The Cricket Thread

I'm not getting up to watch the cricket, blimey why would you, but I saw some of the wickets this morning. Jacks slogging to get out for 0, Smith getting run out.........still brainless. So very brainless.
Its what Bazball has created, you can bat without responsibility as there is no consequences to how ridiculous you chuck your wicket away!
 
Its what Bazball has created, you can bat without responsibility as there is no consequences to how ridiculous you chuck your wicket away!
Sadly, too true. You don't want a climate of fear in a team but equally you have to have a level of responsibility. The bit that kills me is that when I played back in the day, the chance to bat all day, occupy the crease with no run pressure because heck, you have 5 days to bat or (like yesterday) you have a day and a half to bat, :love:. The stuff of dreams. Let the bowlers come to you, grind them down. Nope, swing like you need 20 in the last over 🤬.

I'd like to think McCullum will go after the tour but I think the board are all in with this for a while longer.
 
Sadly, too true. You don't want a climate of fear in a team but equally you have to have a level of responsibility. The bit that kills me is that when I played back in the day, the chance to bat all day, occupy the crease with no run pressure because heck, you have 5 days to bat or (like yesterday) you have a day and a half to bat, :love:. The stuff of dreams. Let the bowlers come to you, grind them down. Nope, swing like you need 20 in the last over 🤬.

I'd like to think McCullum will go after the tour but I think the board are all in with this for a while longer.
I was hoping this might be the final nail in the coffin for McCullum and Keys (And Pope, Crawley, Jacks, Potts, Carse, Duckett, Smith and Bashir :LOL:)
 
I was hoping this might be the final nail in the coffin for McCullum and Keys (And Pope, Crawley, Jacks, Potts, Carse, Duckett, Smith and Bashir :LOL:)
And you can add Stokes to that list - certainly as captain. He is not the Captain Wonder that people make him out to be. He changes the field every ball, obviously no plan for the bowlers, bowls people at the wrong time - he should have taken the new ball and not relied on a youngster and someone who doesn't take the new ball for their county.
 
Its what Bazball has created, you can bat without responsibility as there is no consequences to how ridiculous you chuck your wicket away!

This is how we are going to play. We are going to impose our style on the opposition.

The inflexibility of this mantra seemed naive 3 years ago. It’s only really worked against weaker teams, they’ve been found out whenever they have been up against a quality bowling attack.

Top teams and top athletes, across different sports, are often characterised by their ability to adapt to different situations and find different ways to win.
 
I was hoping this might be the final nail in the coffin for McCullum and Keys (And Pope, Crawley, Jacks, Potts, Carse, Duckett, Smith and Bashir :LOL:)

Bit harsh having Duckett and Carse on that list. Carse in particular: averaging under 30 in this series and playing all 5 tests (no other England bowler managed anything like that workload without breaking down). That’s pretty much the opposite of a player ready for the scrap heap - what more can you reasonably expect of him? Don’t exactly have 4 fit Malcolm Marshalls lined up to replenish the fast bowling ranks either. Duckett has had a poor series but has shown enough previously that he’s worth persevering with. Not least because you’ve already got one new opening bat to find….
 
Carse is a curates egg alright - prior to this series he has tended to bowl better than his figures would suggest, whereas here he has largely bowled dross (there was a Barmy Army song about Mitch J that would be all too appropriate) but has picked up a decent number of poles.
 
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