Cricket

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Local wisdom suggests the rain will come at about midday. Enough time?

Does anyone think that England should have enforced the follow-on when they had the chance to so? It was not as if the England bowlers had over-exerted themselves when they had New Zealand "on the rack".

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Local wisdom suggests the rain will come at about midday. Enough time?

Hope you're right - Met Office forecast for Leeds is rain all day!

Re the declaration - in today's game, all teams seem to play safe first...the days of a 'sporting' declaration are long gone (the last two that spring to my mind were WI v Eng 1967/8 and Eng v WI 1984)....but of course all calculations can be wrecked by the weather. The question is whether(!) Cook should have looked at the forecast and adjusted his tactics accordingly, Jonathan Trott seemed to imply in an interview this evening that they don't consider the weather at all.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The weather at Headingley relented after many worrying moments to allow England the time to dismiss New Zealand for 220, to win the match by 247 runs and with this, the series 2-0.

 

[Oswyntail]

Does anyone think that England should have enforced the follow-on when they had the chance to so? It was not as if the England bowlers had over-exerted themselves when they had New Zealand "on the rack".

If it had been a longer series then they should have, so as to maximise the potential psychological mangling. In this case, the series was not in danger, the bowlers had performed well, and several batsmen needed competitive crease time (which Compton blew, Trott wasted, and Bell was not given). To me the real surprise was the delay in the declaration, which should have taken account of the weather.
Still several question marks over batting, though I would not be too surprised to see a simple Bairstow/Petersen swap if the latter is fit. And Swann is just too important for the bowling

 

[Greenback]

I agree Oswyntail. They didn't need to win the match today, the series was safe and in the end they won anyway!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I agree Oswyntail. They didn't need to win the match today, the series was safe and in the end they won anyway!

There is the matter that the win went some way to press home their superiority over New Zealand to consolidate their standing in world cricket. I feel that this series will be noticed by those other major international cricket nations.

Incidentally, when Jimmy Anderson took the final wicket, this now took him to joint third place with Freddie Trueman on 307 EnglishTest Match wickets

 

[Oswyntail]

....Incidentally, when Jimmy Anderson took the final wicket, this now took him to joint third place with Freddie Trueman on 307 EnglishTest Match wickets

Hence, perhaps, the less than rapturous applause from the Yorkshire crowd Though that could have been something to do with having sat for half a day in chilly drizzle. It is a puzzle, though, why Anderson, perhaps the best swing bowler of the time, has such a poor record at Headingley.

 

[theageofthetra]

As the season is in full swing thought it would be good to have in one place any tips or hints of each clubs/grounds bargains. To kick it off..

1) Look about 60? Then become an MCC senior member for £18 at Lords for the season. You then get to see for free all the County championship, YB40, & other games e.g Varsity, MCC v Ireland etc at Lords. They never check your age & this golden ticket can be obtained on any match day at the MCC window at Lords. Obviously does not include T20, internationals (except MCC v minor countries) & YB40 finals. If you are a member at another County side your pass will normally allow you intothe Pelham Warner stand at any time (just ask a steward nicely!) & if dressed in jacket & tie you are allowed in the Lords Pavillion if you have the MCC seniors pass & your counties members card when your side plays Middx.

2) Lords again:- 5th days are free for seniors & £5/10 for others depending on overs remaining

3) Middx @ Lords and & secondary grounds e.g Richmond. After 20 overs of 2nd innings in YB40 free entry. Enforced @ Lords less so at secondary grounds.

4) Oval, free after tea (or 4pm) on all Surrey County Championship matches.

If you know any others please add to the thread.

Enjoy your season...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I noticed a strange statistic in the Lancashire v Gloucestershire match at Liverpool, in that the combined age of the Gloucestershire opening attack of Craig Miles (18) and Graeme McCarter (20) is less than than the age of the evergreen Lancashire opening bowler Glen Chapple (39).
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The first one-day international certainly goes to prove that the one-day game is totally different to that of a 5-day Test Match. New Zealand's confidence will now be somewhat raised by their win.
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New Zealand in the second ODI match made the right decision to bat first, on wining the toss, accumulating no less than 355-3 in the 50 over at an average of a shade over 7 runs per over, with Guptill making hay whilst the sun shone and providing a wide range of attacking shots in a remarkable score of 189 not out. Dernbach had a bowling performance to forget, with his 10 overs costing a total of no less than 87 runs.

In reply, after 26 overs, England had scored 144-3, meaning that to win, they will have to score no less than 212 runs at the rate of 8.83 runs per over.

 

[EM2]

Ryan ten Doeschate having fun for Essex in the YB40 against Scotland.
180, including 15 sixes, off 98 balls. Essex have beaten New Zealand's score today, in ten fewer overs.
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Another great result for Essex in the YB40, demolishing Surrey to the tune of a 178-run defeat.
Graham Napier, not content with removing Ricky Ponting's middle stump when he was on 2, then proceeded to take four wickets in four balls, in an over that read 0 W W W W 0, on his way to figures of 7-32.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Two notable performances in England's ODI victory over Australia were Bell's contribution of 91 and Anderson with 3-30 from his 10 overs.

During his bowling performance, Anderson moved ahead of Gough as the leading England ODI bowler in the rankings and now has 237 wickets to his name.

 

[Whistler40145]

Another sterling performance from Jimmy Anderson & the England boys.

Was this another blip by the Aussies or the shape of things to come?

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[ainsworth74]

Shape of things to come I'd say. I do not rank this Australian side particularly highly, especially missing Clarke. Further their performance in the warm-ups was hardly inspiring the one they won had more to do with Watson than the team itself and the other they were bowled out for 65!

I'm honestly not at all convinced they'll win a game in their group.

 

[High Dyke]

Another sterling performance from Jimmy Anderson & the England boys.

Was this another blip by the Aussies or the shape of things to come?

We can hope. That said England's bowlers put in another good performance. As was commented upon on TMS Tredwell and Swann could cause some real problems - given the right sort of pitch. No doubt the Aussies will bounce back in due course; as long as they wait until after The Ashes.

 

[ainsworth74]

I was thinking that Tredwell and Swann bowling in tandem in a one day game would be quite a prospect.

 

[Whistler40145]

Should David Warner keep his place in the Australian squad?

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[Johnuk123]

Should David Warner keep his place in the Australian squad?

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I see no reason not to, just a silly drunken young man.

 

[Whistler40145]

I just hope David Warner isn't another Jesse Ryder (someone who can't handle drink).

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[Oswyntail]

But silly, drunken young men are just what international sports teams do not want. If team rules do not have a bit about violent behaviour I would be very surprised. But this comes after the earlier problems with Australian team discipline, and who knows who is really in charge now.

 

[ainsworth74]

That's what's I'm thinking. If this was a one off then I'd tend towards a stern talking to and some sort of fine. But Warner has had a couple of discipline issues in the recent past which makes me think that you can't really ignore the fact that he took a swing at another teams player.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Long gone, unfortunately, are the days when a transgressor would have been sent home in disgrace from a tour, but these days, where shame is something of a 24-hour syndrome so it appears to one as elderly as myself, no such stricture will be forthcoming.

 

[Oswyntail]

Long gone, unfortunately, are the days when a transgressor would have been sent home in disgrace from a tour, but these days, where shame is something of a 24-hour syndrome so it appears to one as elderly as myself, no such stricture will be forthcoming.

I agree, Paul. And yet he was 12th man today, and warmed up with the team, almost as if the team management wanted to support him.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Long gone, unfortunately, are the days when a transgressor would have been sent home in disgrace from a tour, but these days, where shame is something of a 24-hour syndrome so it appears to one as elderly as myself, no such stricture will be forthcoming.

Not quite true, Ben Stokes of Durham was sent home early from the last England Lions tour of Australia for 'breaches of discipline'.
Difficult to know about David Warner, is it a sign of more problems within the Australian team after their troubles with 'homeworkgate' in India?...or a troubled young man who has drink/anger management issues? ( a la Ricky Ponting in 1999). I think that Cricket Australia will look at the wider issues on this one, wouldn't expect him to receive anything more than a final warning (or equivalent) and a fine.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Do you feel that such is the lowness of the ebb of Australian cricket at present than any transgressions will not receive more that a metaphorical "slap on the wrist" in order that they do not further weaken their squad.

An entirely different scenario is a comparison of disciplinary application procedures of the managements of the England team and the Australian team.

 

[Whistler40145]

Well, all I can say after watching England v Sri Lanka is that our bowling attack was nothing more than ordinary, seriously lacking any fire.

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[andrew bell]

Well, all I can say after watching England v Sri Lanka is that our bowling attack was nothing more than ordinary, seriously lacking any fire.

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I think Alec Stewart had it spot on, England has plan A for both batting and bowling whilst most other nations have plans A-E. Kulasakara usually bats at 8/9 but came in at 5 today with a license to throw the bat. Would England promote Jos Buttler if the roles were reserved, I doubt we would.

Batting wise I feel if Cook and Bell are still there after 15 I'd send in Root before Trott, but if we lose 2 quick wickets then Trott comes in. We need to be a bit proactive in the batting dept, and the bowling is quite poor at the moment. We rely too much on Jimmy Anderson and when he isn't on form we struggle

 

[Whistler40145]

Except for Jimmy Anderson, the other bowlers didn't fire. Although Bopara got some runs, should he be replaced by Chris Woakes?

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[Oswyntail]

Except for Jimmy Anderson, the other bowlers didn't fire. Although Bopara got some runs, should he be replaced by Chris Woakes?....

As usual, his economy rate was one of the better ones, though. Three overs of Root at 9, 8 overs of Broad at 8, and ten of Bresnan at 6.3. Overall the bowling was innocuous, but so was the oppositions. The batting should have been stronger, but you cannot really blame 1-3 either, as they set up a reasonable position. But the "finishers" have not come off in this tournament, Morgan and Buttler, as both seem to think they have to blast from ball 1, which they don't.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Except for Jimmy Anderson, the other bowlers didn't fire. Although Bopara got some runs, should he be replaced by Chris Woakes?

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Yet Broad and Bresnan bowled well against Australia, the problem seems to be consistency and being able to keep control when there is little swing. I'm not convinced by Woakes yet, Bopara has done all that can be asked of him with bat and ball in the two games.

 

[Oswyntail]

And back in Div 2, what was ambling along as a fairly ordinary match saw Lancashire beat Essex by an innings and 105 runs, bowling Essex out for 20 runs. Chapple took 5 for 9 in 7 overs, Hogg 4 for 11 in 7.