Cricket

[Ed209]

Cool!

but how close are you related? Cus I can say I'm related to William Mckinley, assassinated president of the united states. However when I tell people he's my 4th cousin twice removed they're not so impressed.

[pink_triangle]

Cool!

but how close are you related? Cus I can say I'm related to William Mckinley, assassinated president of the united states. However when I tell people he's my 4th cousin twice removed they're not so impressed.

I think he was my dads great uncle, which means the cricketing blood had been very diluted by the time it got to me!

[Ed209]

f**king brilliant! Well played England. Absolutely outstanding cricket

[Ringo_Spar]

Na na na na naaaaaaaa!!!

[Alcatraz]

England really needed that 3-1 win. f**k yeah

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Yeahhh! How long am i gonna carry on watching the celebrations for!

[gemstarrr]

yesss

[Gre]

Top top stuff tonight. Great to see

Is it cos them 4 played mainly late 80s to early noughties, when England were inconsistent at best, so dragging them down? Or, perhaps they were the best of a bad bunch and wouldn't easily make the current team?

I think it's partly do with the opposition; you had the great Windies teams, obviously the Aussies, I don't think even New Zealand were too bad in the late 80s/early 90s were they? Then at the other end of the scale in recent years there have been more stat-padding games against the likes of Bangladesh & Zimbabwe.

Also hasn't test cricket become generally higher-scoring? It's certainly become faster-scoring.

[loscfestivals]

Is it cos them 4 played mainly late 80s to early noughties, when England were inconsistent at best, so dragging them down? Or, perhaps they were the best of a bad bunch and wouldn't easily make the current team?

To be honest, averaging 40 nowadays would be more like averaging mid 30s 15-20 years ago. I think if you put a Gower for example into test cricket nowadays he would be averaging in the 50s like todays top players are. As it was he played in a time when test bowling was probably the best it has ever been.

Lots of high scoring games and lifeless pitches and the addition of Bangladesh and the state Zimbabwe were in during their last 5+ years of being a test nation has made for a lot of easy runs. Not to mention the decline of the West Indies. Not knocking Colly as he has been a fighter and an integral part of the team but he's picked up 5 out of those ten centuries against W. Indies or Bangladesh and 6 of them in high scoring draws and so i think his average and everybody elses too of course benefits from the "easy" runs going round at the moment.

You'll see bowler averages have gone the other way, very few of the best quicks are even averaging much below 30, nevermind the early 20s like the good ones used to. Dale Steyn an honourable exception to this but the leading bowling averages have really adjusted too, but got much worse. Obviously the two sets of averages are directly linked so either the batsmen are becoming much better or bowlers and bowling conditions getting worse. I think it is the latter

Edited January 7, 2011 by loscfestivals

[5co77ie]

f**king brilliant! Well played England. Absolutely outstanding cricket

After staying up until 5.30am the day before I was shattered and switched off last night 2 balls before the last wicket - doh!

[TheGayTent]

He he... I had both barrels loaded and was about to unload until I read yours!

Panesar my arse.

And --IPL.. whats wrong with it in terms of entertainment?

I watched last year and thought it was flippin good--esp over there where the crowds seem to genuinely go for it.

Collingwoods averages... wow--I`m quite shocked to see the comparison with what I classed as some of the best we`ve had.

Not sure if he would be England best ever fielder mind after seeing Randall over the years. All reletive though eh.

Ey--- I`m glad this is the last night.. I`m f**kin wrecked with all these night shifts.

I suppose it will be easier if the one dayers are Day/Night cos they will finish mid-morning here eh.. so just an early start for us.

den

Have no problem with Panesar or Tredwell playing if the track is a spinners paradise and we want to play with two, or if Swann is out. What I was getting at was Monty at 6!

I don't like the IPL as I'm not a huge fan of T20 and certainly have no interest in watching a corrupt T20 competiton.

[TheGayTent]

Rolf Harris, Paul Hogan, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Harold Bishop, Jason Donovan, The Minogues, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, David Boon, Merv Hughes, Alan Border, Sir Les Patterson, Dame Edna Everage, Ricky Ponting......can you hear me Ricky Ponting, your boys took one hell of a beating!!

[Gre]

After staying up until 5.30am the day before I was shattered and switched off last night 2 balls before the last wicket - doh!

Apparently Radio 4 listeners had the pleasure of the shipping forecast instead of the final wicket!

Linky

[TheGayTent]

Apparently Radio 4 listeners had the pleasure of the shipping forecast instead of the final wicket!

Linky

I was listening to TMS via 5live sports extra and thought of the poor sods who were listing to Tyne & Dogger whilst Tremlett was doing his stuff. All done on an automatic timer during the night so Aggers said.

[dakyras]

Is this actually finally f**king over?

[Ed209]

Is this actually finally f**king over?

The ashes, yes, but there's two T20 and SEVEN one dayers coming up over the next month

[Gre]

Is this actually finally f**king over?

Just a couple of 20-20s, 7 One Day games to go. Then its the World Cup 2 weeks after. Then its the English season.

Woo woo!

[Ed209]

Just a couple of 20-20s, 7 One Day games to go. Then its the World Cup 2 weeks after. Then its the English season.

Woo woo!

And the virgin media sky sports package I splurged out on specially for the ashes is going absolutely nowhere

[pehaw]

I don't think he's quite as agile

I meant that, like Collingwood, Bresnan has a bit of fight/steel about him.

He also looks like he can back it up - unlike, say, Broad who just looks laughable when he's trying to intimidate people.

[Jaybles]

Wow what a game of T20.

1 ball to win with 1 run and 1 wicket remaining.....tense stuff.

Congrats England for yet another victory, well played australia.

[5co77ie]

Wow what a game of T20.

1 ball to win with 1 run and 1 wicket remaining.....tense stuff.

Congrats England for yet another victory, well played australia.

I think Aussies' game is much more suited to T20, good to see we can still beat them.

[lharris92]

was good to listen to

[TheGayTent]

I think Aussies' game is much more suited to T20, good to see we can still beat them.

The introduction of T20 to the convicts and the way Cricket Australia have pushed the Big Bash has ultimately led to the downfall of their test team. Players are more interested in the shorter forms of the game as even mediocre Ozzies can make a fortune in the IPL. T20 batsmen are required to score in unorthadox areas, and don't need to maintain focus for very long. Which has had a direct negative affect on players' footwork and technique - particularly in the way batsmen tend to get their left foot out of the way which leads to inbalance and pushing of the bat towards balls away from the body on or outside off stump. You only have to look at the amount of wk and slip catches in the ashes from the like of Hughes and Watson.

[fraser_k]

Does Brett Lee only play T20 now? His bowling would have been a great help in test even if he's getting on a bit now.

[Gre]

I've only read the BBC text commentary, but 3 or 4 easy dropped catches, terrible bowling, terrible fielding, even a wicket no-balled because of not enough men inside the circle... Holland 292-6.

The world cup is surely ours