England Cricket 2015

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm not blaming that alone though. No proper spinner! Root and Ali are just part-timers, after all.

You can look at the second innings batting collapse for why England lost the last test. (They did save the series, btw - it was a draw, and a bit disrespectful to WI to assume that a draw is a massive failure.)

Funny how, when teams look at why they lost, they can normally pin it down to a session or two of batting failure (same for WI on the last day in Grenada), and when teams look at why they won, it's normally pinned down to a session or two of great bowling.

In the end, you won't lose if your batting's good enough, and you won't win if your bowling isn't good enough. That can be said for each team in one of the three tests, and I think a draw is a fair reflection of the series.


Another oddity: Batsmen tend to win man of the match awards. But bowlers tend to win man of the series awards. Same thing happened again here.

 

[DrRingDing]

Friday should be interesting if you're hoping Rashid will get into the test team.

 

[DrRingDing]

Peter Moores on Adil Rashid...

I hope Adil Rashid had a good trip. He has worked very hard to adapt to what he thinks will be successful at Test-match level.

My emphasis.

What a cunt.

 

[DrRingDing]

Cooks and Moores comments are completely out of order. I'd sack Moores for that level of unprofessionalism and have Cook disciplined.

 

[DrRingDing]

Boycott's fucked off with Cook too

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Cooks and Moores comments are completely out of order. I'd sack Moores for that level of unprofessionalism and have Cook disciplined.

I don't agree at all about Cook. Graves was out of order. Totally unprofessional, as well as ignorant. Cook was right to say what he said, although he didn't put it well and it was silly to bring Yorkshire stereotypes into it. In fact, he didn't put it strongly enough - he should have said point blank that Graves didn't know what he was talking about.

 

[DrRingDing]

I don't agree at all about Cook. Graves was out of order. Totally unprofessional, as well as ignorant. Cook was right to say what he said, although he didn't put it well and it was silly to bring Yorkshire stereotypes into it. In fact, he didn't put it strongly enough - he should have said point blank that Graves didn't know what he was talking about.

It's irrelevant if Cook was 'correct'. He has just sown discord where there needs to be harmony. They need to be solid in management and Cook has just said 'fucking twat' to his boss infront of the cricketing world. Bad move all round, regardless if what he said was right. The Aussies will be pleased with this.

 

[Barking_Mad]

6 Yorkshiremen in the team and he says that. What a way to foster team spirit.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I very much doubt any of the Yorkshiremen in the team were offended. They'll all know Graves personally and will no doubt have given a great deal of feedback about him, not all of it favourable. So Cook was standing up for his team against a twat of a boss who doesn't understand what it is to be a player. Good for team spirit.

It was Graves who sowed discord, imo. And DRD, are you really having a go at Cook for daring to speak out against a twat of a boss? Saying it's unwise I could understand. But not supporting Cook in this, I don't.

 

[Barking_Mad]

If I was one of those six, I'd just think "What a dick". It's not really a case of being offended (as I doubt they would be), it's more that as captain he should be above making crass generalisations. He's meant to be a uniting force, not a dividing one.

He should stick to batting as he's clearly not a natural captain.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If I was one of those six, I'd just think "What a dick". It's not really a case of being offended (as I doubt they would be), it's more that as captain he should be above making crass generalisations. He's meant to be a uniting force, not a dividing one.

I think you're misreading this. They probably aren't bothered at all by the crass generalisation. They may well be very bothered by what Graves said and see what Cook did as an act standing up for them, the players. This could well be Cook acting to unite the dressing room. Probably is.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

They're a sports team, the dressing room is probably back to back hilarious 'banter' of the 'Northern Monkey' variety. They're not likely to be offended by anything as mild as that IMO.

 

[DrRingDing]

It was Graves who sowed discord, imo. And DRD, are you really having a go at Cook for daring to speak out against a twat of a boss?

This is war. Australia are the enemy. Cook is a boring egotist. You want to squabble with your colleagues, do it behind closed doors....else you're empowering the opposition. There's a word for those that help the enemy.

 

[paulhackett]

There's a word for those that help the enemy.

Is it Pietersen?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

This is war. Australia are the enemy. Cook is a boring egotist. You want to squabble with your colleagues, do it behind closed doors....else you're empowering the opposition. There's a word for those that help the enemy.

Graves isn't a colleague, though, is he? He's not a player. He's not a former player. From the various things he's come out with recently, I don't think he knows that much about cricket, and he certainly doesn't know much about the psychology of his job. He strikes me as an arrogant fool.

Oh, and Graves demanding that they beat a 'mediocre' WI was arrogant, wrong, and massively alienating towards the players. That was not an act of a colleague.

 

[DrRingDing]

Graves isn't a colleague, though, is he? He's not a player. He's not a former player. From the various things he's come out with recently, I don't think he knows that much about cricket, and he certainly doesn't know much about the psychology of his job. He strikes me as an arrogant fool.

Oh, and Graves demanding that they beat a 'mediocre' WI was arrogant, wrong, and massively alienating towards the players. That was not an act of a colleague.

What you say may or may not be true. The fact is Cook shouldn't publicly be sowing discord with the people he's organising with at times of war. Especially when we're looking down the barrel of a home defeat at the hands of our main enemy.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

What you say may or may not be true. The fact is Cook shouldn't publicly be sowing discord with the people he's organising with at times of war. Especially when we're looking down the barrel of a home defeat at the hands of our main enemy.

The analogy doesn't work. He's not organising with Graves particularly. Get the message out now at the non-playing admin staff. Shut the fuck up.

Plus I hate war analogies in sport.

 

[DrRingDing]

The analogy doesn't work. He's not organising with Graves particularly. Get the message out now at the non-playing admin staff. Shut the fuck up.

Plus I hate war analogies in sport.

England Vs Australia. It's war. Psychology is a huge huge part. One part England are nearly always behind.

 

[DrRingDing]

The analogy doesn't work. He's not organising with Graves particularly.

They are senior members of the England camp. They organise together. You want to sort shit out? Do it behind close doors.

 

[redsquirrel]

Oh, and Graves demanding that they beat a 'mediocre' WI was arrogant, wrong, and massively alienating towards the players. That was not an act of a colleague.

Graves is a dick, and mediocre might have been a daft word but the fact is that England should have beaten this Windies side.

 

[kabbes]

Graves is a dick, and mediocre might have been a daft word but the fact is that England should have beaten this Windies side.

Why? England are also currently a mediocre side.

 

[DrRingDing]

Boycott sitting on the fence. Worth a read in full if you haven't yet. I don't remember him being this angry before.

 

[DrRingDing]

Why? England are also currently a mediocre side.

But with the right selection and leadership they could be so much better.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Graves is a dick, and mediocre might have been a daft word but the fact is that England should have beaten this Windies side.

Before the series, I suspected they might lose 1-0 like last time, tbf. Windies currently are fragile, but have talent. Fastest bowler on either side by far, Gabriel, was with the Windies; Taylor is a very good bowler and was missed when he didn't play; Roach is a shadow of his former self, but was excellent in the past; Holder is a massive prospect. Both sides had poor spinning options, both sides had both talent and fragility in their batting.

This wasn't Bangladesh, and I actually get a bit angry when twats like Graves gob off like that. Without Anderson, England would have lost the series.

 

[Cerberus]

Good post LBJ - I agree - and also with Boycott

It strikes me that the two best test sides of the last 10/15 yrs - Aus and SA - have achieved success in slightly different ways:

Aussies - I havent seen an Aus side as demoralised (since the mid 80's) as the last one which arrived here in 2013 but by the end of that Ashes series they were on the road to putting that right (culminating in our whitewash). The Australians build dynasties. They went about developing a battery of fast bowlers which could take the field in any number of conditions; are trying to find spin options ( a bloody hard task given the shadow that Warne casts); and pick aggresive run scoring batsmen.

SA - have stuck by a talented but ageing team (with the odd find of quality elevated at the right time - e.g Philander) with an ethos of strong team spirit and will to win.

England are plagued by perenial meddling off the field by administrators/chairmen/coaches/captains and by team infighting (the ongoing KP saga and related fall out). There does not appear to be much thought to develpoing players for the future, just picking players on a whim (if their faces fit), then discarding them when they inevitably fail - back to the bad old days. The two stand out sides of the modern era - 2005 and 2010/11 - were built to win specific series and on foundations of sand...........

cant see that it will change anytime soon....

 

[paulhackett]

Grauniad reporting/confirming Moore to go once Strauss appointed next week..

 

[twentythreedom]

Moores gone now according to BBC

 

[gdubz]

According to aggers the journos knew yesterday but Moores was apparently blissfully unaware while coaching the team in Ireland. It's time for a change, and time for the end of this era of people woefully underperforming yet untouchable.

 

[DrRingDing]

Really glad to see Moores gone but the idea of an Australian coach? Fuck off!

 

[redsquirrel]

According to aggers the journos knew yesterday but Moores was apparently blissfully unaware while coaching the team in Ireland.

That's just shit, I wasn't a fan of Moores but treating him that way is cuntish.