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Post by estrangedsonoffaye on Aug 8, 2019 10:19:16 GMT
A wee aside from the Ashes. I watched the Leicester Something’s take on the Warwickshire Something else’s yesterday evening in the Something or other T20 Blast and witnessed something special. The best ever bowling return in a T20 game: 7-18 by this guy called Colin Ackerman, the Leicestershire captain. What made this achievement incredible is he is a part time offie, and even more incredible he basically bowled a load of flat half trackers that the Warwickshire batsmen instead of playing back to and smacking for 6, kept coming forward to and getting out. Anyway, respect to the man. A world record. Thankfully, as Mr Ackerman is South African who has qualified for the Netherlands, we won’t have to worry about this achievement bringing him into the debate about who England should choose to bowl off spin in the Lords test. It was certainly an odd spell but well done to him nonetheless. He's captained a pretty hopeless Leicestershire side this year to a competitive positions. Also, keep an eye on Sam Hain who made 60 odd in that game, currently averaging 60 in List A cricket with 10 hundreds from 56 innings. He'll be knocking on the door soon for white ball contention. He also featured in a red ball tour game for England Lions v an Australian XI last month and made 39 but more importantly 59* (143) to save the game for the Lions.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 8, 2019 10:56:12 GMT
A wee aside from the Ashes. I watched the Leicester Something’s take on the Warwickshire Something else’s yesterday evening in the Something or other T20 Blast and witnessed something special. The best ever bowling return in a T20 game: 7-18 by this guy called Colin Ackerman, the Leicestershire captain. What made this achievement incredible is he is a part time offie, and even more incredible he basically bowled a load of flat half trackers that the Warwickshire batsmen instead of playing back to and smacking for 6, kept coming forward to and getting out. Anyway, respect to the man. A world record. Thankfully, as Mr Ackerman is South African who has qualified for the Netherlands, we won’t have to worry about this achievement bringing him into the debate about who England should choose to bowl off spin in the Lords test. It was certainly an odd spell but well done to him nonetheless. He's captained a pretty hopeless Leicestershire side this year to a competitive positions. Also, keep an eye on Sam Hain who made 60 odd in that game, currently averaging 60 in List A cricket with 10 hundreds from 56 innings. He'll be knocking on the door soon for white ball contention. He also featured in a red ball tour game for England Lions v an Australian XI last month and made 39 but more importantly 59* (143) to save the game for the Lions. Hain scored some good runs last night - but looked anything but a T20 player. He reminded me of Joe Root with his exquisite timing. A definite potential test player.
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Post by estrangedsonoffaye on Aug 9, 2019 14:06:17 GMT
www.ecb.co.uk/england/men/news/1304119/england-name-squad-for-second-ashes-testAli dropped, Leach and Archer in. Looks like Bairstow will be keeping the gloves. Based on that I think we can assume it's: Roy Burns Root Denly Buttler Stokes Bairstow Woakes Archer Broad Leach Be very surprised if we didn't play a spinner and went for Curran, especially given that on paper Archer strengthens that tail in terms of batting unless they want to drop Denly?
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Post by Cast no shadow on Aug 9, 2019 14:46:42 GMT
No foakes is shit
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Post by chuckrocky on Aug 9, 2019 14:59:14 GMT
Pretty much as expected. They were never going to make wholesale changes.
Denly needs a score or this will probably be the last we see of him.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 12, 2019 7:04:07 GMT
Is there more than one of them? If so, maybe we should pay lots of Foakes if what you say is true.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 12, 2019 7:46:18 GMT
Pretty much as expected. They were never going to make wholesale changes. Denly needs a score or this will probably be the last we see of him. The good news is the bowling looks stronger - notwithstanding the absence of Anderson. The bad news is the batting line up looks as fragile as ever. I’m reminded of the 2015 World Cup which we entered with a team whose composition was all wrong and could do nothing to avoid the inevitable calamity that was heading our way. There are echoes of that tournament in this series which we have embarked on with a batting line up that has underperformed for several years and which we seem to unable to fix. I fear it might take a home series Ashes whitewash to effect the changes needed to bring our red ball cricket up to scratch.
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Post by chuckrocky on Aug 12, 2019 9:04:29 GMT
Pretty much as expected. They were never going to make wholesale changes. Denly needs a score or this will probably be the last we see of him. The good news is the bowling looks stronger - notwithstanding the absence of Anderson. The bad news is the batting line up looks as fragile as ever. I’m reminded of the 2015 World Cup which we entered with a team whose composition was all wrong and could do nothing to avoid the inevitable calamity that was heading our way. There are echoes of that tournament in this series which we have embarked on with a batting line up that has underperformed for several years and which we seem to unable to fix. I fear it might take a home series Ashes whitewash to effect the changes needed to bring our red ball cricket up to scratch. The bowling line up looks very balanced with Archer in the side. You’ve got the swing of Broad, the seam of Woakes and the raw pace of Archer. With Leach you’ve also got a spinner that can hold an end when the ball isn’t turning. The batting is just a mess. I think only Root and Bairstow have a first class average of above 40. Lose the Lords test and I can’t see anything other than a whitewash. It’s a shame that it usually takes English cricket to hit rock bottom before the powers that be act.
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Post by chuckrocky on Aug 13, 2019 22:09:12 GMT
Looking at the forecast we’ll be lucky if there’s a ball bowled tomorrow.
Thursday is looking ok but Friday and Saturday are looking pretty grim.
Our last two tests at Lords have finished inside 3 days. Let’s hope we can get enough cricket in to try and level the series.
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Post by estrangedsonoffaye on Aug 14, 2019 8:09:56 GMT
Moeen Ali is taking a break from all forms of cricket, much needed and I hope we see him back because on his day he's a class player with bat and ball. But he's been a walking wicket for too long and in that first test the last reason to include him deserted him.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 14, 2019 9:10:30 GMT
Looking at the forecast we’ll be lucky if there’s a ball bowled tomorrow. Thursday is looking ok but Friday and Saturday are looking pretty grim. Our last two tests at Lords have finished inside 3 days. Let’s hope we can get enough cricket in to try and level the series. Sad to say but my main hope is we avoid defeat in this test. Lord's is a notoriously bad ground for us and I'd be happy going into the third test still in the series (history says we won't turn a 2-0 deficit around). So - let it rain!
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Post by thequietman on Aug 14, 2019 11:42:11 GMT
Sods fliiping law. I spend two days working like a slave to clear my work diary for Wednesday, ready to surreptiously follow the cricket all day at work. And it bl00dy rains. Now I'm scratching about trying to find stuff to do whilst looking busy. The shredder's going into meltdown.
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Post by trickydicky73 on Aug 14, 2019 11:55:47 GMT
This reminds me of the days when Peter West presented the cricket on the BBC. Grey skies, covers on.
Bag of wank.
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Post by thequietman on Aug 14, 2019 15:13:32 GMT
He was alright was Peter. Calm & cultured. Smoked a good pipe.
About the only thing keeping me going today has been the comments on the Beeb about notable players that joe public have played against in club cricket. Just the one for me - Rachael Heyhoe Flint, in a friendly, Cadburys vs Wolverhampton Ladies circa 1981.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 14, 2019 15:24:31 GMT
The rain today is hellish frustrating, but I guess we could take some solace in the fact that the first day of the second test has been significantly better for England than the fourth and fifth days of the first test.
Always look on the bright side...
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Post by followyoudown on Aug 14, 2019 16:59:53 GMT
On a slighty related note I read that this will be the last series that Gower will work for Sky as his contract is not being renewed as they want to go in a different direction which presumably means they will be pushing forward some of the woman commentators who are all ok just a shame they couldn't still find a place for him.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 14, 2019 17:27:15 GMT
On a slighty related note I read that this will be the last series that Gower will work for Sky as his contract is not being renewed as they want to go in a different direction which presumably means they will be pushing forward some of the woman commentators who are all ok just a shame they couldn't still find a place for him. Is it just Gower getting punted? If so, I wonder why.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2019 17:43:18 GMT
On a slighty related note I read that this will be the last series that Gower will work for Sky as his contract is not being renewed as they want to go in a different direction which presumably means they will be pushing forward some of the woman commentators who are all ok just a shame they couldn't still find a place for him. Is it just Gower getting punted? If so, I wonder why. I read an article recently which said Ian Botham and Bob Willis were also likely for the chop. Apparently they no longer "fit the image" that Sky wants to present. They'll stick with Nasser and Athers (for how long though ?), and want to give more prominence to Isa Guha following her recent addition to the team - surprise surprise yet another woman being shoehorned into TV sport coverage. Old school or not I personally think Gower, Botham and Willis were some of the bits of glue that made Sky Sports coverage so professional. I'd prefer it if they were staying.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 14, 2019 17:49:03 GMT
Is it just Gower getting punted? If so, I wonder why. I read an article recently which said Ian Botham and Bob Willis were also likely for the chop. Apparently they no longer "fit the image" that Sky wants to present. They'll stick with Nasser and Athers (for how long though ?), and want to give more prominence to Isa Guha following her recent addition to the team - surprise surprise yet another woman being shoehorned into TV sport coverage. Old school or not I personally think Gower, Botham and Willis were some of the bits of glue that made Sky Sports coverage so professional. I'd prefer it if they were staying. I wonder if this is as much a question of cost cutting than anything else.
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Post by estrangedsonoffaye on Aug 14, 2019 17:53:25 GMT
Atherton is the best commentator and analyst they have, genuinely love his spells at third man and on comms. Gower and Botham probably suffer from the fact they are more “story tellers” which don’t suit a more stats and analytical approach they appear to have gone with.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2019 17:58:27 GMT
I read an article recently which said Ian Botham and Bob Willis were also likely for the chop. Apparently they no longer "fit the image" that Sky wants to present. They'll stick with Nasser and Athers (for how long though ?), and want to give more prominence to Isa Guha following her recent addition to the team - surprise surprise yet another woman being shoehorned into TV sport coverage. Old school or not I personally think Gower, Botham and Willis were some of the bits of glue that made Sky Sports coverage so professional. I'd prefer it if they were staying. I wonder if this is as much a question of cost cutting than anything else. I don't know and the article didn't mention it. The slant was that Gower, Botham and Willis were all "old school" now and Sky wanted to introduce new blood. It also mentioned how impressed Sky had been with Ian Smith's (and somebody I can't remember now) commentary and contribution during the recent World Cup and it seems they want more of that vein of commentator nowadays. The only "new" one that I thought was any good during the World Cup was Kumar Sangakkara. It may well be cost related, or the new "image" that the new owners of Sky want to introduce - either way I think it's a bad move.
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Post by franklin66 on Aug 14, 2019 17:58:42 GMT
On a slighty related note I read that this will be the last series that Gower will work for Sky as his contract is not being renewed as they want to go in a different direction which presumably means they will be pushing forward some of the woman commentators who are all ok just a shame they couldn't still find a place for him. Positive discrimination at it's finest it's pathetic.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2019 18:01:42 GMT
Atherton is the best commentator and analyst they have, genuinely love his spells at third man and on comms. Gower and Botham probably suffer from the fact they are more “story tellers” which don’t suit a more stats and analytical approach they appear to have gone with. Good point - this was mentioned in the article that I read (but I'd forgotten it) - they did say Sky wanted a more analytical approach for the future. This may be good for some of the coverage but don't we still need a bit of "story telling" and "old school tales" in the game ? How would TMS have been without Blowers, Aggers and Co ? Or am I just an old duffer who likes it as it was ? (Don't answer that ).
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Post by chuckrocky on Aug 14, 2019 19:19:44 GMT
He was alright was Peter. Calm & cultured. Smoked a good pipe. About the only thing keeping me going today has been the comments on the Beeb about notable players that joe public have played against in club cricket. Just the one for me - Rachael Heyhoe Flint, in a friendly, Cadburys vs Wolverhampton Ladies circa 1981.
I’ve enjoyed reading the comments on the Beeb today too. Some cracking stories on there. I’ve had the privilege of facing Mohammad Asif, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Vasbert Drakes and also had a few nets with Imran Tahir. Not bad for someone who at my best was a rank average village cricketer. There have been some real high profile players kicking about in the Staffordshire leagues over the years.
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Post by PotteringThrough on Aug 14, 2019 19:43:02 GMT
I've decided to watch the World Cup final highlights tonight with a beer. Guptill just smashed a 6 off Archer, this could be a cracker.
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Post by followyoudown on Aug 14, 2019 20:26:32 GMT
Atherton is the best commentator and analyst they have, genuinely love his spells at third man and on comms. Gower and Botham probably suffer from the fact they are more “story tellers” which don’t suit a more stats and analytical approach they appear to have gone with. I'd agree with that although Gower is more of a link man / keeping it all together. It may be they just want more recent players too just dont give that cnut KP does not get a job
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Post by followyoudown on Aug 14, 2019 20:28:48 GMT
I wonder if this is as much a question of cost cutting than anything else. I don't know and the article didn't mention it. The slant was that Gower, Botham and Willis were all "old school" now and Sky wanted to introduce new blood. It also mentioned how impressed Sky had been with Ian Smith's (and somebody I can't remember now) commentary and contribution during the recent World Cup and it seems they want more of that vein of commentator nowadays. The only "new" one that I thought was any good during the World Cup was Kumar Sangakkara. It may well be cost related, or the new "image" that the new owners of Sky want to introduce - either way I think it's a bad move. Smith is good but I think he makes money doing egg chasing commentary. Sangakkara is good Mikey Holding is still the king though.
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 14, 2019 21:45:41 GMT
Atherton is the best commentator and analyst they have, genuinely love his spells at third man and on comms. Gower and Botham probably suffer from the fact they are more “story tellers” which don’t suit a more stats and analytical approach they appear to have gone with. I'd agree with that although Gower is more of a link man / keeping it all together. It may be they just want more recent players too just dont give that cnut KP does not get a job Gower is an outstanding link man. Willis is an outstanding critic. Botham on the other hand is, let’s put it kindly, not as good a pundit as he was a player. That said, he is a better pundit than KP.
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Post by GeneralFaye on Aug 15, 2019 5:44:14 GMT
"Story tellers" are what make listening to Cricket a fantastic experience for me. It's the main reason why I was so disappointed Talksport won the rights to England's away series, after 30 minutes of listening to their coverage I was bored out of my mind, absolutely zero talk about anything other than what was happening in front of them, it was like they were Robots with no personalities.
Long live Aggers and all the TMS team. Without TMS I wouldn't have got into Cricket in the first place all those years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 5:46:56 GMT
"Story tellers" are what make listening to Cricket a fantastic experience for me. It's the main reason why I was so disappointed Talksport won the rights to England's away series, after 30 minutes of listening to their coverage I was bored out of my mind, absolutely zero talk about anything other than what was happening in front of them, it was like they were Robots with no personalities. Long live Aggers and all the TMS team. Without TMS I wouldn't have got into Cricket in the first place all those years ago. Totally agree - cricket commentary by itself becomes too sterile, it needs some embellishment to "bring it alive".
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