Evidence?
And Baz has swaggered his way through life lest we forget. He also made Stokes captain who lets face it has been something of a dickhead in his past.
England Cricket 2022
- Thread starter RileyOBlimey
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Evidence?
And Baz has swaggered his way through life lest we forget. He also made Stokes captain who lets face it has been something of a dickhead in his past.
WhyLikeThis
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Team mates have made comments I saw in an interview some time ago. We may learn more of the nature of the man in the following year or 2.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
poor management to have a 'no dickheads' policy, if that's true. Good teams often feature players who are a bit dickheady, but if they improve the team, they should play. Kevin Pietersen is a prime recent example.
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While KP needed England he behaved, later on with T20 franchises filling his coffers his cared less about his antics, coincidently.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
He really didn't. I used to knock about with the Lord's staff a fair bit and there were loads of stories about his dickheadedness. eg: he sold his complimentary tickets for a test match online for loads of money. Net result: the staff had their allocation docked. He was not a popular person.
There were other players you only heard good things about - eg Alastair Cook, Ian Bell. Pietersen you never heard anything good about.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Outrageously harsh on Potts. 5 games, 20 wickets, yeah you're not good enough mate. They should have taken 16 as well.
Keaton Jennings. Christ.
Keaton Jennings. Christ.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Jennings has at least been the form player in the CC (alongside Brook).
The noises are that Pakistan are likely to prepare pitches that suit their quick bowlers. But they might rethink it perhaps, looking that squad. I'm very surprised there's only one spinner.
Agree that it's harsh on Potts. At least they've picked the correct Overton this time, but I'm not so sure either twin is quite test-quality with the ball. I've seen Jamie O live a couple of times. He's a trier, no doubt about that, but he's not got a lot of guile. I think good batters on decent batting tracks can deal with him.
The noises are that Pakistan are likely to prepare pitches that suit their quick bowlers. But they might rethink it perhaps, looking that squad. I'm very surprised there's only one spinner.
Agree that it's harsh on Potts. At least they've picked the correct Overton this time, but I'm not so sure either twin is quite test-quality with the ball. I've seen Jamie O live a couple of times. He's a trier, no doubt about that, but he's not got a lot of guile. I think good batters on decent batting tracks can deal with him.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Fun fact (I've just found out). Neither Anderson nor Broad has ever played in Pakistan.
Broad's on paternity leave. I reckon he might have dodged a bullet. If you'll excuse the phrase.
Broad's on paternity leave. I reckon he might have dodged a bullet. If you'll excuse the phrase.
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Anderson hasn’t played a test in Pakistan but featured in a ODI many moons ago
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I've given up making predictions about Anderson. Last year I questioned why on earth he would want to go back to Sri Lanka, and he took six for nothing to win a test there. He's got a brilliant record in Asia, wouldn't put it past him to do well in Pakistan.
ETA: I know I'm a fanboy, but Mark Wood's fitness is going to be crucial, I think. Anderson will keep things tight and pick up the odd wicket. Stokes may chip in. But to get 20 wickets will need Wood to blast a few out. Robinson also needs to stay fit.
An attack of Anderson, Robinson, Wood, Stokes, Leach on wickets prepared for Pakistan's quicks looks very competitive.
ETA: I know I'm a fanboy, but Mark Wood's fitness is going to be crucial, I think. Anderson will keep things tight and pick up the odd wicket. Stokes may chip in. But to get 20 wickets will need Wood to blast a few out. Robinson also needs to stay fit.
An attack of Anderson, Robinson, Wood, Stokes, Leach on wickets prepared for Pakistan's quicks looks very competitive.
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littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
tbh Broad doesn't get in the first 11 for me right now anyway. Another reason he may be fortunate to be on leave.
paulhackett
voiced by strother martin
Livingstone hasn't played red ball cricket since 2021 so a Jos Buttler size red ball punt.Poor old Alex Lees. We knew he was going to be dropped when the contracts were announced.
We'll see if Wood is still fit by then.
Brook has to play, I would think. Livingstone is a punt. Both Duckett and Jennings of course failed first time out in tests. At least they've been in form.
But just the one frontline spinner. That's a bit of a surprise.
paulhackett
voiced by strother martin
Pietersen is totally up himself. Even some of the players who are viewed positively behave like twats sometimes, Pietersen was and is totally up himself.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yeah, my point though is that England still benefitted from his presence. He played a big part in the three most significant series wins of the last 20 years: 2005 Ashes, 2010-11 Ashes and 2012-13 in India.
Good managers sometimes need to find ways to manage dickheads. And conversely, being a 'good bloke' shouldn't come into it wrt selection.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
I'm pretty sure the number of dickheads outweigh the number of good blokes. I can't remember when we were last a truly anarcho-communist team.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
I'm not sure 'no dickheads' is a viable rule in a team captained by Michael Vaughan.
I think it just turns into another version of in-group/out-group thinking.
I think it just turns into another version of in-group/out-group thinking.
paulhackett
voiced by strother martin
He also played a part in some horrendous thumpings in Australia? Would England have won in 2005, 2010-11 without him? Probably yes. 2005 without Flintoff, we would have lost? My recollection is he hit McGrath for a 6, which was seen as a 'signal' but was that more important than Harmison's opening spell, a silly mid off to Hayden etc. England were on the up at that stage. Pietersen dropped a lot of catches and chanced his arm at the Oval.. Strauss had hit 2 centuries by then, Vaughan was still up there as a bat, I'd have played Thorpe not Bell. McGrath trod on the ball. Warne dropped the Ashes.. not that it matters of course, but I would credit him with being a dickhead and little else.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Those are all fair points. I'd forgotten about the dropped catches. Six in a row, I think it was. He was iron-fingers.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
Pietersen averaged over 50 with the bat for most of his career iirc and although he ended up a bit below he still has a better average than any of his contemporaries - I'm not sure there's anyone over the last 20 years or so with a better average for England aside from Joe Root. Not to disagree that he's a bit of a twat but it's a hell of a stretch to make out he didn't contribute plenty to the team.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Very definitely. Who gets to decide who's a dickhead? This is why you have stuff in workplaces to stop these kinds of judgements, or at least to define them.
You don't all have to like each other. I think that's a bit of a misconception about successful teams. Obviously it's easier to get along when you're winning, but you can be good mates in a losing team and barely stand each other in a winning one. Especially in a game like cricket, which is a team game played by individuals who are looking after their own performances first and foremost. By all accounts, Don Bradman was an extremely selfish player, not especially well-liked.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Ave 47 in the end. About the same as Cook after that many games. Cook went down a little in his final couple of years. So he contributed about the same as Cook, and in the same kind of way despite their differing styles: fair number of low scores, but going big when in and able to score big all around the world.
Mind you, he played in teams with up to seven batters averaging over 40. While the current England team without Root would be fucked, that England team would have been fine without Pietersen. He was one of many strong performers rather than being the leader of the batting.
paulhackett
voiced by strother martin
He contributed, just he came into a strong team with Vaughan who'd been world number 1 and Harmison who'd been world number 1, and Flintoff. Add in solid openers and Simon Jones and that's easier than coming into the team more recently. Bell was eased in at the same time when in a weaker team he might have been dropped. Pietersen with his skunk hairstyle, 3 lions tattoo screamed 'idiot'.
WhyLikeThis
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Mark Steel talking cricket, worth a watch
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Looks like Topley’s out of the world cup. Done his ankle in on those daft advert things they stick on the boundary rope.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
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Good lad
www.theguardian.com
Pat Cummins says he will not appear in any more ads for Cricket Australia energy company sponsor
Sport’s governing body denies Test captain’s climate concerns are the reason for the end of the multimillion-dollar partnership with Alinta
Good lad
Pat Cummins says he will not appear in any more ads for Cricket Australia energy company sponsor
Sport’s governing body denies Test captain’s climate concerns are the reason for the end of the multimillion-dollar partnership with Alinta
He is a very good man. I remember during that aborted IPL that never should have been as Covid was ravaging India, he donated quite a lot of money to charities looking after patients and encouraged his fellow cricketers to do the same. I don't think many did, even the Indians.
WhyLikeThis
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Awkward conversation about that ding dong
www.theguardian.com
‘So yeah, I wrote this piece …’ Jonathan Liew meets Jonathan Agnew
In 2019 an article about Jofra Archer led to an incendiary Twitter row and a very public falling-out. Last month, our writer and the BBC’s cricket correspondent met to talk things over
QueenOfGoths
Fuck you Dave!
Oh ffs Two ducks, no runs 
The Octagon
Stop...Hammertime
That was a ridiculous over from Starc.
Need Vince and Salt to get through this onslaught, the way we bat gives us a chance if they get motoring....
Need Vince and Salt to get through this onslaught, the way we bat gives us a chance if they get motoring....
