The International Cricket Thread

[LeeB]

I don’t think I can recall when a side has declared on day one of a test match. I understand why they have done it and hope it works out!

Already got them 3 down. This team is wonderful

[Villan For Life]

Does anyone know if the highlights are on terrestrial TV later? I don't have BT sport and cussed when I got up early to watch the live coverage thinking it was on Sky!

[Risso]

Day/Night tests are weird. I find it hard to see why you'd want to introduce something which makes the conditions both teams face so very different.

[LeeB]

Day/Night tests are weird. I find it hard to see why you'd want to introduce something which makes the conditions both teams face so very different.

I don't think the players are big fans of it either. I suppose the idea is you can get more people tuning in to watch after work, but it's not a true sporting contest if the result hinges on what time of day you have to bat.

[Villan For Life]

Day/Night tests are weird. I find it hard to see why you'd want to introduce something which makes the conditions both teams face so very different.

I don't think the players are big fans of it either. I suppose the idea is you can get more people tuning in to watch after work, but it's not a true sporting contest if the result hinges on what time of day you have to bat.

In theory that's no different to being put into bat on a cloudy morning when the ball is swinging around corners, then the sun breaks through and batting becomes easier.

Day/Night tests are a permanent fixture in Australia where the Adelaide test is always a day night affair. The experiment didn't really work here though.

[Risso]

I think the day/night conditions have a much bigger effect than general weather conditions though, and Steve Harrison was saying on the radio yesterday that the actual pink ball used is a load of shit as well.

[Villan For Life]

What a frustrating last wicket stand but that was a fantastic innings from Blundell.

It will be a challenging 90 minutes or so for England, I think this could be the defining session of the test.

[manic-road]

Surprised Broad was sent out as a night watchman, he tends to give his wicket away quite cheaply.

[Villan For Life]

Surprised Broad was sent out as a night watchman, he tends to give his wicket away quite cheaply.

He was dropped at the start of his innings, a very poor drop, but he was there at the end.

He’s a frustrating batsman, he has the talent but his confidence is shot after he took one in the face whilst hooking. Still he did his job today.

[olaftab]

That shot from Broad came back down with cyclone weather information and the two possible catchers didn’t want to contaminate it.

[Bully2345]

Broad isn't a nightwatchman. He's the mystical nighthawk who goes out to play shots at the end of the day, although he did employ some standard time wasting tactics to get them to close of play.

[Villan For Life]

Broad isn't a nightwatchman. He's the mystical nighthawk who goes out to play shots at the end of the day, although he did employ some standard time wasting tactics to get them to close of play.

That fits with the “Bazball” approach though. What this team will achieve will be interesting to see, they  are certainly rewriting the test match handbook.

[paul_e]

Broad has done half of the job. Part 2 is to survive 6-7 overs in the morning.

The reason he gets the nod over Jimmy though is that we don't want the run rate to drop too heavily. The whole point of how we play now is to apply scoreboard pressure by going at 5-6 an over so we force teams to always be trying to take wickets because if they drop off we just stack runs quickly.

Broad isn't a great batsman anymore (for reasons VfL covered) but this is a guy who has scored 13 50s at international level so he's definitely capable of hanging around for 10-12 overs and scoring at a decent lick when there's not really any pressure on him losing his wicket.

[LeeB]

Broad has done half of the job. Part 2 is to survive 6-7 overs in the morning.

The reason he gets the nod over Jimmy though is that we don't want the run rate to drop too heavily. The whole point of how we play now is to apply scoreboard pressure by going at 5-6 an over so we force teams to always be trying to take wickets because if they drop off we just stack runs quickly.

Broad isn't a great batsman anymore (for reasons VfL covered) but this is a guy who has scored 13 50s at international level so he's definitely capable of hanging around for 10-12 overs and scoring at a decent lick when there's not really any pressure on him losing his wicket.

IIRC he was looking almost like a genuine all rounder early on, then caught a whack and seemed to really struggle after that for a long while

[paul_e]

Broad has done half of the job. Part 2 is to survive 6-7 overs in the morning.

The reason he gets the nod over Jimmy though is that we don't want the run rate to drop too heavily. The whole point of how we play now is to apply scoreboard pressure by going at 5-6 an over so we force teams to always be trying to take wickets because if they drop off we just stack runs quickly.

Broad isn't a great batsman anymore (for reasons VfL covered) but this is a guy who has scored 13 50s at international level so he's definitely capable of hanging around for 10-12 overs and scoring at a decent lick when there's not really any pressure on him losing his wicket.

IIRC he was looking almost like a genuine all rounder early on, then caught a whack and seemed to really struggle after that for a long while

Yep, he got done by some short stuff and has been targeted with it ever since. He has been better in the last few years though and he does seem less nervy when he's a bit high in the order.