The Cricket Thread: Second Innings

[klr]

Boycott will be unbearable in his "I told you so" smugness.

I mean, even more so than usual.

"My nan could have hit that with a stick of rhubarb. Pietersen has the brains of a pork pie" etc etc

Hearing Boycott natter on and on in your head for hours afterwards ...

[JimC]

I see that Swann has pulled the pin, announcing his immediate retirement from all forms of the game...

Probably could be seen as a wise move...

Boxing day test coming up. The only downside for me is reduced TV coverage in Melbourne, as they try to encourage people to actually go to the MCG. Not this little black duck, I hate crowds...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I am sad to see Swanny hang up his pads. He was a great servant to both England and Notts. He gets a well-earned from this quarter.

[Hermit]

"I’d hoped that, when we walked out for the fifth Test in Sydney on January 3, it would have been with a chance of winning or retaining the Ashes. But that has gone now ... I feel that now is the right time to step down." Fucking piker. Wasn't he the top wicket-taker as recently as in the previous test series against Australia? I hope his "fighting spirit" is not infectious.

[JimC]

"I’d hoped that, when we walked out for the fifth Test in Sydney on January 3, it would have been with a chance of winning or retaining the Ashes. But that has gone now ... I feel that now is the right time to step down." Fucking piker. Wasn't he the top wicket-taker as recently as in the previous test series against Australia? I hope his "fighting spirit" is not infectious.

I hope it is...

[Hermit]

"I’d hoped that, when we walked out for the fifth Test in Sydney on January 3, it would have been with a chance of winning or retaining the Ashes. But that has gone now ... I feel that now is the right time to step down." Fucking piker. Wasn't he the top wicket-taker as recently as in the previous test series against Australia? I hope his "fighting spirit" is not infectious.

I hope it is...

You like one-sided tests?

I became interested in the game somewhere during the early 1970s precisely because they were not. That is despite the fact that Germans, among others, were not ever supposed to be able to understand the game. When I came to Australia my school never made me participate in rugby or cricket for that reason, although participating in both were compulsory for Australian-born students at Waverley College. This suited me well.

A year or two after finishing school I woke up around twoish one morning. Unable to go back to sleep, I tried reading, but could not concentrate. So I switched the TV on. That was a seemingly hopeless undertaking. All channels usually ceased transmitting anything anything by then. Sure enough, the three commercial ones only provided snow. For some unknown reason I turned the rotary switch to Aunty ABC. That station was usually the first one to shut down for the night, but not this night. I witnessed an early example of television transmitted from the old dart to downunder via satellite. In glorious, grainy monochrome some people in white attire stood around a field. One of them would take three or four steps and throw a dark ball at someone, who in turn would tap at and stayed where he was. The commentator (probably Alan McGilvray) went "...and Boycott defends." This was repeated many times. Desperate to wallpaper over the inaction caused by several (8 ball) maiden overs in succession, Alan and his commentating partner (probably Trevor Bailey) took to discussing "the state of the match". Despite the lack of runs gotten and wickets taken, it seemed, the game was finely balanced. Yes, it might be drawn in the end, but a win by one side or the other was more likely, given the condition of the pitch, the weather, the remaining time (days) available, and depending on whether the batsmen were able to prevail over the cunning spinners or vice versa. "Well, what is going to happen next? I wondered. The uncertainty of the outcome had me hooked on cricket. At least until Kerry Packer made sure that there was no uncertainty of a "result" when he pirated half of the test cricketers for the one-day pyjama games in order to gain more advertising revenue from tobacco, alcohol and car manufacturers, and the Windies made any test series a foregone conclusion.

[JimC]

I like watching really close test matches between the West Indies and South Africa, between England and India, between Sri Lanka and New Zealand...

But I'm afraid to say I do enjoy watching the Aussies giving another side a damn good thrashing. I don't want it to be so one-sided that it's all over in 3 days, or that there are not patches here and there where we need to show our mettle (which was true at various stages during the 3 tests recently)...

But I'll happily leave the delicately poised nail-biters to watching other teams play...

[klr]

Do England have enough players left to line out on Boxing Day?

[Clinton Huxley]

Do England have enough players left to line out on Boxing Day?

I'm waiting for the phone to ring.

[klr]

Do England have enough players left to line out on Boxing Day?

I'm waiting for the phone to ring.

Just don't steal any more of our players.

[Hermit]

Has the fighting spirit gone out of the English team? Day one of the fourth test would indicate so. Yes, Australia bowled tightly and fielded well, and the ball turned somewhat throughout the day, but with an attacking placement that sometimes consisted of four slips, a gully and a leg gully there were wide open spaces for getting runs. The enthusiastic crowd of well over 90,000 witnessed a surfeit of maiden overs instead. Despite their defensive frame of mind the English lost six wickets for just 226 runs. Unless the tail wags tomorrow that's not a good start.

[JimC]

Has the fighting spirit gone out of the English team? Day one of the fourth test would indicate so. Yes, Australia bowled tightly and fielded well, and the ball turned somewhat throughout the day, but with an attacking placement that sometimes consisted of four slips, a gully and a leg gully there were wide open spaces for getting runs. The enthusiastic crowd of well over 90,000 witnessed a surfeit of maiden overs instead. Despite their defensive frame of mind the English lost six wickets for just 226 runs. Unless the tail wags tomorrow that's not a good start.

I had the feeling as I watched that they were almost playing well...

Then another wicket would fall...

But Pieterson has found some form, after a very slow start.

A record crowd, too - over 91 thousand... What size crowds do they tend to get in England, I wonder...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Australia 62/3. Perhaps England's 255 all-out wasn't as bad a score as it seems. This pitch seems to have quite a lot in it for the bowlers.


Cue a 250 stand for the 4th wicket.

[JimC]

3/91 now. Watson, Clarke and Warner all out for piddling scores. Rogers approaching his 50, may have kept his faltering position as opener alive...

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Well, well. After that early collapse, who would have thought it would be England's day? That's why I love this game - you can never tell what is going to happen until it does!