Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Off Topic => Sports Arena => Topic started by: Villan For Life on February 16, 2010, 08:55:58 AM
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The new English season starts in less than 2 months. Post your hopes/predictions here!
As a Bear, I think that we will score plenty of runs in the 4 day format but may struggle to bowl sides out. I'd like to see us to build on the progress that we've made in the limited overs game under Giles.
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I have high hopes for Woakes but I'd feel happier having another fast bowler in there.
I predict a solid if unspectacular season for the Bears.
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What Mazrim said.
Hopes?
To actually see a days play without rain when England play the Aussies!
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What Mazrim said.
Hopes?
To actually see a days play without rain when England play the Aussies!
To see a full day without rain regardless of opposition surely Bazz?
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What Mazrim said.
Hopes?
To actually see a days play without rain when England play the Aussies!
Villasub, I suggest you Google 'Australian Cricket Family' as you'll need to join (it's free) if you want to get tickets - it'll be a ballot again so you need to have joined this and have an address Down Under. Tickets on sale June/July I think.
The Aussies are getting paranoid about Poms buying up all the tickets.
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Some good news for Afghanistan, who beat Ireland in the final of the qualifying event in Dubai to win entry into the ICC World Twenty20.
They also beat the USA on the way to the final.
Link (http://www.cricinfo.com/afghanistan/content/current/story/448435.html)
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I predict Yorkshire will field the most English born players amongst all the counties but their leading run scorer by a mile will be a South African and it won't be enough to prevent them being relegated.
Adil Rashid will have a loss of form ater being treated shabbily by England in the winter.
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Derbyshire to flirt dangerously with promotion, only to let us all down at the last minute. Again.
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I can't see the Bears doing too well, we have no bowlers.
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I can't see the Bears doing too well, we have no bowlers.
I could see how that would make things tricky.
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Bears only hope is a decent run in the Twenty20... less likely without Trott. Is Maddy likely to be fit this time round?
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Adil Rashid will have a loss of form ater being treated shabbily by England in the winter.
You have to wonder wha the selectors are playing at. Forthcoming tests against Bangladesh would have been ideal for him.
Instead, some of the older heads they've selected for this will probably feature once and get nowhere near selection again.
Pointless.
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What Mazrim said.
Hopes?
To actually see a days play without rain when England play the Aussies!
Villasub, I suggest you Google 'Australian Cricket Family' as you'll need to join (it's free) if you want to get tickets - it'll be a ballot again so you need to have joined this and have an address Down Under. Tickets on sale June/July I think.
The Aussies are getting paranoid about Poms buying up all the tickets.
Cheers for that Oz. I was hoping/aiming to get tickets through the Barmy Army - but they will only sell them as part of a package which would include accommodation. Unfortunately there isn't a "pikey backpacker in a dorm" option.
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
They don't travel in anything like the numbers we do so it's not really an issue. I reckon there were only about 300 hundred of them on the 2 days I was at Edgbaston last year.
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
They don't travel in anything like the numbers we do so it's not really an issue. I reckon there were only about 300 hundred of them on the 2 days I was at Edgbaston last year.
300 hundred is 30,000. I didn't see that many!
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I predict Yorkshire will field the most English born players amongst all the counties but their leading run scorer by a mile will be a South African and it won't be enough to prevent them being relegated.
Adil Rashid will have a loss of form ater being treated shabbily by England in the winter.
He hasn't lost his form yet though, he's taken 3 - 13 off 3 overs for England Lions against the England first team.
Time for a run in the first team for Mr Rashid; they did the same with Broad in 2006 and it worked for him. Rashid has to be worth a punt especially with the world 20/20 around the corner.
Edit the first team have lost by 5 wickets to the Lions.
Oh dear
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I definitely rate Rashid. Big future for him if he gets the right advice and coaching.
A leggy who can bat and field? Yes please.
Kieswetter is making a big case for the gloves. I can see him being ODI keeper very soon and pushing Prior hard for the test position too.
I'd certainly play him and Rashid in the 20/20 matches.
Trott
Kieswetter
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Wright
Rashid
Bresnan
Swann
Broad
Woakes
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I predict Yorkshire will field the most English born players amongst all the counties but their leading run scorer by a mile will be a South African and it won't be enough to prevent them being relegated.
Adil Rashid will have a loss of form ater being treated shabbily by England in the winter.
He hasn't lost his form yet though, he's taken 3 - 13 off 3 overs for England Lions against the England first team.
Time for a run in the first team for Mr Rashid; they did the same with Broad in 2006 and it worked for him. Rashid has to be worth a punt especially with the world 20/20 around the corner.
Edit the first team have lost by 5 wickets to the Lions.
Oh dear
He should be allowed time to learn his trade in county cricket rather than pushed into Test cricket before he's ready. He has talent but he's still a relative novice and in any case are you going to drop our best bowler this winter to accomodate him?
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I'm a big fan of Rashid but have said all along he needs another season or two playing for Yorkshire. He is a genuine allrounder, his fieldings excellent.
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Bears definitely still need another bowler.
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I definitely rate Rashid. Big future for him if he gets the right advice and coaching.
A leggy who can bat and field? Yes please.
Kieswetter is making a big case for the gloves. I can see him being ODI keeper very soon and pushing Prior hard for the test position too.
I'd certainly play him and Rashid in the 20/20 matches.
Trott
Kieswetter
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Wright
Rashid
Bresnan
Swann
Broad
Woakes
I like the look of that side, even though it is 25% South African!
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
They don't travel in anything like the numbers we do so it's not really an issue. I reckon there were only about 300 hundred of them on the 2 days I was at Edgbaston last year.
That's their fault not ours. Why should England fans who passionately want to watch their team be penalised because the Ossies can't be arsed? It's just an extension of the disgraceful White Australia Policy. A bunch of bigots who hate foreigners should not be tolerated.
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I definitely rate Rashid. Big future for him if he gets the right advice and coaching.
A leggy who can bat and field? Yes please.
Kieswetter is making a big case for the gloves. I can see him being ODI keeper very soon and pushing Prior hard for the test position too.
I'd certainly play him and Rashid in the 20/20 matches.
Trott
Kieswetter
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Wright
Rashid
Bresnan
Swann
Broad
Woakes
I like the look of that side, even though it is 25% South African!
25% of our side has always been South African so there is no change there!!
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
They don't travel in anything like the numbers we do so it's not really an issue. I reckon there were only about 300 hundred of them on the 2 days I was at Edgbaston last year.
That's their fault not ours. Why should England fans who passionately want to watch their team be penalised because the Ossies can't be arsed? It's just an extension of the disgraceful White Australia Policy. A bunch of bigots who hate foreigners should not be tolerated.
Perhaps we should send a couple of gunboats into Sydney harbour to remind them who is in charge.
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25% of our side has always been South African so there is no change there!!
Evidently the jokedoing the rounds amongst the South African press during the last tour was ' Where will the England players spend xmas day? Visiting their family.'
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Its pathetic how we give the convicts as many tickets as they like while they try to limit ours. We should just refuse to play and keep the Ashes forever.
They don't travel in anything like the numbers we do so it's not really an issue. I reckon there were only about 300 hundred of them on the 2 days I was at Edgbaston last year.
That's their fault not ours. Why should England fans who passionately want to watch their team be penalised because the Ossies can't be arsed? It's just an extension of the disgraceful White Australia Policy. A bunch of bigots who hate foreigners should not be tolerated.
Perhaps we should send a couple of gunboats into Sydney harbour to remind them who is in charge.
Tis the only way they will learn, bloody foreigners! Oophs I've contradicted my own post!
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Did anyone catch the last session in the India - South Africa test yesterday?
SA's last 3 batsmen lasted 50 + overs between and Harbhajan Singh took the final wicket with 9 balls left to wrap up an innings victory. Amla batted for 499 minutes and scored 123.
It was fascinating Test Cricket.
It can only be good for Test Cricket that the Indian public have woken up to the fact that they are top of the Test rankings. One day and Twenty20 in particular was in danger of relegating the longer form to minor status. The wealth of the Indian board makes them the global powerhouse in world cricket and following their World Twenty20 win and the creation of the IPL, test cricket was on its way out.
Now, enthusiasm is back and the crowds are returning to the Test matches.
They are a wonderful team and a delight to watch. I hope that they remain in the forefront of Test cricket for a while yet.
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England going well in the 20/20 warm-up game against Pakistan.
Pakistan 39 for 4 off 8.3.
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England going well in the 20/20 warm-up game against Pakistan.
Pakistan 39 for 4 off 8.3.
England 25-3!
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KP and Morgan are smashing us to victory in the 20/20
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Yep, very comfortable victory that. Would be good to see Pietersen get into some sort of form before the tournament.
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Seeing South African Pietersen and Irish Morgan bring home the bacon made me a proud Englishman.
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Kieswetter has just smashed 140 odd in a one day warm up match. He's a run machine. At this rate, he'll be in the test team before long. I really like Matt Prior and he's improving with the gloves, but if Kieswetter carries on like this, who could deny him?
In any case, we've found an opening batsman in limited overs Cricket and maybe even test. Or our South African academy has. The pieces are starting to fall into place to make a really strong team. We could do with unearthing an express fast bowler now.
I had high hopes for Jordan from Surrey.
I wonder if the Saffers have any?
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Kieswetter has just smashed 140 odd in a one day warm up match. He's a run machine. At this rate, he'll be in the test team before long. I really like Matt Prior and he's improving with the gloves, but if Kieswetter carries on like this, who could deny him?
In any case, we've found an opening batsman in limited overs Cricket and maybe even test. Or our South African academy has. The pieces are starting to fall into place to make a really strong team. We could do with unearthing an express fast bowler now.
I had high hopes for Jordan from Surrey.
I wonder if the Saffers have any?
Kieswetter has the potential to be a replacement for the much-mised Trescothick who we have never replaced in the short format of the game.
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Indeed. I was thinking exactly along those lines. He's played enough with the great man too.
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We could do with unearthing an express fast bowler now.
I had high hopes for Jordan from Surrey.
I wonder if the Saffers have any?
Stuart Meaker (I think he's as Surrey as well). Only 19 and bowling at 90-95 mph already.
And guess what? He was born in Durban. (English parents though).
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Oh for a death-bowler like Darren Gough!
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We could do with unearthing an express fast bowler now.
I had high hopes for Jordan from Surrey.
I wonder if the Saffers have any?
Stuart Meaker (I think he's as Surrey as well). Only 19 and bowling at 90-95 mph already.
And guess what? He was born in Durban. (English parents though).
Yes, he's been talked about for a while now. Fast but sloppy. But if you have the natural pace the rest can be worked on. I know a guy at Loughborough who has said he's the fastest bowler he's seen there. Heres hoping then. Hopefully Chris Jordan can push on too. If he decides not to play for the WIndies of course.
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Tendulkar's just become the first person to score 200 in a One Day International, awesome batting.
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Tendulkar's just become the first person to score 200 in a One Day International, awesome batting.
It was an awesome innings. 200 out of 401 - 3 in 50 overs. It confirms him, in my opinion, as the best batsman of his generation.
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To be fair Keiswetter has an English mother, so it was always 50/50 anyway. But I do enjoy that its put Fatty Smith's nose out of joint again.
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To be fair Keiswetter has an English mother, so it was always 50/50 anyway. But I do enjoy that its put Fatty Smith's nose out of joint again.
To be strictly accurate she's Scottish, but we let them play for us at Cricket.
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Tendulkar's just become the first person to score 200 in a One Day International, awesome batting.
It was an awesome innings. 200 out of 401 - 3 in 50 overs. It confirms him, in my opinion, as the best batsman of his generation.
Hardly sticking your next out!
Probably best of all time.
Good list though: Bradman, Hobbs, Border, Gavaskar, Waugh S, Lara, Ponting
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Tendulkar's just become the first person to score 200 in a One Day International, awesome batting.
It was an awesome innings. 200 out of 401 - 3 in 50 overs. It confirms him, in my opinion, as the best batsman of his generation.
Hardly sticking your next out!
Probably best of all time.
Good list though: Bradman, Hobbs, Border, Gavaskar, Waugh S, Lara, Ponting
Interesting to note that half of your list have played at the highest level during the last 10 years.
Has the game changed that much?
Tendulkar shades Waugh and Ponting as those two would never had to face the likes of McGrath or Warne. Lara was a sublime batsman but for me he never maintained the high standards that he set himself from 1993/1995. Gavaskar was a genius but was more effective on the dry Asian pitches. Border always reminded me of the David Platt of cricket, someone who made the most of his limited natural ability. Some ability, it has to be said!
Best of all time? I'm not sure. Bradman's test average at 99.94 has to place him at the top. If Eric Hollies had not bowled him 2nd ball of his last test innings then his average would have been over 100. That has to make him the best ever.
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Interesting to note that half of your list have played at the highest level during the last 10 years.
Has the game changed that much?
Yes it has, it's a batsman's game these days, pitches are generally flatter, the rules are skewed towards batting and whilst bat manufacturers can do almost whatever they want to improve bats, the ball is still exactly how it ever was.
I'm an advocate of some limited "ball tampering" being allowed, not picking the seam but roughing up the non-shiny side, just to redress the balance a bit.
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Interesting to note that half of your list have played at the highest level during the last 10 years.
Has the game changed that much?
Yes it has, it's a batsman's game these days, pitches are generally flatter, the rules are skewed towards batting and whilst bat manufacturers can do almost whatever they want to improve bats, the ball is still exactly how it ever was.
I'm an advocate of some limited "ball tampering" being allowed, not picking the seam but roughing up the non-shiny side, just to redress the balance a bit.
So an Afridi bite is out of the question?
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Interesting to note that half of your list have played at the highest level during the last 10 years.
Has the game changed that much?
Yes it has, it's a batsman's game these days, pitches are generally flatter, the rules are skewed towards batting and whilst bat manufacturers can do almost whatever they want to improve bats, the ball is still exactly how it ever was.
I'm an advocate of some limited "ball tampering" being allowed, not picking the seam but roughing up the non-shiny side, just to redress the balance a bit.
So an Afridi bite is out of the question?
What about an Afridi shuffle down the middle of the track?
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Great ODI game England v Bangladesh, went down to the wire.
Excellent performance by Morgan - 110 off 104 to guide us to a 2 wicket victory.
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Fabulous knock from Morgan. Some witless batting from the lower order turned what should have been a routine win into a nailbiter.
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Fabulous knock from Morgan. Some witless batting from the lower order turned what should have been a routine win into a nailbiter.
Indeed, some truly awful batting.
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England made hard work of that, Morgan looks a good acquisition in the middle order, another failure by Pieterson though is a big worry, he is lacking consistency and looks well out of sorts. Bangladesh look a half decent one day team, with a couple of useful players especially the captain and the opener who got a hundred the other day.
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Ive never seen so many decent batsmen play around straight deliveries before. But yes, a fabulous knock from Morgan. He really is a cool customer. Once Kieswetter settles down and KP is back in form, plus the return of Anderson and Flintoff, that will be some ODI/T20 team.
I dont see why Treadwell is getting in ahead of Rashid though. I think that will change soon enough though.
I like the look of Finn, Woakes and Taylor too. So there's plenty of talent emerging. We just need that one (or two) express fast bowler(s) to come through. hopefully Meeker and Jordan will come up trumps.
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West Indies lose to Zimbabwe at home.
Cracking finish... Windies needed 15 off last over with three wickets left.
Four...Six...One...Wicket...Wicket...Two
Zimabwe win by two.
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The ongoing farce that is Pakistan cricket has reached a new low.
Following their recent nightmare tour of Australia where they lost 9 out of 9 internationals, the Pakistani board has got tough. Apparently the team was doing more fighting internally than it was on the pitch.
Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan have been deemed the ringleaders and have been banned from appearing for Pakistan for life. So there go 40 test match hundreds in one fell swoop.
Rana Naved and Shoaib Malik have been banned for a year.
Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal have been put on probation for 6 months.
I suspect this isn't the end of it and it'll rumble on until they all get cleared to play against England in the summer. But if not then the series could be very one sided indeed.
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I suspect this isn't the end of it and it'll rumble on until they all get cleared to play against England in the summer. But if not then the series could be very one sided indeed.
Hope not - I've got tickets for the Oval test in August
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After the disaster which was their last tour of England. Are Holland their footballing equivalent?
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Never again will I watch a game against them after being surrounded by racist gobshites for the day at Edgbaston last time they were here.
I am amazed a riot didn't break out in the Eric Hollies.
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Never again will I watch a game against them after being surrounded by racist gobshites for the day at Edgbaston last time they were here.
I am amazed a riot didn't break out in the Eric Hollies.
Who was being racist? England or Pakistani fans or both?
Its usually good banter and good natured at Edgbaston and the Eric Hollies in particular.
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Pakistan.
I can only speak for our section but the majority of guys supporting them by us were aged 15-30 and looking to antagonise anyone that they could.
I sure as shit don't expect an Asian lad in an England shirt to be threatened with physical violence for doing so and nor do I find it acceptable to be accused of being a murderer by some ****** in a Saddam Hussein mask for celebrating Afridi losing his wicket.
We also had people running down aisles to try and throw their flags over England fans and blowing those fucking irritating horns two inches away from people's faces.
Like I said, never again.
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You shouldn't let twats like that deter you from watching a game. I would have handed out some slaps had I seen what you did though. Its not... Cricket.
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Never again will I watch a game against them after being surrounded by racist gobshites for the day at Edgbaston last time they were here.
I am amazed a riot didn't break out in the Eric Hollies.
There is a nasty violent undercurrent when they the opposition. It is the only test that I refuse to go to.
It really does produce extremities in crowd atmosphere and behaviour.
It's the total opposite to the Indian tests where the atmosphere is less threatening.
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Anybody else going to get up early tomorrow for the first test? I might get up in time for the afternoon session. It looks like one of Kieswetter or Morgan will make his Test debut. And Tredwell.
If Kieswetter opens with Cook, Trott 3, KP 4, Colly 5 and Bell 6.
Or Cook, Trott, Bell, KP, Colly, Morgan.
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Cook, Carberry, Trott, KP, Colly, Bell, Prior, Broad, Bresnan, Swann, Finn
Lots of batting to protect KP? Only one spinner...
We're batting & it's 104 for 1 at lunch, a comfortable enough start.
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KP the div is out on 99. Still, 319/3 with Cook on 137 is a healthy place to be.
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Cook still there at the end of the day and a Run Rate of 4.15.
About 374/3 (I forgot the actual score).
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Good days play then. Ideally we bat them out of the game in one innings and finish this early.
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Never again will I watch a game against them after being surrounded by racist gobshites for the day at Edgbaston last time they were here.
I am amazed a riot didn't break out in the Eric Hollies.
There is a nasty violent undercurrent when they the opposition. It is the only test that I refuse to go to.
It really does produce extremities in crowd atmosphere and behaviour.
It's the total opposite to the Indian tests where the atmosphere is less threatening.
Same here, although the Bangladesh series will prove similar in my opinion.
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I watched the afternoon session and there was no atmosphere, it was like a practice match. We took advantage of some slack bowling and bored fielders.
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I have a feeling that Bangladesh only play Test Matches because they have to in order to keep their Test status so they can play in all the big one-day tournaments without qualifying.
They aren't interested at all.
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The encouraging thing about Pietersen was that he seems to have found a way of getting his front leg out of the way against the left arm spinner. He'll be alright now.
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I feel sorry for Bangladesh because they have an entire team who is having to learn how to play Test cricket on the job. It's difficult enough for an individual player to do it - Flintoff, for instance, or Stuart Broad - but for all eleven to have to do it at the same time is an almost impossible task.
They were given Test status far too early of course but I suppose some bright spark at the ICC thought there was a market there and that Bangladesh would add more power to the South Asian bloc.
Which is all well and good but at the moment they show no real signs of improvement. I think they should be persevered with though - a number of other nations took ages to get going in Tests but are now competitive at least.
Trouble is, Tests against Bangladesh are rapidly becoming the 'Burnley at home' matches of cricket, where sides rest a few and blood a few*. Which makes Bangladesh's inevitable crushing defeat even more dispiriting. And for the top sides, all the players are on a hiding to nothing: if they score big it's only because it's Bangladesh; if they fail they can't even do it against Bangladesh. Carberry's 30 isn't going to do him much good and he probably won't get another knock in this game.
* Apart from Villa, naturally.
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I feel sorry for Bangladesh because they have an entire team who is having to learn how to play Test cricket on the job. It's difficult enough for an individual player to do it - Flintoff, for instance, or Stuart Broad - but for all eleven to have to do it at the same time is an almost impossible task.
They were given Test status far too early of course but I suppose some bright spark at the ICC thought there was a market there and that Bangladesh would add more power to the South Asian bloc.
Which is all well and good but at the moment they show no real signs of improvement. I think they should be persevered with though - a number of other nations took ages to get going in Tests but are now competitive at least.
Trouble is, Tests against Bangladesh are rapidly becoming the 'Burnley at home' matches of cricket, where sides rest a few and blood a few*. Which makes Bangladesh's inevitable crushing defeat even more dispiriting. And for the top sides, all the players are on a hiding to nothing: if they score big it's only because it's Bangladesh; if they fail they can't even do it against Bangladesh. Carberry's 30 isn't going to do him much good and he probably won't get another knock in this game.
* Apart from Villa, naturally.
When the hell are we playing bangladesh?
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27 for 2 at tea on the second day, chasing 599!
Stort the cor.
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The Kookaburra ball has gone soft and our attack is not looking too threatening on such a flat pitch. Let's hope it starts reverse swinging soon.
That said I think that the Bangladeshi batsmen lack the application to build an innings and when wickets come they will come in clusters.
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They are playing like it's a one-dayer. It's quite entertaining.
Should have picked a second spinner.
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We didnt need to play 6 specialist batsman as well as prior, broad and swann. Depressingly negative
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Trouble is, Tests against Bangladesh are rapidly becoming the 'Burnley at home' matches of cricket, where sides rest a few and blood a few*.
* Apart from Villa, naturally.
Jesus wept, you just can't help yourself, can you?
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Trouble is, Tests against Bangladesh are rapidly becoming the 'Burnley at home' matches of cricket, where sides rest a few and blood a few*.
* Apart from Villa, naturally.
Jesus wept, you just can't help yourself, can you?
What? For God's sake, strap on a pair. You have the sensitivity of a schoolgirl. What was so offensive about that? Did we actually rotate or am I just not allowed to mention it?
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EDIT: My apologies to hilts.
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Fuck off you offensive prick.
I imagine the irony of that remark is lost on you.
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Now come on guys that not cricket
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Fuck off you offensive prick.
I imagine the irony of that remark is lost on you.
Not on me though. It's similar to what you posted the other week.
Do I win a prize?
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Fuck off you offensive prick.
I imagine the irony of that remark is lost on you.
Not on me though. It's similar to what you posted the other week.
Do I win a prize?
You can have a pat on the back from yourself, and not for the first time.
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Fuck off you offensive prick.
I imagine the irony of that remark is lost on you.
Not on me though. It's similar to what you posted the other week.
Do I win a prize?
You can have a pat on the back from yourself, and not for the first time.
Haha, well done - more irony!
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Pack it in everyone, please.
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Three wickets in 5 minutes; that's the way to wrap up an innings. Bangladesh were scoring quite freely then a great runout thanks to Carberry, a fantastic reaction catch from Tredwell and Swann slid one down. Three wickets in 4 balls.
Not sure about us batting now. I suppose it gives the bowlers a rest, but we could always turn to KP, Colly or Trott for a bit.
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Back to the theme of the thread......
Great finish to the Bangladeshi innings. 295 - 7 to 296 all out in no time.
No follow on though which I find strange when your lead is 300 +. The seamers have been reasonably well rotated and should be fresh.
It used to be that the follow was always enforced with the only exception when a member of the attack was injured. Seems to me that there is a movement away from enforcing the follow on. Following on strikes me as much as a psychological move as a cricketing one. A victory by an innings really hammers home the gulf between the teams in that particular match and can set the tone for an entire series.
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I suppose if we can score 150-170 by lunch tomorrow they'll have 5 sessions to get 450+
I'd rather have fielded again and then knocked any score IF they'd gone past us. The bowlers can rest after the match!
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Never again will I watch a game against them after being surrounded by racist gobshites for the day at Edgbaston last time they were here.
I am amazed a riot didn't break out in the Eric Hollies.
A fight broke out around us, between pakistani supporters, and one lot got thrown out.
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Have Warwickshire signed anyone exciting for the new season? I'm guessing... no.
Anyone know if Maddy will be fit this year?
I will settle for staying up in the Championship and a decent run in the Twenty20. We look shit.
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Have Warwickshire signed anyone exciting for the new season? I'm guessing... no.
Anyone know if Maddy will be fit this year?
I will settle for staying up in the Championship and a decent run in the Twenty20. We look shit.
The Bears have signed Imran Tahir the Pakistani leggie as their overseas player and also Varun Chopra the Essex opener.
Maddy is fit but has sustained a bad facial injury in the nets that will require surgery.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/warwickshire/8567712.stm
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Hope Maddy makes a speedy recovery. Any idea if Messrs Tahir and Chopra are any good? Must say, I would like it if we would occasionally sign a household name. Has Martin O'Neill taken over?
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Chopra is an ex-England under 19 captain whose career seems to have stalled a little. Hopefully the change of county will help him.
Tahir has a reasonable county record. He played a couple of seasons for Hampshire and got 90 - odd wickets, including as I recall 40-odd in about 6 matches in 1998.
I think that the days of showpiece signings in county cricket are long gone. International teams play all year round and so the top players will only come for a few weeks 20/20. There's no point in signing players on the verge of the England team as you will lose them to central contracts.
As for the Bears, another season of consolidation but Trott will leave a huge gap in the batting.
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Fair enough. I'm hoping for the best anyway. I predict Woakes will be a star... then bloody England will nab him and the season will fizzle out.
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England won by 181 runs. 10 wickets for Swann, the first time for an English spinner in the subcontinent. Two spinners in the second test?
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Couldn't believe my eyes when I got up this morning and saw Bangladesh still batting.
At least we wont take them lightly again and they're definitely improving.
Rashid should be there. They started introducing him to the England set up in T20, when bowlers are on a hiding to nothing and then, when he has the chance to go to the sub continent where he'd be most effective, they dont pick him. Or his replacement. Harsh I think.
Tredwell is decent enough but Rashid offers more dimensions and variety.
But hey ho, its not going to happen now. So its Tredwell for the next test and a batsman will miss out. When you have a "tail" of Bresnan, Broad and Swann you dont need to pick 6 batsmen plus Prior. Who msses out though?
I'd go:
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior
Broad
Swann
Bresnan
Tredwell
Finn
Harsh on Carberry perhaps but I think Trott is the better player.
I like the look of Finn and have done for a year or so now. He's going to be a handful on a livelier pitch (basically any other pitch). He should put on a few yards of pace as he gets a bit older too so I expect him to be exceeding 90mph regularly when he's 22/23.
The other option is to play Wright (or Shahzad) if they're not going play Tredwell. Lengthens the batting and a genuine 5th bowling option.
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Tredwell will start the next game.
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Rashid should be there. They started introducing him to the England set up in T20, when bowlers are on a hiding to nothing and then, when he has the chance to go to the sub continent where he'd be most effective, they dont pick him. Or his replacement. Harsh I think.
I don't like the idea of rushing youg players into the international setup too soon. They need to play a few years of county cricket to hone their skills and become more street wise. That's why Swann is so much better now than when he was first picked.
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I think Rashid has played enough county cricket. But I take your point. Although sometimes we wait too long to blood players at the highest level.
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I think a worse problem and one, for the most part, we avoid these days was picking a player for one or two tests against strong opposition and then discarding them.
The number of talented players that were tried against the West Indies and Australia in the 80s and 90s only to be discarded after their initial failure is shocking. As if failure on debut against arguably the two most dominant teams in Test cricket history is reliable evidence of a player's ability.
Admittedly a few of them were bad picks and a few were persevered with (notably Gooch, Atherton and Flintoff) but overall the management, such as it was, of the England side in the 1980s and early 90s was disgraceful.
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Rashid should be there. They started introducing him to the England set up in T20, when bowlers are on a hiding to nothing and then, when he has the chance to go to the sub continent where he'd be most effective, they dont pick him. Or his replacement. Harsh I think.
Agree, Swann and Rashid should be the spin options. I'd have also taken a punt on Monty and included him in the squad, though in truth his form over the past 12 months (batting heroics at Cardiff aside) hardly merits it.
But he has test experience, and a track record of getting some of the very best batsmen in trouble. Batsmen get cuter, and might work out plans to ounter that, true. But you surely don't lose all that natural ability and accuracy.
Hard to know just why his star has fallen so drastically, going from first choice spinner and indeed one of the first names on the teamsheet > not even considered for a trip to the Subcontinent.
Perhaps he just needs that one magic innings to get back in the groove.
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I think a worse problem and one, for the most part, we avoid these days was picking a player for one or two tests against strong opposition and then discarding them.
The number of talented players that were tried against the West Indies and Australia in the 80s and 90s only to be discarded after their initial failure is shocking. As if failure on debut against arguably the two most dominant teams in Test cricket history is reliable evidence of a player's ability.
Admittedly a few of them were bad picks and a few were persevered with (notably Gooch, Atherton and Flintoff) but overall the management, such as it was, of the England side in the 1980s and early 90s was disgraceful.
Mind you, the Ozzies have given a lot of debuts in the last twelve months.
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I think a worse problem and one, for the most part, we avoid these days was picking a player for one or two tests against strong opposition and then discarding them.
The number of talented players that were tried against the West Indies and Australia in the 80s and 90s only to be discarded after their initial failure is shocking. As if failure on debut against arguably the two most dominant teams in Test cricket history is reliable evidence of a player's ability.
Admittedly a few of them were bad picks and a few were persevered with (notably Gooch, Atherton and Flintoff) but overall the management, such as it was, of the England side in the 1980s and early 90s was disgraceful.
Robin Smith? Discarded prematurely to say the least.
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Pakistan.
I can only speak for our section but the majority of guys supporting them by us were aged 15-30 and looking to antagonise anyone that they could.
I sure as shit don't expect an Asian lad in an England shirt to be threatened with physical violence for doing so and nor do I find it acceptable to be accused of being a murderer by some c*** in a Saddam Hussein mask for celebrating Afridi losing his wicket.
We also had people running down aisles to try and throw their flags over England fans and blowing those fucking irritating horns two inches away from people's faces.
Like I said, never again.
Sadly I can only endorse your comments. There is a breed who know f all about cricket but pay big money to turn up at matches for some dreadful nationalistic behaviour. They have a major chip on shoulder problem and can be compared with lo life footie fans.
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I think a worse problem and one, for the most part, we avoid these days was picking a player for one or two tests against strong opposition and then discarding them.
The number of talented players that were tried against the West Indies and Australia in the 80s and 90s only to be discarded after their initial failure is shocking. As if failure on debut against arguably the two most dominant teams in Test cricket history is reliable evidence of a player's ability.
Admittedly a few of them were bad picks and a few were persevered with (notably Gooch, Atherton and Flintoff) but overall the management, such as it was, of the England side in the 1980s and early 90s was disgraceful.
Robin Smith? Discarded prematurely to say the least.
Possibly, although his demise coincided with the re-emergence of quality spin in Test matches - which was his particular Achilles Heel.
I say that as his biggest fan though. When he made his debut against the West Indies in 1988, I remember being so glad that someone actually looked to be relishing the fight. I remember one particularly good stand with Allan Lamb until Lamb tore a hamstring or something. But it was brilliant while it lasted.
I saw some stats on cricinfo recently though about the first half of Robin Smith's Test career compared to the second; the extent to which his form fell away was considerable.
But those square cuts. Never seen anyone before or since play the shot with as much power as that.
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Tredwell in, Carberry out but that's not the story here. What a crazy session. Somebody told Tamim Iqbal it was a T20. They were 108 for 1 off 15 overs, Swann went for 20 in one over and we had 5 fielders on the boundary!
125 for 3 now though.
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Tredwell in, Carberry out but that's not the story here. What a crazy session. Somebody told Tamim Iqbal it was a T20. They were 108 for 1 off 15 overs, Swann went for 20 in one over and we had 5 fielders on the boundary!
125 for 3 now though.
Harsh on Carberry really but the need to play 2 spinners would outweigh it. I wonder what would have happened if KP had not got runs in the 1st test? Would they have gone with the extra batsman this time?
Update.......Finn back on after his 1st spell of 2-0-22-0 and takes a wicket with his 1st ball!
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The squad for the 20/20 World Cup has been announced.
No huge surprises but I do question the logic of taking the injury-prone Sidebottom. I think he has very quickly become yesterday's man.
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Warwickshire 165/7 against Yorkshire.
It will be a struggle for Yorkshire this season but pleased to see 10 of the starting line up are Yorkshire born players.
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Warwickshire 165/7 against Yorkshire.
It will be a struggle for Yorkshire this season but pleased to see 10 of the starting line up are Yorkshire born players.
I doubt we'll get many opportunities to play both Bell and Trott so it's a disappointing start. Then again cricket on 9th April in England is mad.
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217 all out.
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217 all out.
Pissflaps!
And we cant get the rollers out to help our seamers tomorrow so that was a great toss for your lot to win.
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The Bears are going to be shite this year. Despite being massively wealthy, they never sign anyone any good. I predict relegation, but hope I'm wrong.
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Never sign anybody any good?
Lara? Donald? Pollock? Sangakarra?
We havent signed the players we should have in the last two years though, granted.
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Ok, I meant recently - 'never' may have been an exaggeration. Sangakkara and Steyn were the last two good ones I remember.
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Central contracts and the IPL mean that the days of having a Lara, a Donald or a Pollock for a season are gone which is a real pity.
I'm not sure that the Bears will set the world alight this year but we should sit comfortably in mid-table. I'd like to see them improve in the one day formats because we've been poor here for a while now.
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A lot will depend on the bowling of Woakes and the two Tahir's, we should be able to bat well enough (yes, yes, 217 all out, I know) but we might struggle to bowl teams out.
Mid-table seems fair enough, it would be nice to reach a cup final for once.
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Anyone else keeping an eye on the score on Cricinfo?
They have got an advert above asking "who will win the Champions League" next to pictures of Lionel Messi and... err... Wayne Rooney.
Ho ho ho.
281/7 lead of 224. All three results possible. Could be a good day's cricket tomorrow for anyone luck enough to have the day off work.
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Central contracts and the IPL mean that the days of having a Lara, a Donald or a Pollock for a season are gone which is a real pity.
I'm not sure that the Bears will set the world alight this year but we should sit comfortably in mid-table. I'd like to see them improve in the one day formats because we've been poor here for a while now.
Former Bear Sangakkara is playing for Lancs in the Twenty20, lots of other stars are in that competition too... Gilchrist, Razzaq, Afridi, Kaneria, Tait. We should've got a star in for the Twenty20 Cup.
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Central contracts and the IPL mean that the days of having a Lara, a Donald or a Pollock for a season are gone which is a real pity.
I'm not sure that the Bears will set the world alight this year but we should sit comfortably in mid-table. I'd like to see them improve in the one day formats because we've been poor here for a while now.
Former Bear Sangakkara is playing for Lancs in the Twenty20, lots of other stars are in that competition too... Gilchrist, Razzaq, Afridi, Kaneria, Tait. We should've got a star in for the Twenty20 Cup.
Makes you wonder if the money is available for a showcase signing or has it been diverted to fund the ground redevelopment?
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That's what my brother was just saying, while I was moaning as usual!
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Reports are claiming that two Essex players are being investigated for "spot fixing" where bets are placed on elements of the match rather than the actual result.
Without speculating about identities, this could be a very bad time for the game. The Cronje saga has lead to many changes but if betting now happens on such tiny elements of an innings then where will it end? It would be very hard to police.
http://www.cricinfo.com/countycricket2010/content/current/story/455657.html
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I wish Pakistan had taken 5 Australian wickets in the first over, not the last...
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Should be interesting against the Windies today. I think England have a chance in this tournament, depending on whether KP's wife goes into labour!
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Should be interesting against the Windies today. I think England have a chance in this tournament, depending on whether KP's wife goes into labour!
Interesting that the ECB will allow KP to fly home in the middle of a tournament, despite paying him £250,000 on a central contract. I wonder if his £1m+ IPL deal had a similar get out clause?
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First ball duck v SA the other day & Bopara is in good nick. No loss! Or, as Collingwood said, it's only a 3 hour match!
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Interesting that the ECB will allow KP to fly home in the middle of a tournament, despite paying him £250,000 on a central contract.
Okay so it's a fair whack of cash, but you don't think he should be allowed to go to the birth of his child?
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In any other job you're allowed paternal leave. Cricket is no different, of course he would want to there for the birth of his child.
Tell her to eat a curry and get on with it so he can be back for the Super Eights.
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Interesting that the ECB will allow KP to fly home in the middle of a tournament, despite paying him £250,000 on a central contract.
Okay so it's a fair whack of cash, but you don't think he should be allowed to go to the birth of his child?
No problem with him being there for the birth of his child, but as it happens, I don't actually think he should be playing in a tournament when at moment's notice he's going to be leaving his colleagues to continue without him.
I also wonder whether his plan is to witness the birth and head straight back to the Caribbean. The whole concept of paternity leave is for the father to support their partner in the first weeks and to bond with their child, not to head back to work as soon as he's finished fetching the hot water and the towels.
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Fair one TD, I see where you're coming from now.
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They were just talking about this on TMS. Michael Vaughn said he reckoned that if it had been anyone else they would have said "DOn't come on tour. stay at home" but Pietersen is so key that they'd rather have him for those games he's available and then lose him, than not have him there at all. I think that's fair enough.
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30-0 after 3 overs. Not bad!
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Am I cursed? Lumb is out. 36-1.
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Hmmm we are being pegged back here.
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Luke Wright is hammering on the breaks here.
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This is better now.
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This is now awesome.
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Wow! What an over.
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it was a great innings from Morgan.
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Ridiculous player.
You can see the old GAA hurling moves in some of those strokes.
Not sure there is a place for that in test cricket, but great in a 20/20 tear up.
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Wright came back really well.
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Great start, iffy middle, and great finish. Which means we've ended up just about where we should have been, given the first six overs.
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Awful start Sidebottom.
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Apparently we thought 150 would be a par score...
Gayle 15 off the first over. Yikes!
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Not sure Duckworth Lewis fits 2020 so well. Looks like there will be a fairly chaseable target when play resumes, harsh on England after a good knock. Need Gayle out straight away.
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Agreed, it does seem to favour the Windies a bit.
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Got to say Duckworth Lewis absolutley mugged us yesterday. We played really well and did not get rewarded. Now we have to beat Ireland today.
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Can we not have a seperate thread for the hit and run rubbish for people with ADD and keep this for us old gits that like proper cricket?
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The rain could screw us up again today.
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Can we not have a seperate thread for the hit and run rubbish for people with ADD and keep this for us old gits that like proper cricket?
We could stick Twenty20 into the baseball thread.
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Can we not have a seperate thread for the hit and run rubbish for people with ADD and keep this for us old gits that like proper cricket?
We could stick Twenty20 into the baseball thread.
Great idea Dave.
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Bloody hell this is poor at the moment.
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Bloody hell this is poor at the moment.
Of course it is.
I assume you mean the beach cricket?
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Making a right old mess of this.
49 for 4 off 9.4 overs.
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Jesus, we need the Irish fellow to save us. Nobody tell him who we're playing. Shhhhhh.
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This is poor, but the pitch is really really dead.
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Bloody hell.
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Well 120 may not be terrible. Morgan well done.
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120!?
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120!?
pitch was horrible, but not great aside from Morgan.
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We need to use slow bowlers on this.
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Surprisingly Yorkshire continue to make a great start to the season, 313 for 3 on the first day against Essex.
Be good to have Bresnan and Shazhad back sooner than planned it seems.
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what a catch!
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Rain again
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Is that good this time?
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Yes!
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Good stuff, well that has levelled out for us we are through
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Why don't they have reserve days? Ridiculous way for a group to be decided. While England were unlucky yesterday you have to feel a bit sorry for the Irish today. They might not have won but after restricting England to 120 they deserved to at least try.
Typical ICC farce.
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I don't see why it couldn't go later, why can't they play in the evening?
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Come on Bangladesh!
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Pakistan await on Thursday at 2pm.
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Yep not happy it's 2 pm really, but that goes for all our Super 8 games.
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England won the toss and are fielding.
Could be a good game this one.
"God save the Queen" being played on steel drums. Fantastic.
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Sidebottom's first ball - the first of the match - goes for 6.
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Aside from the Internationals, Warwickshire have just gone into the lead with an unbroken century partnership between Westwood and Bell.
About time that Westwood scored some sodding runs.
Another 300 runs with these 9 wickets and we've got a chance!
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Meanwhile Yorkshire thankfully continue to prove my prediction of a long hard struggle this season by having Essex follow on and are now 226 runs behind with 7 wickets remaining. Hope the rain stays away.
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Villa fan Ian Bell looking good.
Lets hope Villa fan Craig Kieswetter is too.
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Westwood gone for 68.
Bell still there on 91.
167 for 2.
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Do i take it from the lack of updates on the silly cricket that England are struggling?
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Not really. We've bowled alright, a bit sloppy at times. Pakistan finished 147/9.
I'd fancy England to chase them on this track.
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Been a bit lucky with some of their fielding but looks pretty routine otherwise.
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England win by 6 wickets with 3 balls to spare.
Made a bit of a meal of it but a good knock from Pietersen saw us home. He's not even firing on all cylinders yet either.
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Warwickshire have now scored more in the 2nd innings than the first, with 7 wickets to go.
Draw is staring to look likely, well batted today.
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Great win that for England, Pietersen did very well. We look good to me, if we get rid of Sidebottom and replace him with Anderson.
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Another excellent win for Yorkshire against some southern softies.
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South Africa have some amazing batsmen, not so sure about their bowling attack. Steyn is excellent, but the rest seem fairly average.
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Kent need 201 to win against Warwickshire going into their second innings.
Bit of a collapse from the Bears today, hopefully means that the pitch has deteriorated.
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Kent all out for 156.
Excellent.
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Kent 156 ao 2nd innings, 44 runs less than Wark's.
YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU BEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRSSSS!!!!!!
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Only just caught up with this - fantastic result.
Chasing 201 to win, Kent were favourites at 113 for 3 so to bowl them out for just 156 is a terrific effort.
To bowl Kent out twice without any wickets from Neil Carter - our best bowler so far this season - is even more special.
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Great result. Things looking a lot healthier than a fortnight ago.
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Good work Bears.
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Phenomenal victory. Well done yooouuuuu Beeeeeaaaaars.
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Come on England another dynamic display please.
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Lumb gone in first over.
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Pietersen looks in great touch.
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Kieswetter was out off a no ball, brilliant.
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This is really really good!
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Currently 10+ an over. Superb stuff.
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Kallis & Botha putting the brakes on a bit , 12 in the last 3 overs
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yes, the South Africans are doing well
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6 out of the ground for KP!
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brilliant 50 from KP.
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out but brilliant effort.
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And then he's out....
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6's are coming again!
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decent score, but lost some impetus towards the end.
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Hmm. About 20 runs short of what we should have been looking at when KP and Kieswetter were in.
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Agreed, but I'd go for 30 or 40.
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Good start by the bowlers.
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Gibbs gone, big big wicket.
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We should definately win from here.
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Nelson strikes! Should win now.
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That was a brilliant all round display by England, we look very very good.
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Great effort. I was worried about how our attack would fare against the Saffers but we bowled really well. Sidebottom, who I reckoned would be the weak link, was superb. 3 for 23 off 4 overs against that batting line-up is a great return.
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From cricinfo.com:
"Breaking news Kevin Pietersen will return to the UK in the next 24 hours. It's baby time for KP! "Provided there are no complications he will return to the Caribbean in time for the semi-finals," according to the ECB."
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Well hopefully he can be back for the semi's, because it is going to take an almighty thrashing from NZ now to put us out.
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From cricinfo.com:
"Breaking news Kevin Pietersen will return to the UK in the next 24 hours. It's baby time for KP! "Provided there are no complications he will return to the Caribbean in time for the semi-finals," according to the ECB."
Excellent timing. Well done Mrs P.
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Very good win by England. Bowlers must take the credit for this one but good all around.
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Right then, that's the Proteas gone!
Lets do the Beige boys good and proper then we can play the Crims in the final!
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Well so we are through then, need to beat NZ to keep our momentum now.
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Looking good again here.
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shocking captainacy and bowling by Sidebottom at the moment, just giving 2's every ball.
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I wish he would get his barnet sorted.
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Sidebottom has been terrible today, so far.
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Great last over by Bresnan. Only 7 from it.
150 to win.
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I think we may have allowed the Kiwis to score 20 too many!
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Kieswetter is off. Great first over.
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and he's out.
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We just need to reach 119, win or lose...then we top the group and avoid the Crims in the semi's.
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We are rocking a bit here.
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bad collapse here.
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Morgan really is very very good.
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Well we are cruising here, we look like a really top side.
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fine innings by Morgan.
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This England (well Anglo-Irish-Boar) side is suddenly looking the business.
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what are they playing at? they could run four singles!!! pillocks!
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there we go. Our antipodeans have kicked the shit out of their antipodeans.
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Like I said we look a very very good side, especially with KP back in.
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Get in!! Important that we won that to keep the momentum going.
Good knock from Bresnan.
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Are Eng...Ahem...England on a roll here?
So Sri Lanka or the Windies. I fancy it will be Sri Lanka but what do i know!
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KP's wife has had a baby boy so KP should be back in time to play in the semi-final.
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Looks like Sri Lanka in semi's then.
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Windies can't be bothered.
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Should be home for most of this semi final, so looking forward to it. It'd be great if we could win this tournament, we have shown real intent.
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I am stuck in the office until at least 5pm which is a bit of a bitch.
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Should be home for most of this semi final, so looking forward to it. It'd be great if we could win this tournament, we have shown real intent.
We have but so have the Aussies.
I'm going out this evening from work but hoping the pub has it on, will give me a good excuse not to talk to anyone.
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3 wins in a row in the Championship for Gloucestershire.
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Well that's an excellent effort to keep Sri Lanka down to 128. Now bat well England, please!
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don't like all these spinners.
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good over.
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Kieswetter not given out when he should be dead out! and then hits a six!
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great stuff from England here.
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Kieswetter gone, but did a great job.
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Excellent again from England so far. Helped by some dreadful Sri Lankan fielding, something which I doubt Australia will be guilty of, but we look very, very good at the moment.
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Huge six KP
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Great win.
It's amazing how all of a sudden we're a force in Twenty20
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Job done.
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Any one else think Nick Knight as a pundit is a Toss Basket
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Top top performance, plus if Australia get to the final they will come at us with pace and that is what we play best.
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Any one else think Nick Knight as a pundit is a Toss Basket
No and how dare you speak of a Bear legend in such terms.
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Any one else think Nick Knight as a pundit is a Toss Basket
Asked a question it's a long pause, pull a face like he is squeezing out a massive turd and then make whatever he is saying sound as negative as he can. I would guess it's down to all the time he spent amongst Brummies.
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Any one else think Nick Knight as a pundit is a Toss Basket
No and how dare you speak of a Bear legend in such terms.
I agree. Knight's a Bear superstar who we never really replaced. I tend to like pretty much all the cricket pundits / commentators. Bumbe's probably my favourite. This is in contrast with the football commentators who are just about all utter shite.
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Any one else think Nick Knight as a pundit is a Toss Basket
No and how dare you speak of a Bear legend in such terms.
I agree. Knight's a Bear superstar who we never really replaced. I tend to like pretty much all the cricket pundits / commentators. Bumbe's probably my favourite. This is in contrast with the football commentators who are just about all utter shite.
i agree, most of the cricket pundits are listenable, that is why i picked out Knight, he might have been a good player etc,
but as a pundit he just tries to hard, i dont find him easy listening
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Australia are taking a bit of a battering here.
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If they win this one 192 runs ..well I will hate them even more!
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Well well looks like the aussies can't handle the pressure.
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Well well looks like the aussies can't handle the pressure.
Incredible finish.
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If they win this one 192 runs ..well I will hate them even more!
Wow. What a finish!
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The perfect final, the two best teams overall will be doing battle.
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Belting game that. It'd be much sweeter hammering the Aussies in the final, so I'm happy.
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Aussies will not win on Sunday. Today's game took a lot out of them. (Hopefully)
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That was just astonishing, 6646 to win the game! Wow.
I'm not actually a massive fan of this baseball cricket stuff being a Test Match purist at heart, but that was impressive.
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Fucking useless Pakistan cost me a tenner, even Scotland could have seen that last over out. Have a feeling the Aussies are destined to win it now.
Still, Bears won again. ** smiley chap **
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Come on England!
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7-2 1.5 overs
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8-3 - Come On!
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Feck me, 8-3!
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Aussies will not win on Sunday. Today's game took a lot out of them. (Hopefully)
Could be hell of a prediction based on 10-3 at the moment.
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Fantastic bowling and fielding so far.
Hussey still in though, this ain't over.
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Yes Hussey's... Dave in and Micheal to follow however all his luck was used up in the semi!
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White gone.
Now for the Husseys.
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Good bottle from Broad, dropped one but held his nerve.
This is great fun.
The Aussies are going to go for it in the last three overs but I reckon we can chase down anything less than 150.
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I agree, keep them to 130/140 and we have a chance here.
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M. Hussey looking good again though - the bastard.
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M. Hussey looking good again though - the bastard.
Dave stop stereotyping Aussies!
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Cracker of a shot there.
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This is going to be a tough total to chase. It's gonna be squeaky bum time later.
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Game on. Got to walk the dogs in the break!
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Would prefer if they'd got 20 runs less, which isn't totally unrealistic based on their start.
That little cameo from White and a solid knock from the other Hussey could yet turn out to be match-winning contributions.
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Don't screw it now lads.
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Well done England.
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Blimey, that was an impressive win.
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Nice one.
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Bloody fantastic.
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Bloody brilliant!
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Get in there ! One thing I would love to do is watch the cricket abroad - either west indies or the Ashes in Australia.
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Was up the pub with the old man, brilliant. Basically we demolished them like we have pretty much everyone. We deserved to win. Broad, Sidebottom, Kieswetter and Pietersen were magnificent. It was absolutely brilliant.
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Superb effort well done lads.
Bears and Scotland won too so overall a great day's cricket.
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Excellent - always nice to spot a Villa shirt in the crowd too!
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Excellent, comprehensive win.
I admit it doesn't sit well with me the amount of guns for hire in that team, but that's an argument for another day. There is a school of thought that says the team reflects modern England as a society, and there might be a degree of logic to that. But outside of London I don't think you'll find that many South Africans ;)
One good thing that can come from it (apart from trophies, obv) is that up and coming players in county cricket might adopt a more aggressive approach, like your Kieswetters, Lumbs and Pietersons et.c. Could bode well for the future.
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Well done. COME ON ENGLAND!
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Was up the pub with the old man, brilliant. Basically we demolished them like we have pretty much everyone. We deserved to win. Broad, Sidebottom, Kieswetter and Pietersen were magnificent. It was absolutely brilliant.
What you said Paul. England were the best team and they won. It's good when a tournament ends like this.
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What is brilliant is that from the Super 8's onwards we have pretty much demolished anyone in our path. We genuinely are the best and we won.
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Sorry, would have commented sooner, but I've been wanking myself into oblivion over beating the Aussies in a final, and thoroughly deserving to beat them too.
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Very pleased with that result and to see us finally win an ICC trophy.
A win against the Crims should always be cherished especially when we outclass them.
Kieswetter, Pietersen, Lumb and Broad were on top form but the man of the tournament for me has to be Swann. I don't think that anyone came close to tearing him apart.
Sets things up nicely for the cricketing summer.
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That was absolutely marvellous. I'm still reeling from it.
I knew we had a good team going into the turnament and that we had a good chance but I'd never imagine we'd be so ruthless and systematic as well as imaginative and belligerent.
They all did their job. Collingwoods batting wasnt up to much but his fielding and leadership made up for it. Our lower middle order hardly had a bat.
Great stuff. Its not bad this 20/20 lark is it?
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Being used to seeing England limited over sides flying by the seats of their pantt and mixing months of inadequacy with the rare brilliant performance to suddenly see one look so confident and competent is a shock to the system.
Great stuff.
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Being used to seeing England limited over sides flying by the seats of their pantt and mixing months of inadequacy with the rare brilliant performance to suddenly see one look so confident and competent is a shock to the system.
Just like the Villa, eh Chris? (winky)
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That was absolutely marvellous. I'm still reeling from it.
I knew we had a good team going into the turnament and that we had a good chance but I'd never imagine we'd be so ruthless and systematic as well as imaginative and belligerent.
They all did their job. Collingwoods batting wasnt up to much but his fielding and leadership made up for it. Our lower middle order hardly had a bat.
Great stuff. Its not bad this 20/20 lark is it?
I'm not a huge cricket fan, but I really like 2020, and I loved the England win. Does that make me the cricketing equivalent of a gloryhunting plastic Manc new footy fan?
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That was absolutely marvellous. I'm still reeling from it.
I knew we had a good team going into the turnament and that we had a good chance but I'd never imagine we'd be so ruthless and systematic as well as imaginative and belligerent.
They all did their job. Collingwoods batting wasnt up to much but his fielding and leadership made up for it. Our lower middle order hardly had a bat.
Great stuff. Its not bad this 20/20 lark is it?
I'm not a huge cricket fan, but I really like 2020, and I loved the England win. Does that make me the cricketing equivalent of a gloryhunting plastic Manc new footy fan?
Yes.
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You have to start somewhere Risso.
Now, you have to earn your stripes by watching an enthralling day or five of Test cricket.
But be warned, shouting obscenity and insisting the coaching staff resign after losing a wicket simply isnt on.
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You have to start somewhere Risso.
Now, you have to earn your stripes by watching an enthralling day or five of Test cricket.
But be warned, shouting obscenity and insisting the coaching staff resign after losing a wicket simply isnt on.
Oh I like the tests as well of course, I've just never got as far as following a county. I did get down to Warwickshire a couple of times in the early 90s when I was a student, and saw the final bit of Lara's 501.
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I've been walking around Sydney today with my England Cricket hat on. Has been much fun!
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I was pissed as a rat that day but even still, I'll never forget it.
The standing ovation lasted about 20 minutes.
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I've been walking around Sydney today with my England Cricket hat on. Has been much fun!
I was going to text you but was too excited at the win. Stick it to the fuckers good man!
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Dont go too mad though. You're not a Bluenose.
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I'm saving myself for the Ashes!
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Something odd happening at Edgbaston. Bears 113 all out, then Lancs 21-5. The splendour of the four-day game....
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Reasonable start to the 1st test by England, 105 - 1 at lunch. They've recovered well from the early loss of Cook who was at the wrong end of a bad LBW decision.
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Trott going superbly, 175* at the close.
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Was a top knock. Can't recall him playing a false stroke all day.
Morgan looked good too in the final session, as far as you can tell against Bangladesh who were poor all round.
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Trott did very well, Morgan impressive too. I do think KP can struggle against teams he thinks are beneath him.
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Hope Trott will crack on and get the double ton tomorrow.
Hasn't been enough England players do that over the years. What odds a dismissal soon after the restart, eh?
Get 500+ first up and shouldn't need to bat again I'd have thought. Being cautious, the Lords pitch has contributed to a fair few draws in recent years. But that was against far better opponents TBF.
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Pretty poor bowling, lots of short rubbish. We do have problems deviating from a plan.
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Finn bowled alright, but the other pace bowlers not good enough. Also I think we have to play 5 bowlers to add variety. Bresnan is not a Test bowler.
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A disappointing day for England.
We're really missing the balance that an all rounder brings to the line up. It is surprising that we went with 6 batsmen against Bangladesh. A 5-man bowling attack is a must.
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I'm prepared to give Bresnan more of a chance. He got wickets out in Bangladesh, which isn't easy for seamers to do.
I reckon England's bowling plan was off today. The ball that got Bell yesterday was a beauty, on a very good length and hitting the top of off. That's what we needed today but we bowled far too short.
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Fucking hell this bringing the players off for bad light then sending them out 5 minutes later is getting old. It's not dangerous, just get on with it. Finn bowling well.
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Fucking hell this bringing the players off for bad light then sending them out 5 minutes later is getting old. It's not dangerous, just get on with it.
Not convinced I would want a cricket ball hurtling at me at 80+mph unless I could see it perfectly to be honest.
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Fucking hell this bringing the players off for bad light then sending them out 5 minutes later is getting old. It's not dangerous, just get on with it.
Not convinced I would want a cricket ball hurtling at me at 80+mph unless I could see it perfectly to be honest.
Do you honestly believe that the light changed enough to make a difference 3 times in 20 minutes when they were going off and on last night? As the commentators said they'd play 20/20 in those conditions, why not test cricket? It's an expensive business and the public should be able to expect to see as much cricket as is possible.
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Bresnan is maybe a first change bowler at best, he really shouldn't be on with the new ball. If we are going to have a four man attack, Bresnan has to be replaced by Broad.
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Do you honestly believe that the light changed enough to make a difference 3 times in 20 minutes when they were going off and on last night? As the commentators said they'd play 20/20 in those conditions, why not test cricket? It's an expensive business and the public should be able to expect to see as much cricket as is possible.
Ah, right, I didn't realise they were buggering about like that, I was at work and just keeping an eye on the score.
They need to tweak the rule that the umpires will offer the light to the batsmen at a pre-selected reading on the light meter.
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They need to tweak the rule that the umpires will offer the light to the batsmen at a pre-selected reading on the light meter.
They've taken the decision away from the batsman now though haven't they? It's solely at the umpire's discretion.
Which has to be right. I can't think of a single instance in all the years I've been watching cricket when the batting side came off for bad light because they thought they were in danger, as opposed to it being in their interests given the match situation. It was all too cynical.
As England proved in Pakistan that time, teams will bat on in appalling light if they think they can win a Test match.
Umpires should only bring the teams off if it is simply too dark for the teams to see what they're doing. And I mean proper dark.
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We do struggle in conditions that aren't suited to swing. We need to address that.
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Good batting conditions but Tamim Iqbal's century is one of the most entertaining innings I've seen for a long time.
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They've taken the decision away from the batsman now though haven't they? It's solely at the umpire's discretion.
Not sure this is a great idea, it now puts a lot of pressure on the umpires in failing light, they won't want to be responsible when a batsman gets put in hospital by a ball he couldn't see so are probably more likely to err on the side of caution. Previously they could just say, "Well, it was the batsman's decision to carry on."
Umpires should only bring the teams off if it is simply too dark for the teams to see what they're doing. And I mean proper dark.
Too dangerous, and not particularly good for spectating either.
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They've taken the decision away from the batsman now though haven't they? It's solely at the umpire's discretion.
Not sure this is a great idea, it now puts a lot of pressure on the umpires in failing light, they won't want to be responsible when a batsman gets put in hospital by a ball he couldn't see so are probably more likely to err on the side of caution. Previously they could just say, "Well, it was the batsman's decision to carry on."
Umpires should only bring the teams off if it is simply too dark for the teams to see what they're doing. And I mean proper dark.
Too dangerous, and not particularly good for spectating either.
Atherton was saying on Sky yesterday that the 'danger' to batsmen, such as it is, is overstated. In this era there is only a handful of really quick bowlers, a preponderance of flat pitches, and plenty of protective equipment for batters.
The rule about bad light being dangerous to batsmen was more applicable in an era of uncovered wickets where the ball came off very quickly, a plethora of genuinely quick bowlers and little in the way of helmets etc.
So the light should only be an issue if it just too dark to play (and, as you say, to watch) properly.
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I agree that batsmen are better protected, but the contest should be as equal as possible between batsman and bowler, if the batsman can't see the ball properly I don't see how it's an equal contest.
For the same reason you are not allowed to bowl the ball massively wide or throw down a succession of waist high beamers, the batsman has to actually be able to hit the ball! And if he can't see it how is he supposed to hit it!
It's okay for Atherton to say it's not dangerous now he's retired, but he was quick enough to walk off when he was batting!
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I agree that batsmen are better protected, but the contest should be as equal as possible between batsman and bowler, if the batsman can't see the ball properly I don't see how it's an equal contest.
For the same reason you are not allowed to bowl the ball massively wide or throw down a succession of waist high beamers, the batsman has to actually be able to hit the ball! And if he can't see it how is he supposed to hit it!
It's okay for Atherton to say it's not dangerous now he's retired, but he was quick enough to walk off when he was batting!
Well that's exactly my point - you come off if you can't see to play properly.
At the moment they come off in light that, while not perfect, is perfectly playable. Like I said, the danger thing is way over-stated.
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They could just switch to a luminous bad light ball. It would take the batsman a while to adjust but its better than nothing.
They could have a selection of balls ready that have seen the requisite number of overs like they used to in ODIs.
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Anyone going to Lords tomorrow? It's only a tenner in. I'm going for it.
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Hmm. Couple of late wickets and I'm now wondering how much play there will be tomorrow.
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At just two down I seriously thought about it, at five down I'll pop down the local for an hour or two!
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They'll be all out just before lunch I reckon, leaving a fairly tedious run chase of about 175.
I've spent a tenner on worse things.
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I've spent a tenner on worse things.
It's the travel costs that put me off.
I've booked my tickets for the T20 at Edgbaston on Thursday instead.
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Another test match and a weekend of good weather. Looking forward to a couple of nice long afternoons spent in the garden with TMS on the radio.
As long as the Manchester sunshine doesn't make an appearance!!
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Another test match and a weekend of good weather. Looking forward to a couple of nice long afternoons spent in the garden with TMS on the radio.
As long as the Manchester sunshine doesn't make an appearance!!
What a pity England have stunk the place out so far huh? 159-4 as we speak, Strauss, Trott, Cook and Pietersen gone. Fucks sake lads.
Time to shine Ian!
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I do wish KP could focus a bit more sometimes.
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Our bowling attack looks painfully limp and lacking in options.
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Bangladesh should be about 8 down at this point.
Some desperate shots being played.
...and just as they say that Jimmy strikes.
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Epic collapse that
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That is mental, when I went to bed last night Bangladesh were 108-0, then to find when I wake up that England are thinking about the follow on. That must have been one crazy last session.
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I'm on night shifts and so turned on the TV when I got up just when the final session was starting, England hadn't taken a wicket.
I watche Tamin get his 100 and then saw all ten wickets in the short time before I had to leave for work again! Crazy stuff.
I think England should bat again, that pitch is falling apart, a lead of even 150 for Bangladesh in the last innings could be tricky for England to get, the ball will be spinning at right angles by then.
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I'm not sure what the weather forecast is for the next 3 days, but I think England should just go out and bat all day today, put on a big enough chase that we know Bangladesh can never get anywhere near, and then give ourselves 2 days to bowl them out.
Job done.
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Pretty Dire from Bangladesh this.
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39-6
Yet more proof I now naff all about cricket!
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Bears chasing 312 to win are 91-5. Useless fuckers.
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39-6
Yet more proof I now naff all about cricket!
That's why I'm not the England captain.
That and the fact that I can't bat or bowl.
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From this weeks The Spin:
The best match of the week was not played in Manchester, Port-of-Spain, or Bulawayo, but in Pembroke, Bermuda, at the Western Stars Sports Club. The Bahamas were taking on Argentina in division one of the World Cricket League's Americas region.
Argentina, without a win in their previous four games in the competition, won the toss and chose to bat. That decision was vindicated when 28-year-old Lucas Paterlini scored 138 at just over a run-a-ball, the key contribution to a formidable total of 333-5 from 50 overs. More like 54 overs actually, as the Bahamas bowled 23 wides. Things got better still for Argentina's when their opening bowlers reduced Bahamas to 16-2.
And then No3 Rohan Parkes went berserk. He hit 133 from 59 balls (14 fours, 11 sixes), an innings of such startling ferocity that his partner's 93 from 57 (six fours and eight sixes) "seemed sedate in comparison", as one reporter put it. Parkes was particularly severe on the off-spin of the Argentina captain Esteban MacDermott, who wisely decided to withdraw himself from the attack with figures of 4-0-72-0.
Parkes was stumped in the 20th over, with Bahamas needing another 121 runs and with seven wickets in hand. They lost four of those in getting to 332-7 in the 32nd over. Two runs needed then, from 18 overs and with three wickets in hand. Two of those duly fell in the next two balls. No10 Jonathan Barry scraped a single to tie the scores, and then, with all of 105 balls to find the winning run, ran himself out off the next delivery. Rarely before in the field of human conflict can so many runs have been scored so quickly to such little effect.
Argentina 333-5 (50 overs); Bahamas 333 (33.3 overs). Match tied.
Sounds absolutely mental!
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From this weeks The Spin:
The best match of the week was not played in Manchester, Port-of-Spain, or Bulawayo, but in Pembroke, Bermuda, at the Western Stars Sports Club. The Bahamas were taking on Argentina in division one of the World Cricket League's Americas region.
Argentina, without a win in their previous four games in the competition, won the toss and chose to bat. That decision was vindicated when 28-year-old Lucas Paterlini scored 138 at just over a run-a-ball, the key contribution to a formidable total of 333-5 from 50 overs. More like 54 overs actually, as the Bahamas bowled 23 wides. Things got better still for Argentina's when their opening bowlers reduced Bahamas to 16-2.
And then No3 Rohan Parkes went berserk. He hit 133 from 59 balls (14 fours, 11 sixes), an innings of such startling ferocity that his partner's 93 from 57 (six fours and eight sixes) "seemed sedate in comparison", as one reporter put it. Parkes was particularly severe on the off-spin of the Argentina captain Esteban MacDermott, who wisely decided to withdraw himself from the attack with figures of 4-0-72-0.
Parkes was stumped in the 20th over, with Bahamas needing another 121 runs and with seven wickets in hand. They lost four of those in getting to 332-7 in the 32nd over. Two runs needed then, from 18 overs and with three wickets in hand. Two of those duly fell in the next two balls. No10 Jonathan Barry scraped a single to tie the scores, and then, with all of 105 balls to find the winning run, ran himself out off the next delivery. Rarely before in the field of human conflict can so many runs have been scored so quickly to such little effect.
Argentina 333-5 (50 overs); Bahamas 333 (33.3 overs). Match tied.
Sounds absolutely mental!
Fantastic.
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From this weeks The Spin:
The best match of the week was not played in Manchester, Port-of-Spain, or Bulawayo, but in Pembroke, Bermuda, at the Western Stars Sports Club. The Bahamas were taking on Argentina in division one of the World Cricket League's Americas region.
Argentina, without a win in their previous four games in the competition, won the toss and chose to bat. That decision was vindicated when 28-year-old Lucas Paterlini scored 138 at just over a run-a-ball, the key contribution to a formidable total of 333-5 from 50 overs. More like 54 overs actually, as the Bahamas bowled 23 wides. Things got better still for Argentina's when their opening bowlers reduced Bahamas to 16-2.
And then No3 Rohan Parkes went berserk. He hit 133 from 59 balls (14 fours, 11 sixes), an innings of such startling ferocity that his partner's 93 from 57 (six fours and eight sixes) "seemed sedate in comparison", as one reporter put it. Parkes was particularly severe on the off-spin of the Argentina captain Esteban MacDermott, who wisely decided to withdraw himself from the attack with figures of 4-0-72-0.
Parkes was stumped in the 20th over, with Bahamas needing another 121 runs and with seven wickets in hand. They lost four of those in getting to 332-7 in the 32nd over. Two runs needed then, from 18 overs and with three wickets in hand. Two of those duly fell in the next two balls. No10 Jonathan Barry scraped a single to tie the scores, and then, with all of 105 balls to find the winning run, ran himself out off the next delivery. Rarely before in the field of human conflict can so many runs have been scored so quickly to such little effect.
Argentina 333-5 (50 overs); Bahamas 333 (33.3 overs). Match tied.
Sounds absolutely mental!
And what a fantastic name that is.
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A 5 game ODI series against the crims starts today.
C'mon England. Time to lay down a marker for the Ashes!
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Absolutely marvellous innings from Morgan, 103 from 85 balls and England canter home with four overs to spare.
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It's good to have another batsman to rely on alongside KP. At times, Morgan's timing was sublime.
Always nice to beat the Crims!
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Luke Wright looks like he's maturing too. Seems to be a better bowler and instead of just trying to smash everything, he played a bit more simpler and let Morgan get in.
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Well done England.
Bears on the box tomorrow... 5.30 start I think so nicely timed to squeeze between the Ingerlund and Germany matches.
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And out comes my England Cricket Sunhat!
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Good start again, 88-3 as I type, Ponting and Clarke gone already.
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There goes another! 94-4, Watson the big useless lump.
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Easy win again for England. I would love it if it was this easy in Australia this December/January.
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Who else is watching this?! From 185 for 3 to 210 for 9, needing 3 from the last over!
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4 from the first ball. What was all the fuss about?!
I'm shattered.
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3-0. Something to cheer at last! (The fact the England team is made of of South Africans and Welshmen is irrelevant!)
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Never in doubt!
The thing is, in previous years we all know what would have happened with eight wickets down and fifteen runs to get, not these days, someone always seems capable of steadying the ship and doing what is necessary. England are looking like what Australia used to be.
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Dale Steyn is a naughty boy! He spat at Benn after he was dismissed. Here's cricinfo's take:
Oh dear. Controversy: Steyn spat on the ground to the right of Benn' . Controversial scenes here. It could balloon into something ugly. Benn got close to Steyn and was seen laughing. Tauntingly. Or so it appears. That seemed to angry Steyn and he spat to the right of Benn.At the ground. Not on Benn but I can't believe he spat in the first place. Oh what a mess. Benn is enraged, takes a step or two towards Steyn who walks away. The umpires get into act and talk to Benn. Oh dear what has Steyn done here. The provocation seems to be the fact that Benn laughed. Perhaps there is something more in the history between the two, perhaps this was a reaction to the past battles between Benn and South African players. Whatever be the catalyst, it seems to have got to Steyn. Match referee has to surely get into this. He will look at the provocation and the reaction. It will be interesting to see what he will decide.
Surely, Steyn can't get away with this. Unless of course, the judge decides the provocation was very strong. It's going to be a very interesting hearing later on. And what about Benn: Will he take stock of the situation after this and mellow down a bit? In his brief career so far, he seems to have already got into a few controversies.
West Indies 231 & 75/6
South Africa 346
West Indies trail by 40 runs with 4 wickets remaining
This could be over in three days!
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What became of all that then?
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England v Bangladesh going down to the wire, 28 needed off 23 balls with 2 wickets- glad it's close, good for the game in general even though disappointing from an England point of view
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Talk about squeaky bum time! We need 10 from 6, no wickets in hand... Ian Bell using his bat as a crutch.
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I'm going to Edgbaston on Monday so fairly pleased that the series is still to play for.
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Fair play to Bangladesh
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Bell out for 6 weeks.
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That's more like it! A superb knock and partnership from Strauss and Trott, with a brilliant cameo from Bopara at the end. What a fantastic last over.
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I enjoyed the day one highlights of Pakistan - Australia at Lords last night.
Pakistan look a tight unit and did wonderfully well to restrict the crims to 229 - 9 from 171 - 2. Weather permitting, it should turn out to be a good test.
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I hadn't a clue the Australia v Pakistan series was going on in this country until last week when I was given a ticket for a day at Headingley for my birthday. I was quite excited as I thought I was getting flights and hotel as well.
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I hadn't a clue the Australia v Pakistan series was going on in this country until last week when I was given a ticket for a day at Headingley for my birthday. I was quite excited as I thought I was getting flights and hotel as well.
That reminds me of the time my wife told me I was going to Liverpool for my birthday, Villa were playing them that day too. Turned out we were just going to Liverpool, anyway we lost 3-0 and I got a speeding fine on the M62. So all in all it turned out to be a rather bad day all round.
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Another fascinating game between Australia and Pakistan at Headingley.
The Crims were all out for 88, another shocking decision by Punter Ponting to bat after he won the toss. He's got form for misreading pitches (Edgbaston 2005) and it looks like he's done it again.
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A couple of the cricket following co-workers were going mad about that today. Oh how I laughed!
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On a seperate cricket theme Murali has reached the milestone of 800 test wickets. Stunning performance really and one that is unlikely to be beaten.
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And looking on the BBC story about that, 112 of them against England.
He truly is one of the greats when it comes to bowling. In fact I'd say he is the only spin bowler I can think of better than Warne. Like you say VFL, that milestone is unlikely to be beaten.
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And looking on the BBC story about that, 112 of them against England.
He truly is one of the greats when it comes to bowling. In fact I'd say he is the only spin bowler I can think of better than Warne. Like you say VFL, that milestone is unlikely to be beaten.
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And about 200 against Bangladesh & Zimbabwe.
Not sure if 800 wickets is a measure of his greatness, the fact that he's played so many Test matches (a lot against Bangladesh & Zimbabwe) or that the rest of the Sri Lanka attack has been poor in the last 15 years.
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He was a fantastic bowler and 800 wickets cannot be lightly dismissed.
If you break his stats down then you find that his most frequent victims include Mark Boucher, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.
Also Sri Lanka have had a decent attack for a few years, Malinga and Jayawardene would grace any test side.
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I know what you're saying but Malinga has been around for, what, six years. Who else bowled alongside MM before that? And Jawardene is a batsman.
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I know what you're saying but Malinga has been around for, what, six years. Who else bowled alongside MM before that? And Jawardene is a batsman.
Whoops I meant Jayasuria!
They've had plenty of top class bowlers other than Murali.
Chaminder Vaas has 355 test match wickets, Jayasuria and Fernando were pretty handy too.
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Hope Pakistan knock these runs off tonight to save me going to Headingley tomorrow for a few overs of cricket.
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Never ceases to amaze me how people who put their hands in their pockets and make the effort to attend sporting events are treated.
There were a few hundred very noisy (also very well behaved although judging by the amount of officious stewards watching over them you'd think it was the pissed up bunch of morons that used to populate the Western Terrace) Pakistan supporters in the ground today who were naturally delighted to see their team beat the Aussies. The presentation ceremony and interviews were of course conducted in the area of the ground farthest from where they were and screened off so they were unable to see and all for the benefit of tv and the 27 people sat in the massive white elephant that is the new pavilion at Headingley.
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Great 1st day for England in the Trent Bridge test against Pakistan.
After lunch when we lost 2 quick wickets things could have got very ropey very quickly. Great performance by Morgan and Colly to steady the ship and kick on. Morgan brought his century up in style with a six!
Couple of umpire referals which I'm looking forward to seeing on the highlights later.
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Was Anderson given the Man Of The Match award? I think he probably was - just checked the Beeb and yes he was.
But surely as it was a very bowler friendly pitch with the ball swinging like a reckless Swede in a sauna, the accolade should have gone to either Morgan or Prior due to them getting 100s in those conditions?
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Good Solid win for the Bears today against the Jocks
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According to the BBC, Flintoff will not play again in 2010. I fear we won't see him play again.
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Great performance by Surrey against Glamorgan in the day/night one day game last night. They scored 386 - 3 off 38 overs which is an amazing total and sets a new record in this form of cricket. 40 fours and 9 sixes!
The rain intervened and Glamorgan ended up chasing 227 off 20 overs under D/L and still scored at over 9 an over making 187 - 5 off 20.
Looks as though the 20/20 aapproach is starting to appear in the longer forms of the one day game.
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Are we that good, or are Pakistan that bad?
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Are we that good, or are Pakistan that bad?
Both. Pakistan are bad but let's not forget that they rolled the Aussies over on a similar pitch in similar conditions.
England have finally discovered something they have been missing since Botham's time, ruthlessness. Fuck whether the opposition are in disarray and being humiliated, pile it on! The West Indies were masters of this, and then Australia honed it into a fine art, finally we have not just the players, but also the mentality to put ourselves into that sort of company.
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I think you make a very good point there Dave about ruthlessness.
Another thing I like about this England side though is the fact that we don't have to rely on just 1/2 players. Look at the bowlers, for example. We can see that Jimmy is in the form of his life at the moment, but should he have a day/match where he struggles we've got Broad and Swann to come in and take the pressure off. I also think Finn will become a key bowler for us over the next few years.
The same can be said with the bat. For 5/6 years now KP has been the key wicket for any opposing side, but now we're seeing the likes of Morgan, Trott and Collingwood play with a bit of confidence.
For me though, our main weakness is opening. I'm not a massive fan of Cook, and do worry sometimes that losing both him and Strauss in quick succession or early on can put a bit too much pressure on the rest of our line up. Question is though, who is there that can come in and open? I was chatting to someone about this a couple of weeks ago, and he was of the opinion that Collingwood would make a good opener alongside Strauss. I don't know if he's played that role before, but I don't think it would be too bad a shout.
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I agree to a point Bazz, but feel that Jimmy will struggle down under with the Kookabura ball.
He's a fantastic bowler when the conditions are right but tends to struggle when the sun beats down and movement through the air is non-existent.
It's the same with Mitchell Johnson for the Crims. Brilliant in Oz, awful over here.
Braod and Finn will be key bowlers.
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Spent a very good day at Edgbaston today. Was very apprehensive at the start of the day about VFM for our 60 quid tickets and at lunch time I thought it'll be home early. However dogged resistance by Pakistan 7th, 8th and 9th wicket made it a full day. Swan bowled well and felt sorry for Haider not getting a ton.
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So one win by 354 and one by 9 wickets, bowling out the opposition for double figures twice. Still can't shake the feeling that the four-man attack might not be enough in less favourable Aussie conditions, though.
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Cook gone for 6.
Someone on TMS earlier (think it was Aggers) made a very good point about how Strauss and Bell were both dropped and sent back to their counties when they were struggling as much as Cook is. I think he should've sat out this series so far and been allowed to get his confidence back at county level.
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Cook gone for 6.
Someone on TMS earlier (think it was Aggers) made a very good point about how Strauss and Bell were both dropped and sent back to their counties when they were struggling as much as Cook is. I think he should've sat out this series so far and been allowed to get his confidence back at county level.
There's not much 4 day cricket left this season where he could rebuild his confidence.
He does need to be taken out of the firing line. Move Trott up to open and whilst Bell is still unfit bring in Carberry or maybe Owais Shah.
Just don't play Shah against the Crims please Straussy......
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Drop Cook, are you mad?
winky man
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It's a good job Trott likes playing at Lords for England!
262 in his only previous innings there, and just got his century today too.
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Brilliant knock from Trotty, showing the rest of them what you can achieve with a modicum of patience. Face-saving partnership with Broad this.
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And now Broado's gone to his maiden century. At Lords. From no. 9. Absolutely brilliant. If he takes three wickets in both innings he'll get to 100 in tests as well. Freddie who?
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Brilliant batting from these two, 200 n.o partnership, who would have thought it when Broad came in? If only warwickshire could produce something like this. Their batting has been shocking all season.
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Brilliant batting from these two, 200 n.o partnership, who would have thought it when Broad came in? If only warwickshire could produce something like this. Their batting has been shocking all season.
Hardly surprising when their best batsmen are either in at number 3 for England or recovering from an injury sustained when playing for England.
The Bears would be in for the title with Bell and Trott in the team and scoring runs.
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World Record partnership at Number 9 from Broad and Trott. What a fantastic and series saving knock that was from the pair of them.
Couple of early wickets too for Broady - let's hope he can carry this over to the winter!
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70-8. Whoops.
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All out. Wickets tumbling regularly. We can win this tonight!
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This story sours what has been a remarkable couple of days of cricket. There is going to be serious trouble for someone ...
http://www.cricinfo.com/england-v-pakistan-2010/content/current/story/474890.html
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I got an email a couple of days ago from a friend who works at sky saying that something major was brewing with regards to the Pakistan cricket team, but didn't know/wouldn't say what. If this is all true, and it is still an if at the moment, I think this will have major repercussions around the cricketing world. Bigger even, I think, than the Cronje incident. Especially if they can prove that they have influenced the outcome of games (although something that big hasn't yet been alleged, I think it possibly might come up).
News of the Screws story (http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/924349/Cricket-in-the-dock-as-we-expose-betting-scandal-England-Pakistan-Test.html)
For example, the games they are alleged to have had dodgy dealings in, could fans who paid to go to them days claim money back because they too have been conned?
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The biggest tragedy in all this potentially, could be the involvement of Mohammed Amir.
Amir has bowled beautifully against both England and Australia, the boy really looks the business. He gets good players out and gives them a working over while he's at it.
It'd be such a shame if as his career just got started, he did something so stupid and got a ban. He's the only decent thing about watching Pakistan right now.
Well, that's excluding Farhats comedy opening batsman repotoir and Akmals keeping.
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I was hoping for once they could turn up play cricket, good or bad win or lose, and go home and keep re-building the team. That would have been too good to be true and once again Pakistani cricketers are or could heap shame upon the nation.
As you say OzVilla this would be a tragedy for young Amir and all of us who love pure talent in this game.
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The match finished quickly today thank goodness....
Let's not let the news last night/today mask the excellent cricket played (at times) by both sides. That said, a nasty tastes is left in the mouth- I really hope it will found that there was nothing serious, or at least nothing endemic, in the allegations. It's all very upsetting
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KP dropped from England T20 squad for up coming matches apparently. Not happy if twitter is to be believed.
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England paceman Stuart Broad believes the upcoming one-day series with Pakistan should go ahead despite the scandal hanging over the tourists. Have a look at this interesting Ashes Betting article (http://betting.betfred.com/713/sport-betting-news/broad-keen-to-continue/)
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KP dropped from England T20 squad for up coming matches apparently. Not happy if twitter is to be believed.
He's a tit. Hopefully this might be enough of a kick up the arse to get him performing in Oz... I would say he'd retire out of pique, but even he'd be mad to turn down the money.
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KP dropped from England T20 squad for up coming matches apparently. Not happy if twitter is to be believed.
He's a tit. Hopefully this might be enough of a kick up the arse to get him performing in Oz... I would say he'd
retire out of pique, but even he'd be mad to turn down the money.
I really don't think he cares any more.
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As I said to an Aussie earlier, since his Missus gave birth it's as if his heart isn't in cricket anymore. Wouldn't surprise me to see him retire after this Ashes.
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He hasn't given much of a toss for quite some time now, even before his babby.
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I really don't see how playing for Surrey in the second division of the county championship and then taking a month off is any preperation for the Ashes.
Surrey are 8th in the second division and have nothing to play for. They are in with an outside chance of making the semi finals of the CB40. The 4 day days will no doubt be typically dead end of season games and the CB40 ganes could be rendered meaningless tonight.
Any form that is regained will be lost during a period of inactivity.
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The point of Pietersen playing for Surrey is getting time in the middle and getting his touch back and confidence I think. Whilst there is a break before the winter, I think it's the confidence that is the key.
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Pietersen out for a duck on his Surrey Championship debut.
That should help then.
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Perhaps he could play for Beaconsfield? It's quite near to London.
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Yeah not great, but still the second innings.
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The amount of people in the crowd for this T20, is shocking.
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Get in there!
Yorkshire beaten Notts to ensure the Championship goes into the final week with 3 teams in with a chance of winning it. Fuck the quick cricket nonsense.
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The new English season starts in less than 2 months. Post your hopes/predictions here!
As a Bear, I think that we will score plenty of runs in the 4 day format but may struggle to bowl sides out. I'd like to see us to build on the progress that we've made in the limited overs game under Giles.
Oh how wrong was I on the first point?
At least we've done Ok in the one dayers......
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Went to Headingley today and it was truly bizarre. Yorkshire were rattling along at 8 an over with 9 wickets left and then just collapsed, losing 9 wickets in less than an hour.
Considering they were tipped for relegation they've had a brilliant season using 9 or more products of the Academy in each game. Moin Ashraf looks like yet another exciting young fast bowler, the bowling coaches at Yorkshire are doing a brilliant job.
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Pakistan seem to have played a lot better since Ramadan finished. Who'd have thought not eating or drinking water all day does not produce brilliant sport?
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It is unlikely CD that they would be fasting whilst on tour or at least on match days. However preparation is affected if they fast on non match days.
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The seemingly never-ending match-fixing story rumbles on. This time, Ijaz Butt - the chairman of the PCB and owner of less than a full complement of marbles - accused the England team of throwing the last ODI.
When asked if he had any proof, Butt - in a response worthy of the Spurs salary thread - said "Did you ask the other people who made allegations against our players whether they had any proof? What did they say? We have thought about this properly and we have positive proofs here before us just like they say they have also."
http://www.cricinfo.com/england-v-pakistan-2010/content/current/story/477814.html
Finances dictate the rest of the ODI series will probably go ahead but in this climate it's difficult to see how it can be played in anything like the proper spirit.
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The seemingly never-ending match-fixing story rumbles on. This time, Ijaz Butt - the chairman of the PCB and owner of less than a full complement of marbles - accused the England team of throwing the last ODI.
When asked if he had any proof, Butt - in a response worthy of the Spurs salary thread - said "Did you ask the other people who made allegations against our players whether they had any proof? What did they say? We have thought about this properly and we have positive proofs here before us just like they say they have also."
This bloke Ijaz Butt is a complete pratt and in the world of rabid Sports Administrator he stands out on his own a complete f in p*ick. Cricket fans in Pakistan regard him as a complete idiot and are rather familiar with his rants.
FFS after this baseless accusation how does Umar Gul feel? That was a fantastic bowling performance and his mental chairman has to go and sour it by utter stupid remarks.
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The seemingly never-ending match-fixing story rumbles on. This time, Ijaz Butt - the chairman of the PCB and owner of less than a full complement of marbles - accused the England team of throwing the last ODI.
When asked if he had any proof, Butt - in a response worthy of the Spurs salary thread - said "Did you ask the other people who made allegations against our players whether they had any proof? What did they say? We have thought about this properly and we have positive proofs here before us just like they say they have also."
This bloke Ijaz Butt is a complete pratt and in the world of rabid Sports Administrator he stands out on his own a complete f in p*ick. Cricket fans in Pakistan regard him as a complete idiot and are rather familiar with his rants.
FFS after this baseless accusation how does Umar Gul feel? That was a fantastic bowling performance and his mental chairman has to go and sour it by utter stupid remarks.
I completely agree with you Aftab. Gul's bowling performance was excellent.
In the midst of all of the match fixing furore I really feel for the ordinary Pakistani cricket fan. Not only are they denied the opportunity chance to see their team play a home test series, they now find that the performance of their talented one-day squad may be tainted by the bookmaker's dollar.
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This bloke Ijaz Butt is a complete pratt and in the world of rabid Sports Administrator he stands out on his own a complete f in p*ick. Cricket fans in Pakistan regard him as a complete idiot and are rather familiar with his rants.
FFS after this baseless accusation how does Umar Gul feel?[/] That was a fantastic bowling performance and his mental chairman has to go and sour it by utter stupid remarks.
Exactly, the chairman of your own cricket board has now told you that your 6-fer match winning performance means bugger all because England lost those wickets on purpose! Great.
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Umar Gul had Strauss caught off a no ball. How many people - ICC, ECB, PCB officials, bookies, etc - looked at that and found it dodgy?! Even if it wasn't?!
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Would have thought the last thing any member of the Pakistan administration should be doing is chatting to a bookie
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It is outrageous, and this summer of cricket is as an absolute disgrace.
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Well despite the fuckwits running cricket in Pakistan just watched a fantastic 1 day game. Series square roll on Rose Bowl.
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From what i understand another story about fixing is in the papers tomorrow
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We are whipping them tonight. Bunch of cheats dont deserve anything else, good on Struass he has kept his dignity throughout.
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England were well pumped up for it tonight and their obvious delight at winning the series says a lot about how much they wanted to beat Pakistan. I think defeat would, under the circumstances, have been very deflating for England.
But they batted pretty well, bowled very well and fielded brilliantly.
Ashes squad announced tomorrow ...
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KP must be in, as he hasn't tweeted anything to the contrary.
I'm glad the series is over and can't see Pakistan coming back for a while. I don't think we're a 'neutral' country any more!
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Australia don't look much cop in India at the moment, batted poorly in second innings.
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Not the best start for India either!
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No true!
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Not the best start for India either!
Oops!
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Not the best start for India either!
Oops!
What an intense ending. Although the convicts should've won, that LBW decision with a couple of balls left was a disgrace.
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Looks like the Ausies will be facing us with a 2-0 defeat against India shoved up their rear end. 202 for 7. 185 ahead, one day left. Tendulkar will get those runs on his own. :)
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Looks like the Ausies will be facing us with a 2-0 defeat against India shoved up their rear end. 202 for 7. 185 ahead, one day left. Tendulkar will get those runs on his own. :)
That result puts England above the crims in the ICC Test Championship.
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Two really good tests. Glad to see players like Clarke, Hauritz, Johnson, even Hussey under pressure.
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Nice to see the Convicts lose.
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Nice to see the Convicts lose.
Always.
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Nice to see the Convicts lose.
Always.
And long may it continue.
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Why the f**K was James Anderson boxing at the Ashes boot camp? Have English cricket coaches learnt nothing about the dangers of our best players trying other sports?
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Rat Face looks like he is taking a bit of a panning in the press over there at the minute. What a shame.
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rmer Australian Test pace bowler Brett Lee believes Ricky Ponting is the right man to lead the country to success in this winter’s Ashes series against England on their home soil. Find out more on this Cricket betting blog (http://betting.betfred.com/713/sport-betting-news/cricket-betting/ponting-gets-lee-backing/).
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One for the cricket 2011 thread really, but tickets are on sale today for next summers tests against India and Sri Lanka. Just bagged mine for the 4th India test at the Oval.