The Cricket Thread 2014

[Villan For Life]

His action is legal but I will always question whether it's within the spirit of the game.

[olaftab]

Malinga doesnt chuck. end of story. he didnt go through any tests simply cause he has a round arm action. he has been bowling the same way for the last 10 years and if the english batsmen cant pick him then its too bad. Not a single cricketer of repute has even questioned his legality or the spirit of the game unlike murali.

Dear oh dear! You are incredible. First you compare him to Thommo and Waqar ( and I am not sure if you mean Wasim) both up and over bowlers of distinction and then piss in the wind about his chucking. He is not even close to being legal and I would suggest that general cricket politeness lets him get away from taking any player flak  and ICC are too worried not to ruffle any Sri Lankan national feathers to do something about it. That man should not be on a cricket pitch bowling. He is a joke. How he manage to say to the umpire before his stint " right arm over umpire" without chuckling is behind me.

[ashkar]

The Laws of Cricket state that the arm should not straighten during the delivery phase of a bowler's action. "Chucking" refers to flexing of the elbow, not "oh, that bowler looks a bit funny so he must be chucking it".

If you look closely at the replays, you'll see that Malinga's arm is perfectly straight, just away from his body. Try swinging your arm around like that, and you'll find that it just doesn't work if you try to chuck. Tait has similarities (but obviously isn't as extreme) and so did Thommo in the 80s.

I'll accept that Murali's action looks dodgy, even to the experts...but questioning Malinga's action is the sign of someone who doesn't really know their cricket.

If it's such an advantage to bowl like Malinga, then everyone should do it. The truth is, they can't, because it actually makes bowling more difficult.

It's a disadvantage to bowl like Malinga. 99 percent of people couldn't hit the cut strip bowling with his action.

[Dave Cooper please]

You are missing the point ashkar. The very fact that he is one of a very few, and the only one playing International cricket, that can manage to bowl like that is why it  should be banned.
 It isn't seen at any level of cricket apart from when playing Sri Lanka, no batsman can prepare for it and the ball is coming from an angle that you could only replicate in the nets by getting a dwarf to bowl from six feet outside the popping crease!

 I agree that it isn't actually illegal, but that is only because the laws of cricket didn't ban round arm bowling at the same time they banned underarm bowling after that disgraceful bit of cheating by the Chappells for Australia, that wasn't illegal at the time but everyone swiftly agreed that it was definitely NOT in the spirit of the game.

 Round arm bowling is as rare and as hard to do well, and defend against, as Pietersen's switch hitting, why was that swiftly banned and yet Malinga carries on regardless?

[pooligan]

If Malinga was playing for England then there would not be all this fuss on here.

[Bald Eagle]

If Malinga was bowling for England, he would have been banned straight away.

[pooligan]

Oh yeah ,really !

[TheTimVilla]

I like the look of Jordan. When he runs in, he barely looks like he's moving. And he's bowling high 80s. I like the look of him, could be a regular Test all rounder in a few years. Seems very composed already.

[paul_e]

I like the look of Jordan. When he runs in, he barely looks like he's moving. And he's bowling high 80s. I like the look of him, could be a regular Test all rounder in a few years. Seems very composed already.

Jordan will be a key bowler for us for the next decade, he's precisely what we've been missing for the last few years.  Despite last summer I think Kerrigan will be a regular before long as well and Broad and Stokes look safe bets to keep their places as well.

[PaulWinch again]

I agree I think in the long term Jordan will be a better version of Bresnan. His bowling is much more of a threat and he has natural ability with the bat that could be exploited.

[Villan For Life]

I'm disappointed that they've not selected Hales for the game today.

England Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, James Tredwell, James Anderson, Harry Gurney

Cook and Bell at the top of the order are accumulators whereas Hales has the technique to really dominate an attack and put the game out of reach of the fielding side.

[Dr Butler]

I'm disappointed that they've not selected Hales for the game today.

England Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, James Tredwell, James Anderson, Harry Gurney

Cook and Bell at the top of the order are accumulators whereas Hales has the technique to really dominate an attack and put the game out of reach of the fielding side.

especially as Duckworth/Lewis may rear it's mathematical head....

[PaulWinch again]

I agree we need more firepower up the top, Hales should be opening for the ODI side.

[PaulWinch again]

Cook gone. Thing is I don't know what will happen in this game, but there's just not much of an air of excitement with Cook and Bell opening. We need to be more bold with our selections.

[Chris Jameson]

It's a disadvantage to bowl like Malinga. 99 percent of people couldn't hit the cut strip bowling with his action.

First time my son saw him bowl he asked if he was bowling underarm.

It's amazing he's able to get away with it, I haven't a clue what constitutes a legal delivery these days.