Cricket...

[leighton buzzard horn]

I was at the cricket on Thursday. I have never really been any sort of cricket fan but a few fellas from work were going so I thought I would tag along. I am still no big cricket fan but for a day out it was utterly superb. It was a monster drinking session that started before 9am, and finished with me missing my train and having to get a hotel in Brum city centre in the early hours of Friday morning. Afetr the beer festival last week it has been a heavy few weeks!

The support was strange to see for me having only ever really been to football. To see everyone sitting together and having a bit of banter was weird.

The one thing that I thought was really crap was at the end of the day. The tickets were £50 each which isn't cheap and yet not one of the players clapped any of the crowd. The bowled the last ball and then strolled off without any acknowledgement whatsoever, so when people bang on about it being the 'gentlemans sport' I would question that to an extent.

[wfc4ever]

The one thing that I thought was really crap was at the end of the day. The tickets were £50 each which isn't cheap and yet not one of the players clapped any of the crowd. The bowled the last ball and then strolled off without any acknowledgement whatsoever, so when people bang on about it being the 'gentlemans sport' I would question that to an extent.

I think they spend more time patting each other on the back etc so only really give a little clap to the "fans" close to the steps up to their dressing rooms.

Never going to get these guys going round the ground football style TBH.

[Smudger]

Lets be honest...most people spend their time actually complaining more about something they don't like than what they enjoy!

Just have to read the letters pages for that.

If such an event was in the Olympics it would be a nailed on gold medal.

Even some cricket fans complain about the shorter forms of the game.

Well 20/20 is for the attention deficit generation.

Test cricket is still the ultimate test of a player. As for being in the Olympics given the small pool of nations playing decent ODI cricket it is unlikely to make an appearance for a good while.

One thing did make me chuckle in the comparison between Cooke and Tendulkar.

Cooke is a fine player in his own right but to be compared to someone who at the age of eighteen for instance scored a century against a fiercesome Australian pace attack on an electric and bouncy pitch at the WACA is a bit much.

[wfc4ever]

Too easy again for our batters.

India have simply given up.

[Smudger]

Too easy again for our batters.

India have simply given up.

Apparently the morning session they did well. After that they gave up....

The way they have bowled has been little short of club cricket standards.

SA are the real test at present. Morkel and Steyn in tandem are a fiercesome prospect. India will need a big rebuild certainly bowling wise.

Australia are preparing to overhaul their personell though it might just be window dressing.

The rest of the teams are shockingly poor to middling.The sad state of Test cricket today.

[wfc4ever]

Even winning the ODIs with some ease now...

[Smudger]

Is KP a nob ?

[domthehornet]

Is KP a nob ?

Yes and a stubborn one at that. He will never play for England again as his team mates have lost respect for him.

[Smudger]

Yes and a stubborn one at that. He will never play for England again as his team mates have lost respect for him.

He can really rake in the money now by giving his all in the IPL I suppose. Always was a bit of a hothead and he is South African....

[Hornpete]

Yes and a stubborn one at that. He will never play for England again as his team mates have lost respect for him.

I would say that he's much less of a nob than a former England football captain who plays for Chelsea and went to the world cup. Much too talented for the other players to get upset by a few silly errors and a big head.

[Smudger]

One innings doesn't correct everything. India's current spinners would have not even made a state side there two decades ago and they are bereft of quality aside from Kohli and perhaps Pujara (but he has not played abroad in SA or Oz).

It's a sad reflection on the decline of spinners worldwide. No reflection on Swann and Panesar who bowled very well. Perhaps this might force the BCCI to move away from their obsession with 20/20 cricket. Perhaps it is cyclical. West Indies used to be able to field fast bowlers at will. Wickets in the Caribbean lost their pace and coaching declined but that seems to be changing as well.

Cook is a class act and Compton looks to have secured his future as opener alongside him so Joe Root may have to wait a bit longer.

Tendulkar needs to retire. He is past it and should do the decent thing like Dravid who I rate as the better batsman. The same goes for Ponting. Hanging in on past reputation. SA pulled off an amazing draw which shows their resilience and why they are numero uno still in the game.

[Knight GT]

The Pieterson innings showed why it was so important to have him back. He is a pillock no question but he has the abilty to take a game away from the opposition which is what he did. Swann and Panesar were superb despite the latter being a scummer. I agree with you regards Ponting and Tendulkar. Two of the greatest who are risking their reputation by playing on. The best players know when to stop. I would say Ponting is the best I've seen and sadly having done two barmy army tours, and not the one we won typically, I have seen plenty of him! Should be good back to back Ashes coming up next year as the Aussies are showing signs of improvement.

[Smudger]

Their middle order is solid and Warner after all his initial problems seems to be settling in as an opener. They've got a pretty decent set of quicks as well when they are all fit although as I mentioned above no decent spinner.

However they are vulnerable still at the top of the order and that key position of number three. I'd put Tendulkar ahead of Ponting in terms of the innings he did play one some extremely tasty wickets across the globe but longer term Dravid was the more solid and important player. Perhaps it is because he is more of a classical player than the other two as well as being a real gent

Hope Finn recovers from his hamstring problems. Should be a fixture in the side for several years.

[matimbers]

Got to go the Tendulkar route ahead of Ponting. In Aussie conditions, no-one can touch him but I always felt that in the UK, he was a bit of a walking wicket in the last few tours with his movement across the stumps. Dravid is possibly the better test batsman of the 3 but you do need the flair as well if you are a fan watching. For me Lara, tops all three, but when I saw him play, he was in his prime.

At the end of career, Pieterson should be talked up there but he won't be. The innings he played against the Aussies in 2005 is the best I have ever seen but he has let himself down far too often. Graham Gooch mark II Cook will go on to break all the English batting records.

Knight GT, I so want to do the Ashes tour down-under, possibly my biggest sporting dream. Like Smudger says, the Aussies seem to have a good range of fast bowlers again but I see Patterson got injured yet again. He should have moved to England like his brother did! The next ashes tour should be very close and I reckon Finn will be key over there.

[Knight GT]

Got to go the Tendulkar route ahead of Ponting. In Aussie conditions, no-one can touch him but I always felt that in the UK, he was a bit of a walking wicket in the last few tours with his movement across the stumps. Dravid is possibly the better test batsman of the 3 but you do need the flair as well if you are a fan watching. For me Lara, tops all three, but when I saw him play, he was in his prime.

At the end of career, Pieterson should be talked up there but he won't be. The innings he played against the Aussies in 2005 is the best I have ever seen but he has let himself down far too often. Graham Gooch mark II Cook will go on to break all the English batting records.

Knight GT, I so want to do the Ashes tour down-under, possibly my biggest sporting dream. Like Smudger says, the Aussies seem to have a good range of fast bowlers again but I see Patterson got injured yet again. He should have moved to England like his brother did! The next ashes tour should be very close and I reckon Finn will be key over there.

If you get the chance to do any England tour it is worth every penny even when losing. I've been lucky enough to do Australia twice, South Africa and the West Indies and all have been fantastic. Australia is by far the most popular and tickets are sometimes hard to come by especially Boxing day at the MCG (90000 to watch one day of cricket is incredible) and days 1-4 at Sydney. The last time I went I was up till 4am trying to get tickets via The Aussie cricket website. Worth going just to see the Aussies try and sing football style songs!
If you decide to go and want any advice then feel free to ask. I have called time on my tours for a while due to a young family but I certainly plan on going again at some point. At some point I would like to do India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand but probably not for a while.

[PaddingtonsYellowArmy]

If you get the chance to do any England tour it is worth every penny even when losing. I've been lucky enough to do Australia twice, South Africa and the West Indies and all have been fantastic. Australia is by far the most popular and tickets are sometimes hard to come by especially Boxing day at the MCG (90000 to watch one day of cricket is incredible) and days 1-4 at Sydney. The last time I went I was up till 4am trying to get tickets via The Aussie cricket website. Worth going just to see the Aussies try and sing football style songs!
If you decide to go and want any advice then feel free to ask. I have called time on my tours for a while due to a young family but I certainly plan on going again at some point. At some point I would like to do India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand but probably not for a while.

i'm stumped, owzat? you married a maiden after she bowled you over, maybe I is wide of the mark. She dropped a hint about a dinner of duck and pancakes and a bottle of champers. You got home and the googlies came out and you bashed her box around on all fours whilst the t.oss went in your favour and you declared your love of her bodyline. During the next days lunch interval you had no balls to ask her to marry you, but by the tea interval you had enough courage to run out on the wicket and announce your proposal of marriage and undiyng love - it's just not cricket, innit!.

Pads.

[Smudger]

i'm stumped, owzat? you married a maiden after she bowled you over, maybe I is wide of the mark. She dropped a hint about a dinner of duck and pancakes and a bottle of champers. You got home and the googlies came out and you bashed her box around on all fours whilst the t.oss went in your favour and you declared your love of her bodyline. During the next days lunch interval you had no balls to ask her to marry you, but by the tea interval you had enough courage to run out on the wicket and announce your proposal of marriage and undiyng love - it's just not cricket, innit!.

Pads.

The new Neville Cardus.

[Smudger]

Pretty sad start to the cricketing year.

Losing Tony Greig was one thing an able and fearless captain who spoke his mind but losing CMJ was another. TMS will carry on but it will be hard to replace a man with such charm, gentle wit and erudition, a throwback to a far more gentler age of sports journalism , when what you said counted rather than how much you said.

Ed Smith could be ideal to come into the box this summer although it will be impossible to replace CMJ.

[Aberystwyth_Hornet]

Did anyone listen to the final hour of play today? Proper defensive display, Broad went 103 minutes before scoring, then two final twists before Monty and Prior saw us home. What a finish.

[Jelboy]

If a draw could ever be deemed a great result - that was a great result!