Cricket 2010 Thread

[Drummond]

3-0. Something to cheer at last! (The fact the England team is made of of South Africans and Welshmen is irrelevant!)

[Dave Cooper please]

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.

[TheTimVilla]

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!

[OldUser]

What became of all that then?

[Bernie]

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

[TheTimVilla]

Talk about squeaky bum time! We need 10 from 6, no wickets in hand... Ian Bell using his bat as a crutch.

[Chris Smith]

I'm going to Edgbaston on Monday so fairly pleased that the series is still to play for.

[cdbearsfan]

Fair play to Bangladesh

[Karl Bridges]

Bell out for 6 weeks.

[VillaZogmariner]

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.

[Villan For Life]

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.

[Chris Jameson]

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.

[Simon Ward]

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.

[Villan For Life]

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.

[VillaZogmariner]

A couple of the cricket following co-workers were going mad about that today. Oh how I laughed!