With regard to the size of the ground I note England scored 20 6’s vs 9 4’s. Says something.
Bruce
I understand that the ends used to be much longer but development has made the straight hit easier. Square of the wicket is still a good size.
I believe at Bristol, when they have international matches, they put in large temporary stands, and these eat into the pitch area.
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Of course, it doesn’t help when up to 5m (sometimes more) is allocated to the stewards/the on-field PA system/those flame throwers, creating a moat of dead ground. I’ve always though this was dangerous, as a well-hit ball often hits the ‘Toblerones’ and leaps in to the air over the advertising barriers.
IIRC, the Aussie grounds often don’t have this set-up, where the ball goes all the way until it lands in the gutter(?).
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Good Heavens!!! Buttler has won a toss.
Edit:. Didn’t help much
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Another crash bang wallop one-sided match. For me T20 remains a pleasure in very small quantities.
Bruce
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As the commentators say ‘who’d be a bowler’. It’s more the batsmen getting themselves out on tracks like this than a bowler sending down a great delivery (unless you’re an Indian swing bowler). Whenever I hear ‘he needs to bowl full & wide of the off-stump’, the game of cricket (and sportsmanship) has been lost IMV.
When so many batsmen are getting out from skiers caught by the 'keeper, perhaps it’s a sign that batsmen shouldn’t be playing across the line so much.
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The joys of being an England fan. Time to open another beer, or something stronger.
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A poor bowling performance and a woeful batting performance. Time to to say goodbye to Jason Roy. He’s had more than enough chances.
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A team in need of serious freshening up.
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…and then some in the batting dept IMHO. On a wicket which offers something to the bowlers, even a modicum of turn, England struggle, and even did in the WC in 2019. Many recent shot selections have been appalling, continually going across the line. There’s no point in the likes of Livingstone (and others) playing 6 & out cricket, unless it’s in the last 2 overs (of the 20).
Above said, the bowling unit, while having spells of success, has shown weakness, and the selections have left a long batting tail. Gleeson’s honeymoon period is over and Sam Curran isn’t a 7 in this standard – indeed, England’s middle order of Ali, Livingstone and Curran, all looks 1/2 places too high.
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Loss of form is one thing, but looks like loss of application, and hunger too from this side.
I heard a commentator say some pretty critical things about Livingstone. More concerned with breaking the distance hitting records (and his ego) than the team. Looks true.
Unlike the red ball situation at least England probably do have a pool of new talent in the game who can be given a go. If the selectors are brave enough.
Would be a new Captain for me too. Let Jos concentrate on batting, maybe not even keeping wicket.
Bruce
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When there are time restrictions for T20 games, I don’t understand having a WK/Captain – especially one who likes to run 50 yards to talk to the bowler. It seems like there’s a lot of ‘ball chasing’ going on with the field, which is often a sign the bowlers are sub-par/bowling ‘rubbish’. Sam Curran isn’t a strong bowler in this format either.
In concept, you will always run the risk of losing a couple of wickets in the Powerplay, which means you need a decent middle order and, as above, I think we’ve lost the quality there (not that Morgan contributed a lot in his later days).
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No one is giving themselves the chance of batting for 10 to 15 overs. Too preoccupied in trying to hit the ball in the air. Still room for proper cricket shots in T20 imho.
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On another social platform someone pointed out that England were all out having faced 100 balls. Irony indeed.
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Yes, this all out attack mode - is beginning to show cracks .
Great when it goes to plan, but has the potential to come off the rails, especially when the dastardly foreign opposition set their tactics to meet our tactics .
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From the Torygraph today
As an almost similar point, I see the Hundred starts sans Ladies, is this because of the Commonwealth Games ?
I’m glad I’m old and won’t have to worry much about a future based around this stupid hit and giggle (20/20).
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Yes - Eng v RSA on at the moment.
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Stokes now not playing The 100 and Bairstow too, noting he’s the face on a lot of the promotional media I’ve seen on TV. I’d be interested to know if you compared the 1970/80s players and all their game commitments (when the CC was 16/17 games), whether the modern-day players are playing more cricket – overall I suspect not, but with the IPL and other white ball competitions nowadays plus the Test tours, it’s obviously all year round.
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