2019 Cricket

[HomerJSimpson]

massive last half hour with the new ball, Anderson been different class all day yet again and Stokes bowled well. pitch quickening a little, tomorrow could be a very interesting day

Great final last half hour and great to see Anderson getting reward for a great display of patience but the increase in pace in the pitch will get the West Indies attack interested. We need to tidy the tail up and then try and get off to a solid start, not a given with our top order.

 

[Dannyc]

The last wicket from stokes was a perfect ball Anderson quality once again good finish to the day

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I didn't get to see any actual coverage yesterday, how did the pitch play?

 

[fundy]

I didn't get to see any actual coverage yesterday, how did the pitch play?

a lot better than it looked, very slow but little deviation. appeared to get a bit quicker in the evening session and the 2nd new ball, may well be a bit livelier today, whether it holds together for 5 days be interesting

 

[patricks148]

a lot better than it looked, very slow but little deviation. appeared to get a bit quicker in the evening session and the 2nd new ball, may well be a bit livelier today, whether it holds together for 5 days be interesting

i just don't understand how so many tracks in the Windes look so terrible??

This one looked like the bare goal area on the local football pitches. I know they are well short of funds, but how mach does it take to stick a bit of seed down and water a roll it???

when i played at St Albans we had an extra ground at Verulam School and we took turns helping to prepare the pitches for the 3rd and 4th teams and Sunday games. that was started from scratch , we used to Roll it and water a few times a week and seed was put down after the last game and watered and filled wicket ends etc. withing a couple of years from Scratch it was as good as the first team pitch in Clarence park

 

[fundy]

i just don't understand how so many tracks in the Windes look so terrible??

This one looked like the bare goal area on the local football pitches. I know they are well short of funds, but how mach does it take to stick a bit of seed down and water a roll it???

when i played at St Albans we had an extra ground at Verulam School and we took turns helping to prepare the pitches for the 3rd and 4th teams and Sunday games. that was started from scratch , we used to Roll it and water a few times a week and seed was put down after the last game and watered and filled wicket ends etc. withing a couple of years from Scratch it was as good as the first team pitch in Clarence park

very strange, they have a very different approach by rolling dead grass into the wickets where as over here we try and grow live grass!!

used to love batting at Clarence Park

 

[Lord Tyrion]

i just don't understand how so many tracks in the Windes look so terrible??

This one looked like the bare goal area on the local football pitches. I know they are well short of funds, but how mach does it take to stick a bit of seed down and water a roll it???

when i played at St Albans we had an extra ground at Verulam School and we took turns helping to prepare the pitches for the 3rd and 4th teams and Sunday games. that was started from scratch , we used to Roll it and water a few times a week and seed was put down after the last game and watered and filled wicket ends etc. withing a couple of years from Scratch it was as good as the first team pitch in Clarence park

There is no excuse for it. There are village pitches here with part time groundsmen that are top notch, it just takes care and attention over time. It is not even as if they can blame the weather as the killer in the UK is too much rain and not enough warmth. It's been like this for a number of years, remember the 1st test in the Sir Vivian Richards stadium? It's poor.

 

[patricks148]

There is no excuse for it. There are village pitches here with part time groundsmen that are top notch, it just takes care and attention over time. It is not even as if they can blame the weather as the killer in the UK is too much rain and not enough warmth. It's been like this for a number of years, remember the 1st test in the Sir Vivian Richards stadium? It's poor.

for that one i think they just forgot to take the rusty corrugated iron covers off the pitch

 

[patricks148]

very strange, they have a very different approach by rolling dead grass into the wickets where as over here we try and grow live grass!!

used to love batting at Clarence Park

ever play at Sloughs new ground??? i say new but must have been 2003 ish they moved

that was a real road

 

[Dannyc]

They have probably smoked all the grass

 

[Tongo]

Save Broads workload - wasnt that what the trip to Sri Lanka was for lol, surely you cant choose between bowlers based on whos the better number 9 bat? Dangerously close to picking too many bits and pieces cricketers for me. Root finally lost a toss too (save em for the summer Joe)

England's team is a series of compromises. It should be simple, who's our five best bowlers: Anderson, Broad, Stokes, Ali and Leach. But the selectors want some back up cos the top order dont produce and Rashid keeps getting a gig cos he's Smith's pet pick and the press would have a field day if he was dropped. Leach's control and accuracy would have been much better yesterday as it would have frustrated the batsmen into daft shots.

Long term i can see Foakes being shuffled out of the side. There's already been comments about his place. (Cook was rather disingenuous in my opinion) Foakes wont lose his place due to a lack of form with bat or gloves but a further compromise to get another bowler in and Bairstow will then get the gloves. But they wont want him to bat at 3 with the gloves so another compromise will need to be made. It'll be the wrong decision to ditch Foakes but it'll happen. Quite why England need more than 5 bowlers is beyond me but when they are carrying a couple of bowlers its no surprise.

 

[Tongo]

But there is only one keeper (Foakes) in the team.

Neither Bairstow nor Buttler should be allowed near the gloves in Test cricket.

 

[Tongo]

Leach not picked again 😟 I expect won’t see him for a while now

It wouldnt surprise me if he never played for England again unless there are injuries or a tour to India.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

It wouldnt surprise me if he never played for England again unless there are injuries or a tour to India.

Yep and it’s a big shame as he is imo the best spin option we have - he will tie and end down , shows control and will frustrate batsmen into poor shots and then take wickets - with more time he would be the replacement for Swann , let Ali be the second option and put Rashid back to ODI - he just has no control in test cricket

 

[fundy]

ever play at Sloughs new ground??? i say new but must have been 2003 ish they moved

that was a real road

no never played there, 99% of my cricket was played in Herts/Essex/Middlesex with a couple of years in Leics when at Uni

 

[fundy]

England's team is a series of compromises. It should be simple, who's our five best bowlers: Anderson, Broad, Stokes, Ali and Leach. But the selectors want some back up cos the top order dont produce and Rashid keeps getting a gig cos he's Smith's pet pick and the press would have a field day if he was dropped. Leach's control and accuracy would have been much better yesterday as it would have frustrated the batsmen into daft shots.

Long term i can see Foakes being shuffled out of the side. There's already been comments about his place. (Cook was rather disingenuous in my opinion) Foakes wont lose his place due to a lack of form with bat or gloves but a further compromise to get another bowler in and Bairstow will then get the gloves. But they wont want him to bat at 3 with the gloves so another compromise will need to be made. It'll be the wrong decision to ditch Foakes but it'll happen. Quite why England need more than 5 bowlers is beyond me but when they are carrying a couple of bowlers its no surprise.

Wouldnt be surprised if it happens for the Ashes this summer. Definitely belief in a lot of circles that a specialist keeper is less valuable than having an extra bowler and options, especially for a side already keen to pick 2 or 3 "all rounders"

 

[patricks148]

no never played there, 99% of my cricket was played in Herts/Essex/Middlesex with a couple of years in Leics when at Uni

I played for StAlbans in the herts league, who did you play for?

Slough were in the Middlesex Prem, but used to play them in the Sunday league. The original ground was surrounded by houses and you used to lose a couple of balls per game. Sold it and got a fancy place on the outskirts, wickets were fantastic there.

 

[fundy]

I played for StAlbans in the herts league, who did you play for?

Slough were in the Middlesex Prem, but used to play them in the Sunday league. The original ground was surrounded by houses and you used to lose a couple of balls per game. Sold it and got a fancy place on the outskirts, wickets were fantastic there.

played for Hoddeson in the 1990s and early 2000s. that was a nice flat deck on a postage stamp ground

the slough situ sounds very much like Dunstables

 

[fundy]

Definitely faster and bouncier than it was at the start yesterday, fancy their bowlers might enjoy these conditions

 

[patricks148]

played for Hoddeson in the 1990s and early 2000s. that was a nice flat deck on a postage stamp ground

the slough situ sounds very much like Dunstables

not as nice as Dunstable,