The Cricket Thread

[Drogzola 283]

I wouldn't walk, cricket has so much helping the Umpires like hot spot, hawk eye, nickometer or whatever its called and TMO if you get a chance then take it.

[capriccioso 2,545]

ditch Bellend

How things have changed in just 3 years

Well, they say Headingley can be a capricious ground ... and to England's chagrin, Yorkshire is proving itself to be another country again today

Cricinfo knows

[Drogzola 283]

i turn over to the olympics for a mini break from the cricket and it`s the South Africans being awarded their gold medal in the rowing.

arghhhh fook off home already!! or become british citizens.

South Africans all up in your face. We have three gold now, which is great for us in the Olympics.

Whats your prediction for this test?

[capriccioso 2,545]

South Africans all up in your face.

And all up in the cricket team as well (hi Strauss, KP, Trott etc.)

[capriccioso 2,545]

What the hell is Taylor doing in the squad? Okay he averages 46 in first class cricket but the number 1 ranked team can't pick guys that don't have at least 10,000 FC+List A runs.

Only played 1 ODI, as well. Big risk.

[Drogzola 283]

What the hell is Taylor doing in the squad? Okay he averages 46 in first class cricket but the number 1 ranked team can't pick guys that don't have at least 10,000 FC+List A runs.

Only played 1 ODI, as well. Big risk.

Its ok we played Jacques Rudolf so its cancelled out.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

South Africans all up in your face. We have three gold now, which is great for us in the Olympics.

Whats your prediction for this test?

it was a deserved Gold fair play as was Chad`s in the swimming. although why anyone would call their precious baby boy Chad is beyond me. i did like the emotion shown by his parents tho.they clearly love him dearly.which is always nice to see.

oh gawd i don`t wanna make any for this test. i felt confident after day 1 of the Oval test. if i had to bet on it i`d go for a draw.

[capriccioso 2,545]

South Africa 2/721 so far this series.

Not even Bradman's Invincible's batted this well in England. This has been an astonishing display of batting from the South Africans.

For the record Australia's 1948 tour of England finished with test match figures of 63/2981, losing a wicket on average every 47 runs. South Africa should shatter that average, as long as they don't wank up an innings in this test or the third.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

What the hell is Taylor doing in the squad? Okay he averages 46 in first class cricket but the number 1 ranked team can't pick guys that don't have at least 10,000 FC+List A runs.

Only played 1 ODI, as well. Big risk.

i would have played Prior at 6 for reasons stated earlier but if as has happened we go for 6 "batsmen" Taylor is the next in line really. he should have played ahead of Bairstow. he`s a good batsmen tho i agree it`s a risk. alot of England batsmen over the years have made tons on debut. they have rolled the dice but it could pay off. Taylor will be a good test batsmen,it`s just a case of if he can hit the ground running. England made a mistake putting South Africa in to bat after winning the toss i think. it isn`t overcast..and England`s batsmen need to put the bad showing at the oval behind them.

[Drogzola 283]

it was a deserved Gold fair play as was Chad`s in the swimming. although why anyone would call their precious baby boy Chad is beyond me. i did like the emotion shown by his parents tho.they clearly love him dearly.which is always nice to see.

oh gawd i don`t wanna make any for this test. i felt confident after day 1 of the Oval test. if i had to bet on it i`d go for a draw.

Yeah its hard to predict a test but I am going for a draw ( safe option).

All the folk here in SA are talking about Chads dad and saying he sounds like the Cookie monster!

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

so many twists and turns in a test match.that`s why i love it so much. tho i got into the game as a kid when the Windies would smash everyone at bowling and batting in the early 80`s but the other sides had good contests. the most mercilous display of autograph hunting i`ve ever been a part of was chasing down Desmond Haynes the great Windies opener. us kids chased him down ,and he pleaded with us to let him be as he was having an asthma attack, we did let him get his inhaler out but we circled him ready to pounce as soon as he got his breath back.i was only about 10 tho at the time..did feel bad afterwards.

yeah his dad is a character. he was funny on the bbc..he was being interviewed and gushing about his son, in a croaky voice, then after a moment of losing himself he turned to the interviewer and asked " oh,is this live?" haha. is great stuff like that. what the olympics is all about.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

at fookin` last.. a wicket!!!

Smith 52 c Bell b Bresnan

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

Amla gone too. i missed that as was watching the brits in the olympics..but just glad he`s back in the pavillion for 9. Kallis in now tho..

[capriccioso 2,545]

With Duminy still in the shed, South Africa are miles ahead. ~380 should be more than enough on a wicket like this when you can call on Steyn, Philander and co. With 5 wickets in hand they should, as long as Rudolph/Peteresen don't get out early in the morning session, get to 380.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Dravid's retirement would hurt real bad. One of the rare proper No.3's left in the world(only ponting and kallis comes to my mind) and now we dont even have him! Regarding the middle order, you forgot VVS. He had a pretty dismal last year but i think he may have a year or two left in him. Yuvraj could make a recovery after his cancer survival,other than that some young players in the domestic scene who i think can make it into the squad are Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. But yes, there will be uncertainity in that middle order.

Coming to the bowling dept, It all depends on where the team is playing. If we are at home, we will go with 2 spinners and since Dhoni likes to have an away going spinner in the squad,i am presuming Ojha would be a starter. Bhajji might make a comeback after his stint in the county season.

If we are in Australia/South Africa, you need a seamer who bends his back and bowls quick and puts an extra effort. You might remember Ishant Sharma's spell in perth. He is one guy who is recovering from an injury and would add lot of zip to the attack,Umesh Yadav got some rave reviews after his debut in Australia. He has pace and a pretty clean action, i sense a very good future for the lad if all goes well.

If we are in England, where you require more swing than pace,Praveen Kumar comes to my mind. Also Irfan Pathan is getting back into his groove of bowling those beautiful in swingers to the right handers.

So all in all, i wont say the pace attack is all sorted up or anything like that but i guess we can field some quality players according to the needs. It all depends how they perform.

I am a huge test cricket fan. I am pretty sure Indian test team will be back to where we were in 2010. To the top and fighting for the No.1 position.

Great, I love tests as well

I forgot Yuvraj, if he can get back into the team after his recovery, that will add a lot of stability. Sehwag and Laxman are the problem spots, he is too brash for a test opener and he hasn't been good in tests for a while now, and time is against Laxman getting back to his mid-2000's best. What happened to Wasim Jaffer? He looked like a solid opener, similar to Cowan, not a great runscorer but good for protecting the strokemakers from the new ball. The problem with Pathan is he's a little too slow to be an opening bowler. He can be a useful third/fourth seamer though. Yadav is the future strike bowler as long as he can bowl with a mix of accuracy and pace. Also I don't follow Indian cricket that much but I think Ishant has stalled a bit, he was very good in 2008 but I wasn't impressed with him in the 2011/12 tour.

Here's an interesting article on India's mastery of Lasith Malinga. I think he's actually pretty good against India, he gets destroyed in the PP overs which hurts his average/RPO stats a lot; but to his credit he's probably the only bowler in the world who consistently bowls every PP/death over. Bowling inswinging yorkers to the best players of full, on the stump balls isn't a good idea either, he should try short balls/outswingers every now and then.

[Ankit 3,176]

Great, I love tests as well

I forgot Yuvraj, if he can get back into the team after his recovery, that will add a lot of stability. Sehwag and Laxman are the problem spots, he is too brash for a test opener and he hasn't been good in tests for a while now, and time is against Laxman getting back to his mid-2000's best. What happened to Wasim Jaffer? He looked like a solid opener, similar to Cowan, not a great runscorer but good for protecting the strokemakers from the new ball. The problem with Pathan is he's a little too slow to be an opening bowler. He can be a useful third/fourth seamer though. Yadav is the future strike bowler as long as he can bowl with a mix of accuracy and pace. Also I don't follow Indian cricket that much but I think Ishant has stalled a bit, he was very good in 2008 but I wasn't impressed with him in the 2011/12 tour.

Here's an interesting article on India's mastery of Lasith Malinga. I think he's actually pretty good against India, he gets destroyed in the PP overs which hurts his average/RPO stats a lot; but to his credit he's probably the only bowler in the world who consistently bowls every PP/death over. Bowling inswinging yorkers to the best players of full, on the stump balls isn't a good idea either, he should try short balls/outswingers every now and then.

Yuvi certainly adds stability but i am not sure if a person can fully recover after having gone through chemotherapies and having not picked up his bat for about 6 months or so now. Hoping for the best though. Sehwag is a gamble mate. If he clicks the dressing room can take a sip of coffee and relax. Important thing here is whenever he failed in an innings early, we had Dravid coming in who would almost everytime stabilise the innings but now we dont have him and hence the player coming at 3 will have huge responsibility. Laxman as i said has at max 2 years remaining in him.

Looking at the replacements there are some players who will be given a chance and should be given time to settle in test cricket. One of them is Cheteshwar Pujara. Has brilliant technique and is not at all flashy. Takes his time and plays long innings. I have huge hopes from him. Then there is Ajinkya Rahane, played as an ODI opener in England and impressed many. Can play aggresively but has a sound technique. There is Raina as well who might sneak in into test team if he takes his oppurtunity. Wasim Jaffer is a mystery He disappeared as India opted for the Virender Sehwag-Gautam Gambhir opening partnership..As his wiki page says 'He will be remembered as talent unfulfilled'.

Regarding Yadav, you made a valid point in your previous post about the direction he goes to. He has the potential to be one of the best in future, comes from a very humble background. Ishant sharma underwent a surgery in March. He is out for 6 months. Should be back in contention for England's tour of India later in the year.

[Ankit 3,176]

Regarding South Africa's brilliant display in England. I have always felt that SA were a team full of talented Players but never really made full use of it. There was always something missing. But looking at them now i can only feel that Gary Kirsten is doing his magic again. Believe me Gary is an amazing Coach. His nature of going into details and helping each and every player out is remarkable.

There was an instance when Australia were playing India at my hometown gorund(Mohali). That match where Laxman and Ishant put on some 80 run partnership and India Chased Down 216 after being 124-8. I went a day before the match was to start to collect my tickets. I heard some knocks so went upto see the training Sesion and there was the whole indian team along with Gary in the nets. Raina was/is known to be a player who just cannot play short pitched delieveries. Gary made him wear a weird padding around his chest and took him to a cemented pitch and threw balls with full force at him which were directed at his Rib Cage area. This went on for about 15 mins ,majority of times raina struggled but you could see raina feeling comfortable as the time passed. He went upto every single player and made him work on his weakness. I feld very sad when he announced he is leaving the post. The team played as a one unit under him and he was loved here in india. It's time for SA to reap the benefits.

[Drogzola 283]

South Africa's tail is wagging as Vernon Philander is in to bat. We would be happy with another 60 runs or so and then send England in to bat while the light starts getting bad.