The cricket thread

Heartfeltdawn

Time to revive the cricket thread...

If you haven't seen the new England kit, look away now. That stripey effort is horrific. 

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/800/cpsprodpb/D8D4/production/_95880555_englandkitlaunchgetty.jpg

The prices of replica kit are even more jarring. 

http://store.ecb.co.uk/browse/official-replica/show/0-0-0-0/668/0/0/0/0/list

CabbageCat

Gassage said:

I'd like to congratulate Tymal Mills at his £82,000 per game contract in the IPL.

He's living proof that amputees can perform at even the highest level, although how he gets that pace with only one leg is beyond me.

RCB have only played him a handful of times - and I think they lost all of them. Hopefully he's saving his form for Sussex. At least our other bowler, Chris Jordan, is doing OK at Sunrisers Hyderabad (even though he seems to only play as a substitute fielder).

Neil

Heartfeltdawn said:

Time to revive the cricket thread...

If you haven't seen the new England kit, look away now. That stripey effort is horrific. 

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/800/cpsprodpb/D8D4/production/_95880555_englandkitlaunchgetty.jpg

The prices of replica kit are even more jarring. 

http://store.ecb.co.uk/browse/official-replica/show/0-0-0-0/668/0/0/0/0/list

Just hideous.

crunchman

If I was in charge of NatWest I'd be trying to get out of the sponsorship deal rather than put my name on that.  It's hideous.

scrumhalf

Fifty quid for an unbelievably ugly polyester t-shirt?

Yeah, get out of my way whilst I rush to buy one. Or several.

Cricket is being strangled to death.

rocktron

Cricketer is dismissed after a bowler knocks the middle stump out of the ground but the bails STAY in place... so do YOU think he should be out?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4495860/Cricket-dismissed-ball-knocked-stumps-bails-remained.html#ixzz4gr3jOEO1 

Gassage

Neil said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

Time to revive the cricket thread...

If you haven't seen the new England kit, look away now. That stripey effort is horrific. 

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/800/cpsprodpb/D8D4/production/_95880555_englandkitlaunchgetty.jpg

The prices of replica kit are even more jarring. 

http://store.ecb.co.uk/browse/official-replica/show/0-0-0-0/668/0/0/0/0/list

Just hideous.

The guy second from the left is Pauly Allen, skipper of the England Deaf Team. (ECAD)

I've skippered MCC v ECAD many times, and at Lords twice. I brokered the the idea fixture to MCC in 2007 and we're now playing the 10th fixture this year.

Honoured to have proposed Pauly for MCC membership this year- an amazing friend and an amazing person who transcends his disability.

He isn't dumb and can talk, but hell, when he texts or messages you, you see the real him and a way of articulating electronic messages that really shows his personality, common to all of the ECAD lads.

He's already been informed fat boys shouldn't wear horizontal stripes...

earwighoney

Gassage said:

 The guy second from the left is Pauly Allen, skipper of the England Deaf Team. (ECAD)

I've skippered MCC v ECAD many times, and at Lords twice. I brokered the the idea fixture to MCC in 2007 and we're now playing the 10th fixture this year.

@Gassage, good to see deaf (and blind) cricket getting more recognition in recent times. 

***
Pretty f*cking excited about the soon to start Champions Trophy.  I've watched an obscene amount of cricket in the last 6 months (too much damn T20 cricket, too much!) but it'll be good to see some cricket on green seaming pitches once again. 

scrumhalf

So Blowers is calling it a day.

Shame, I enjoyed his commentary. He is a man who understands that going to a cricket match can be about far more than just what happens out on the field.

I hope he isn't replaced by a horde of cookie-cutter commentators as has happened in football, where you can't tell the difference between them in the same way you could tell the differences between Coleman, Davies, Motson and the others.

RandallFlagg

scrumhalf said:

So Blowers is calling it a day.

Shame, I enjoyed his commentary. He is a man who understands that going to a cricket match can be about far more than just what happens out on the field.

I hope he isn't replaced by a horde of cookie-cutter commentators as has happened in football, where you can't tell the difference between them in the same way you could tell the differences between Coleman, Davies, Motson and the others.

Agreed, there is something quintessentially English about Henry Blofeld's TMS commentary. I love his anecdotes and observations on the weather, the crowd, the planes, the birds and the food. He's a traditional old English toff, educated at Eton but I like him and his contribution to the game of cricket.

TMS needs a to keep that slightly Victorian air about it and not become a forum for typical modern sporting pundits and for God's sake do not let Shane Warne on. 

RandallFlagg

not long now until the real cricket starts...

rocktron

RandallFlagg said:

scrumhalf said:

So Blowers is calling it a day.

Shame, I enjoyed his commentary. He is a man who understands that going to a cricket match can be about far more than just what happens out on the field.

I hope he isn't replaced by a horde of cookie-cutter commentators as has happened in football, where you can't tell the difference between them in the same way you could tell the differences between Coleman, Davies, Motson and the others.

Agreed, there is something quintessentially English about Henry Blofeld's TMS commentary. I love his anecdotes and observations on the weather, the crowd, the planes, the birds and the food. He's a traditional old English toff, educated at Eton but I like him and his contribution to the game of cricket.

TMS needs a to keep that slightly Victorian air about it and not become a forum for typical modern sporting pundits and for God's sake do not let Shane Warne on. 

Was it he who made the infamous commentary, "The bowler's Holding. . .the batsman's Willy!!!?"   

scrumhalf

rocktron said:

RandallFlagg said:

scrumhalf said:

So Blowers is calling it a day.

Shame, I enjoyed his commentary. He is a man who understands that going to a cricket match can be about far more than just what happens out on the field.

I hope he isn't replaced by a horde of cookie-cutter commentators as has happened in football, where you can't tell the difference between them in the same way you could tell the differences between Coleman, Davies, Motson and the others.

Agreed, there is something quintessentially English about Henry Blofeld's TMS commentary. I love his anecdotes and observations on the weather, the crowd, the planes, the birds and the food. He's a traditional old English toff, educated at Eton but I like him and his contribution to the game of cricket.

TMS needs a to keep that slightly Victorian air about it and not become a forum for typical modern sporting pundits and for God's sake do not let Shane Warne on. 

Was it he who made the infamous commentary, "The bowler's Holding. . .the batsman's Willy!!!?"   

Urban myth propagated by Johnners.

Gassage

Listening to Radio 5 Live talking about lack of equality in cricket today.

I texted them to point out that women are eligable to play mens league, county and test cricket.

No response. They don't want it quite that equal.

Heartfeltdawn

RandallFlagg said:

Agreed, there is something quintessentially English about Henry Blofeld's TMS commentary. I love his anecdotes and observations on the weather, the crowd, the planes, the birds and the food. He's a traditional old English toff, educated at Eton but I like him and his contribution to the game of cricket.

TMS needs a to keep that slightly Victorian air about it and not become a forum for typical modern sporting pundits and for God's sake do not let Shane Warne on. 

I'm convinced the BBC gave Vaughan his own cricket show in order to keep him busy and less likely to appear on TMS. 

Going from TMS to Sky is like having your brains sucked out of your body through the end of your cock. 

crunchman

I'll probably be listening to TMS a lot more this year as I turned off Sky sports.  It is a great institution.  Hopefully they don't ruin it.

scrumhalf

The Beeb need to be careful with their choices of commentator and summariser. Both Simon Hughes and Ed Smith can be a bit too dry and academic, I'm more inclined to listen to Blowers taling about the colour of a bus than a discussion about a baseball coach's theories.

crunchman

Looking ahead to the test series, surely they have to play Foakes.

Century for England Lions against South Africa A, and by all accounts a better keeper than Bairstow or Buttler.

Let Bairstow play as a batsman.  Sangakkara batting average 40.5 as a keeper, 66.8 when playing as a batsman.  For England: Stewart average 34 as a keeper, 46 as a batsman.  Bairstow may well be our best batsman so liberate him from the gloves.  You will get more out of him as a batsman, Foakes is a better keeper, and as an added bonus Bairstow is a much better fielder than Ballance who will probably come in otherwise.

crunchman

Only seen Cricinfo commentary, but seems that Ballance was pinned LBW on the back foot to a full ball again.  He might get away with it against county attacks but he is not a test batsman.

Heartfeltdawn

He's got the right mental qualities for Test cricket but the lack of technique change in all this time is very strange. Then again, YJB has just done exactly the same, gone back when he should be forward. 

It's a thoroughly perplexing XI. Ballance doesn't play 3 for Yorkshire but is there. Buttler seems to have been cast off despite playing as a batsman in India and not doing too badly. Our seam attack all have some injury clouds of recent note (Broad, Anderson, Wood, and Stokes) and it seems absurd to pick Toby R-J for the squad and then not to play him at home (seeing how a right arm 80 mph bowler in Philander is going today makes it look even more absurd). Dawson's selection would be understandable at a time when rank turners were around but picking him doesn't show confidence in Ali and appears to be to shore up the batting a bit.