The Cricket Thread 2014

[aj2k77]

I'd like to add that Bowden had a bloody shocker today as well.

[Bully2345]

We will have to agree to disagree on that one, never should 350+ be required to win a test match unless you have no faith in your team.

I will stand by what I said last week. We weren't in a dominant position until the last half hour of that day. The fact we got them nine down gave the Cook out brigade more ammunition and it masked a stunning bowling effort to even get that close.

I think Cook is on the brink and probably a series away from resignation, but the declaration is the wrong stick to beat him with. The tactical nous and lack of faith in anyone but his mates is more valid

[paul_e]

We will have to agree to disagree on that one, never should 350+ be required to win a test match unless you have no faith in your team.

I will stand by what I said last week. We weren't in a dominant position until the last half hour of that day. The fact we got them nine down gave the Cook out brigade more ammunition and it masked a stunning bowling effort to even get that close.

I think Cook is on the brink and probably a series away from resignation, but the declaration is the wrong stick to beat him with. The tactical nous and lack of faith in anyone but his mates is more valid

I don't agree with either of those, Cook has 3 major problems:

1. He lets the senior bowlers pick their own fields too often, it means Broad and Jimmy are often bowling to a 'safe' field rather than an attacking one when the situation is such that we need to counter attack rather than limit damage.  Jimmy in particular walks all over him with the field placings.

2. His batting form is so poor that he isn't being picked on it's merit, in a winning team that'd be ok, as soon as we're losing it's a big problem.  Regardless of whether he stays as captain or not he needs to put some massive effort in with the bat and get himself back up to the standard expected of an international opener.  The last 2 series have been utterly woeful, he's been out-performed by debutants in Carberry and Robson.

3. He isn't having an influence on the game, look at the performance of Mathews today, we had them totally on the ropes then the captain comes on and hits 150 and completely changes the game.  When was the last time Cook changed a game in our favour, either with inspired captaincy or a brilliant batting performance?

[aj2k77]

We should have accelerated earlier. We had a lead of 250 and then batted another 37 overs to see off the day. Not the kind of aggressive cricket that is going to force results. It was over kill.

[Bully2345]

Imagine declaring too early and losing or Ballance and Jordan trying to hit their way out of trouble and England collapsing. That Lords pitch was still a flat one and Cook would have got more criticism had we lost that. Instead, he is being punished for getting so close to forcing a win. Part of he reason we got close was the attacking fields he could set without worrying that Sri Lanka could chase it down.

I am not saying he's blameless. I don't think he deserves to stay in the role, but I see no one else who could do it. I just think the declaration is the wrong stick to beat him with when there's many other things to have a pop at

[PaulWinch again]

I think a pretty damning thing is that Downton referred to Cook as 'Cookie', the Chief Exec shouldn't have that sort of relationship with the captain.

[tomd2103]

It is embarrassing the majority of the performances over the last 6 - 8 months have been as bad as I've seen and that includes the 90s.

It's the lack of ideas when things clearly aren't working that has been most apparent.  How many tmes in  the last year have we had teams in trouble, only for them turn it around with big partnerships and innings.  Jimmy Anderson now needs exactly the right conditions to make an impact, Broad loses his head and tries to play the big man, and we don't have a front line spinner. 

[bertlambshank]

Cook is a poor captain in poor form.Problem for the ECB is they need to back him because of KP.
No wonder Andy Flower got out when he did.

[Villafirst]

Cook isn't a good captain end of. England need a strong leader - Cook isn't. Losing Strauss, Swann & Pietersen recently has really knocked the team.

[PaulWinch again]

Good knock from Mooen this.

[PaulWinch again]

Fantastic 100 from Ali, class and character.

[cdbearsfan]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

[PaulWinch again]

Lost in the last 2 balls, I'm gutted for Mooen he was brilliant and didn't deserve to lose. However frankly our pathetic performance yesterday cost us the game. Positives in this series are the return to form of Root, Ballance's hundred and Ali's brilliance today.

[PaulWinch again]

If the top order has showed anywhere near the courage of the bottom order we would have been alright. Massive question marks over Cook, Jimmy's bowling and Prior's wicket keeping.

[olaftab]

OK in the end England got what they deserved for 4 days of pathetic cricket but this should not detract from the great effort Ali put in. There  is something to build on for the future.