The Cricket Thread 2013

[PaulWinch again]

Winning a 50 over competition is still a proper battle, Prior should be playing.

[TheTimVilla]

Or would you rather win the Ashes?

[PaulWinch again]

I don't think they're mutually exclusive or why play Anderson, Cook, Trott, Bell, Root, Broad and when fit Swann? Being in a winning team breeds a winning mentality. Prior should be in that team full stop. You can win one day tournaments and Test Series, see Australia and the West Indies in the past.

[Steve67]

England need to learn from this tournament.  They have been too rigid, again.  Bresnan and Buttler put together performances all too seldom and we need to play our best players. Quite why Matt Prior isn't favoured over Buttler is a mystery.  You can see we are not a million miles away from being a decent side, perhaps the best there is, but Ashley Giles needs to be able to adapt a little better.

[PaulWinch again]

Bresnan does not offer enough with the bat to justify being in front of Finn.

[PaulWinch again]

Major positive of tournament was Bopara, he did really well.

[Dave Cooper please]

Meh, the 50 over game becomes a lottery once it is reduced below 35 overs, I lose interest as it's not a proper game, just another T20 baseball match.

Let's get these two pointless T20 games against NZ over with and get on with the proper cricket eh?

On a positive note - Pietersen 177* at a run a ball for Surrey today.

[PaulWinch again]

It was a very exciting and proper game in fairness Dave, it wasn't a slog.

[Dave Cooper please]

How was it a proper 50 over game? No batsman could build an innings like you should be able to in a 50 over match.
Hardly any of those wickets would have gone like that in a proper 50 over match, players got out having to artificially force the pace.

It was everything I don't really like about T20, which is a fine form of cricket for those with ADD but not proper cricket.

[PaulWinch again]

I didn't say it was a proper 50 over game, I said it wasn't a slog and it wasn't.

[PaulWinch again]

The best form of cricket is obviously Test cricket, but they all have their merits and the more fans that can be brought to the sport the better.

[Dave Cooper please]

Only because the pitch was too slow, most of the wickets fell because the batsmen were trying to slog and failing miserably!

[paul_e]

Only because the pitch was too slow, most of the wickets fell because the batsmen were trying to slog and failing miserably!

I've been moving house so I only started watching a few balls before the shocking decision against Bell but I agree to a large extent, the bowlers had the conditions but instead of playing to the conditions batsmen got out trying to hit out of the ground when a nurdle for 1 was the right choice.  It doesn't help that T20 'belief' is that nurdling has no part.  scoring a run a ball for 5 out of 6 is fine if the 1 dodgy delivery gets 4 or 6, that 9 or 11 an over which would be pushing 200, more importantly bowlers hate the strike being rotated, you can't set a batsmen up in that situation.

[1_Pablo_Angel]

Yep, Morgan's dismissal was so premeditated it was ridiculous. Sorry, but once you've reached a situation where boundaries are only required roughly once an over, there's no need to go through with a premeditated shot once you realise it isn't on. It's just basic intelligence.

Was a good game today to be fair, mostly because the conditions favoured the bowlers. Not a slogathon at all.

Prior hasn't been picked because he consistently failed for a long time. I think his game's come on since then though. With everyone fit, my team in ODI's would be

Cook
Bell
Trott
Pietersen
Root
Prior
Bopara
Broad
Anderson
Finn
Tredwell


Morgan/Root interchangeable based on form.
Pietersen/Trott's positions in the order interchangeable depending on when we lost our first wicket.

Top side that.

[PaulWinch again]

Micky Arthur to be sacked a couple of weeks before the Ashes? odd decision by Australia.