The Cricket Thread

[Deleted member 18588]

I've never really liked sledging but I have to say this one was perfect.
Playing Mid Bucks League in the 80s and we'd mananaged to get an Aussie to play for us. Friend of another player.
Quite a useful all rounder.
We were batting first and half a dozen of us lower order batsmen went for a boundary walk..
About 3 overs in and our opener sticks a simple one to the keeper who promptly spills it.
"GET A BAG" was the instant remark from our Aussie.
Quite a few chuckles all round...
Next ball and the opener sticks another one to the keeper, slightly easier and he spills it again.
"GET A BIGGER BAG"
Closest I've been to wetting myself on a cricket pitch...

Clearly you had to be there!?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Sledging is probably more a part of golf than it is cricket. Everyone I have played with on here has engaged in it.

Apparently I am

A shocking golfer
The worst putter on a planet
Big Bens end
directionally challenged
an absolute next tuesdays appointment

All true though

That’s prob the polite stuff we have said to you ?

 

[fundy]

It was generally okay but fairly predictable on certain matters.

Vaughan was also saying that this England team were possibly starting to become a great team (not his exact words but that was what he was hinting) whilst referencing the victory at Headingly. Which seems odd as England could so easily have lost that match and the Ashes on that final afternoon which would have completely changed opinions on the England team. It was a knife-edge victory rather than a conclusive, dominant performance.

Vaughan an instant mute button for me, cant listen to a word he says. That I find him worse than the perennially irritating Graeme Swann these days shows how bad hes got lol

Tuffnell is bearable in slow passages of play, should be nowhere near a mike in the exciting bits, bad version of bumble really

TMS an odd one the last few years, have some great commentators on there but interspersed with Aggers being Aggers and too many "ex big name players" who are far far inferior to some of the lesser known comms. Still think they should have to have Jeremy Coney on every session

 

[Captainron]

That’s prob the polite stuff we have said to you ?

This is a forum with rules. Had to keep it clean so I just went with the stuff from the first tee box..

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Some thoughts after listening to TMS earlier today:

1.) the TMS comms team referred to having to get up at 4 o'clock far too often that it quickly became nauseating. Yes, your previously cosseted lifestyle of being jetted around the world to commentate has had to change a bit. But then so has everyone else's life. And listeners have got up early for decades, and at earlier times, to listen to their commentary which seemed lost on them.
2.) The Justin Langer interview was hilarious for his whining. About Smith and Warner he asked the question who hasn't made a mistake? Therefore effectively declaring that all mistakes are equal and missing the whole point that the sandpaper farrago wasn't a spur of the moment error or a brief loss of one's self control. It was pre-meditated and all involved would have had time to think about what they were doing and realise the gravity of it. They chose not to. That's a completely different mistake on another level than someone losing their rag in the heat of the moment.
3.) The Bairstow brigade are starting to rouse again. The thing is, he will probably score runs in this series as he seems to play reasonably well against spin bowling and has a point to prove. He does respond well to criticism but once has scored his century, as he did last time in SL, and cemented his place back in the team, he then reverts back to type as being a mediocre red ball batsman. But he is given more rope than most England batsmen. And he could well be facing the likes of Boult, Southee, Wagner, Shami and Bumrah this summer in England who will expose his flawed batting technique against decent pace bowling.
4.) The bowling of Leach and Bess shows that stats can often be misleading. Leach bowled well, Bess was very fortunate. But who has the better stats?
5.) Michael Vaughan is still an awful commentator. Banged on about earning the right for some luck. Absolute tosh. There's no such thing as earning the right in sport, its one of these pet clichés that are trotted out to justify an opinion.
6.) Joe Root is still being talked of as in the same category as Smith, Kohli and Williamson. In reality Smith and Kohli are out on their own followed by Williamson (his record outside of NZ stops him being on the same level for me). Root is like Andy Murray when chasing the big 3 in Tennis, a brilliant player but not on the same level.

Interesting your take on Kane Williamson when he averages more overseas than Virat Kohli and has fronted up at No3 for the vast majortity of his career unlike the other 2 top batters.

Very subjective I know but for me he is at least the equal of Smith and Kohli.

It will be interesting to see how their careers end up, I suspect Smith with his almost 'french cricket' technique will decline rapidly as his eyes start going, at least I hope so......

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Vaughan an instant mute button for me, cant listen to a word he says. That I find him worse than the perennially irritating Graeme Swann these days shows how bad hes got lol

Tuffnell is bearable in slow passages of play, should be nowhere near a mike in the exciting bits, bad version of bumble really

TMS an odd one the last few years, have some great commentators on there but interspersed with Aggers being Aggers and too many "ex big name players" who are far far inferior to some of the lesser known comms. Still think they should have to have Jeremy Coney on every session

Listening to Jeremy Coney is one of life's pleasures. His voice is so relaxing. I love it when New Zealand come across. The cricket is good, no silly business, Jeremy on the radio.

 

[Foxholer]

Listening to Jeremy Coney is one of life's pleasures. His voice is so relaxing. I love it when New Zealand come across. The cricket is good, no silly business, Jeremy on the radio.

Certainly one of my favourite commentators - knowledgeable, (pretty much) unbiased, and an easy voice to listen to. Met him a few times through work in the mid/late-ish 80s - we were a (Govt) Burroughs (later Unisys) site (there were also IBM and ICL sites) and he was married to the (NZ) GM's daughter. Not quite sure what his role actually was, but he certainly kept the relationship 'sweet' - even though our top management were 'Poms'!
And Wiliamson is certainly a commanding presence! Though, as NZ Cricket has always 'suffered' from, lacks (slightly) the comfort of another 'world class' colleague too often!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Missed al the fun and games at work. Aside from which England bowler was the best/luckiest how come Sri Lanka were so bad at home and especially after choosing to bat. Is it as simple as a team losing their top players and having to rebuild or does it go deeper than that

 

[Mudball]

Speaking of commentators.. would not mind Cook in the box once in a while. Few players make great commentators - Aussies seem to be factory in this situation. Ponting, Warne.. enjoy Brett Lee

 

[fundy]

Speaking of commentators.. would not mind Cook in the box once in a while. Few players make great commentators - Aussies seem to be factory in this situation. Ponting, Warne.. enjoy Brett Lee

2 out of 3 aint bad

 

[fundy]

Good to see Root go big overnight and great to see Dan Lawrence get runs on debut England versus the monsoons now

 

[Tongo]

Good to see Root go big overnight and great to see Dan Lawrence get runs on debut England versus the monsoons now

Brilliant performance from them both. Proper application for the situation rather than the ridiculous batting modus operandi applied for too much of Bayliss' tenure as coach. Funny that, batting the situation rather than to a rigid / gung ho modus operandi actually works.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Felt sorry for Lawrence as I thought there was a century on debut there for him today

 

[fundy]

Carnage brewing ?

be off for bad light soon the fun will be at 4.30 tomorrow morning, unless its raining which it probably will be lol

 

[Karl102]

Had a feeling England would make a hash of this!

 

[Mudball]

Over in Australia... they can’t believe they can’t overpower an ‘India A’ team A makeshift team with reserve bowlers making hard work for Aus. Two of the tailenders including a debutant scores half centuries... 2 days of rain predicted, if India manage a draw that will be a big win..

Love this story
Riven by injury since the opening match of the Vodafone Series in Adelaide a month ago, India's patched-up line-up featured two debutants among five specialist bowlers with a combined Test tally of 11 wickets from their four previous appearances.

Cricket statistician Ric Finlay ventured that India's bowling line-up was the least accomplished (in terms of wickets to their names) Australia have faced in a Test since their first match on foreign soil against England at The Oval in 1880

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/ind...e-fourth-test-australia-highlights/2021-01-15

 

[Tongo]

Got to love the inconsistency of the media on the Sri Lanka England test.

Sri Lanka get skittled out for 136, media criticises their lack of application. (quite rightly)
Sri Lanka bat with application, England's bowling is criticised, barely any credit given to the batsmen. Don't worry that players like Bess and Leach have barely bowled in the last 12 months, they are just expected to rock up and produce brilliant performances.

People like Michael Vaughan are simply only interested in criticising. He is rapidly becoming the new Boycott.

What they fail to acknowledge is that this has been a great advert for test cricket. It has ebbed and flowed. Sri Lanka won the toss, batted first and, in the early stages, looked in charge. England wrestled the initiative and looked in the driving seat for the last couple of days but Sri Lanka have returned, taken the last 6 England wickets quickly, batted well and asked England a question. What an intriguing test match it has been! But hey, let's not let that get in the way of the media mud-slinging.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Sky quoted Leach saying he is struggling to find a rhythm, this was at the beginning of the day. He needs more overs under his belt. Bowling in a net is nothing like bowling out in the middle and he has done precious little of that in the last few months. It's the nature of the beast right now but the lack of preparation is bound to impact on certain individuals.

 

[fundy]

Sky quoted Leach saying he is struggling to find a rhythm, this was at the beginning of the day. He needs more overs under his belt. Bowling in a net is nothing like bowling out in the middle and he has done precious little of that in the last few months. It's the nature of the beast right now but the lack of preparation is bound to impact on certain individuals.

After what Leach has been through the last year or more he should be being put on a pedestal and lauded for both his performance and his attitude

 

[Tongo]

And the carping about how the spinners wont do anything in India is disingenuous. India's record on home soil is all but on a par with the Aussies at home during their pomp in the early 2000's. I dont think they have lost at home in 4 or 5 years. So to expect England to go there and outplay them really is poor judgement / punditry.

Similarly with the openers. How are they supposed to bat well against spinners when they are never required to do that during any other stage of their careers?