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Post by hhsussex on Dec 17, 2014 10:32:02 GMT
Oddly enough there is some proper cricket being played, and the captains are of a different calibre to Cook, and the personalities involved seem to have shaken off the shadows of their distinguished predecessors. In South Africa its game on as West Indies have the hosts at 61-3 with Amla and De Villiers at the crease. What wouldn't any of us give to have a proper, vibrant West Indies side back in the game, contesting strongly and with all the rubbish of starstruck players and greedy Boards - or vice versa - put behind them? www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-west-indies-2014-15/engine/match/722329.htmlMenwhile in Australia Steve Smith's captaincy hasn't had the best of starts on a scorching day. www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/engine/match/754739.html. Three oh is bowlers succumbed to muscle strains and cramp, a couple of chances off Johnson went unclaimed, and Smith and Warner ended up bowling the final overs as India cruised to 311-4. Good stuff, this Test game. |
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maxh
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Post by maxh on Dec 17, 2014 16:06:18 GMT
Bit of a goatmouth for the West Indians there....
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Post by hhsussex on Dec 17, 2014 16:10:41 GMT
Bit of a goatmouth for the West Indians there.... Absolutely. I had that feeling when I wrote it...and the irony is that Roach hit Amla's off-stump with a leg-cutter when he was on 25 - and the bails stayed put. Whole matches depend on knife-edge things like that. Roach has bowled beautifully, by all accounts, and I still hope for better things from him and the rest of the team. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2014 19:16:17 GMT
Makes one realise what value we get for a Sky Sports subscription. I stayed up until 4am watching Aus v India and five hours later was in front of the screen again watching SA v West Indies!
The coverage of the Sri Lanka v England ODI series was thin gruel on and off the pitch (good luck to Matt Prior with the cylcing venture because he has no future as a cricket pundit - he's so wooden he made his co-analyst Bob 'Mogadon' Willis appear dynamic).
But if watching England's 50 overs struggles left one feeling bulimic rather than full and satisfied, Sky is offering a genuine gourmet feast with something like 14 hours per day of top-class Test cricket over the next few days.
I watched the first two sessions of Aus v India and enjoyed every ball. Vijay - despite having just been dropped by his IPL franchise - was sublime. And I was equally impressed with Hazelwood on his debut. He's 23 years old and already looks a class or two above Finn, Woakes and Jordan, let alone journeymen like Gurney and Stokes. Where do the Aussies find them?
Mitch Johnson was fiery, too. Amazing how quickly Aussie cricket has got over the Hughes tragedy. Mitch was out to ping as many Indian helmets as he could last night and looked fearsome.
Missed much of SA v Windies as I was on two annoying deadlines. But what I saw was bloody terrific.
The ex-partner of our late and sadly missed old school mate, hh, who moved to SA in 1995, has been telling me for years that AB is the best batsman in the world. She's not far wrong, I reckon...
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Post by hhsussex on Dec 18, 2014 8:19:49 GMT
Steady on, borderman, I know you long ago took the Digger's shilling but all this laudatory stuff about the value of a Sky subscription and gourmet feasts is a little hard to take for us poor pensioners who juggle with the choice between a month's cricket and a modest claret to wash down our stale bread and cheese rinds.  I entirely agree about the quality of the cricket , however, and can only commend the virtues of www.wiziwig.tv, currently showing the West Indies v South Africa match, and whose schedule tomorrow offers the Aust v India Test, the New Zealand v Pakistan one day match and the Big Bash League...... |
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Post by hhsussex on Dec 26, 2014 9:21:11 GMT
We've come to recognise that David Warner has established himself as a formidable Test match batsman this year - not just a slogging obne-day wonder - but we should also take a moment to consider the maturing talents of Steve Smith. Here are his Test match batter figures for the year, including today's 72no to give Austrlia some stability in what looks like to be a gripping Third Test: 9* 16 4 1012 162* 84.33 4 5 . Add to this his seemingly effortless succession to Clarke in the captaincy and his ability to get the best out of some lesser performers, and perhaps we have another in the stellar tradition of New South Wales Austrlia captains.
In the past I've been a bit dismissive of him, thinking him a little flashy, and certainly his career didn't get off to the best of strats against Strauss' victorious touring team 4 years - and a lifetime - ago.But he has put all that behind him and emerged tougher, much more consistent and showing signs of being an intelligent captain on the field. Should be an interesting summer ahead, provide England find a captain worthy of giving Smith's side a game.
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Post by flashblade on Dec 26, 2014 9:25:59 GMT
We've come to recognise that David Warner has established himself as a formidable Test match batsman this year - not just a slogging obne-day wonder - but we should also take a moment to consider the maturing talents of Steve Smith. Here are his Test match batter figures for the year, including today's 72no to give Austrlia some stability in what looks like to be a gripping Third Test: 9* 16 4 1012 162* 84.33 4 5 . Add to this his seemingly effortless succession to Clarke in the captaincy and his ability to get the best out of some lesser performers, and perhaps we have another in the stellar tradition of New South Wales Austrlia captains. In the past I've been a bit dismissive of him, thinking him a little flashy, and certainly his career didn't get off to the best of strats against Strauss' victorious touring team 4 years - and a lifetime - ago.But he has put all that behind him and emerged tougher, much more consistent and showing signs of being an intelligent captain on the field. Should be an interesting summer ahead, provide England find a captain worthy of giving Smith's side a game.Are you suggesting that England need to find a new Test Match captain, hhs? |
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Post by hhsussex on Dec 26, 2014 10:36:04 GMT
Now you know very well that I am, flashblade, and I've never wavered from the view that however many runs he may be capable of scoring as an opening batsman Cook has been an uninspired and uninspiring leader, devoid of imagination, seemingly under the control of his coaches and their theories. His actions on-field are entirely reactive, and thus disastrous whenever the rub of the green as a batsman will be diminished by his failure to motivate some genuinely talented colleagues. The newer generation, that of Moeen Ali, Stokes and Jordan, deserves better than to be swamped by his mediocrity. |
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Post by flashblade on Dec 26, 2014 11:04:52 GMT
Now you know very well that I am, flashblade, and I've never wavered from the view that however many runs he may be capable of scoring as an opening batsman Cook has been an uninspired and uninspiring leader, devoid of imagination, seemingly under the control of his coaches and their theories. His actions on-field are entirely reactive, and thus disastrous whenever the rub of the green as a batsman will be diminished by his failure to motivate some genuinely talented colleagues. The newer generation, that of Moeen Ali, Stokes and Jordan, deserves better than to be swamped by his mediocrity. HH, sorry if I'd forgotten your views on Cook's captaincy. I do, in fact, agree with you. I doubt, however, that England will administer a second sacking within so short a space of time. |
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Post by hhsussex on Dec 26, 2014 11:10:46 GMT
Thanks, fb, we'll have to see whether the views of the majority will catch up with us. I have a feeling that they will, and that by the end of the World Cup some fresh thinking about English cricket, in all its guises, will be taking shape. Meantime, apologies to you and others reading that some post-Christmas accidie affected my second sentence in my posting: I mean to say that whenever the rub of the green goes against England, irrespective of the other side's virtues, a reactive captain will always play second fiddle and lose the initiative. However, it looks as if I lost!
Festive compliments.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2014 17:44:50 GMT
When Darren Lehmann was asked what he thought of how England play, he answered: "Dour. It's not the type of cricket I'd play."
So I wonder how hs explains what happened last night, when I wasted two hours of my life watching one of the dourtest sessions of Test cricket you could ever not wish to see.
The only 'entertainment' came when, with the poetic justice, Marsh run himself out for 99. Despite the over-excited chatter of Clarke, Warne et al in the commentary box that nobody could have deserved a century more, I felt that nobody could have deserved one less...
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Post by hhsussex on Dec 30, 2014 19:31:57 GMT
When Darren Lehmann was asked what he thought of how England play, he answered: "Dour. It's not the type of cricket I'd play." So I wonder how hs explains what happened last night, when I wasted two hours of my life watching one of the dourtest sessions of Test cricket you could ever not wish to see. The only 'entertainment' came when, with the poetic justice, Marsh run himself out for 99. Despite the over-excited chatter of Clarke, Warne et al in the commentary box that nobody could have deserved a century more, I felt that nobody could have deserved one less... As so often happens, Warren Zevon has the last, the only word:
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2015 18:07:01 GMT
I always thought that Shiv Chanderpaul was the one bastman you could rely upon never to sell his wicket cheaply. Stumped and run out in the current Test v South Africa suggests he's getting careless in his old age...
By the way, are any Sussex supporters planning to go out to South Africa for the England tour next winter?
Accompanied by Borderwoman I shall be going out for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tests at Newlands, Joburg and Centurion (although the cricket-loathing Borderwoman will be skipping the cricket and hitting Kruger and the game reserves while our host, her oldest schoolfriend who has homes in Cape Town and Joburg and loves her cricket, comes with me to the matches. I've known them both for more than 40 years and don't know how I ended up marrying the cricket-hating one!!!)
If anyone is thinking of going, my advice is do NOT book on an official England tour - the packages are ludicrously overpriced.
We paid 50 rand per day (around £4.50) for Test match tkts when I was there three years ago for the Australia series. So unless you really feel the need to have some old lag like Matthew Hoggard or Chris Cowdrey as your tour guide, I'd say book your own match and flight tkts, hire a car and organise your own itinerary at a fraction of the cost of the organised tours.
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Post by jonfilby on Jan 5, 2015 21:39:03 GMT
I always thought that Shiv Chanderpaul was the one bastman you could rely upon never to sell his wicket cheaply. Stumped and run out in the current Test v South Africa suggests he's getting careless in his old age... By the way, are any Sussex supporters planning to go out to South Africa for the England tour next winter? Accompanied by Borderwoman I shall be going out for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tests at Newlands, Joburg and Centurion (although the cricket-loathing Borderwoman will be skipping the cricket and hitting Kruger and the game reserves while our host, her oldest schoolfriend who has homes in Cape Town and Joburg and loves her cricket, comes with me to the matches. I've known them both for more than 40 years and don't know how I ended up marrying the cricket-hating one!!!) If anyone is thinking of going, my advice is do NOT book on an official England tour - the packages are ludicrously overpriced. We paid 50 rand per day (around £4.50) for Test match tkts when I was there three years ago for the Australia series. So unless you really feel the need to have some old lag like Matthew Hoggard or Chris Cowdrey as your tour guide, I'd say book your own match and flight tkts, hire a car and organise your own itinerary at a fraction of the cost of the organised tours. Or you can go with the Cricket Tour Company, in which case your Tour Guide will be The Paperboy, formerly of this parish and very highly regarded by all his customers. |
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Post by hhsussex on Jan 6, 2015 8:42:34 GMT
More massive runscoring by Australia v India (348-2, another hundred for Warner and fifties for Rogers, Watson and Smith, so far); and by New Zealand against Sri Lanka (524-5 declared in the second innings, with a record, unbroken, 6th wicket stand of 365 between Williamson and Watling). Only the reliable pratfalls of the West Indies (182-3 down to 215 all out) seem to be offering the bowlers much hope this winter.
Looking at the numbers, since October 2014 there have been 17 Tests, producing 19229 runs for 494 wickets falling: that's an average of 38.92 per wicket, with a run-rate of 3.39 per over. This seemed very high, so I looked at the same period for the previous year (1 Oct 2013- 6 Jan 2014) and found a very different picture. The 17 Tests also played produced 1000 runs less (18,290) and for 541 wickets (nearly 10% more), with a resulting average of 33.80 per wicket, and a run-rate of 3.24.
That's a staggering difference and it doesn't bode well for the development of bowlers in the game. It's all very well to applaud the bold strokemaking of a Warner, the confidence of Steve Smith, the ageless talents of Sangakarra and the phenomenal energy of Brendan McCullum, but wickets that allow this kind of massive run inflation will only deter the development of a whole generation of bowlers. Mitch Johnson has bowled with energy and fire this winter as he did last, but his figures are baely comparable: in 5 Tests, 19 wickets at 33.63, compared with 37 at 13.97. And India's batsmen have been at least as negligent as England's.
I hope that groundsmen in England will prepare wickets that offer bowlers a fighting chance this summer. I don't mean that they should be should be prepared to suit the skills of Anderson or Broad or even Moeen Ali, but that we have a chance to see how good Hazlewood and other young bowlers are, and whether Johnson can demonstrate on English pitches what he can really do with the ball. And, naturally, I hope that we will see runs scored when they are deserved, against good bowling on pitches offering a real contest.
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