******Cricket Thread******

[waspish]

i truly hate having a pop at root and the england cricket team. because the ECB are clueless and don't care anymore about test cricket. clearly 4 years ago england got a battering down under, you would think something would have been done to make sure in 4 years time it will not happen again ?

well am afraid nothing as changed or been done and now the test team is in meltdown ?
change is to late and all hopes hang on 2 players in stokes and archer. stokes walks right back into the team vs India but archer is a injury doubt not only for the this summer but the ashes

if i had any sort of power at the ECB i would ask jimmy anderson/stuart broad to retire. because your not going to the ashes. then sack joe root as captain and bring in eoin morgan and both sam curran and chris woakes
also going out of the test line up would be crawley/sibley and ask joe root to bat at 3 and then bring in sam billings at 4 or 5

but we all know root will still be captain in the next 6 months and all the changes i just brought up will not happen and we will lose the ashes by christmas

buttler And bairstow should be in the team too

 

[Corky]

buttler And bairstow should be in the team too

They prioritise a mediocre two horse race like the ashes over beating the better teams to compete for the world test championship.

 

[melrose40yarder]

Twenty twenty generation are now batting in test matches.
We need to get back to playing 4 day cricket on Mondays to Thursday in June,July abd Aug.
No good playing it in April,May and September.
Play t20 on Fri,Sat Sun as well as the 1 day cup.Spinners not needed early in the season how are they expected to play test matches.Root is no captain yesterday he spread the field when Nz had 9,10 jack in.You put the slips back in a gully a point abd give the ball to Wood and Broad who bowl fast and straight.Think Jennings and Hammed will come back soon as well as Stokes,Bairstow and Buttler.Although Bairstow is not a test match batsman.

They need to pick the best spinner who is Rashid.As for captain i would select Stokes or Broad.Starc,Cummins and Hazelwood will make mincemeat of the current top 6.

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

County cricket is awful and this is ultimately the problem.
The likes of Crawley, Sibley and Lawrence just don't face top class attacks.
The likes of Anderson, Broad, Wood and Archer play the odd county game, but nothing more. So they're facing journeymen day in day out and scoring runs aplenty. They get away with their technical deficiencies and they're basically 'stat padding'.
Pope looks technically decent, but he's flattering to deceive at the moment. Like @melrose40yarder said
'Starc, Cummins and Hazelwood will make mincemeat of the current top 6'.

Oh and to not play a spinner in either test says it all. Bess is bang average at best granted, but Jack Leach had a decent winter, but is now being overlooked. Give Parky a chance. Offers something different, but like Tuffers in years gone by, he and Leach aren't great in the field or bat so will get overlooked!

 

[meeesh]

County cricket is awful and this is ultimately the problem.
The likes of Crawley, Sibley and Lawrence just don't face top class attacks.
The likes of Anderson, Broad, Wood and Archer play the odd county game, but nothing more. So they're facing journeymen day in day out and scoring runs aplenty. They get away with their technical deficiencies and they're basically 'stat padding'.
Pope looks technically decent, but he's flattering to deceive at the moment. Like @melrose40yarder said
'Starc, Cummins and Hazelwood will make mincemeat of the current top 6'.

Oh and to not play a spinner in either test says it all. Bess is bang average at best granted, but Jack Leach had a decent winter, but is now being overlooked. Give Parky a chance. Offers something different, but like Tuffers in years gone by, he and Leach aren't great in the field or bat so will get overlooked!

Problem is though,as much as you say county cricket is crap,this is where the England selectors find these so called gems,albeit 1 in 20 at moment,but without the 4 day format in this country,then we will be even shitter in future years.

Cricket is now going baseball style all over the world,the hit and hope game as I call it,and England are pretty good at it at times.

However,when cricket fans,like me,get excited for The Ashes,it helps if we have anyone who can actually hold a bat,and stand their ground,as for the bowlers,wow,when Anderson and Broad finish,which is soon,then we are totally bollocksed.

So the county game is far more important than people think.

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

Problem is though,as much as you say county cricket is crap,this is where the England selectors find these so called gems,albeit 1 in 20 at moment,but without the 4 day format in this country,then we will be even shitter in future years.

Cricket is now going baseball style all over the world,the hit and hope game as I call it,and England are pretty good at it at times.

However,when cricket fans,like me,get excited for The Ashes,it helps if we have anyone who can actually hold a bat,and stand their ground,as for the bowlers,wow,when Anderson and Broad finish,which is soon,then we are totally bollocksed.

So the county game is far more important than people think.

Totally agree with everything you say. We need to get back to the '4 day' game being important. Unfortunately that horse has bolted and the ECB are only interested in the T/20s and the 100 (don't get me started on that!!!) which will bring in the £££££s.
When I think back to the likes of Bell, Vaughany, Strauss and KP it makes me you pine for the good times.
FWIW I'd like to see Hameed get another go at the top of the order.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Problem is though,as much as you say county cricket is crap,this is where the England selectors find these so called gems,albeit 1 in 20 at moment,but without the 4 day format in this country,then we will be even shitter in future years.

Cricket is now going baseball style all over the world,the hit and hope game as I call it,and England are pretty good at it at times.

However,when cricket fans,like me,get excited for The Ashes,it helps if we have anyone who can actually hold a bat,and stand their ground,as for the bowlers,wow,when Anderson and Broad finish,which is soon,then we are totally bollocksed.

So the county game is far more important than people think.

I agree that it is important, but that just goes back to the overall plan or lack of one.

As I see it, they've:
Shifted/reduced/marginalised even more the county matches to have more tests crammed in and the sloggit in the high summer.
Let the big name players play IPL rather than red ball early season.
Prioritised the 50 over game with a view to the world cup in England (which was won)
Then immediately ditched the 50 over domestic game to a second string tournament, by chasing the cash and coming up with the bizarre 100 (which still doesn't seem that much of a revolution - is 20 balls really going to change anything?); the 100 then means 2 consecutive sloggits, so the big names will play that.
The 100 also is based around 8 teams, almost all with the big test grounds and therefore already well off compared with the unchosen (Gloucs, Leics, Northants, etc).

There is absolutely no plan at all, and they've surrendered to cash chasing at every turn - I know when the IPL is played is awkward in the calendar, but I think Australian players are still required to play Sheffield Shield in order to be picked for the test side.

Edit:
It looks like Australia dicked around with their game about 10 years ago and have only just undone some of the damage. Langer is encouraging the players to play Sheffield Shield in recent years and it seems to providing benefits (according to Warne/Gillespie/Moody). They did what England are doing now, and then had to find ways of undoing it.

 

[meeesh]

Totally agree with everything you say. We need to get back to the '4 day' game being important. Unfortunately that horse has bolted and the ECB are only interested in the T/20s and the 100 (don't get me started on that!!!) which will bring in the £££££s.
When I think back to the likes of Bell, Vaughany, Strauss and KP it makes me you pine for the good times.
FWIW I'd like to see Hameed get another go at the top of the order.

I'd like see Hameed back in as well,deffo

 

[waspish]

In the future with the 20/20 kids grow up test match cricket will fade into the background us test match lovers will die off!

 

[meeesh]

I agree that it is important, but that just goes back to the overall plan or lack of one.

As I see it, they've:
Shifted/reduced/marginalised even more the county matches to have more tests crammed in and the sloggit in the high summer.
Let the big name players play IPL rather than red ball early season.
Prioritised the 50 over game with a view to the world cup in England (which was won)
Then immediately ditched the 50 over domestic game to a second string tournament, by chasing the cash and coming up with the bizarre 100 (which still doesn't seem that much of a revolution - is 20 balls really going to change anything?); the 100 then means 2 consecutive sloggits, so the big names will play that.
The 100 also is based around 8 teams, almost all with the big test grounds and therefore already well off compared with the unchosen (Gloucs, Leics, Northants, etc).

There is absolutely no plan at all, and they've surrendered to cash chasing at every turn - I know when the IPL is played is awkward in the calendar, but I think Australian players are still required to play Sheffield Shield in order to be picked for the test side.

We've never had much of a plan for years,just wing it in the the odd game here and there :)