The Cricket Thread 2016

[paul_e]

The pitch in Cardiff got a lot of criticism but it actually turned out well because there was a bit of devil in it which caused the odd delivery to stick in so a lot of catches in front of the wicket, this pitch is just completely dead, it may have a bit more pace in it but it's flat and consistent, all three batsmen have looked comfortable for most of the day, Warner got out with a slightly silly shot and Rogers has given a couple half chances up but 3-4 half chances in an entire day is a sure sign of a batting pitch.  What remains to be seen is how the pitch ages, if it stays like this for a couple more days it'll be a bore draw, if it starts to break up and gets a bit of uneven bounce then it was just a good toss to win.

I've said many times that Lords produces too many matches like this where losing the toss gives you very little chance of winning and I'd love it if we could have a couple of series where there aren't games there to push for them to do something different but because of it's status as a venue it will always be guaranteed tests.

[adrenachrome]

Graeme Swann       
✔
@Swannyg66

When did someone transport the Nagpur wicket to Lord's?

If he thinks this wicked is flat, wait until he sees what our guy at Edgbaston can do when so directed.

[ACVilla]

Graeme Swann       
✔
@Swannyg66

When did someone transport the Nagpur wicket to Lord's?

If he thinks this wicked is flat, wait until he sees what our guy at Edgbaston can do when so directed.

If you're talking about the recent Sussex match then to be fair to him he suggested an alternative wicket was used and Dougie Brown insisted on the wicket that was ultimately played on.

[PaulWinch again]

I'd like it if we just produced pitches that suited their natural chracteristics. Let's back our players to win rather than worry about how they'll cope with the Australians. There's going to be a hell of a lot of pressure on us when we bat now.

[tomd2103]

Discipline is gone now. We're in big trouble in this match now.

Bit early to panic just yet, but its beginning to look like a day of rain would come in handy.

[adrenachrome]

Graeme Swann       
✔
@Swannyg66

When did someone transport the Nagpur wicket to Lord's?

If he thinks this wicked is flat, wait until he sees what our guy at Edgbaston can do when so directed.

If you're talking about the recent Sussex match then to be fair to him he suggested an alternative wicket was used and Dougie Brown insisted on the wicket that was ultimately played on.

That is true, and I posted Dougie Brown's admission about this on the Bears/Pears thread at the time. There have been quite a few other examples though, but he was probably directed to prepare the pitches that way.

As for Lords, I  watched all 4 days of our recent CC game there, and the pitch retained a green tinge throughout. Finn was lethal on the first day.   

[Chris Jameson]

Discipline is gone now. We're in big trouble in this match now.

Granted I've not seen any of the play but going by TMS they don't seem too critical of England so not sure where the discipline issue is? Sounds like it's a flat , docile strip and before the toss a lot of runs were predicted for whoever batted first.

[PaulWinch again]

Discipline is gone now. We're in big trouble in this match now.

Granted I've not seen any of the play but going by TMS they don't seem too critical of England so not sure where the discipline issue is? Sounds like it's a flat , docile strip and before the toss a lot of runs were predicted for whoever batted first.

The discipline went later in the afternoon. Broad was excellent however.

[Dante Lavelli]

I see the sky viewing figures for the ashes are pretty horrendous. Sky killing another sport off.

what are the figures, before/after?

[Chris Jameson]

It's a shame cricket isn't on terrestrial television but I'm fairly certain the viewing figures for any football they show is most of the time fairly pitiful too and it's hardly 'killed' football off.

[ACVilla]

I see the sky viewing figures for the ashes are pretty horrendous. Sky killing another sport off.

what are the figures, before/after?

2001 - 1.11m
2005 - 2.5m
2015 - around 400,000

[taylorsworkrate]

It's a shame cricket isn't on terrestrial television but I'm fairly certain the viewing figures for any football they show is most of the time fairly pitiful too and it's hardly 'killed' football off.

I'd say it's more of a disgrace rather than a shame.

[paul_e]

I see the sky viewing figures for the ashes are pretty horrendous. Sky killing another sport off.

what are the figures, before/after?

2001 - 1.11m
2005 - 2.5m
2015 - around 400,000

The only thing I'd say about that is that we've so far had half a day of weekend test cricket in this series, it's not a big leap to suggest that weekend viewing figures will be a lot higher than weekday ones, lets wait until the end of the series before calling the death of the ashes because of sky.

It's a shame cricket isn't on terrestrial television but I'm fairly certain the viewing figures for any football they show is most of the time fairly pitiful too and it's hardly 'killed' football off.

I'd say it's more of a disgrace rather than a shame.

Completely disagree, it's a shame because it's not available to everyone but the money spent by sky was a big driver behind the introduction of snicko, hotspot and hawkeye all of which have done more good than harm and have led directly to the review system which i think is a brilliant addition to the sport at international level.  I think the same about Rugby, yes it's shame they have the rights to move games and that there aren't more games on terrestrial TV but the improvements in the quality of the coverage are worth the expense.  Football is the anomaly and that's because the quality of 'experts' on Sky (Neville aside) is as poor as anything before it.

[taylorsworkrate]

I see the sky viewing figures for the ashes are pretty horrendous. Sky killing another sport off.

what are the figures, before/after?

2001 - 1.11m
2005 - 2.5m
2015 - around 400,000

The only thing I'd say about that is that we've so far had half a day of weekend test cricket in this series, it's not a big leap to suggest that weekend viewing figures will be a lot higher than weekday ones, lets wait until the end of the series before calling the death of the ashes because of sky.

It's a shame cricket isn't on terrestrial television but I'm fairly certain the viewing figures for any football they show is most of the time fairly pitiful too and it's hardly 'killed' football off.

I'd say it's more of a disgrace rather than a shame.

Completely disagree, it's a shame because it's not available to everyone but the money spent by sky was a big driver behind the introduction of snicko, hotspot and hawkeye all of which have done more good than harm and have led directly to the review system which i think is a brilliant addition to the sport at international level.  I think the same about Rugby, yes it's shame they have the rights to move games and that there aren't more games on terrestrial TV but the improvements in the quality of the coverage are worth the expense.  Football is the anomaly and that's because the quality of 'experts' on Sky (Neville aside) is as poor as anything before it.

The fact that it's not available to everyone is precisely why I think it's a disgrace. English cricket was riding the crest of a wave after the 05 series. People who had previously no interest in the sport were suddenly hooked. The ECB then straight away moved future home series to Sky.

Regarding the quality of the coverage, Sky do the cricket excellently. There's no denying that. However, C4 were absolutely brilliant at it.

[Chris Jameson]

If Test Match Special were taken off the air that would be a disgrace.