The Ashes 2017-18

[planetgeli]

Aus lost their last five wickets for 13 runs. Going to actually see some bloody highlights in 45 mins.

 

[Mumbles274]

Just got up.. Watched the chef walk off after batting all day. Wow!!! And Broad got a 50!! Nice one!!!

Why did it have to be this test.. The only one i haven't been able to watch

 

[Ponyutd]

It was delicious.

 

[Mumbles274]

might have to make lamb1979 watch the highlights this evening

 

[Mumbles274]

is that one of Broad's best innings do you think? He's scored more but they are important runs and a partnership?

 

[planetgeli]

And on the nineteenth day, no-one had a thing to say.

Because the stupid drop-in pitch combined with the rain to ruin the game.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Niche record but proper one for Cook: highest ever test score carrying your bat.

 

[Reiabuzz]

I was forced to tune into the BBL. Jesus Christ. If that’s the future of cricket I’m out. Listening to KP rave on about what a wonderful ‘product’ it is while mediocre bowlers bowl to mediocre batsmen and 60,000 pigshit thick Aussies sit there with KFC buckets on their heads. Fucking dire.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Very cheap tickets, live on free to air every ball, and loads of families and kids in the crowd. T20 is crude, but it's an enjoyable and, in Aus, a very affordable night out. I'm a test cricket nut, but I've enjoyed t20 matches in the Blast, and although it's more expensive here and not on free-to-air tv, there are loads of kids at t20 matches here as well. It's not the future of cricket - it's already here, it's the now of cricket. The conundrum is to ask how you produce the next Alastair Cook in such an environment, but if you look at India, they still produce good test batsmen despite the IPL. The very very top test batsmen like Root, Kohli and Smith are also brilliant at t20, so it's not impossible to do both well. I have no doubt Brian Lara would have been brilliant at t20.

There is a structural problem now in that there is more money to be made from playing t20 than playing 1st class, and even playing tests if you're from a poorer nation, but teams like New Zealand seem to manage the situation ok. It's too late to reject t20, imo. The trick will be to combine it properly with 1st class and tests. In that respect, I thought England had it dead right with the Friday-night season-long t20 tournament, mirroring the old Sunday League, but they've been seduced by the prospect of more money in the short term to tear that model up. Just as they were seduced by the prospect of more money in the short term to abandon free-to-air coverage in the wake of the 2005 Ashes. Cricket is run by a bunch of cunts - that's the real problem here, not the big crowds at the hit-and-giggle.

 

[squirrelp]

Niche record but proper one for Cook: highest ever test score carrying your bat.

on TMS they explained the origin of this phrase - it dates back (they claimed) to when players would share bats, so an incoming batsman would take the bat of an outgoing one.

Although, just thinking about that, an opener dismissed as the last wicket would have then carried their bat too.

 

[BlueSquareThing]

Very cheap tickets, live on free to air every ball, and loads of families and kids in the crowd.

I didn't realise quite how cheap it is - that's a model I could get with if it were applied here. But it won't be - far too much beer money to be made at The Oval (etc...) to try to encourage kids in.

There is a structural problem now in that there is more money to be made from playing t20 than playing 1st class, and even playing tests if you're from a poorer nation, but teams like New Zealand seem to manage the situation ok. It's too late to reject t20, imo. The trick will be to combine it properly with 1st class and tests.

Part of the "challenge" with this, I think, will be avoiding the same older players touting their "skills" around every bloody franchise league. There's going to be a desperate need when the ECB have their franchise in place to ensure that "proper" cricketers don't get forced out of the game entirely by twats like Gayle and McCullum who have basically given playing anything other than T20.

Cricket is run by a bunch of cunts - that's the real problem here, not the big crowds at the hit-and-giggle.

In the UK, certainly.

 

[planetgeli]

The Ashes is sinking into the mire of its own bullshit

On a day designed for bad journalism, try some good journalism (about bad journalism) from the ever impressive George Dobell.

And yes, cricinfo really did use that headline on its front page.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The Ashes is sinking into the mire of its own bullshit

On a day designed for bad journalism, try some good journalism (about bad journalism) from the ever impressive George Dobell.

And yes, cricinfo really did use that headline on its front page.

Good article as ever, but he's right to remind us of this:

Maybe England only have themselves to blame. In the days when they used to be bowled out by the likes of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram, allegations of ball tampering were never far from the surface - both from the media and the dressing room - while in the days when they were bowled out by Muttiah Muralitharan and Saeed Ajmal, whispers of suspect actions proliferated. On both occasions, there was a failure to appreciate the skill of the players.

In the test that was abandoned when Pakistan walked out, the sole evidence of ball tampering was that the ball had started reversing after about 15 overs. In this match, that has been taken as the normal time for it to start. Pakistan's treatment at that time was a disgrace, and we do well to remember that.

 

[squirrelp]

I don't think all cheating is the same. Murali's treatment was abysmal. Younis and Akram were brilliant bowlers.

But with ball tampering I think Pakistan have certainly done that and I dare say everyone else as well.

Michael Holding wrote in his autobiography that ball-tampering was 'common practice for as long as I played'. David Lloyd confessed in 1992 that, as a player, he had picked the seam.

The day the sky fell in

Abdul Qadir the legendary Pakistani legspinner lost his position with the broadcasters for this rather too insightful commentary:

Abdul Qadir, the legendary Test legspinner, has apparently been axed by Pakistan Television (PTV), for attributing the success of Pakistan's fast bowlers, both past and present, to tampering with the ball.

Hasan Jalil, the host of a cricket-special programme that enjoys mass viewership in Pakistan, asked Qadir about Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami being off-colour in the current series. Qadir's response had his fellow panellists, including a former Test fast bowler in Aaqib Javed, totally stunned: "We all know the ball has always been made up [tampered] by Pakistani fast bowlers, but with so much scrutiny on this series, this has not been possible. Even against Bangladesh in the Peshawar Test last year, the fast bowlers were unsuccessful till after a break, [when] wickets fell in a heap."

'Pakistan bowlers have always tampered with the ball'

From Arthur Mailey, a few years before writing in his book 10 for 66 and all that

Although it was against the law, I must break down and confess that I always carried powdered resin in my pocket and when the umpire wasn't looking lifted the seam for Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald. And I am still as unashamed as a Yorkshireman who appeals for l.b.w. off a ball that which pitched two feet outside leg stump.

Anyhow, I was in pretty good company. One day in Sydney, Johnny Douglas, the England captain, asked me to show him my hand. He held it for a while and then said, 'Arthur, you've been using resin. I'll report you to the umpire.'

I asked him to show me his right hand, and looking at the thumb-nail I noticed it was worn to the flesh on the outside.

'You've been lifting the seam, Johnny,' I said.

My co-rebel grinned and the matter was dropped.

 

[Reiabuzz]

Is Steve Smith the greatest batsman of all time?

Discuss.

 

[PaoloSanchez]

The performances of the two captains has been one of the key differences between the two sides. As I said earlier in this thread even after the heavy defeats in the first 3 tests the Aussies won to secure the Ashes, the two sides are closely matched. Australia had home advantage, 3 fit pace bowlers and a decent spinner. England had good overall quality but not enough players in form at crucial times. The team that did well enough to be pushing for a win at the MCG is almost the same team that got soundly beaten. Mitchell Starc's absence might have played a part but even with him in the team, I don't think there's much between the two sides. Two of their senior players (Broad and Cook) "switched on" after some indifferent performances and might have been in an even better position to win if the two remaining seniors (Root and Ali) were able to raise their game and put in a match winning shift.

 

[Reiabuzz]

You’re nuts. Evenly matched? They’ve been outclassed in every single category.

 

[Mumbles274]

Is Steve Smith the greatest batsman of all time?

Discuss.

He's certainly knocking on the door. Come the end of his career if he carries on as is I think that he may well be called as such

 

[JimW]

Proper Test century too, nothing spectacular and exactly what the situation called for.

 

[planetgeli]

Is Steve Smith the greatest batsman of all time?

Discuss.

No because Bradman. Uncovered pitches.

And I find him seriously unlikeable. Like they cloned Michael Clarke and made him even better as a player.

Anyway, completely boring game played out on a pitch they'd be ashamed of in Dubai. There may have been no cracks apparent, but that's only because the pitch has helped paper over some cracks in the England team. Starc's absence also critical for Australia. Is he back for Sydney? Nailed on defeat if so. And oh my god I bet we play Mason Crane too. Poor bloke.

 

[Reiabuzz]

This is how ambitious the side are. The captain is proud of a draw after being 160 odd ahead after the first innings.

England finally showed their true abilities at MCG, says Joe Root

Pathetic.

 

[PaoloSanchez]

You’re nuts. Evenly matched? They’ve been outclassed in every single category.

Yes, evenly matched. Not a lot between the two sides. Their bowlers, their conditions they win. Our bowlers, our conditions, we win. Home advantage is all the rage.

 

[Reiabuzz]

No because Bradman. Uncovered pitches.

And I find him seriously unlikeable. Like they cloned Michael Clarke and made him even better as a player.

Anyway, completely boring game played out on a pitch they'd be ashamed of in Dubai. There may have been no cracks apparent, but that's only because the pitch has helped paper over some cracks in the England team. Starc's absence also critical for Australia. Is he back for Sydney? Nailed on defeat if so. And oh my god I bet we play Mason Crane too. Poor bloke.

It's very difficult to compare generations but of course Bradman was a great. He was, however, not playing against the quality of bowling in the modern game.

Smith is a joy to watch - sometimes even he looks surprised at the shots he pulls out. Totally unorthodox.

 

[PaoloSanchez]

Smith is undoubtedly a very good player, but didn't look as invincible when playing in English conditions. When he's able to put in match winning performances and win a series away against a top side, then perhaps we can put him in amongst the greats. Similarly with Starc. Great in Australia, didn't look so clever when he was here.

 

[Mumbles274]

Didn't he get a couple of centuries here last time? They all had a shocker 'that' morning

 

[Reiabuzz]

I can remember broad looking down the pitch at lords in disbelief when smith smashed him through the onside from a metre outside off. Very funny moment.

He’s scored runs wherever he’s gone, except I think NZ for some odd reason.

 

[Casual Observer]

Used to play for Surrey second XI. We made him the man he is today. Offered him a contract but he buggered off back home and became the world's best batsmen instead.

 

[Reiabuzz]

He was a mediocre spinner wasn’t he? Before some kind of epiphany?

 

[Mumbles274]

He was a mediocre spinner wasn’t he? Before some kind of epiphany?

Yep. Lolly pop leggy

 

[PaoloSanchez]

Didn't he get a couple of centuries here last time? They all had a shocker 'that' morning

Indeed he got two centuries and one 50 in 9 innings the rest of his scoring was a bit meh, and the Aussies lost the Ashes when some had them as favourites to win beforehand. He looked ok then but not almost invincible as he has been in this series. It will be interesting to see how he adapts for the next Ashes...

Smiths Ashes 2015 scores...
33(56), 33(49) - Lost
215(346), 58(48) - Won
7(18), 8(27) - Lost
6(3), 5(9) - Lost (England regain Ashes)
143(252) - Won (dead rubber)

He was a mediocre spinner wasn’t he? Before some kind of epiphany?

Yeah I think he drank some red bull and got wings or something.