The Cricket Thread

[Charlie Wong]

thank goodness Flintoff and KP hit top gear,

276 to win for SA...

[Charlie Wong]

come on Harmy

bowled like a beast, bowled a maiden towards the end or eas that my eyes??

fair play to KP aswell, got rid of De Villiers and Freddy mopped the tail up


thought Samit patel bowled well, took just the one wicket(was Gibbs) his 10 only going for 42

good all round team effort

[Charlie Wong]

+ Priors general glovework and the stumping which the guy down the local wouldn't accept no matter how many times i told him the line belongs to the fielding side!

[western skies]

It's a tough call to say which is the right way to play these ODIs. I take the point that England's approach does seem old fashioned, but it worked perfectly yesterday, leaving less pressure on KP and Freddie at the end, because there was a lot of batting to come below them. Obviously, if you play carefully and still lose wickets, then you're screwed, but they played a just about perfect innings yesterday.

On the other hand, the Saffers started really well, but then couldn't follow it up when wickets tumbled in the middle, and that's always a possibility if you attack too early. On another day of course, they'd have built on the platform they had and gone on to pass England's score comfortably.

Still, I'm liking what I see from KP so far - and good to see him bowling as well! - if nothing else, he's freshening things up a little bit which was badly needed, as we'd been coasting under Michael Vaughan for the last 18 months.

Now, watch us revert to type on Tuesday.

[Sharpe1ne]

Hard to say on the result,it seemed like a good performance but it's always harder to bat 2nd in a day night match.Some stupid running cost the South Africans but i'm happy that Englands got much more potential than in recent years.

[Charlie Wong]

Broad and Prior combine to remove both SA openers.

yay

[Charlie Wong]

SA 83 ALL OUT!!

some dreadful batting..

[TheRat]

Superb bowling performance
It's been a rout

[Charlie Wong]

roll on the oval, SA need to get Morne Morkel fit, Steyn's bowling was dreadful..

[Charlie Wong]

England, solid start 89-0 off 12.

[Charlie Wong]

mid innings lull, KP going for just 5.

Flintoff with the help of Patel and Wright propel England to 296-7

SA due to bat at 3.00pm

[TheRat]

Greme Hick announces retirement at the end of the season at the age of 42

True Legend. Brilliant servant for my team Worcestershire. Will be missed and I wish him all the best

[kevshat]

Originally Posted by TheRat

Greme Hick announces retirement at the end of the season at the age of 42

True Legend. Brilliant servant for my team Worcestershire. Will be missed and I wish him all the best

I agree. That's a serious hole to fill. 178 100's he hit .

While we're on the domestic scene, it appears money isn't everything in the game as Ed Joyce has stood down as Middlesex captain and been replaced by Shaun Udal. Strong rumours are that he'll be a Hawk next season .

[Sharpe1ne]

Well that just about sums up that it's jobs for the boys as Michael Vaughan gets a 12 month central contract.He's played shite for England for the last couple of years and can't bat for shite at Yorkshire,where if he wasn't Vaughan he would have been dropped.As much as I like Strauss this will be his last chance at a central contract unless he has a good year next season,but what message is it sending out to emerging players,yeah you can play average but we'll still guarantee you a decent income cos you were one of the lads?
England central contracts: James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan.

Can't complain about the Stanford squad,even though I really don't think we should have took this fame hungry bastards money.

England's 15-man one-day squad for Stanford Super Series and India ODI series: Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire) capt, James Anderson (Lancashire) Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) Stephen Harmison (Durham), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Matt Prior (Sussex) Owais Shah (Middlesex), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

[Matt]

Shocked at the Vaughan thing as well, very dissapointing, completely sends the wrong message out.

Also Cook for the 20/20??

Are we just keeping certain people happy so they dont throw a hissy and walk out on the test team?

[Sharpe1ne]

Originally Posted by Matt

Also Cook for the 20/20??

Are we just keeping certain people happy so they dont throw a hissy and walk out on the test team?

I think they've really picked him for the One Day squad in India but even then he shouldn't really be in the team.He's only there as the token left-handed opening batter.
I really thought we'd turned the corner with new selectors and a new backroom team but it's the same old thing all over again.
I think they should run a competition for a one off match where a member of the public picks his team,based on what the person writes as to why they'd pick whom and on what basis.Though whoever judges the comp would probably be one of the backroom boys who'd pick the team closest to the usual one.
It will be interesting to see when Middlesex play England in the warm up 20/20 match and I'd laugh my arse off if Strauss hits em round the park.

[Charlie Wong]

I personally would not have given Vaughan a central contract, but would take him to India, he basically knows he's gonna be involved not matter how well/bad he plays for the next year now.

[Matt]

Nice to see the Barmy army have nailed there colours to the mast regarding the Stanford farce.


The Barmy Army, who usually shadow England on tour by the hundreds, have confirmed that just three of their loyal fans will be cheering on England in next week's Stanford 20/20 for 20 in Antigua.
The matches culminate in a winner-takes-all cash cow which promises to net the victors US$20 million (£11.5 million), by far the biggest prize in the history of the game. But the Barmy Army - famed for their unquenchable optimism for England, particularly when results have been scarce - have turned their backs on the tournament.
"As far as we know, only three people are going who we'd term Barmy Army," Paul Winslow, a spokesman for the organisation, told PA. "It's not a huge attraction for the Barmy Army for several reasons; the main one being that we are Test match purists. Although we will watch Twenty20 cricket, going out of our way to watch it is not something many people are interested in.
"It was very short notice and for most people their attentions were already focused on the [England tour to the] Caribbean next year and obviously we have a tour of India this year. The amount of money people have is finite and those two tours had been earmarked already, especially the West Indies one as that is a really popular Barmy Army tour."
Winslow believed people would rather spend money going to the West Indies for a Test match rather than a Twenty20 match. "I think, personally, that maybe they are over-egging it a bit. Twenty20 competitions seem to be here there and everywhere. The more you have, the more saturated they become.
"The ironic thing about the Barmy Army is that we have a reputation of being loud at cricket matches and people assume that we like Twenty20 games, whereas most of us actually actively dislike it because we favour Test cricket."

[Charlie Wong]

LEGEND 12,000+ record test runs (to go with his 16,000+ ODI runs)

[TheRat]

Yea, he aint a bad bat