The Cricket Thread

[Ken 119]

14 minutes ago, David Kelly said:

Your attack looks good but only Smith really looks good with the bat (I do rate Warner but he's not done anything special so far this series).  Bancroft and Renshaw are nothing special, Usman can't perform outside Australia and hasn't looked great, neither of the Marsh's have ever looked much (obviously they've both had a good knock each against us), the jury is out on Paine, his stats don't suggest there's much there but he's don't pretty well on his comeback.  If there was another series in England in the summer I wouldn't be concerned about any of them.  Even Smith would be a much lesser threat.  

South Africa will be a good test for you, especially if AB and Steyn play.  But I wouldn't be getting too excited just yet.  You have hammered us tbf but don't let our deficiencies in this series make you think you're better than what you are.

Warner has done it England. He has looked hesitant in this series but that's because he has tried to be more conservative due to the lack of experience in the batting lineup. He'll open things up in the next two matches. Observe it.

Renshaw hasn't featured in this series. The Marsh brothers whacked you around and got confidence from it. Payne had a long stint out of the side to work on his batting and he has delivered.

 

Your projections on what may happen in English conditions at this point in time are null and void.

 

We did hammer you. Looking like a whitewash again.

[Ken 119]

12 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

@Ken

 

i think haseeb hameed looks like he has the technique to make it as an opener. the selectors wanted him to play in this series but he suffered with form and injury this year. they probably see him, and now stoneman, aroudn our top 3, with cook - if he continue. keaton jennings scored a century on debut but i'm not convinced he is up to opening in tests. 

 

anderson is still a magician with the ball at home. he's always been a naturally fit guy and doesn't rely on lung bursting effort for that extra yard of pace. it wouldn't surprise me if he's still going next time you tour here. i think cook and broad are more likely to call it a day by then, if the selectors don't take the decision out of their hands

I haven't heard of this Hameed. A player that may work his way up in the next two years?

 

Anderson is Anderson, but time and age do not forgive.

 

Broad shouldn't have toured. Wrong attitude. Outplayed by Overton.

 

 

[Alex 30443]

Hameed will be back in the side this summer if he gets a couple of scores early in the season. Little doubt in anyone's mind he's the future. His record already speaks for itself and he's not even 21 yet.

[Dr Gloom 19835]

Just now, Ken said:

I haven't heard of this Hameed. A player that may work his way up in the next two years?

 

Anderson is Anderson, but time and age do not forgive.

 

Broad shouldn't have toured. Wrong attitude. Outplayed by Overton.

 

 

 

he's only played 3 tests. got a 50 in each innings of his debut away in india, including a classy 80 odd. his tekkers looked the real deal, btu then he fractured his finger and suffered a poor run of form. he's only 20 so i suppose they were thinking it might be soon to throw him in to an ashes tour after a difficult year followed a promising start. there's a lot of hope he's cook's natural successor though. he looks the sort of player that can occupy the crease and bat for long periods. i suspect broad's time might be nearing its end, but anderson is the currently top of the ICC bowling rankings and has got more to give, despite his advancing years. he's got his eye on 600+ test wickets.

 

i tjhink broad has enough wickets in the bank that they might give him a final chance, if he doesn't decide to call it a day. you could say the same for cook tbh.  

 

 

[David Kelly 1117]

7 minutes ago, Ken said:

Warner has done it England. He has looked hesitant in this series but that's because he has tried to be more conservative due to the lack of experience in the batting lineup. He'll open things up in the next two matches. Observe it.

Renshaw hasn't featured in this series. The Marsh brothers whacked you around and got confidence from it. Payne had a long stint out of the side to work on his batting and he has delivered.

 

Your projections on what may happen in English conditions at this point in time are null and void.

 

We did hammer you. Looking like a whitewash again.

As I said, I do rate Warner and I'm well aware Renshaw hasn't played but up until this series he had been opening for you for the last year so I mentioned him as part of your squad.  And I said the Marsh's have had good knocks but I've watched them a few times before and they don't impress me at all.

Like I said, I wouldn't get any more excited about stuffing us here than I would about beating the West Indies.  We have been poor and have missed one of the most important players in our team.  Your lot will be full of confidence and I'm sure that will help you going forward, but other than Smith and Warner your batsmen are ordinary especially when they aren't playing in the conditions they know well.  Maybe they will improve over the next couple of years but I can't see that any of them are particularly exciting prospects.

[Ken 119]

22 minutes ago, David Kelly said:

As I said, I do rate Warner and I'm well aware Renshaw hasn't played but up until this series he had been opening for you for the last year so I mentioned him as part of your squad.  And I said the Marsh's have had good knocks but I've watched them a few times before and they don't impress me at all.

Like I said, I wouldn't get any more excited about stuffing us here than I would about beating the West Indies.  We have been poor and have missed one of the most important players in our team.  Your lot will be full of confidence and I'm sure that will help you going forward, but other than Smith and Warner your batsmen are ordinary especially when they aren't playing in the conditions they know well.  Maybe they will improve over the next couple of years but I can't see that any of them are particularly exciting prospects.

Right. So let's wait until we get closer to our tour over to yours then before we shoot from the hip.

[Ken 119]

27 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

 

he's only played 3 tests. got a 50 in each innings of his debut away in india, including a classy 80 odd. his tekkers looked the real deal, btu then he fractured his finger and suffered a poor run of form. he's only 20 so i suppose they were thinking it might be soon to throw him in to an ashes tour after a difficult year followed a promising start. there's a lot of hope he's cook's natural successor though. he looks the sort of player that can occupy the crease and bat for long periods. i suspect broad's time might be nearing its end, but anderson is the currently top of the ICC bowling rankings and has got more to give, despite his advancing years. he's got his eye on 600+ test wickets.

 

i tjhink broad has enough wickets in the bank that they might give him a final chance, if he doesn't decide to call it a day. you could say the same for cook tbh.  

 

 

Sounds like a wristy player, Hameed.

 

Broad is finished. Really, he's finished.

[David Kelly 1117]

Just now, Ken said:

Right. So let's wait until we get closer to our tour over to yours then before we shoot from the hip.

By no means am I suggesting you shouldn't revel in your win, it's fully deserved.  I'm just saying I'm not convinced you have the makings of a great team with the players you have at the moment.  You have a good bowling attack, the worlds best batsman and another who is top class.  You've got something to build on but the others who are playing at the moment haven't impressed me over a while now.

[Ken 119]

Just now, David Kelly said:

By no means am I suggesting you shouldn't revel in your win, it's fully deserved.  I'm just saying I'm not convinced you have the makings of a great team with the players you have at the moment.  You have a good bowling attack, the worlds best batsman and another who is top class.  You've got something to build on but the others who are playing at the moment haven't impressed me over a while now.

But we are in a better position than you?

[David Kelly 1117]

Just now, Ken said:

But we are in a better position than you?

Looking at this series you would appear to be but overall no I don't really think so.  I'd say we're pretty even, especially when Stokes is back in.  I think we will both continue to struggle away from conditions that suit us.

[Ken 119]

1 minute ago, David Kelly said:

Looking at this series you would appear to be but overall no I don't really think so.  I'd say we're pretty even, especially when Stokes is back in.  I think we will both continue to struggle away from conditions that suit us.

So yes... but no.

[David Kelly 1117]

1 minute ago, Ken said:

So yes... but no.

My whole point from the start was that no team is looking good away from home at the minute.  So the fact we've looked worse than you in Australia doesn't go against that argument at all.

[Ken 119]

1 minute ago, David Kelly said:

My whole point from the start was that no team is looking good away from home at the minute.  So the fact we've looked worse than you in Australia doesn't go against that argument at all.

Yes, but England are the worst a way for home. Agreed?

[David Kelly 1117]

Just now, Ken said:

Yes, but England are the worst a way for home. Agreed?

Between us and you?  Possibly, we have been shocking in our last two tours (Australia and India) but we were good in SA.  Didn't you get hammered off Sri Lanka though?

 

The Stokes situation is been massive for us in this tour though.  Had we not had it and the fitness issues we've had we would have been much more competitive I believe.  Of course that can never be proven.

[Ken 119]

4 minutes ago, David Kelly said:

Between us and you?  Possibly, we have been shocking in our last two tours (Australia and India) but we were good in SA.  Didn't you get hammered off Sri Lanka though?

 

The Stokes situation is been massive for us in this tour though.  Had we not had it and the fitness issues we've had we would have been much more competitive I believe.  Of course that can never be proven.

That was last year, but I'll give you that.

[David Kelly 1117]

2 minutes ago, Ken said:

That was last year, but I'll give you that.

India was last year for us too so it's only fair to count both.

[The Fish 9006]

Ken seems very mackemy about Cricket...

[Dr Gloom 19835]

Ken is enjoying the moment, which is fair enough, as England have had their pants pulled down down under again tbh.

 

The thing is, it’s been too predictable from the start. The lack of genuine pace in the attack or a top spinner, the inexperience in the batting. None of us felt we had a chance. It’s unfortunate England meekly proved us right yet again and I think a whitewash is very much on the cards now: broad is apparently carrying a knock, Overton is playing with a cracked rib, moeen is in terrible form but do you throw in an uncapped spinner? I suppose we’ve nothing to lose now the series has gone.

 

All that said, if I was a betting man, I wouldn’t have a punt on Australia retaining the ashes in two years time, for all the reasons outlined above.

[Dr Gloom 19835]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/18/dont-blame-ben-stokes-england-ashes-defeat-australia

[Ken 119]

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes/time-for-joe-root-to-act-tough--he-could-start-by-dropping-stuart-broad-20171218-h06wmj.html

[Dr Gloom 19835]

This is a great read by Jason Gillespie. This is the guy I’d be tapping up if I were the ECB. His comments about developing fast bowlers are telling. Perhaps we could do that with him overseeing English cricket from the top down?

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/18/tale-of-two-ashes-captains-steve-smith-joe-root#comment-109896458

 

good mix of reader comments too. I particularly liked this one:

 

None of the Australian batsmen can handle the moving ball. Our pitches are hard and flat and it favours batsmen that can handle fast bowling. The opposite is true for England. In Australia we have have introduced the pink ball test to address some of these issues. We would be smart to tour NZ in March immediately before the English ashes series. Conversely, England need to produce hard, fast pitches at home in the next couple of years if you are to develop a team that can handle the conditions an identify bowlers suited to Australian conditions. Creating (doctoring) pitches that are suitable for your bowlers as happened in the last Ashes series is in the long term counterproductive

[Dr Gloom 19835]

Decent read by Vaughany too, cheers ken 

[David Kelly 1117]

Watching the big bash game at the minute and they're talking about Broad being injured. Overton certainly has a problem so it looks like there will have to be changes to the attack for Boxing Day. You'd have to think Wood has to come in. Ball has been worse than useless whenever he's come in so I'd like to see Curran given a chance if they change two of the quicks. If they are going to give Crane a go, like they should have done in the summer, then Curran offers a better prospect with the bat too. 

 

I dont agree with Vaughan about Cook like. I don't see the problem with him as anything more than him being out of nick. He's just got to work through it. 

[Dr Gloom 19835]

you may be right, DK, but with the age he's at, and with everything he's already achieved and all the records he's broken, will he have the willpower to knuckle down and get into form again? 

[David Kelly 1117]

Only he really knows that but I don't really see the benefit of dropping him. Given his nature I think it's more likely it would make him think he wants to give it up. But who knows. 

Stoneman is looking a decent prospect to keep his spot. Hameed is the one they need to be developing to take over from Cook but it's looking like he needs more time so we really need Cook to keep going. 

 

Thats a good read from Gillespie. Reinforces the point that Australia have been preparing for the Ashes while we have taken eye off the ball.