Cricket

I’m listening to TMS, so not hearing it.

Should be playing in Yorkshire, would have had a full day!

Bruce

It’s on TMS with DAB , having watched the footie I have become a reluctant convert to it a

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They should have been playing County Cricket way before now .

Even just for Sky to put something on.

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They tried some ALF matches here without the background buzz at first and got 1000s of complaints. Sport is definitely better with a bit of background noise

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Agree on Zaheer, used to watch him at Cheltenham cricket festival when I was a young one and he was a dream to watch with his wristy shots; and the UK test series when he scored two double hundreds from memory.

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Totally agree, watching the footie, at first it started out as training ground matches , the penny has dropped with players - it is for real

The Brighton - Liverpool match tonight very entertaining, not ideal but better with faux chants.

On the Spurs match they even had cries of “Come On You Spurs” .

Obviously it needs cries of “You don’t know what you’re doing” “You’re getting sacked in the morning” “**** VAR” and for Sian Massey -Phillips “Get Yer Kit Off” to establish authenticity

I think the cricket was siphoned off from the Lords “hum”

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England have their fastest attack for many a year, or maybe even ever with Wood, Archer and Stokes but is it too much for them to notice that Jason Holder has just taken a fistful of wickets with craft, patience… and at around 80mph?

Well bowled Windies today. That decision to bat first at the toss never looked great to me and I think they will have been very happy to be bowling first.

Neither side on paper have much batting depth so perhaps we will have an entertaining but lower scoring series.

Bruce

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It does look an unbalanced series with both sides having significantly stronger bowling lineups. Oddly enough it’s not so much lack of depth in the lineups that worries me, both bat to 7 or 8, more that the top and middle orders of both are flaky, talented players but a scary number of averages under 40 in the batting…

I remember seeing Zaheer bat too. It would have been against Yorkshire, circa 1973 or 74. He was playing either for Gloucestershire or for a Pakistani XI. Venue - Bradford.

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Eng V WI - day 2

For me this had all the visuals of an early season club game with overcast skies, a wicket which offered some variable bounce & pace at times and, crucially, where bowling on/around a ‘good length’ (as Holder mostly did) gave up rewards. In such conditions a sound defence and patient approach pay dividends e.g. often better to leave the ball which is close to driving length (which I’m sure Buttler & Stokes recognise now). There was some very poor technique on show for top-order batters.

England’s innings showed, in large part, what is wrong with their Test game vis an inability to dig in (hon. mention to Bess in this regard - not a Test #8 IMV) and then some not keeping the ball up when bowling. Pace alone is not the dominant weapon in conditions like these. I fear WI will do rather better than ~200.

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Might stay up and watch tonight, certainly would be good to finally see some cricket. What’s the weather forecast.

Pete,

Supposedly, sunny with a moderate breeze but I wouldn’t rule out some precipitation.

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Holder is impressive as a cricketer and an individual. Not always been easy to bond the Windies in recent years but he seems to have managed it, and with a smile.

As for England top order: it is hard to dig in when you have technical flaws and get out… They cannot be accused of getting out with attacking shots. Good bowing and mediocre techniques for me.

Denly v Crawley for one place when Root returns really feels like Hobsons choice. We don’t actually know whether Crawley is good enough yet, whereas I think we do with Denly.

I paid my money to watch the game on TV. Anyone else catch Ebony Rainsfird-Brent and especially Michael Holding talking about racism when the first day start was delayed? Powerful and moving.

Quite like the Sky commentary. TMS on DAB is out of sync with the pictures so no choice.

Bruce

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I pause the Sky video by a few seconds to sync the TMS IRadio stream and the pictures.

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Not sure I can do this, watching on Now TV via a Roku stick. Our internet is not fast enough for iRadio and TV at same time either. DAB is out by quite a few seconds.

Bruce

Talk about a dilemma, a mouth ago there was nothing to watch. Now I’m flicking between F1, the cricket, Aussie Rules and Rugby. Happy days. :scream:

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For me, DAB (‘Qute) leads by a ball, then BBC Sounds (IPhone), leaving Now TV lagging via Apple TV box feeding my main system. This way, if I’m in the kitchen I can walk into the tv room to see the wicket / good shot. BBC Sounds at my ear in the tv room permits me to read the paper and still not miss the action.

I use IRadio on the ND555, then multiroom to the Qbs in kitchen, landing, bedroom and the Nova in the other lounge if I move around. I just need to get back to the lounge to see the final replay if anything happens.

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I’m finding the Sky commentary more appealing this year; and I like the BBC highlights too. But TMS still prevails as the quality service.