The cricket thread

Heartfeltdawn

All change at Middlesex...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49886645

Much talk had been going around of Malan being one of the two Yorkshire were wanting to sign. Ollie Rayner and Tom Barber will be leaving. Rayner will get a gig somewhere, of that I'm sure. Barber... another young quick who hasn't developed. From early 2018 in the Cricketer as part of an interview with Kevin Shine: 

https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/england/shine_englishmen_can_and_do_bowl_fast.html

"Jamie Overton (Somerset), and left-armers George Garton (Sussex), Olly Stone (Warwickshire) and Tom Barber (Middlesex) are all young bowlers who are capable of bowling at 90 mph and there are other young bowlers who will be capable of this in the future. We will look to maintain this speed but also develop their physical and mental robustness, craft and skills."

One has been robust this year, one being turned into a bits and pieces player, one with an injury record that makes Mark Wood look solid, and one who is now dropped by his second county but who will probably find another in the hope that they can make something of him. 

guitars4you

RandallFlagg said:

guitars4you said:

Just got my tickets - Headingley - July 2020 - 20/20 match v Aussies 

4 lads and a few beers

Lucky chap, I got a Dear John today in the Edgbaston ballot.

I think it was because I got the test match tickets earlier this year, so you somehow 'jump the queue' - Hence no ballot

Heartfeltdawn

No doubt many of you would have seen the big splash on T100 on the BBC. Can't recall any single cricket topic on the BBC messageboards going back even before 606 into the days of the BBC Wales cricket forum where the opinion has been so unanimous. 

https://i.imgur.com/SulexJf.png

RandallFlagg

I noted the comment regarding approx 100 hours of cricket on BBC next year, lets pile in with as many '100' references as we can. 

crunchman

Much as I like cricket, I don't think I'll be watching.  Apart from the idiotic format of the games themselves, coming from the South West originally, I support Somerset.  I am not going to support a team based in Wales.  The whole thing is a shambles.

RandallFlagg

crunchman said:

Much as I like cricket, I don't think I'll be watching.  Apart from the idiotic format of the games themselves, coming from the South West originally, I support Somerset.  I am not going to support a team based in Wales.  The whole thing is a shambles.

I live in Norfolk and geographically would support Nottingham I guess, but don't really feel particularly loyal either way. I will watch the first couple of matches and see how they go. Finals day will probably be a giggle, that's all I watch of the T20 Blast really.

scrumhalf

I look forward to seeing it collapse with indignity.

The premise that even the T20 format takes too long is not countered by the 100. If you have twenty five-ball overs then you still have 19 lots of between-overs faffing about, which is one of the main causes of delay.

As for the franchise thing, it's bollocks. Crtcket in this country is based on the county game and its rich history, not on made-up "teams".

earwighoney

scrumhalf said:

I look forward to seeing it collapse with indignity.

The premise that even the T20 format takes too long is not countered by the 100. If you have twenty five-ball overs then you still have 19 lots of between-overs faffing about, which is one of the main causes of delay.

As for the franchise thing, it's bollocks. Crtcket in this country is based on the county game and its rich history, not on made-up "teams".

It's 15 overs of 6 and 1 over of 10.  

A 10 ball over, seriously whoever thought of that was smoking far too much crack and needs a well directed kick to the nuts (if it was a male).

Instead of trying to reinvent the game, if they wanted to bring the game to more people then they should have spent the Sky Sports windfall on employing coaches so the game could be played at ALL primary schools & secondary schools be it during the school day or as a post school club.  

It's not fucking rocket science. 

scrumhalf

If you want more people to be attracted tothe game, get them when they're young. Offer free or very low admission prices to the under-16s for county championship games.

Obviously, that would require the championship to be played during the school holidays, which seems to be totally unacceptable these days.

Heartfeltdawn

earwighoney said:

Instead of trying to reinvent the game, if they wanted to bring the game to more people then they should have spent the Sky Sports windfall on employing coaches so the game could be played at ALL primary schools & secondary schools be it during the school day or as a post school club.  

It's not fucking rocket science. 

That still relies on the schools knowing how to use the money effectively. Too many are like my secondary school. New kit would come in, never get used, and fester. In seven years we used the indoor nets twice. In the sixth form, four outdoor nets were installed. Ten years later, they'd been dug up, the area used for a football changing room so the floodlit pitch could be hired out, and the nets were never replaced. 

It's no coincidence that the best state school for cricket in my county got that status because of one teacher's efforts. He'd played at Minor Counties level, still played a good standard of league cricket, and had a lot of sway with the headteacher. They had the only grass wicket for any state school in the county outside of my school and they produced a fair few county 2nd XI players and two standouts, one of whom is county level now and the other who represented England a few times in different formats. 

Whereas my final year coach was a guy who was continually patronising whilst I bowled, causing me to stop mid-delivery and turn you to him and say "You are aware that I was playing and Somerset yesterday, don't you? And that I took a few wickets?" Vile man, the sort of PE coach you hoped would have a debilitating injury and force him to take up pottery instead of flogging fat boys on the cross country trail.

Even sadder than the failure to spend money well is how some schools ban ball games during break time. That's the real route into the game for me. People talk of club coaching and parents and sblings but those times in the yard were the beginning for me. 

RandallFlagg

scrumhalf said:

I look forward to seeing it collapse with indignity.

The premise that even the T20 format takes too long is not countered by the 100. If you have twenty five-ball overs then you still have 19 lots of between-overs faffing about, which is one of the main causes of delay.

As for the franchise thing, it's bollocks. Crtcket in this country is based on the county game and its rich history, not on made-up "teams".

and now uproar over the sponsorship by snack food companies. If social media get behind this I can see the whole thing collapsing before it even starts:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49932363

Dopesick

The Hundred is for 'young people, sporty families and diverse communities'.

Isn't that what T20 was for?

The ECB are a pack of delusional cunts and I hope their new little made-up game dies before their tired, soulless eyes.

scrumhalf

Has anyone checked to see that the ECB aren't Aussies secretly planning to keep the Ashes forever by turning our domestic game into a festering heap of turds?

crunchman

scrumhalf said:

Has anyone checked to see that the ECB aren't Aussies secretly planning to keep the Ashes forever by turning our domestic game into a festering heap of turds?

Would explain why we've had an Aussie coach who insisted on picking one day players with no technique for the Ashes.

earwighoney

Chris Silverwood confirmed as coach. 

RandallFlagg

earwighoney said:

Chris Silverwood confirmed as coach. 

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I dont know much about him apart from what's on Wiki, took Essex to County Championship win and then became England fast bowling coach.

Heartfeltdawn

It's a good move. Many LOLs at the people on Twitter and on the BBC comments section saying it's another public school old boy move given that CS was comprehensively educated. So listen up, county game coaches! If you're successful there, you can go and coach at Test level. None of you are good enough for our silly 100 ball lark though... 

Stuckfast

scrumhalf said:

If you want more people to be attracted tothe game, get them when they're young. Offer free or very low admission prices to the under-16s for county championship games.

Obviously, that would require the championship to be played during the school holidays, which seems to be totally unacceptable these days.

Or indeed at weekends -- the last three rounds of the CC were played entirely on weekdays I think. My lad was gutted we couldn't go and see Northants' promotion push in person.

earwighoney

Andy Flower to leave the ECB

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50026077

jpfamps

Dopesick said:

The Hundred is for 'young people, sporty families and diverse communities'.

Isn't that what T20 was for?

The ECB are a pack of delusional cunts and I hope their new little made-up game dies before their tired, soulless eyes.

Yes that's what T20 was for, but because the ECB missed the boat for a lucrative franchise competition (IPL, Big Bash etc) they've had to come up with a new format to prevent it looking like a "me too" product.

Colin Graves has two way of working: his way of the high way.