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Cricket - general discussion thread

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Our Lady Has Left the Building

06:50 / 22.08.06

Woolmer warns Pakistan may pull out of [England] tour if Inzamam is banned.

Is this what the modern game has become? No-one from the Pakistan camp seems to accept that if you don't come out on the pitch at the appointed time you've forfeited the game according to the rules of the game. What next, Pakistan demand the right to bowl at the stumps when the opposing batsman is still in the pavilion? And now threatening to take their ball and go home, muttering all the time about how this is all about British colonialism trying to keep the brown man down?

nedrichards is confused

10:17 / 22.08.06

I'm a member at Surrey so I was just very *very* pleased I didn't spend £62 to go and see that. Just increadibly disapointing. The worst thing for me, wasn't the whole 'I'm more petulant than you' stuff but the complete and total lack of communication with the paying public, either at the ground or via Sky.

And as you say, if you're going to protest at something my suggestion would be not to do it in a way that can forfeit you the match. Stand around on the ground and *don't bowl* if you prefer. And then the whole half hearted nature of it, you should either stay your ground and take the high ground or come out and make do, not a demented coming out when it's far, far too late.

But most interestingly of all, think about how it would seem if Andrew Strauss spoke at length about 'defending national honour'. You'd laugh wouldn't you?

06:40 / 23.08.06

another shining moment in cricket's glorious history, eh?

the press in oz is pretty nonplussed about the whole affair, from the little i've gleaned; even with hair being one of us. he gets all the 'oh, he's a solid chap, one of the best we've got' (incidentally, why is the ICC located in that nation of cricket renown, in dubai?) but there is a lot of sympathy for the pakistan view that it was mishandled.

i dunno really, just heard a few snippets on radio and haven't delved much into the matter on-line.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

17:47 / 11.04.07

A Royal Military Police Major from West Sussex is spearheading a scheme to teach cricket to children in Iraq.

Oh man, we've got to stop teaching people who hate us how to play cricket.

00:27 / 30.04.07

the world cup finished with everyone in the dark and the aussies with the silverware.

all normal in cricket, then?

22:12 / 03.01.08

second test between australia and touring indians at the scg is shaping up as a bit of a classic. india had the aussies at 6 for 140-odd, then symonds got on with it and we ended up with 463!

then laxman came in for the tourists and hit a near run-a-ball ton and in the morning of day three, tourists are 3 for 240-odd and looking good with tendulkar and ganguly seemingly fairly comfortable.

australia here are chasing the equal of their record 16 straight test victories, so there is a bit at stake beyond the series itself. (both innings in melbourne's boxing day test [1] india failed to make 200...)

anyone else interested? no?

20:09 / 05.01.08

tourists took a 69 run lead into the second innings, but matty hayden and mr cricket (hussey) stepped up and have us overnight heading into the last day with a 213 lead and six wickets in hand (harbahjan singh got punter with the first delivery to him - now five times he's done that!!) and extra time today to make up for a few short rain delays, so all to play for...

i rekkun aussies will hit another sixty-eighty in the first session and declare before lunch, try to get one, mebbe two going into the feed, and have india stodge about til stumps, if they can. could be a cracker, i'm telling ye.

00:22 / 07.01.08

well, an astounding result but headlines for all the wrong reasons - harbhajan singh has been banned for three tests after being found guilty of racially vilifying andrew symonds, allegedly continuing the 'monkey' taunts he got when he was last in india; and the umpiring was pretty abyssmal.

dravid was given caught behind when his bat and the ball were, in the words of peter roebuck 'in different postcodes'. that was just one of a litany of appalling decisions. but this one killed the game - he and ganguly were 'in' and would almost certainly have eked out the draw... that and symonds being given not out when he himself said he clipped the ball to the keeper, but given not out on 30, went on to make 162n.o.!! 132 free runs, australia won in the end by 122...

that aside, 'pup' clarke was thrown the ball with just eight minutes left, india still with three wickets intact: first ball, snick to slips, gone! second ball, lbw, gone! third [hat-trick] ball, rapped ishant on pads, but just sliding down leg, not out. fourth ball dead bat, not out. fifth ball, snick to slips again - gone! i was on my feet watching the tense end after his first wicket - he ended with more wickets than runs!

australia clinch unlikely win at the death, equalling the run of sixteen consecutive test wins, now heading off to the bouncy perth wicket for test three and a good chance to set the record.

but all will be in vain if the spirit of the game doesn't manifest itself with the players in the middle and the umpires in their calls.

anyone else see/hear anything on this; any comments??

11:03 / 08.01.08

Was reading about this in the paper today. It does seem to be a bit of a disaster with the Indian team threatening to pull out of the rest of the series. Obviously if Harbajan Singh did make a racist comment then he deserves his ban. However it does raise some questions about the practice of sledging - obviously racism is unacceptable, but where do you draw the line? I personally would like to see use of sledging discouraged but I doubt that will happen.

02:25 / 11.01.08

i think i agree, ax. sledging seems to spawn poor sportsmanship, which should be anathema to 'cricket', shouldn't it? or am i just that old fashioned??

anyway, the tour continues, with the indian team taking on a local to me [canberra] side and i'm laid up in bed (and by the 'puter, obviously!) with a virus and can't get out and see them - might get to some of the third day action if i can. but there is still talk about the future of the series if the ban isn't revoked, and brad hogg, the aussie spinner who [sort of] replaced the sheik of tweak st shane [warnie] in the australian side now being had up for inappropriate comments, allegedly calling the indians 'bastards', which is as devestating a call to indian cricketers as 'monkey' apparently is to symonds...

be interesting to see what is meted out, if anything. if he's out for the perth test i'd rekkun it would suit australia who might play four quicks, with tait in the side. hope so (not that hogg is rubbed out, but that we play tait in perth - he was devestating in the 20/twenty game there and would be fun to watch in action in a test match - he is the future.

also on 'future', apparently a pink ball was tried by the state women's sides in australia recently, as a better option than a white ball - if it works well all round, we might get day/night tests. though, as a purist, i can't for the life of me see why we'd want that!

what ya rekkun about day/night long-form of the game? what's the point and do you think it is inevitable?

10:56 / 11.01.08

Day/night tests? It's just to increase TV revenue. It would mean the cricket would be on the evening in Australia, which would boost the domestic TV ratings, and it would put UK/Australia tests on at more palatable time for the UK, increasing TV revenue. I can't help feel that it's a bad idea, - I like the evening 20/20 matches they put on in the UK that's fine - but messing with test matches seems like a bad idea.

05:24 / 13.01.08

i agree, ax, but can you flesh out a little what is so, well just 'wrong' about day / night tests? one might ask, why not? football was once a 3pm saturday arfternoon game, now played at ten at night, noon, mid-week - even on the sabbath! and we don't seem to blink. why should crikkut be so different?

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