Cricket Thread

trueblue1972 said:
Been a good while since I've been to a test but I'd bet you don't get much change from a ton for the cheapest
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Compared with the price of an FA Cup Final ticket, a full day of an Ashes Test compares very favourably indeed, even at a hundred quid.

Having said that, the first 11 seconds of this year's Final were worth £100 on their own :-)
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
I love football (although nowhere near as much as I love City) but when it’s as good as today, cricket runs it a very close second.
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M18CTID said:
Nothing will ever top following City for me but I think cricket is a better sport than football which is an opinion that tends to wind up some of my football mates!
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If you think back to 2005 I can't think of a single sport, of any kind, that could provide that level of tension and excitement, often balanced on a knife edge, over the best part of a summer.
Mind you, when cricket's boring, it's bone-crushingly boring.
 
M18CTID said:
Nothing will ever top following City for me but I think cricket is a better sport than football which is an opinion that tends to wind up some of my football mates!
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I think a 5 day test match between 2 of the best teams in the world, with high stakes like an ashes series, is the best sporting contest anywhere in any sport.

It’s length gives it room to develop narratives and subplots that a 90 minute game of football just can’t.


I also think cricket is the best sport around in terms of multi-format. T20, ODI and red ball is just the perfect balance where it’s close enough for 90% of players to play all 3 forms, but different enough that different players come to the fore in each format.

Country vs county/franchise is well balanced and the women’s game is much closer and more relevant than in most sports.

I also love the colonial background of the historic series, I love that the history of the sport is kept alive through statistics in a way football just can’t, I love the class divide where in different parts of the world and even country it’s a game for the wealthy or working class.

I just hope the governing bodies keep things on track, it feels increasingly like we’re at the end of a golden age of cricket and I’m not sure if test match special will be around in 40 years when I want to be listening to it while spending my retirement gardening or sipping a g&t on a sunny day.
 
As someone who enjoys watching cricket, but barely understands it…. I’m interested as to why we would declare at any point here?

I understand that we want to wrap up the test before the bad weather kicks in this weekend. But wouldn’t it be better to throw caution to the wind (rather than declare) and just play 20/20 style cricket until everyone is out?
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
If you think back to 2005 I can't think of a single sport, of any kind, that could provide that level of tension and excitement, often balanced on a knife edge, over the best part of a summer.
Mind you, when cricket's boring, it's bone-crushingly boring.
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Totally, and that is its Achilles heel as a sport, and actually why I’ve drifted in and out with the sport. I sometimes lose interest for that reason. But then it always seems to come back. I’ve been memorised by this series. Sport at its absolute finest.
 
Manchester33 said:
As someone who enjoys watching cricket, but barely understands it…. I’m interested as to why we would declare at any point here?

I understand that we want to wrap up the test before the bad weather kicks in this weekend. But wouldn’t it be better to throw caution to the wind (rather than declare) and just play 20/20 style cricket until everyone is out?
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That would be my approach too. Get a 250 lead, which they could by lunch and grind them down from there.
 
Manchester33 said:
If I were Ben Stokes…. I’d much rather spend more overs batting tomorrow than Sunday!

250 lead throws up a possibility we could beat them without needing our second innings!
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And the weather could have ultimately worked in our favour overall, because it made us take a risk that payed off.
 
M18CTID said:
Nothing will ever top following City for me but I think cricket is a better sport than football which is an opinion that tends to wind up some of my football mates!
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I think rugby league is a better sport than football n’all. I think there’s too many things wrong with footy. City are the only saving grace for the sport, I bloody love watching City and always have done but during the Covid years when no fans went to football games I found all non-City games dreadfully boring and enjoyed the rugby league far more.
 
Manchester33 said:
If I were Ben Stokes…. I’d much rather spend more overs batting tomorrow than Sunday!

250 lead throws up a possibility we could beat them without needing our second innings!
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I said the same earlier. Put the emphasis on them to try and run down our score while we bowl at their heads between rain breaks.
 
M18CTID said:
Not sure but mine for tomorrow in the party stand is £84. Probably a similar price today I’d guess?

Does anyone know if it will be a 6.30 finish tomorrow as well or do they play later on day 3 to make up some of the lost time on days 1 and 2?
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There is no time to make up - no rain breaks.
Bowling slowly is just what cricketers do nowadays, and stuff the crowd.
They really should be more proactive in banning captains who do it regularly.

Today there were 79 overs, plus 2 lost for the innings changeover. So about 9 short somehow.

There are then allowances made for various legitimate delays e.g. reviews, injuries, etc. However these are not at the discretion of the umpires - they will stop at the allotted time, just as for lunch/tea.
The allowances are judged by the match referee to see if they justify the losses, but it's quite rare that the referee does anything. Strangely it appears that the umpires bring the charge.
The match fee fines are pretty meaningless to these guys, I would guess, and 20% per over is nothing. Both sides were fined 40% at Edgbaston, having been judged to be 2 overs short - I have no idea how they got to that figure.

Both sides also lost 2 Test Championship points - I've no idea if that's significant to any of the players (they're given out as 12/6/4 for win/tie/draw

I think it may be the introduction of drinks breaks every hour that makes it 6.30 - I don't really think they're necessary when it's not really hot.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
I've just read something that I never knew about Lancashire. The Aussie tosser Ian Chappell played 1 game for Lancashire in 1963. The match was at Old Trafford against Cambridge University, Chappell was out for 3 and Mike Brearley played for Cambridge University.

Just thought I'd share this useless information.
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I remember once citing Mike Brearley to a New York attorney, who asked me to explain cricket to him.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
I remember once citing Mike Brearley to a New York attorney, who asked me to explain cricket to him.
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You knew more about cricket than Mike Brearley? Tbf always thought he was an extraordinary captain, superb man manager. Got the best out of Beefy and Sir Bob, especially at Headlingley in '81
 
bigstanhibbert said:
You knew more about cricket than Mike Brearley? Tbf always thought he was an extraordinary captain, superb man manager. Got the best out of Beefy and Sir Bob, especially at Headlingley in '81
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Citing. As in telling him about Brierley when explaining the importance of the captain in cricket.
 
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