forgive me if there's already a thread on this, but I'm pretty excited about the cricket starting today.
In work today & tomorrow so gonna jack in the headphones & get a bit of Test Match Special. Looking forward to a day in the sun on Sunday, if we haven't already beaten them by then.
Anyone for cricket?
and so comes the rain :(
i'm moderately excited, but since the days of sitting at home all day getting stoned and watching it from 10 til 7, i've drifted away from it.
bollocks
didn't see the weather forecast. fingers crossed the sun comes out
have you not seen outside today?
Norwich:
Lovely sun :)
fair enough, i hope it lasts...
this
is why i hate that sky have the cricket now. no gettign wasted in the privacy of your own home and watching men in white hammer a ball about for 9 hours.
there's still TMS though...
I'm excited, very much so
I've been spurred on by Paul Nixon's 79 yesterday.
One Q, what does Owais Shah have to do to get picked? Kill Collingwood with a stump?
yes
nothing else will appease the selectors. i wish tresco could come back. we miss him badly.
I like Shah
but I'd take Collingwood over him every time to be honest.
yeah
i agree, i just feel sorry for shah because he was in the frame for england long before bell etc and he's never really had a proper chance. speaking of bell, it'll be interesting to see if his plan to turn 50s in to "big hundreds" comes off (why wasn't this his plan before now?!)
I'm not sure
why Bell always gets picked on. Just about all of the England top order are guilty of getting starts but not going on to get big hundreds. Pietersen included.
i'm excited!
there best be some play and a jimmy anderson bowling massacre
what happens
in your version of a jimmy anderson bowling massacre? is it the batsmen who die or him..? because i can imagine it going both ways...
but yeah, weather's looking damnably poor at the moment. looking at the forecast we'll probably see no play today and then the occasional session he or there over the weekend.
the only good thing about this is that i hope to sneak down there on monday and see some play : )
Jimmy A
can do no wrong. Even when he's bowling towards a completely different wicket, he can do no wrong.
if there's a massacre going down...
you know siders will be there. a swing bowling masterclass from those two today would go down a treat!
I would have made two changes to that side
Hoggard for Anderson (you can't not play Hoggard in May at Lords, you bellends).
Shah for Vaughan (I'm so sick of watching Vaughan get out cheaply. He's been on borrowed time for six years. Go away. Yes, you captained brilliantly in the Ashes, but nobody else can live on past glories, and nor can you.)
I still think we'll piss them, though.
who would you have as captain?
colly? (there's not really anyone else who could really is there?)
give it to Stuart Broad!
we'd still win if we gave it to Monty.
Sure, Collingwood's done a decent job
for the one-day side. I've always thought you pick your best team and pick a captain out of that, though. I know other people think differently, and their arguments are valid, but that's my stance and I'm shifting it for no man.
i like this line of thinking
but there's not always a ready replacement captain (who wouldn't be rubbish) around. having said that, i don't see why colly can't be captain now (and make cooky vice captain) as Vaughan hasn't produced the goods in a while. I'd love it if Vaughan went back to being the player we know he can be though (Ashes down under '02 styley please!)
i'm just glad the train wreck that is/was harmison is gone!
Six years ago! SIX!
That's when he was last consistently good. Sure, he gets one huge hundred once every couple of series to keep his average above water, but it's always first innings. I can't remember his last match-winning innings and if you took out those freak hundreds, his average is about 18. And has been for ages.
i know
Classic Vaughan innings = 4 x "swashbuckling" 4's (1 x that really nice pull he does of his hips, 3x exotic cover drive) and then a donkey shot which he gets out to. in fairness he was out for ages with his knee, but still, it really really is time for him to produce the goods now.
speaking of knees, mines fucked, and what's happening with simon jones at the minute?
*off
Jones
has been playing for Worcestershire this season. Not sure how he's getting on.
wikipedia says...
he only bowled 3 overs in the first game of the season before getting injured again. but came back on the 11th in a one dayer and got career best figures...if he could stay fit for a couple of seasons it would be amazing!
http://tinyurl.com/63gdbn
he took out the two gloucestershire openers
yesterday for a mere 8 runs. got clouted a bit after that though. bu yeah, in my dreams he's fit for the ashes next year. he's still one of the most entertaining cricketers i've ever seen bowl: running past mathew hayden wagging his finger then pointing him back to the dressing room - so worth the fine : )
I love that argument
'If you take his good innings away, his average comes down!'
His captaincy is probably the best in the world. He's still a quality batsman who most teams see as a prize wicket. There is no such thing as a freak hundred in a test innings against any of the top 7 teams.
I appreciate what you're saying
but it's not the good innings I'm taking away. It's the huge hundreds he has actually less than every couple of series. One a year max. If he added plenty of 60s and 70s in between, fair enough, but with him it's either piss-poor or massive hundred. Which means he's piss-poor 85% of the time, which isn't good enough for a test batsman.
Agreed
this is the same Michale Vaughan who made last year's Test Select XI lest we not forget and his form this season, while admittedly rubbish, is infinitely better than Collingwood.
madness
Vaughan's quality. And I think trying out jimmy against the kiwis is no bad thing (can always get hoggy back if this series is a bit shoddy)
I would have had Read for Ambrose personally.
Vaughan looks
quality for half an hour, plays 3 crisp cover drives and then holes out to long leg. I love the guy but he doesn't merit a place in the side on current form.
i feel about Vaughan the same way i do about Owen in football
it's hard to find folks who've proved it on the world stage. Form's temporary, class is permanent, or some other silly cliche
That's a fair point
as is the one you make about his captaincy - we definitely miss his leadership when he's not playing. Although Strauss did a fair job a couple of years ago. I'd still like to see more runs from him on a consistent basis though. Either that or bat him at 6.
How can you be excited about cricket when Australia isn't playing?
;)
cause there's less
sledging and general being obnoxious? ;)
An inate lack of Hayden
makes the game a greater place.
it's so tragically predictable
that the first day of the Test coincides with the first day it's rained in about 2 weeks.
Should be a good series once they get going. I reckon 2-1 England, a tight and low-scoring series.
it's brilliant
I <3 the predictable unpredictability of English weather
hopefully we'll win the toss and bowl
get them all out for 180 under clouds. Then the sun comes out and we make 450!
or more likely it'll just rain all day
looks like
play's about to get under way!
no!
wreeeeyyy
1.20pm play begins. thank fuck
JIMMY!!!!!!!!!
YYYYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
just went
for 6 runs off his last over. good to see classic jimmy in here - lethal and utterly wayward : )
bless him
he's got more control than Sid at the minute tho.
Jimmy Anderson
Actually pretty useful?
Jimmy Anderson
Actually pretty awesome.
JIMMY ANDERSON
ACTUALLY PRETTY AWESOME
another wicket!
woo
In these sorts of conditions, yes
But then, in these sorts of conditions, Hoggard is usually more useful, so...
don't swan back in here
with your 'Hoggard' talk :p
yeah
18-2 mofo, 18-2
isn't their room in our hearts
for both?
THE BATSMEN ARE IN DISARRAY
I do share your
fondness for Anderson, but to all intents and purposes he's just a slightly worse Hoggard. Which is no bad thing.
I'm a slightly worse
Michael Atherton?
you lose a lot of money on horses?
no
my pockets are full of dirt
but a lower calibre dirt?
Athers' was from the flower borders at Eton
he's a compltely different type of swing bowler
I can't remember Hoggy ever bowling a yorker in a test match for a start.
That's about a start and an end
Both largely bowl outswingers to the right-hander pitching on or just outside off-stump on a length. Anderson's are slightly quicker, but most of their dismissals are pretty similar. Both excel in the same conditions but seriously struggle with no assistance from the wicket/conditions.
Hoggard is better on flat wickets.
Not at getting batsman out but he's more accurate and so can at least keep the score down.
In theory yes, but more often than not
he poses no threat and just gets picked off all day by any batsman worth his salt.
don't swan in here
ragging on 'Hoggard'
Is there a player I'm allowed
to swan in and criticise? :(
yes
Australians
Andre Nel
Ross Taylor
Andrew Flintoff
Andre Nel is a legend
<3 Mr Angry
Alright
Hajarban Singh
^Racist
shhh
i dont want him to come and slap me.
Now there's a cunt
I'm willing to criticise at length.
Worst man in cricket.
I'll go with that
<3 <3 <3 Sree Santh though
whats not to love
Sreesanth would certainly be there with Jimmy A, Danny V and various others in my favourite test players XI.
Danny V rules
and looks exactly like my friend Ben, who is oft called after him.
Is it really weird if your friends have cricket based nicknames for each other?
One of my mates is always called JMB (Brearley) as he is studious, a natural leader and possessed of an acid tongue. Another 'The Cat' for obvious reasons. My being Cumbrian and a right mouth means I always get Badger!
I'm called de Villiers
as in AP de Villiers. See they've cleverly changed Ab to my initials. In keeping with the teams reliance on test player pun-based nicknames. Bar top order batsman in the 2s whos called Martin John, who gets called Obafemi Martins John, and I laugh at the laziness of it.
Hooray for cricket.
so not true
hoggy's offcutters and reverse swing made him the only bowler of any use in the subcontinent on our last tour.
as to jimmy, yeah he's lethal on his day. sadly, his day only comes every third test and he get's hit out of an attack far more quickly than hoggy ever has.
but its nice to have him around
isn't it?
Hoggard can't really reverse swing it
It was contrast swing if anything. I kind of take your point about that tour, but for the most part neither is much use on flat tracks. Though Hoggard is more use, so it seems at least we both agree he should be in the side.
Anderson's quicker
and more erratic, but does try more variation than Hoggy.
Pretty much all fast bowlers bowl on a length just on or outside off stump, especially swing bowlers.
Sidebottom and Hoggard are more similar in technique and style, just that sidey's a leftie
TMS Team Vs. New England Jumpers
lolz.
...
"not like it used to be"
LOVE TMS
Phil Tufnell
at the cutting edge of fashion
radio 4 have definitely
asked Tuffers to calm down the 'Cheeky chappy They Think It's All Over Essex boy' routine. He's very well spoken
I like him on TMS
is there anyone shit of TMS. I'm not sure there is.
Athers is lord of Sky. More Mark Nicholas please. Thanks.
there's absolutely nothing wrong
with TMS. Is perfect radio.
Mark Nicholas
spends all his time in Australia now doesn't he? He was very good.
TMS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sky (except Atherton)
well yes
but Sky does have the following advantages:
Athers (as discussed)
Hawkeye and related nonsense
Television pictures
Ian Botham when he's angry*
*not as good as an angry Boycs obvs, but a different type of funny. He eats three Shredded Wheat.
Bob Willis when he's angry
Nass
*Not Bumble
Ah Punch
Willis is at his best when he's angry AND sunburnt.
Angry Boycott is great.
General Boycott is great but maybe thats because he is always angry.
Long live TMS.