winning lead.

 

[Timbo Tottenham]

Uhoh.

 

[midoshairband]

some really scrambled thinking at how to play spin there.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

haha, except from the most benign wickets, we really haven't batted very well against spin for it seems like ever. This really isn't surprising.

If your players lose 7 test matches on the trot, doctor the pitch. Fair play to them, I don't really blame them and it's working but I suspect it's only papering over the cracks, as soon as they play away again the same deficiencies won't have gone anywhere.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

haha, except from the most benign wickets, we really haven't batted very well against spin for it seems like ever. This really isn't surprising.

If your players lose 7 test matches on the trot, doctor the pitch. Fair play to them, I don't really blame them and it's working but I suspect it's only papering over the cracks, as soon as they play away again the same deficiencies won't have gone anywhere.

I never thought Crawley would go well against spin, he throws his hands at the ball too much, Duckett has done ok, Pope is an enigma, a bit like Bell, he can look sublime but I think mentally he defeats himself. It looks like Root and Brook will have to do the heavy lifting, Root is our only truly world class player of spin.

 

[midoshairband]

wow, what was Stokes doing there.

done soon!

 

[Arnoldtoo]

Well I'm certainly glad I got up early on a saturday to watch this masterclass of throwing wickets away.

 

[midoshairband]

pretty poor that. not just the batting, some weird tactics too.

oh well, all will be fine on some flat tracks back at home!

 

[1882andallthat]

A completely abject couple of test performances from our lot after starting the series so well, but let’s face it, the difference was clear, we were shown up to be one trick show ponies where we fared well on a good batting pitch but as soon as Pakistan drafted in a couple of decent spinners and we had to play on pitches that turned our batting completely fell apart. As professional cricketers they should be far better prepared for pitches of different types and conditions, shown up for being too one dimensional without much of a Plan B.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

A completely abject couple of test performances from our lot after starting the series so well, but let’s face it, the difference was clear, we were shown up to be one trick show ponies where we fared well on a good batting pitch but as soon as Pakistan drafted in a couple of decent spinners and we had to play on pitches that turned our batting completely fell apart. As professional cricketers they should be far better prepared for pitches of different types and conditions, shown up for being too one dimensional without much of a Plan B.

Yet another 'Plan B' criticism in sport Always the hindsight for a loss.

I'm not sure how you prepare for being given a sixth day pitch on day one. That's unheard of in the modern game. I'd also argue that pretty much any team would have struggled against that. I'm also unsure of what they were supposed to have done. On the last tour we played in totally different wickets and even totally different in the first test. Then they almost manufactured a wicket to take spin, right there, mid tour, on the fly. How were we supposed to prepare for that.

Two poor defeats for sure though.

 

[funkycoldmedina]

Just watching the highlights and the 2 Pakistani commentators agreeing it's not a raging turner

 

[midoshairband]

Jacob Bethell in the test squad for the NZ series.

 

[UncleBuck]

Jacob Bethell in the test squad for the NZ series.

Really wasn’t expecting that, huge call

 

[midoshairband]

Really wasn’t expecting that, huge call

very excited, think he is born for international cricket.

Tom Hartley ignored at his expense i would guess.

 

[midoshairband]

more mind-boggling stats on how the ECB have royally fucked up our game. putting a format with no international recognition (Hundred) ahead of our domestic List A cricket.

it's no wonder our 50 over cricket is struggling so much.

West Indies vs England: Marcus Trescothick backs side's youth policy

England will continue to invest in youth despite a 12th defeat in 18 one-day internationals, says Marcus Trescothick.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[funkycoldmedina]

more mind-boggling stats on how the ECB have royally fucked up our game. putting a format with no international recognition (Hundred) ahead of our domestic List A cricket.

it's no wonder our 50 over cricket is struggling so much.

West Indies vs England: Marcus Trescothick backs side's youth policy

England will continue to invest in youth despite a 12th defeat in 18 one-day internationals, says Marcus Trescothick.

www.bbc.co.uk

I think that stat is more to do with the fact that we tried to squeeze the last drops out of an ageing team and didn't integrate the youngsters earlier. A bit like us at the moment, plenty of young talent around they just need moulding into a team. No one better than McCullum to do that IMHO.

 

[midoshairband]

sensational from Livingstone.

 

[midoshairband]

congrats to NZ, what a fantastic test side they are. historic whitewash of India, in India.

superb stuff!