The Cricket Thread

[Ankit 3,176]

Majestic stuff from Philander.

No.1 status gone for England. WIll be hard to regain.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Good effort by prior, sort of over when our top order went...

[Ankit 3,176]

Gary Kirsten, meanwhile, becomes the first coach to lead two Test nations to No. 1 in the world. How i miss him in the indian dug out!

[capriccioso 2,545]

Strauss should be dropped. He averaged 16 this series. I don't know why he's considered so important, he only averages 41 anyway.

[Ollie 4,400]

Strauss and Cook have been let downs as the 2 openers in the series. Our top order batting has been so poor as 'the number 1 test side' and reliant on Prior down the order. Feel sorry for Prior, he's been outstanding but no one else has been as consistent with the bat. Cook has been very good so many times tho and he should stay as an opener for the next 10 years but Strauss... i'm not too sure about atm.

In a way tho, i'm glad SA are number 1 now, they genuinely are the best and deserve to be there. We couldn't cope with being number 1, simple as that.

[Ankit 3,176]

So it's 2008 winners vs 2010 winners in the final of U-19 WC!! Bring it ON. Harmeet Singh will rip apart the Australians Batting Line Up!

[Ankit 3,176]

U-19 World Champions. Unmukt Chand-Remember the name!!

Disappointing from New Zealand.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

U-19 World Champions. Unmukt Chand-Remember the name!!

Disappointing from New Zealand.

The awkward moment when you realize Ankit has more posts about Cricket than Chelsea in this forum.

[Ankit 3,176]

The awkward moment when you realize Ankit has more posts about Cricket than Chelsea in this forum.

Haha! In my defence i ll say i am active in whichever forum i think i should be concerned! But i can surely say I do not have more posts about cricket! Just a random few! May be the ones i made for Chelsea skipped your eye!

[Drogzola 283]

South Africa are now the first team in history to be ranked number one in all three forms of cricket at one time.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Strauss and Cook have been let downs as the 2 openers in the series. Our top order batting has been so poor as 'the number 1 test side' and reliant on Prior down the order. Feel sorry for Prior, he's been outstanding but no one else has been as consistent with the bat. Cook has been very good so many times tho and he should stay as an opener for the next 10 years but Strauss... i'm not too sure about atm.

In a way tho, i'm glad SA are number 1 now, they genuinely are the best and deserve to be there. We couldn't cope with being number 1, simple as that.

And that in essence explains why there hasn't been a proper number 1 team across all formats since the death of Australian cricket. The need to cling onto a number. You know it when you're the best and you don't need a number to validate it, especially now that world cricket is generally in an awful state with many teams having their weakest line ups in 20 years; its a lot more 'competitive' (i.e. the usual top 3 sides are utter rubbish compared to where they were 5 years ago, South Africa aside) at the top, so there will be a wide variety of teams that claim that number 1 spot. South Africa haven't been able to hold it for years but we've known for a long time they are better than England, they just hadn't gotten the chance to mathematically prove it.

Also well done India u-19's on winning the World Cup. Top effort from Australia getting to the final though, William Bosisto, the captain of Australia u-19's looks to be a future test match star, as does Chand of India. The only teams that seem to have good youth coming through at this point are Australia, Bangladesh, India and South Africa.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Strauss has called it a day. Blessing in disguise for England I reckon, Cook is a better captain and Strauss has been bilge for the last year or so.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,532]

Strauss said himself that he just isn`t good enough anymore and that is why he`s retiring from all forms of cricket.i am not surprised by this in the slightest,the timing was right. classy guy and player.now he can be around more to spend time with his young children and lovely wife. transition period ahead ready for the next ashes series in July 2013.

Cook is a good replacement as captain and there`s some good young batsmen who can get a chance now.

[Ankit 3,176]

To be honest, i don't thing it's gonna be that easy transition for England or to an extent for Cook as a captain. Test is a different ball game all together. This will be a crucial phase. If not properly managed by Andy Flower or ECB, England could be back to mediocre level as they were before Strauss became a captain and Flower became the coach.Although i hope that's not the case. Test cricket will be at loss.

Also the fact Strauss was an opener and a pretty good one at that. It's pretty hard to find a decent opener these days and for me,openers play a major role. I hope England find one sooner rather than later. Or may be Trott might start as opener with Cook(Left-Right combination) and Ian Bell coming in at No.3

[capriccioso 2,545]

He only averaged 41 and he's been poor for a long time now, for the last 2-3 years he has feasted off shit attacks and then fell apart against the better attacks.