Cricket

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Sri Lanka, with only 4 wickets down, need 26 to win from 4.4 overs.
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Sri Lanka...222-4 (48.2 overs)

Sri Lanka win the series 3-2.

 

[higthomas]

Hmm, just not a high enough total, the middle order didn't push on enough.
Anyone got any thoughts on the Buttler run out?

 

[Whistler40145]

Although Buttler was out of his crease, the run out was done in a unsportsmanlike way.


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[DownSouth]

Anyone got any thoughts on the Buttler run out?

Apparently he was warned for stealing twice in that match and also previously in the series. Continuing to steal after being clearly warned multiple times is extremely unsportsmanlike and he doesn't have any basis to complain just because the warnings eventually stopped.

It's not like it changed the match/series result though, with Priyanjan and Kulasekara still in reserve and none of them attempting to play any big shots it would appear that Sri Lanka wouldn't have had a problem chasing 260-280.

 

[andrew bell]

Anyone got any thoughts on the Buttler run out?

The laws state that the bowler was in the wrong but the regulations (which has more authority in the ODI series) says Buttler was right to be run out. It's a very grey area which needs to be clarified more.

Although that saying the England top 5 are as close to woeful as possibly can get. Why isn't Hales and Ali playing instead of Root (who, IMO, is not upto International standards) and Ballance (too slow and is one paced)

 

[Whistler40145]

And this is the same bowler who's bowling action is under investigation!


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[Buttsy]

Having seen this at lower cricket league level, it is the batsman who is trying to gain an advantage and therefore being 'unsporting' or 'cheating', not the bowler. However, the laws of the game do state the following (Law 42.15): The bowler is permitted, before entering his delivery stride, to attempt to run out the non-striker. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one of the over. If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon as possible. Therefore (as I haven't seen the incident), if the bowler was in his delivery stride (in my view, once he has planted his back foot), then the batsman cannot be run out.

The MCC website has a video attached to it which shows this in their view: http://www.lords.org/mcc/laws-of-cricket/laws/law-42-fair-and-unfair-play/

 

[DownSouth]

Having seen this at lower cricket league level, it is the batsman who is trying to gain an advantage and therefore being 'unsporting' or 'cheating', not the bowler. However, the laws of the game do state the following (Law 42.15): The bowler is permitted, before entering his delivery stride, to attempt to run out the non-striker. Whether the attempt is successful or not, the ball shall not count as one of the over. If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball as soon as possible. Therefore (as I haven't seen the incident), if the bowler was in his delivery stride (in my view, once he has planted his back foot), then the batsman cannot be run out.

The MCC website has a video attached to it which shows this in their view: http://www.lords.org/mcc/laws-of-cricket/laws/law-42-fair-and-unfair-play/

In One Day International cricket (and List A matches played to international regulations) the bowler may enter their delivery stride and still move to run out the non-striker so long as they do it before commencing the delivery swing. It's one of the areas where the ICC playing regulations override the MCC laws.

Irrespective of the exact moment the bowler switched from coming in for a delivery and started to go for a run out, stealing is unsportsmanlike and Buttler was asking for it by continuing to steal after being warned many times across the series.

 

[muddythefish]

England's batting woes which started about 2 years ago continue to afflict the team. We do not make enough runs in all forms of the game. Results will not improve until we find batsmen who can consistently make big scores.

 

[Oswyntail]

I thought the series overall was excellent, hard fought and evenly balanced. Some terrific bowling and batting, and some less so. Each England bowler had his moments. The batsmen did not all shine, and, as I have said before, the main problem seems to be in judging the pace in the middle order, Ballance, Root, Morgan. If you must keep those three, then bring Morgan up one place so at least there is an option to accelerate.

 

[Howardh]

Watched the replay several times. As he was about to deliver (ie, had the ball left his hand at the precise time it should) I reckon Buttler is within his ground.

The bowler held on to the ball instead of delivering it (once it's delivered the batsman can go on his holidays if he likes) so Buttler's momentum took him naturally forward. So he was out of his ground.

But, basically, if he'd delivered, Buttler was doing nothing wrong.

Very dodgy area and hard to legislate. The poor umpire has to watch the bowler's delivery, his stride for no-balls and also where the batsman is standing.

Maybe the rule should be when the bowler has reached the wicket (not the popping crease) the batsman must also be standing level with the wicket, so as the bowler carries on his delivery the batsman can begin to move forward and gain momentum for a quick run if necessary.

Of course, the bowler can benefit...if the batsman goes well out of his ground and the ball is hit back quickly, the bowler can deflect the ball on to his stumps and get him genuinely run-out! Schoolboy error from every non-receiving batsman that - stay in your ground, just in case!!

 

[ainsworth74]

My feeling on the matter depends on the exact warning given. If it was explicity that 'stop going so far down or I will run you out' then Butter and England have no room to complain. If it was just along the lines of of 'you're going to far down' without stating that they will try and run him out then whilst I think that the bowler is well within his rights to do so it isn't particularly 'spirit of cricket' to do so.

 

[DownSouth]

My feeling on the matter depends on the exact warning given. If it was explicity that 'stop going so far down or I will run you out' then Butter and England have no room to complain. If it was just along the lines of of 'you're going to far down' without stating that they will try and run him out then whilst I think that the bowler is well within his rights to do so it isn't particularly 'spirit of cricket' to do so.

What other interpretation of the warning could possibly have been implied?

How about "if you keep going early I'll stop liking your posts on Facebook" for starters?

 

[Whistler40145]

Right....the England Test Squad is being named tomorrow, who do you expect to be in the XI?

Will the Selectors play safe or be bold & bring in new blood?


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[Xenophon PCDGS]

Right....the England Test Squad is being named tomorrow, who do you expect to be in the XI?

Will the Selectors play safe or be bold & bring in new blood?


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There are times when I feel somewhat pleased to be removed from such a responsibility of such a matter at times of change such as that which prevails at the present time.

It will indeed be most interesting to note how the minds of the Selectors view the needs of the England team after matters that have occurred in recent months.

 

[Whistler40145]

I think the Selectors will have to make a bold decision on the Wicketkeeper, spin bowler, pace attack & top/ middle order batting.

Will they pick Prior for who he is or pick Buttler for his batting, then you've got Monty Panesar's discipline problems & bring in Tredwell as main spinner?

How long is Trott going to be out of contention? Do they politely finish his England career & look for a permanent replacement?

It'll be very interesting under the new regime.


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[Xenophon PCDGS]

Since Cook has already made his views clearly known this week that Buttler is not ready for five-day Test Matches, that option will appear to be ruled out.

 

[DownSouth]

Will they pick Prior for who he is or pick Buttler for his batting, …

If I was selecting the side, I'd go for Prior if he's fit enough. A batsman-keeper like Buttler is acceptable for a T20, but not for Test cricket where catches win matches and there's a strong consensus that Buttler isn't up to it, and it's not like Prior's batting is a major disaster either, he did get a strong fighting fifty against the run of play in the last Test series* they played. Prior is a good leader within the team too.

What about Jonny Bairstow? He was the man with the gloves the last time the First XI played* and he did fairly well with 10 dismissals out of 32 wickets taken, the same number Prior took in the first three matches out of 45 wickets. His batting wasn't too bad either, he made double figures in three out of his four innings - a feat not achieved by Cook, Bell and Pietersen in those matches.

… then you've got Monty Panesar's discipline problems & bring in Tredwell as main spinner?

Don't pick any specialist spinner, England doesn't have one worthy of picking against Sri Lanka instead of a fourth seamer. Joe Root will be a bit of use as a part-time option to break up the routine, something Cook should have done a bit more often in the last Test series* once it became clear he was just as good (i.e. not very good) as the specialist spinners.

The biggest problem for England is the batting. There are two who are certain (Cook and Bell), one who should get in (Root) and then three more places to fill, but with England's best batsman (Pietersen) not in the running for any of them. If I was selecting the England side, I'd go for:
Cook
Sam Robson
Bell
Root
Ballance
Morgan (playing in a Michael Hussey role)
Prior/Bairstow
Stokes
Broad
Anderson
Jordan



* just in case anyone's forgotten, that was the one where Australia won all five Tests, defeated six players and brought down the coach.

 

[Cletus]

Here it is

Full squad:
Alastair Cook (Essex),
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire),
James Anderson (Lancashire),
Gary Ballance (Yorkshire),
Ian Bell (Warwickshire),
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire),
Chris Jordan (Sussex),
Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire),
Matt Prior (Sussex),
Sam Robson (Middlesex),
Joe Root (Yorkshire),
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).

 

[DownSouth]

Wow, I was pretty close!

 

[muddythefish]

Interesting squad but will the team make more than 250 ? Scoring runs (or lack of) has been England's big problem for a few years and until we have batsmen who can consistently make big scores (100 plus) instead of cameos (20-30) and the team posts 400 plus on a regular basis then we will continue to struggle.

 

[DownSouth]

Interesting squad but will the team make more than 250 ? Scoring runs (or lack of) has been England's big problem for a few years and until we have batsmen who can consistently make big scores (100 plus) instead of cameos (20-30) and the team posts 400 plus on a regular basis then we will continue to struggle.

Probably not. A handful of them have never faced an international-level spinner, let alone one as good as Rangana Herath, and the pace attacks of the two teams are pretty evenly matched.

They probably won't take 20 wickets in any of the matches either. The Sri Lankan coaches are smart enough to have learned from both of the Ashes series that England aren't mentally tough enough to run out a full session if they aren't getting easy wickets, and their opening batsmen are good enough to capitalise on that by blocking out the first 6-8 overs after each break.

 

[higthomas]

I think it's going to be an interesting summer for English cricket, I'm really looking forward to seeing these new guys in action. I am a fan of the new batsman, but just hope they are given a long enough run in the team to make the transition, i.e. until at least the second India match.
As to how successful we're going to be I genuinely have no idea, it could be a real struggle, or home advantage could see us through easily, but whatever happens I think it will be intriguing stuff.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Lancashire, noting their current batting shortcomings in County Championship matches since their return to the higher echelons of the game, have signed the 27 year old Australian left-hander, Usman Khawaja, as their overseas player for the rest of this season.

 

[DownSouth]

Lancashire, noting their current batting shortcomings in County Championship matches since their return to the higher echelons of the game, have signed the 27 year old Australian left-hander, Usman Khawaja, as their overseas player for the rest of this season.

Khawaja is an excellent player, perhaps not international quality at the moment (he never fully recovered from a couple of bad injuries) but definitely right in amongst the next tier of players in the elite domestic ranks! He plays pace well but struggles against quality spin - so County matches should be just fine.

Queensland will definitely appreciate having one of their players called up to play elsewhere - even if it's at a lower level than the Sheffield Shield it's still better that as many of their squad are playing cricket instead of running the risk of injuries due to over-training.

He's also a qualified pilot.

 

[muddythefish]

Khawaja is an excellent player, perhaps not international quality at the moment (he never fully recovered from a couple of bad injuries) but definitely right in amongst the next tier of players in the elite domestic ranks! He plays pace well but struggles against quality spin - so County matches should be just fine.

Queensland will definitely appreciate having one of their players called up to play elsewhere - even if it's at a lower level than the Sheffield Shield it's still better that as many of their squad are playing cricket instead of running the risk of injuries due to over-training.

He's also a qualified pilot.

Who says the county championship is a lower level ?

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

* just in case anyone's forgotten, that was the one where Australia won all five Tests, defeated six players and brought down the coach.

Oh, you've done it again...I was beginning to think that it was all a dream!

I quite like the look of the England side, still not too sure about some of the newish players, but that's to be expected. Glad Plunkett has got in, mightily impressive in that televised county game recently.
Hope weather is fine on Saturday, managed to get tickets.

 

[Buttsy]

Probably not. A handful of them have never faced an international-level spinner, let alone one as good as Rangana Herath, and the pace attacks of the two teams are pretty evenly matched.

No, Moeen Ali's faced a better one, albeit in nets - anyone heard of Ajmal?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

No, Moeen Ali's faced a better one, albeit in nets - anyone heard of Ajmal?

Would that be Saeed Ajmal ?

 

[DownSouth]

Who says the county championship is a lower level ?

Everyone outside England looks at the shallow depth of the competition and laughs. Australian national selectors would certainly never pay any attention to performances in county cricket, certainly for batsmen their performance in the Sydney First Grade (which also attracts guest players if they are good enough and not called up for national team duty) or Victorian Premier Cricket will be against tougher attacks than county cricket can offer.

The only reason that teams like Queensland allow players like Khawaja to go to England is that even plundering cheap runs from county pie chuckers (lets be honest, almost all of them have no chance of any action in an international match other than catching a six hit into the stands) is a little better for keeping batsmen in condition than plodding away in the indoor nets back home - but still easy enough that it counts as an off-season break from the game which gives them a chance to play tourist a bit and take some time off.

The numbers of non-T20 Australian players heading to England for the winter are likely to continue dropping in the coming years, the destination of choice for players wanting a more serious hitout is now the club competition in the tropical Australia that run during the time the southern states call winter. Tropical Australia has hosted 'winter' home Tests and ODIs against some of the less popular opposition teams (e.g. Bangladesh) in the past thanks to the tropical parts of the country having 'dry' (winter) and 'wet' (summer) seasons with the same warm temperatures all year round.