Cricket

The Pakistan series was only 3 months ago Pete, remember the dead pitch at Rawalpindi and the aggressive batting to force a result.

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Ok apart from that. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Yes I did forget that, it’s hard to keep track of everyone’s results.

India finished up with a 91 run lead. Aussies got 18 minutes today and all tomorrow to avoid a defeat. It’s not helped that Khawaja is injured and we’ve sent out the number 11 to open.

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India v AUS ambling to a draw. NZ again involved in a cracker, this time against SL. Last ball!

It is hard not to wonder if the India series has told us much. Pitch prep seems to have been the dominant factor. Did it actually help Test cricket to have such extreme surfaces?

Bangladesh v impressive in the T20 again. England have a bit of ‘end of term’ about them. So pleased that Archer has played well though, and threatened consistently. I am not sure anyone else has really come through to upset the current incumbents.

Bruce

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India v Aus definitely heading towards a boring draw, 35 overs to go the Aussies are 2/153 (Travis Head just bowled as I type). Aussies lead by 62 runs.

Been on the road most of the day and unfortunately missed the NZ v SL game.

Fourth test ends in a handshake and as the first 3 tests were interesting games it seemed a bit of let down. If they were race horses the stewards would meeting right now. :rofl:

Both these teams will play in the World Test game at the Oval 6/6 (I think) just 6 days before the first Ashes Test.

I’m looking forward to both series it should be interesting as it includes best 3 test teams.

On the plus side for the Aussies they did manage to fight back after the first 2 tests and a new spinner Todd Murphy.

Hey @Collywobbles , guess what, Buttler won a toss :grin:

…although I’m not sure it’s helping.

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Yes, he has ruined an amazing sequence. Lol. England looking a bit ordinary again at the moment.

England’s pacier bowlers, bar Archer, have looked very ordinary in these T20 games. Looks like another fruit salad delivery day today, with a few ‘free hits’ sprinkled on top – not overlooking some very poor drops in the field – you could see Archer doing a mental teapot and it didn’t need a skilled lipreader to detect what he uttered :frowning:

On the flip side, the Bangladesh batsmen have been very good.

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I just don’t get Woakes in these sort of conditions, or indeed generally away from England. Good honest cricketer he may be but coming to the end of his international career?

Apparently this pitch is more likely to yield runs, might be a competitive score yet.

Bruce

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I found some bowlers are naturally just easier to see and play, even though they may be relatively quicker than others. Why so, no idea !

Ooops, Salt will need to look out his Primary Club tie :frowning:

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Another poor England batting performance. Particularly the Butler runout.

Buttler hasn’t look happy or amused all tour. Easy in hindsight, but he has been given a rubbish squad, couldn’t even field enough batsmen. Only 13 players, I think, 9 bowlers including Moeen, Curran, and Woakes who are all rounders at 5, 6 and 7. Daft. Tour not taken seriously imho.

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Certainly comes across that way – and England exposed, once again, on turning wickets. But for Malan’s game-winning ODI knock (he had some good fortune), England would have lost both mini-series.

This said, as the commentators said on Sky, I’ve never seen a T20 strip change so much during a match. Through another lens, perhaps it’s better that the likes of Bairstow and other ‘hitters’ weren’t playing, as the result may have been the same and confidence knocked?

The one positive has been to see Archer bowling again, with quite a bit of venom, even on slow strips.

One thing I don’t get is why, when the lacquer is known to easily wear off the white ball which hinders swing, do England throw the ball hard in to the 'keeper’s gloves in the first over or so?

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You also see them throwing the ball in on the bounce to the keeper. I believe it is to try and take the hardness out of the ball so it “doesn’t come on to the bat” as easily making it harder to bat. Certainly when there is no swing with the new ball.

A lot of theories are complete bollocks of course. Who knows?

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With my old fast bowler mates, if you sullied the red ball like that, you’d be fielding long leg both ends :grin: I still cannot get to grips with why they use 2 x white balls in ODIs (nor can Atherton per his column).

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Yes, but they still polish/shine the red ball to within an inch of it’s life.

I think it is very, very good for the world game that Bangladesh offered a competitive opposition to England

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One of the challenges of international cricket is adapting to your opponent’s home advantage. England failed to do this in the T20; yes they were handicapped by who was available to tour, but several commentators suggested that England did not have enough respect for Bangladesh. I was not there so I can’t comment on the matter of respect, but I felt that England just did not adapt, which is a question of attitude as well as technical ability.

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England’s One Day Team is far better than most country’s first eleven. Our second and third eleven is better than many countries first eleven .

After the One Day series I guess Bangladesh adapted better