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

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Well, that was absolutely magnificent! I think I can truly say that that victory gives me at least as much pleasure — if not more — as any that the England football team has achieved, or is on the verge of achieving, in this thing in Qatar that leaves me so utterly unmoved.
Re. the declaration. You've got to look at the context, and the type of series. And the opponent. Yes, if Stokes had declared like that in the final, deciding Test of a five-match Ashes series, I would have found it downright irresponsible. But come on, guys, it was against an opponent that we haven't played on their own turf for seventeen years. I'm sure that the Pakistani cricket enthusiasts will be absolutely gutted, but they'll also know that they've just seen one hell of a cricket match!
As far as I'm concerned, I would have been (very) disappointed if we'd lost it, but Stokes's decision would have been o.k. by me. Because England are now involved in nothing less than playing their part in saving the red ball five-day game, which has been declining for years in certain parts of the world and is now under threat. Win or lose, England under the Stokes/McCullum dispensation are now playing the sexiest cricket on the planet. And they're playing it over five days, and showing that front-foot cricket can be played in the long format.

Oh, just one other thing. For the thousandth time, I think to myself, “What the hell are England going to do in life after Jimmy?” The guy's a monster.

 

[The blue phantom]

Fantastic result

 

[KS55]

I remember a previous rare win in Pakistan. England batting fourth in fading light. Pakistan doing everything possible to get a draw: slow over rate, multiple field changes and so on. As England approached the winning line, Pakistan appealed against the light! “It’s dangerous for our fielders” they cried. Umpires: “Well you shouldn’t have wasted so much time then. Get on with it.”
England hit the winning runs in near darkness.

 

[KS55]

Well, that was absolutely magnificent! I think I can truly say that that victory gives me at least as much pleasure — if not more — as any that the England football team has achieved, or is on the verge of achieving, in this thing in Qatar that leaves me so utterly unmoved.
Re. the declaration. You've got to look at the context, and the type of series. And the opponent. Yes, if Stokes had declared like that in the final, deciding Test of a five-match Ashes series, I would have found it downright irresponsible. But come on, guys, it was against an opponent that we haven't played on their own turf for seventeen years. I'm sure that the Pakistani cricket enthusiasts will be absolutely gutted, but they'll also know that they've just seen one hell of a cricket match!
As far as I'm concerned, I would have been (very) disappointed if we'd lost it, but Stokes's decision would have been o.k. by me. Because England are now involved in nothing less than playing their part in saving the red ball five-day game, which has been declining for years in certain parts of the world and is now under threat. Win or lose, England under the Stokes/McCullum dispensation are now playing the sexiest cricket on the planet. And they're playing it over five days, and showing that front-foot cricket can be played in the long format.

Oh, just one other thing. For the thousandth time, I think to myself, “What the hell are England going to do in life after Jimmy?” The guy's a monster.

Actually, if they didn’t get injured so much, England have a decent array of quicks to take his place. There never will be another Jimmy, the world record holder for 0 not out. Oh, and a few wickets too.

 

[jimharri]

I remember a previous rare win in Pakistan. England batting fourth in fading light. Pakistan doing everything possible to get a draw: slow over rate, multiple field changes and so on. As England approached the winning line, Pakistan appealed against the light! “It’s dangerous for our fielders” they cried. Umpires: “Well you shouldn’t have wasted so much time then. Get on with it.”
England hit the winning runs in near darkness.

Nasser's finest moment!

 

[domalino]

Oh, just one other thing. For the thousandth time, I think to myself, “What the hell are England going to do in life after Jimmy?” The guy's a monster.

Actually, if they didn’t get injured so much, England have a decent array of quicks to take his place. There never will be another Jimmy, the world record holder for 0 not out. Oh, and a few wickets too.

Ollie Robinson was MOTM with 4-50!

 

[supercity88]

yep

us old farts did wonder what the fuck is going on here ? from the first day, smashing it around the ground, to offering them a carrot with plenty of time and overs left in the game on a good wicket, maybe test cricket can offer fans a better watch then 20/20 cricket

Test cricket most certainly is more entertaining when it goes down to the wire. The game can turn so quickly and unlike the shorter formats where you can tie and go to a super over, you get teams in a position where they can change to playing for the draw. The fact the context changes continually makes it so so good. A T20 game can swing from one side looking like they've won, to the other. But it doesn't have 5 days of that context. Pakistan went from looking like they were going to have a very difficult chase, to being slight favourites to then playing for the draw before England won it. One more wicket, but light/time/overs against you. All adds to the entertainment.

 

[Tenerife City bar Stan]

Test cricket most certainly is more entertaining when it goes down to the wire. The game can turn so quickly and unlike the shorter formats where you can tie and go to a super over, you get teams in a position where they can change to playing for the draw. The fact the context changes continually makes it so so good. A T20 game can swing from one side looking like they've won, to the other. But it doesn't have 5 days of that context. Pakistan went from looking like they were going to have a very difficult chase, to being slight favourites to then playing for the draw before England won it. One more wicket, but light/time/overs against you. All adds to the entertainment.

What a test match absolutely loved it . Was lucky enough to watch just about every single ball

 

[supercity88]

I thought we declared 20 or 30 runs early, looks like he timed it perfectly, as you say we’ll lose some along the way, bring it on I say, what a win and what a mind set.

That "we'll lose some playing this way" was something Michael Vaughan was saying when we first saw Bazball. I think it was the second test against NZ when we saw a bit more explosive batting power in our chase but then in our first innings in the third test at 50 odd for 5 wickets those comments came out about how we needed to balance the aggressive approach with still playing disciplined cricket. We won that series 3-0 and then went and chased India down after a poor 1st innings, playing some brilliant attacking cricket. Overall though I do think this England side have been quite disciplined. We had the poor game against South Africa but won that series and then batted with such aggression in this game which brought a result into play.

It feels very much as though they're aware of the statistics. You can bat at a pedestrian rate and score 300 or you can attack and score 250 quite quickly. Then when you have a target to chase/defend you back yourselves under that added pressure to take advantage. That would have been a record chase in Pakistan iirc, so it was a big total to chase despite what we thought of the pitch, and so it turned out. We were getting nowhere trying to play disciplined test cricket. Now we come off a game away from home where four of our players get centuries. They're comfortable knowing they can attack, and they also know they've got a spot in the team if it goes wrong, that takes a lot of pressure away. In doing so, they're probably opening up opportunities for a lot of younger English players coming through. They're not putting test cricket on a pedestal and making it seem like it's impossible to play at that level. They're saying, if you can play shots and score quickly then we'll give you a shot.

 

[mosssideblue]

Great game and entertainment.