Cricket Thread

[waspish]

It is rare, but the Ashes tends to bring the most unpredictable moments. Monty and Jimmy surviving 69 balls at Cardiff. 2005 where it looked like Simon Jones had dropped the Ashes only to somehow turn it around. The ebb and flow and back and forth of this series even where Cummins managed to swing Australia to the win when it looked like we had them beaten. it's the nature of test cricket and because you don't have a fixed number of overs you just can't calculate a score. That's not the way to go. In this day and age where weather can be forecast more accurately, even if it is unpredictable, you could certainly attempt to play more cricket on the days where the weather is better.

Most people expected a test to be lost to weather. The pre-series predictions were largely based on 4 results. I think it's a shame that the team that won the ashes previously retains them if it draws. It should be shared unless there is a winner of the series. It feels a bit odd to have lost the ashes again when we were dominating and with a test to play, but ultimately poor fielding has cost us. We should have been rueing the weather spoiling our chance to go 4-0 up!

All those you quoted didn’t get rained of! Be interesting how many test matches get rained a year?

 

[ZanteWeatherman]

Funny when we were winning within 3/4 days they were saying they should shorten test match cricket! What they should do is make it 100 overs a day to bowl start at 10:30 end at 7 and stop players asking for extra drinks and glove make them wait for drinks or the break! Also they don’t bowl 15 overs in an hour the opposition gets 50 runs!

Maybe overkill....... all the punters want is a fair days play for a fair days dollar, not a washout and however long it takes for a refund. Bollocks that, I'll watch it on telly .... or maybe not depending on the weather.

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

A question.

How many Countries actually give a fuck about test cricket nowadays?

Would it therefore make sense both commercially and from the publics perspective, to play The Ashes more frequently?

Instead of touring every 4 years, what would you think of every 3 or even every 2 years?

Just throwing this out there for discussion.

 

[Corky]

A question.

How many Countries actually give a fuck about test cricket nowadays?

Would it therefore make sense both commercially and from the publics perspective, to play The Ashes more frequently?

Instead of touring every 4 years, what would you think of every 3 or even every 2 years?

Just throwing this out there for discussion.

Only Australia, India and England make money from tests and the other countries when they host the 3.

If the big 3 play more frequently there will be less interest from the rest and could be the final nail in the coffin for tests.

 

[Benarbia_is_god]

Only Australia, India and England make money from tests and the other countries when they host the 3.

If the big 3 play more frequently there will be less interest from the rest and could be the final nail in the coffin for tests.

This is bang on.

Other countries are now abandoning test cricket as they can't fill the stadia. I was watching Windies vs India over the weekend and it was pretty much empty. No one is watching test matches between Sri Lanka and New Zealand on TV either, just doesn't have a global TV audience. The TV money from an Indian tour of Sri Lanka keeps the Sri Lankans afloat financially otherwise it would go to shit.

Once every country drops off and the only countries playing test cricket are Australia/India/England, I think it would finally die sadly aside from the odd test series like the ashes.

I think ODIs are the sweet spot going forward but they need some kind of formalised league for all the countries to run over a two year period.

 

[waspish]

This is bang on.

Other countries are now abandoning test cricket as they can't fill the stadia. I was watching Windies vs India over the weekend and it was pretty much empty. No one is watching test matches between Sri Lanka and New Zealand on TV either, just doesn't have a global TV audience. The TV money from an Indian tour of Sri Lanka keeps the Sri Lankans afloat financially otherwise it would go to shit.

Once every country drops off and the only countries playing test cricket are Australia/India/England, I think it would finally die sadly aside from the odd test series like the ashes.

I think ODIs are the sweet spot going forward but they need some kind of formalised league for all the countries to run over a two year period.

West Indies haven’t beaten India in 20 years or something!

South Africa used be one the great test cricketing countries now they don’t make any money! All players in these lesser test countries are going to concentrate on one day 20/20 cricket! Why these countries just don’t play test match cricket like 20/20!

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

West Indies haven’t beaten India in 20 years or something!

South Africa used be one the great test cricketing countries now they don’t make any money! All players in these lesser test countries are going to concentrate on one day 20/20 cricket! Why these countries just don’t play test match cricket like 20/20!

Looks the IPL teams are going to have franchises around the world and players they own will play for their franchise in other competitions.
So top players will earn fortunes without having to play test cricket.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

West Indies haven’t beaten India in 20 years or something!

The decline of the West Indies is simply incomprehensible to me. Nobody's been able to explain it to me to my satisfaction. I know that amongst many kids in the islands football's taken over, and that's one of the reasons.
When I was growing up they were the team. And that remained true right through the seventies, and well into the eighties. Very, very melancholy.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

The decline of the West Indies is simply incomprehensible to me. Nobody's been able to explain it to me to my satisfaction. I know that amongst many kids in the islands football's taken over, and that's one of the reasons.
When I was growing up they were the team. And that remained true right through the seventies, and well into the eighties. Very, very melancholy.

It's very sad that they can barely compete any more.
I think a lot is the move towards US sports - basketball particularly made huge inroads and needs less kit/space to play.

 

[supercity88]

All those you quoted didn’t get rained of! Be interesting how many test matches get rained a year?

They didn't get rained off but they're quick examples of test matches that didn't go exactly how you'd predict/expect them to which is why a DLS system for test cricket is never going to work. There's no way you can predict a score when you don't have a fixed number of overs.

The only options are to lengthen play on good days, to plan for the weather that is expected or to have the captains agree to skip an innings and make things a one innings game. It happens in County cricket occasionally where both teams need the win so are willing to agree to it. But it's unlikely to happen in the Ashes because of the fact the team holding the Ashes retains them if they draw the series - which is something that also should change in my opinion.