The Cricket Thread 2016

[cdbearsfan]

I don't think it's fair just to have the game in the cricketing heartland. If someone had taken that view in 1900 we'd never have had one!

Glamorgan and Hampshire have both spent a fortune upgrading/replacing their stadia and should be rewarded.

I'd like to see another one upgrade, maybe Bristol? That way we'd have ten venues and they could just host one test every two Ashes.

[PGW]

I was talking to some Aussie fans the other day and they were saying that they would never set foot in the SWALEC ever again as the facilities were so
shite....toilets too small and not enough of them, the overall cramped conditions etc.
For them as their first visit to Edgbaston were stunned by the facilities and the quality of all facilities from seats, views bars, food outlets etc and the friendliness off the
Brummies they were certainly overwhelmed by the ground and atmosphere they couldn't believe that we weren't an automatic choice for Ashes tests.

[cdbearsfan]

Never been but I've heard The Oval is pretty terrible in terms of leg room. At Edgbaston even Peter Crouch would be comfy.

[hipkiss92]

I don't think it's fair just to have the game in the cricketing heartland. If someone had taken that view in 1900 we'd never have had one!

Glamorgan and Hampshire have both spent a fortune upgrading/replacing their stadia and should be rewarded.

I'd like to see another one upgrade, maybe Bristol? That way we'd have ten venues and they could just host one test every two Ashes.

Knowing where Bristol's ground is located, not sure how viable it is to be upgraded, considering how many houses there are around it, don't think it could cope with 15,000+ turning up for matches.

Then again, Hampshire is a nightmare to get away from, so probably means very little

[cdbearsfan]

Edgbaston's a nightmare to get out of when it's a full house. You may be right about Bristol though. I see the only non-test venue selected for World Cup games is Taunton. Is that any good?

[Dave Cooper please]

Edgbaston's a nightmare to get out of when it's a full house. You may be right about Bristol though. I see the only non-test venue selected for World Cup games is Taunton. Is that any good?

It's a lovely ground but certainly not really up to hosting a Test match. It's a bit like Worcester in that regard, lovely ground to while away a sunny afternoon but wouldn't cope with a massive crowd. I assume they aren't getting one of the big games? I haven't looked.

[cdbearsfan]

It's four years away so they haven't allocated the grounds to particular group matches yet.

A quick Google reveals I was talking shite about Taunton being the only non-Test ground. It's the non-Test grounds plus Taunton AND Bristol.

They've indicated that the opening game and final will be at The Oval/Lord's with the semis at Edgbaston/Old Trafford but it's not been confirmed yet.

EDIT: that's pretty much confirmed. They're the venues the ECB has recommended to the ICC and I can't think of any reason why the ICC would choose to override those recommendations.

[olaftab]

Edgbaston's a nightmare to get out of when it's a full house.

Don't agree as I have always found it a breeze. Surrounded by three major arterial roads and a Derek Randall throw away from the superb ring road it's possibly one of the best venues in the country for moving traffic in or out.

[paul_e]

I've never had issues getting out of Edgbaston so i'm with the king of Sweden on this.

The worst ground of any sort to get out of (that I've been to) is the Northamptonshire cricket ground, I lived just round the corner from it as a student and despite it only being 6000 odd capacity if they had anything approaching a full house the roads all around would be fucked for an hour afterwards.  Think the students and the cricket fans were a bad mix.

[cdbearsfan]

It might be okay if you drive, but there can't be too many grounds which are inaccessible except by road?

Not Warwickshire's fault, more due to Birmingham having the worst public transport of any major city in the UK (that I know of).

[paul_e]

It might be okay if you drive, but there can't be too many grounds which are inaccessible except by road?

Not Warwickshire's fault, more due to Birmingham having the worst public transport of any major city in the UK (that I know of).

If you mean buses then I think it's ok, 5 minute walk to Pershore road or a few minutes further to Bristol Road and you've got loads of choice into the city.

If you mean trains/light rail then I agree, but that's a massive failing in the city that I've mentioned a number of times, we need to get people off the roads and the simplest way to do that is invest heavily in a high class light rail system, when devolution happens a big chunk of the money should be invested in a network like that, not just for Birmingham but to link the region. I don't think that has much to do with cricket though.

[adrenachrome]

It might be okay if you drive, but there can't be too many grounds which are inaccessible except by road?

Not Warwickshire's fault, more due to Birmingham having the worst public transport of any major city in the UK (that I know of).

If you mean buses then I think it's ok, 5 minute walk to Pershore road or a few minutes further to Bristol Road and you've got loads of choice into the city.

If you mean trains/light rail then I agree, but that's a massive failing in the city that I've mentioned a number of times, we need to get people off the roads and the simplest way to do that is invest heavily in a high class light rail system, when devolution happens a big chunk of the money should be invested in a network like that, not just for Birmingham but to link the region. I don't think that has much to do with cricket though.

For anything approaching a big game, and this includes T20 matches, the club lay on a shuttle to and from New Street.

I travel in the opposite direction, and my experiences have not been good. I have waited for a 61/62/63/X64/144 from the Bristol Road for over 30 minutes 3 times this season. On two occasions, it was the same on the way to the ground.  I can walk it in an hour and 20 minutes, and get a taxi for around a tenner, so I a not without alternatives, but is is irritating to the the point where I have missed a couple of home T20 games because I did not need the aggravation.

[adrenachrome]

I was talking to some Aussie fans the other day and they were saying that they would never set foot in the SWALEC ever again as the facilities were so
shite....toilets too small and not enough of them, the overall cramped conditions etc.
For them as their first visit to Edgbaston were stunned by the facilities and the quality of all facilities from seats, views bars, food outlets etc and the friendliness off the
Brummies they were certainly overwhelmed by the ground and atmosphere they couldn't believe that we weren't an automatic choice for Ashes tests.

That was the impression I got from the majority of Aussies as well, PGW.  One guy told me that the view from the Skyline Terrace East towards Moseley looked like a rain forest.   

[tomd2103]

Most pundits I have heard on the radio and TV are favouring Wood to come back into the side to replace Anderson.  I think an attack of Broad, Finn and Wood looks fine, but if the ball is moving around then none of them are really renowned for swinging the ball.  The Aussie top order have struggled against the swinging ball early on, so we might miss a trick.  It is a shame Graham Onions has had injury and form problems, as he was very good in those type of conditions.

Elsewhere, looks like Lyth will keep  his place.  He's a bit fortunate, but good to see some continuity and not the 'chop and change' mentality of yesteryear.   

[PaulWinch again]

We could do with Buttler turning up with the bat in the next Test.