The Cricket Thread

[Drogzola 283]

I was pretty shocked with Philanders batting skills. If we have bowlers that can bat and bowl like Philander and Steyn we should be grateful. With regards to the Kallis decision, it was awful but I guess the third umpire thought that one of his fingers was touching the bat when the ball touched his glove or something....You win some you loose some i guess.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Steyn is a pretty fair test batsman, I think they can get to 300. But this is the vital partnership to break, Morkel and Tahir don't know which end of the bat faces up.

I'm on a hot run with predictions . Never mind that Morkel batted well.

309 is a fair total batting first. For some reason teams usually struggle, a lot, on the first day/innings at Lord's.

Also why is Steyn not taking the new ball?!

[capriccioso 2,545]

Nicely poised.

England should get a first innings lead from here, but I reckon it'll be the end of day 3 by the time its a meaningful lead. This is looking like a draw, unless Matt Prior thinks his name is Romesh Kaluwitharana and blasts a century off about 60 balls/England get bowled out.

[Ankit 3,176]

VVS Laxman set to retire after the first test against New Zealand. The test is being played at his homeground of hyderabad!

Official statement yet to come though!

[capriccioso 2,545]

He was a great player for India. Added a lot of stability to that middle order.

Who will replace him in the test team? Raina, I'm not convinced of his technical ability. He's a good slogger to have in the short forms. Rohit seems to be in the Chandimal boat of scoring for fun at domestic level but not being able to translate that to international cricket.

The upshot of the retirements of Laxman and Dravid and the imminent retirements of Sachin and Sehwag is that India will become a far better fielding unit.

[capriccioso 2,545]

How I envy British posters who can listen to commentary from Michael Holding.

I reckon the longer Bairstow stays in the 90s, the more likely he is to get out. Never made a test century yet. The nerves, etc.

Edit:

Dharmasena is an awful umpire. I could tell with the naked eye watching a shitty stream that it was too high!

Edited August 18, 2012 by capriccioso

[capriccioso 2,545]

Alright lads. I told y'all Bairstow would go in the 90s. Cap the Predictor strikes again.

[Ankit 3,176]

If you get Dravid, great. If you get Sachin, brilliant. If you get Laxman, it's a miracle." - Brett Lee.

He came, he flicked one to the square leg boundary, he conquered. Thank You Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman. I will never forget March 11, 2001 at Eden Gardens.

India, you can't now afford to get into a 50-4 situation. Your regular savior leaves today.

Australians breath a sigh of relief.

[capriccioso 2,545]

South Africa are in the drivers seat here. If they can bat through to tea before being dismissed and can rack up a lead of 350, that should be the series won.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Lol Anderson, what a hideous cricketer you are. My late grandmother, may she rest in peace, could have caught that.

[Ollie 4,400]

Why would you leave such a ball Strauss you moron! We deserve to lose this anyway, been 2nd best throughout this series, we'll probably lose another 2 wickets today and be out for under 200 tomorrow by 4pm. Our batting has been a shambles along with this Kevin Pietersen saga. We need to just walk off defeated, regroup and start again because there's a lot of shit going on. Maybe it's even time for Strauss to pass on the captaincy because his form in this series hasn't been good at all. Since being named as the number 1 test team, we've played like the number 6 best test team.

Things gotta change.

[Drogzola 283]

Philander taking on England on his own

[capriccioso 2,545]

England's batting line up have been fairly wank whenever they've not played a God awful bowling attack like say India's/Australia's ODI attack. Terrible in the UAE against a strong Pakistani attack, destroyed by Rangana fucking Herath in Sri Lanka, and now being taken apart by Morkel, Steyn and Philander.

What's worth noting is that each of those attacks had a huge hole in them. Umar Gul is dire and yet Pakistan still crushed England's batsmen, all of the Sri Lankan attack (Herath aside, who is at best decent) is frightfully shit and Imran Tahir bowls filth all day.

[capriccioso 2,545]

If England win this it will be one of the best chases of the century. Its still looking like a South African win or a draw for me. Chasing 226 in 2 sessions is tough, virtually impossible on a day 5 wicket with just one recognised batsman and a couple of handy tailenders to come.

[Ankit 3,176]

I know it is starting to get to be a cliche, but no T20 match can produce this kind of slow, nerve-racking tense build-up.

What a Match.