Balls to the Aussies the cricket thread (Read 362637 times)

tommytwotone · March 17, 2011, 12:48:28 pm

Interestingly poised against West Indies - reckon it's looking like a decent total.

Just hope we can skittle Chris Gayle out cheaply. Come on England!

butters · March 17, 2011, 01:00:54 pm

40 short of a competitive total by my reckoning but it is not out of the question that we can scrape through to the next round...

Richie Crouch · March 17, 2011, 02:42:52 pm

Great stuff Ravi!

Richie Crouch · March 17, 2011, 04:34:39 pm

Another rollercoaster ride. Great stuff!

I do hope we improve a bit if we are fortunate enough to get through to the knockout stages.

rich d · March 17, 2011, 04:45:35 pm

Yep another amazing save of a lost game. Still feels as though we may be able to storm it, if we can just put a batting and a bowling performance together at the same time. That's assuming that results go our way.

Richie Crouch · March 30, 2011, 10:37:20 am

Cracking start to the India v Pakistan semi final. More of the same please!

Muenchener · April 02, 2011, 06:45:18 pm

Wot no action in the cricket thread during the world cup final

I'm not in any way a cricket fan, and yet I (a) watched it and (b) found it exciting.

Grubes · July 31, 2011, 08:40:15 am

Guessing everyone has seen this but here you go again. Broad takes a hat trick at trent bridge

GraemeA · July 31, 2011, 10:40:27 am

Obviously Harbahjan shouldn't have been given out but that's the way the cookie crumbles

butters · July 31, 2011, 11:21:02 am

I had to chuckle to myself about that - the one thing that would have saved him had been vetoed by his own cricket board. Really good series so far and this game is in the balance - a Dravid-esque 100 from one of England's batsmen would swing things back in our favour again a little bit but the least I think we need is a lead of 220 to make thing uncomfortable for India and stand a chance of winning the second test.

Does anyone thing Morgan will (should?) be dropped for the 3rd test? I suspect that Trotts injury might save his place but he has been in pretty abject form against India so far.

Richie Crouch · July 31, 2011, 11:59:36 am

Hopefuly Bell can hang around like Dravid did for them yesterday. We could do with more partnerships really if we are going to have a chance of getting a positive result!

Been made up for Broad so far with his all round heroics in both games after the debate beforehand about dropping him.

butters · July 31, 2011, 04:19:41 pm

Quote from: Richie Crouch on July 31, 2011, 11:59:36 am

Hopefuly Bell can hang around like Dravid did for them yesterday.

Well Bell is certainly hanging around.

Not sure whether that it was the correct decision technically to revoke the run out but it was a brave one by the Indians to make it.

Looks like the wicket is flattening out as well so we need to make the Indians chase at least 350 to win the match but they are looking a pretty dispirited bunch in the last session of the day by the sounds of it.

tommytwotone · July 31, 2011, 11:06:35 pm

What an amazing couple of days of test cricket...this is why I get so pissed off with the idiots who say "but cricket's boring"!

On Broad's hat trick - amazing turnaround, both in terms of the match and his own fortunes. I was one of the people saying he should have been dropped before this series, am more than happy to be eating a big old slice of humble pie.

Good to see the TV footage (as I don't have Sky and didn't catch the highlights), but the combination of the timing, the unfolding drama and those present in the Test Match Special commentary team meant that those listening on the radio were in for a treat:

BBC Sport - Stuart Broad takes hat-trick against India at Trent Bridge

Having seen the third wicket I agree with Blowers - a "humdinger" indeed.

As for today - well, what can you say? Incredible stuff.

Firstly credit to the Indian team - Dhoni has a lot of class for rescinding the appeal, and Dravid's post-match interview was so, so much more relaxed and straight up than Bell's, which contained very little in the way of admitting he'd been at fault and very lucky, instead he just decided to repeat the phrase "spirit of cricket" as much as possible.

Secondly, putting the Dhoni's decision into context - what if we'd have been playing the Aussies and it'd been Ricky and not Dhoni? Do we reckon that Ponting would have done the same? What if we'd have got Hayden out in a similar fashion back on '05?

butters · August 01, 2011, 12:32:24 am

I haven't seen the post match interviews so I won't comment on those but I will be very disappointed if Bell has not made more of the fact that he was out according to the rules of the game and should not have been on the pitch following tea - that in my mind is the spirit of cricket. From reading the Jonathan Agnew column and also from listening to TMS commentary today it was obvious that there was a fair bit of confusion about the whole thing but as Boycott pointed out "It's schoolboy cricket to leave the crease before you know the umpire has called the ball dead".

As it was the Indians came out after tea and played some simply awful cricket (not that what went before it was anything special) and gifted Bell a few more runs and Morgan 60+ that will probably keep him in for the next test.

It is fair to say that so far the only Indian bowler who has impressed me is Praveen Kumar - from the little I have seen of him he has been a class act with his swing bowling. Maybe he will inspire a few players in the way that Warne did but that is possibly hoping for a little too much.

Regarding Dhoni's decision... I don't think that it was that the right decision to make but India have not looked like the World No. 1 team for much of the first two tests IMO - again and again they have had England on the hook and again and again they have let them get off it. I am happy to admit that Broad has saved us twice in this test alone but without KP's dropped catch the situation could have been very different though it has to be said that England have dropped numerous catches in the one and a bit tests so far and have still come out on top pretty comprehensively. Also Indians just seem to lack some backbone when the going gets tough and for the No.1 test team to ship 400+ runs in a day is simply shocking, no it's worse than that, when you are the No.1 team in the world it's criminal.

To answer TTT's question - Ponting would have been told to stick it up his arse and the same would have been true if the situation had been reversed. Simple as.

As for tomorrow - my guess is that England are going to go all guns blazing till 12.30, aim to get 100+ on top of an already massive score, 3-4 overs before lunch and aim to have the job done shortly after tea.

Lastly - England will win the test series 4-0 barring rain.

grumpycrumpy · August 01, 2011, 08:09:54 am

Quote from: butters on August 01, 2011, 12:32:24 am

I haven't seen the post match interviews so I won't comment on those but I will be very disappointed if Bell has not made more of the fact that he was out according to the rules of the game and should not have been on the pitch following tea - that in my mind is the spirit of cricket. From reading the Jonathan Agnew column and also from listening to TMS commentary today it was obvious that there was a fair bit of confusion about the whole thing but as Boycott pointed out "It's schoolboy cricket to leave the crease before you know the umpire has called the ball dead

I'm not sure he was out ....... I watched the highlights last night and the ball definitely touched the fielders' trousers as he fell over the boundary ....... Thus , according to the laws of the game , the ball was dead , the umpire merely lacking the requisite binoculars .........

john horscroft · August 01, 2011, 09:18:53 am

........enough already, move on, nothing to see here, water under the bridge, done to death, choose your own cliche.......

.....however, agree with Butters about Kumar, looks like a dobber but he's a clever bowler. Enjoyed the sight of him and Prior having a laugh together during play yesterday too.

Jaspersharpe · August 01, 2011, 09:54:15 am

Quote from: butters on August 01, 2011, 12:32:24 am

Also Indians just seem to lack some backbone when the going gets tough and for the No.1 test team to ship 400+ runs in a day is simply shocking, no it's worse than that, when you are the No.1 team in the world it's criminal.

Which is why they aren't going to be the number one team after this series.

Quote from: grumpycrumpy on August 01, 2011, 08:09:54 am

I'm not sure he was out ....... I watched the highlights last night and the ball definitely touched the fielders' trousers as he fell over the boundary ....... Thus , according to the laws of the game , the ball was dead , the umpire merely lacking the requisite binoculars .........

Although the main thing is the decision had absolutely no bearing on the way the day went anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Quote from: john horscroft on August 01, 2011, 09:18:53 am

........enough already, move on, nothing to see here, water under the bridge, done to death, choose your own cliche.......

Yes but the cricket media are milking it to death because of the "this is how other sports should be played, they should learn from cricket" angle which they conveniently forget when stuff happens like the match fixing scandal, ball tampering accusations etc etc.

Grubes · August 01, 2011, 12:42:44 pm

All out for 544 leaving india with a target of 478.
Looks like a potentially good finale. Nice to see bresnan get a few runs on the board on yorkshire day.
So are we now set up to see broad get a 10 wicket haul for the test?

Jaspersharpe · August 01, 2011, 01:03:39 pm

Well he's got one already!

Jaspersharpe · August 01, 2011, 02:22:45 pm

31/3 already........

butters · August 01, 2011, 02:31:45 pm

Make that four - Bresnan is steaming in and getting the wickets this time around - he was pretty unlucky in the first innings with balls going past the edge and the like.

Grubes · August 01, 2011, 02:36:45 pm

bollocks they had better slow down I wanted to watch some live football after work tonight

butters · August 01, 2011, 02:40:05 pm

Quote from: butters on August 01, 2011, 12:32:24 am

As for tomorrow - my guess is that England are going to go all guns blazing till 12.30, aim to get 100+ on top of an already massive score, 3-4 overs before lunch and aim to have the job done shortly after tea.

As I predicted yesterday...

grumpycrumpy · August 02, 2011, 08:13:45 am

Quite a remarkably accurate prediction Butters ....... You're not part of some match fixing cartel are you ? .......

butters · August 02, 2011, 11:27:39 am

Quote from: grumpycrumpy on August 02, 2011, 08:13:45 am

Quite a remarkably accurate prediction Butters ....... You're not part of some match fixing cartel are you ? .......

I was hoping that adding the word shortly into my prediction ie "aim to have the job done shortly after tea" would be enough to put the betting police off my match fixing shenanigans but obviously not.