England Cricket 2022

[Petcha]

Well that's a real shame about Boult. Is that all forms of the game? I cannot blame him, unfortunately. He's one of the most sought after bowlers in the IPL so might as well maximise his best years financially.

 

[Petcha]

I try to pretend that the Hundred doesn’t exist. However, every now and then there is a news report about how some batsman or other has scored a century in 47 balls and I shudder.

It's truly, truly painful to watch. And that as that article said, the Blast was thriving before this bullshit came along.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Well that's a real shame about Boult. Is that all forms of the game? I cannot blame him, unfortunately. He's one of the most sought after bowlers in the IPL so might as well maximise his best years financially.

He hasn't retired from international cricket, but he's refused a contract and that makes it unlikely that he'll be selected that much. He's still pencilled in for this year's t20 World Cup apparently (wasn't there one of these last year???) but his continuing international career after that is doubtful. He may have played his last test match.

Thing about money is that he got 800,000 quid for last year's IPL, and would have got at least that if not more for next year's even while still contracted to NZ. His decision is particularly disappointing because the NZ board gives its top players a lot of leeway to keep them happy. But not enough leeway, clearly.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Team for tomorrow.

 

[Idaho]

If Crawley has another bad series, will they just continue with the sunk cost?

 

[Petcha]

Thats a good lineup. Except for the usual issue. That top 3.

Rain's forecast until after lunch but I'd still bowl.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

McCullum said Crawley had the summer to sort himself out. So, he’s got this series, then he can kindly do one.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Yeah it's hard to see Crawley suddenly clicking against this SA attack isn't it. I'd expect another series of 'two lovely looking drives and then out' type innings.

I think the more interesting one is Stokes himself actually. His best innings in tests have come when he's started (often very) slowly and played himself in before attacking. The aggressive approach has worked for the team and obviously Bairstow especially but not Stokes himself so much. I wonder how long he'll continue to stick with it for his own batting.

 

[Petcha]

Yeh. Stokes' batting does seem to have suffered since the captaincy. His blushes covered by those around him.

Interestingly i saw a snippet of Ross Taylor's new book online the other day, where he says he tried to convince Stokes to play for NZ when he was a teenager. But the CEO of NZ cricket wasn't interested

Taylor wrote: “Ben was sincere about playing for New Zealand but NZC would’ve had to have acted swiftly and decisively and given him some pretty solid assurances, which Vaughan clearly wasn’t prepared to do.’’

Stokes, however, always seemed on course to wear an England test sweater.

He told Stuff as a 17-year-old in 2009 – a year before Taylor joined Durham – that his long-term goal was “to play for England when I’m older. I call myself an Englishman now.’

 

[littlebabyjesus]

SA bowl.

A quick quartet of Rabada, Nortje, Ngidi and Jansen.

Tasty.

 

[Petcha]

Yeah it's hard to see Crawley suddenly clicking against this SA attack isn't it. I'd expect another series of 'two lovely looking drives and then out' type innings.

There was only one lovely looking drive this time round

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

SA bowl.

A quick quartet of Rabada, Nortje, Ngidi and Jansen.

Tasty.

Significant that all of England's wins under McCullum/Stokes have come batting last. Trying to build and defend a lead is a different business isn't it.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

The SA bowlers have been excellent this morning, albeit in very helpful conditions.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

That bean pole Jansen is an annoying twerp.

 

[Petcha]

This is a fearsome attack. Root very unlucky there though.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

1980s Windies-style quartet. Second-change bowler wanging it in at 94 mph.

 

[Petcha]

We're in an energy crisis apparently. Why the hell are the lights on in bright sunshine?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Was just about to write that England had made a bit of a recovery. But 100-5 now.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

 

[Petcha]

Good run rate. But that wicket column. SA have a huge tail though to accommodate this insanely good attack so there's still hope.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

I wouldn’t read too much into that score. Ideal fast bowling conditions this morning and they exploited them well. The twats haven’t picked Harmer (and long may that last) so, they won’t be looking quite so clever 2nd innings.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

One question, if Crawley wasn’t white and his daddy wasn’t rich, would he have had such a long run in this side?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I wouldn’t read too much into that score. Ideal fast bowling conditions this morning and they exploited them well. The twats haven’t picked Harmer (and long may that last) so, they won’t be looking quite so clever 2nd innings.

In a recent home series with rare spin-friendly conditions, Maharaj outbowled Harmer, although they both performed well. So this selection is on merit and you don't pick two spinners in these conditions.

tbh these four quicks might well look quite clever in the second innings as well.

 

[Petcha]

One question, if Crawley wasn’t white and his daddy wasn’t rich, would he have had such a long run in this side?

Why your constant obsession with the colour of peoples' skin? The guy is good at county level, but hasn't managed to cut it with the pressure of international cricket. Nothing to do with his race. He just fluffs his lines under the intense spotlight. He's not good enough for this level, I've been there in my career (a much different career obvs) when I've been sitting around a table realising I'm way out of my depth. It's not fun. They should show him mercy and give him a break.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

He isn't good at county level, tbf. His first class average is below 30. Excluding tests, it's just over 30.

Looking at his raw numbers not knowing anything about him, you'd think his strongest suit was T20 - ave 30, s/r 147 is right up there.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Crawley has been pretty shit at county level on the whole as well tbf. It's not hard to see why they're picking him though and it's not because he's white ffs (it's not like there aren't loads of other white batters they could pick is it). They hope that he's their best bet to turn into the attacking opener they're looking for and are backing their judgement of his ability over his stats. I don't agree to be honest but there's no conspiracy.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I don't mind hunches. Gower and Trescothick both had ordinary county records before they were picked for England. But this is straying into stubborn 'won't admit we were wrong' territory now. And it's not fair on other players who are staking their cases.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

A player who's been discarded that I feel a bit sorry for is Hameed. It felt like he was rushed back too early last year. He was then kept in the side for too long because the bloke the other end was doing even more badly than him. He's having an excellent season for Notts right now, and has developed more attacking strokes to his game, but it looks like he's probably played his last test match. Rough.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Foakes out now. I'm not betting on more than 150. Don't fancy Broad against any of these bowlers. Broad at 8!

It's about to rain as well. Shame they couldn't survive till then.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Why your constant obsession with the colour of peoples' skin? The guy is good at county level, but hasn't managed to cut it with the pressure of international cricket. Nothing to do with his race. He just fluffs his lines under the intense spotlight. He's not good enough for this level, I've been there in my career (a much different career obvs) when I've been sitting around a table realising I'm way out of my depth. It's not fun. They should show him mercy and give him a break.

Racism in cricket is a problem. I’m not just talking about overt racial slurs we’ve had in the news. There’s clear racial bias in selection in the England test team. Just take a glance and compare white ball team photos and the red team ones. Michael Carberry was never given the run he deserved, I suspect unspoken bias played a part in that. We need to keep this conversation going to challenge this bullshit.