The International Cricket Thread

[tomd2103]

So, Agnew's big idea is to get rid of the County Championship in favour of the hundred?  RIP Test Cricket if that's the case as it won't be long before they all get bored of it and make money from the wham bam type of cricket.  Sod the purists.   Bloody stupid idea.   There has to be room for the longer version of the game.  6 teams in a division is ok but relegation and promotion needs to be included to make it properly competitive, therefore, reducing the regional idea.  Not sure how they make up the divisions to start with but start it they need to.

Don't think he was advocating that Steve.  He was suggesting bringing in a red ball version of the tournament, with the idea being to condense the talent into fewer teams.  He did say he would keep the County Championship as well to provide a breeding ground for players coming through.

That is basically the Nottinghamshire model-they used the other non test ground counties to build their team.

I can see the benefits of a competition where the best players come together ie Warwickshire / Worcestershire / Northants best XI vs Somerset / Gloucestershire / Glamorgan best XI BUT the first requirement is to get back to red ball County Champioship cricket as THE priority in the actual summer months.  Maybe the representative games could go to Dubai after the season has finished or before it begins in UK.

A regional model like the one you mention above would be my choice Gareth, but I would have it in the build up to the test series over the summer.  That would give the test players better quality preparation and would give a chance to see any potential internationals in a better level of competition.  It would only be 5 games, so would give the opportunity for the County Championship to continue.

I have always loved the County Championship, but part of the problem in development terms is the small division sizes mean teams yo-yo about a bit and you end up at times with some of the better players playing in the lower tier, which is not ideal.

[Gareth]

Graham Thorpe seems to be a bit of a tit.  Filming the police clearing the bar when it was the fact they were called because he was smoking a cigar indoors….as a batting coach he has had a cigar on for about 2 months…..stick him in the bin with Silverwood.  Hope the cricket hasn’t got in the way of the stag doo…

[UK Redsox]

Good start by the England women yesterday. Looked like a decent total, but then they got pummelled by McGrath

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/60066220

[PaulWinch again]

I see our red ball team has infected the white ball lot.

[UK Redsox]

If they even manage to get to 100 now, they’ll have done well

[UK Redsox]

And now the white ball team are copying Rory Burns’ running

39-6

[UK Redsox]

Earlier on from Dan Norcross

“ England have now lost their last 15 wickets for 85 runs across two formats.”

[tomd2103]

A win at last, but nearly blew that in spectacular fashion.

[Gareth]

That some power hitting at the end from Windies but the seam bowling in the last 5/6 overs was chronic, lucky the first dozen or so overs did the job.  Fielding from both sides was up & down, brilliant run out & a couple of great caught & bowled yet some of the drops were poor

[PaulWinch again]

Topley and Rashid’s figures stand out a bit here. Everyone else has been smashed.

[paul_e]

Batting has been excellent but it's been a good pitch for them so the England bowlers have been trying to force it.

This is also a rather makeshift England team.

[Gareth]

Will be some innings to get near that total

[paul_e]

Shame that Roy went but so far they're handling the chase fairly well. At some point they'll need to push on qith the rate but if they can go at 10-11ish for another 4-5 overs whilst keeping the wickets safe it's not impossible.

[paul_e]

If there has ever been a more frustrating player than Vince I'd be amazed. Chance after chance for England he shows a glimpse of his quality before gifting his wicket.

[paul_e]

Lost too many wickets now but a great effort from Banton.

Now I'd take solid knocks from Salt and Brook to settle them in.