The Cricket Thread

[essembeeofsunderland 811]

Is Broad injured or `injured'.

[Ken 119]

Not comfirmed as such yet, but I'd say his foot is broken, just like England's spirit is. He was shown spending time in the nets just as David Warner got his innings going and obviously he wasn't happy with how he had pulled up, his limp was more pronounced than before he had tested it out. He was shown being whisked away to hospital after that. Not the first time he's had trouble walking against us this...

Edited December 15, 2013 by Ken

[Ken 119]

It has to be said that Matt Prior's efforts with the gloves yesterday was probably the worst individual performance I have witnessed ever. Everything single thing he tried to do or touched turned to shit.

[Ken 119]

Good news for your lot is that Stuart Broad does not have a fracture in his foot. He's going to try and bat. He's going to have to watch real carefully for those nasty yorkers and not let his guard down for the odd rib-tickler/headhunter as well. I don't envy him.

 

Bad news is how brutal Australia were with the bat and how much they treated your bowelers with utter contempt - playing like it were a T20 game. Jimmy Anderson going for 28 in the final over of the innings before they were put out of their misery and sent into bat again. Another total of over 500 to chase down.

 

Hope this ends soon, I'm quickly running out of superaltives.

[Gemmill 34624]

Fair play Ken, it must finally feel good to be Australian again. Nobody can begrudge you this unseemly gloating.

[Dr Gloom 19839]

It has to be said that Matt Prior's efforts with the gloves yesterday was probably the worst individual performance I have witnessed ever. Everything single thing he tried to do or touched turned to shit.

 

confidence shot because of his lack of form with the bat. he glove work has been excellent since he established himself in the side.

 

nice to see us showing a bit of fight today but again too little too late. shocking effort again from peitersen.

[Kid Dynamite 5941]

Stokes finally showing what he can do. He's a better batsman than he's shown for England yet. I was at Durham a couple of years ago and it was the last ball of the day. Stokes was on 96. Most people would just block it. Stokes was half way down the wicket before the ball was bowled, smashed a four and continued walking off with his bat held over his head to celebrate his 100

[Gemmill 34624]

Congratulations Ken.

[Ken 119]

Cheers Gemmill. Smashing series (from my point of view) so far. Honestly hope though that England can regroup or start again as it were to regenerate your test side. Would like to see some genuine competitveness which causes excitement for both sets of fans... and seeing as I have tickets for the fourth day of the fifth test as well and don't want to turn up to see us needing only 4 or 5 wickets to win.

 

But it has been total domination to bring back the Ashes to its rightful owners.

[Tooj 17]

Stokes finally showing what he can do. He's a better batsman than he's shown for England yet. I was at Durham a couple of years ago and it was the last ball of the day. Stokes was on 96. Most people would just block it. Stokes was half way down the wicket before the ball was bowled, smashed a four and continued walking off with his bat held over his head to celebrate his 100

 

[Dr Gloom 19839]

You can't say the Aussies didn't deserve it. They dominated every day of the series. We failed in every first innings. Never got close to making over 400, just not good enough.

 

The question now is whether a rebuilding job is on the cards. A lot of senior players are getting on a bit. Flower might walk to be replaced by a coach with his own ideas. Gooch should arguably walk.

 

If that is the case I just hope it doesn't take us as long to re-emerge as a good side as the Aussies did after the warne/McGrath era. They were dreadful for about 4 years. Knowing England, we could well fall down the rankings and fester for at least that time, or even longer. This has been a bit of a golden era in test cricket for us.

[Tooj 17]

 

 

After a halting first experience of combat against Australia, Ravi Bopara is adamant he can return to Test cricket for England...

Oh fuck off.

[Bonamental 0]

Beeb are saying Swann has just retired from all cricket with immediate effect.

[Tooj 17]

Graeme Swann's England retirement shows Australia's ruthless brilliance

The hosts realised that the spinner was key to the Ashes, and England have now lost a wonderfully streetwise cricketer

Perhaps, while all we could see was the serene Graeme Swann with the flashing smile and the irresistible one-liner, there was more thrashing around going on beneath the surface than we guessed. It is an extraordinary act to retire in the middle of a series. Captains, very good ones such as Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain, sometimes reach the sudden realisation that they can't do this any more. But those in the ranks usually plough on at least to the end of a series.

The sudden retirement of Swann underlines the ruthless brilliance of Australia's Ashes campaign, which hinged on how they were going to deal with the spinner. They recognised that Swann had been a vital component of recent successful England sides since his remarkable Test debut in 2008, when he picked up two wickets (only Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid) in his first over.

In a sense Australia's strategy was a huge compliment. Undermine Swann and England would be rudderless. The plan has been far more effective than Australia could possibly have envisaged. Not only have they knocked Swann out of the park, but out of the series.

The plan was not so well disguised. To Swann's second ball of the series David Warner leapt out of his crease and smashed the ball over the bowler's head to the boundary. All the Australian batsmen, with the decorous exception of Chris Rogers, would follow suit. The assault upon Swann did not just apply to his bowling. The Australians were even more ruthless when he was batting. Swann has always been the sweetest striker of a cricket ball and at Test level a dangerous lower order batsman, who has, by his aggression, rescued many a stuttering innings in the past.

The Australians were never going to let that happen again. Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris gave him no opportunities to play his favourite cover drive. Instead they peppered him ruthlessly. It may be that the knowledge that he was struggling to cope with the bat hastened the retirement plans. A slowing of the reflexes is easier to spot with a bat in the hand. Moreover the elbow has been constantly troublesome over the last two years. Swann has not bowled as badly as the figures suggest in this series, but maybe a bit of zip was missing – and a few successful stumpings would have helped.

This is a far from the ideal way to go but his sudden exit should not disguise a brilliant and unexpected England career. Remember he toured South Africa in 1999 as a bumptious 20 year old; he succeeded only in getting up many noses and was then ostracised for almost a decade. By 2008 he knew his trade yet no one anticipated that he would make such an impact. Conventional finger spinners were as out of fashion as hula hoops. They provided insufficient mystery for modern batsmen with their mighty cudgels.

Swann soon demonstrated that this theory required modification for several reasons: he spun the ball more than most finger-spinners; he was braver than most, too, since he would bowl a more attacking line to right-handers. He would aim a little wider of off-stump than a John Emburey or a Ray Illingworth. This allowed more run-scoring opportunities, but it also gave him greater chances of taking wickets.

With the advent of detailed TV replays and DRS, Swann also recognised the possibilities of lbws that Illy and co could only dream about. Swann tormented left-handers superbly. He ensured that he bowled straight against them and if they missed their forward defensive and were taken on the pad then there was a good chance that they would be given out. Swann became an excellent judge of what was out and what wasn't, though the chances of him exploiting this skill in retirement by joining the list of first-class umpires remain slight.

Above all these skills Swann became a wonderfully streetwise cricketer. He may always seem to be joking off the field; on it he was a pragmatist and an exceptional reader of batsmen. He always knew his field and his plans and he had no hesitation in implementing them, whoever his captain. He also imposed on batsmen; at his best he had that aura, albeit not quite in the Shane Warne class, but he managed to get inside a few heads (though this would always prove more difficult against Australia and South Africa). So they missed some of his straight balls and perished.

Off the field he was generally a delight. In the press room there was always a tinge of relief when it was announced that Swann was on his way. He shunned the usual banalities, could rarely resist that one-liner and generally provided good copy, though nothing quite so sensational as his revelation of retirement in this weekend's Sun on Sunday.

England will be a duller, weaker side without him. In the short term Swann's departure allows Monty Panesar to resume as a Test regular. Down the line it is hard to think of any young English spinner who is anywhere near his standard.

We will see more of him, for certain. There may be an IPL contract now that he is permanently available. Broadcasters will compete for his wit and expertise. And despite the suddenness of his retirement, which leaves Alastair Cook and Andy Flower with another gaping hole to fill, his legacy is secure. Only Derek Underwood among the spinners took more wickets for England. Along the way Swann surpassed Laker, Lock, Titmus, Emburey, Edmonds and Illingworth. He would have settled for that at the beginning of December 2008 when, in his 30th year, he had yet to play a Test.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/dec/22/graeme-swann-england-retirement-ashes-2013-14

[Ken 119]

Jumped before he was pushed tbh. Not sure he'll make it in the IPL - he isn't half as good as Murali. But at the end of the day he was a good bloke who knew how to have a laugh. And he caused a fair bit of bother to some left-handed Aussies in his time. The best off-spinning Englishman for quite a few generations.

[Park Life 70]

My modern times 11

 

1.Gavaskar

2 Boycott

3.Tendulkar

4.Lara ©

5 Richards

6 Kallis

7 Botham

8 Dev

9 Sangakara

10 Mulli

11 Garner

Edited December 22, 2013 by Park Life

[Dr Gloom 19839]

Swann retiring, others will surely follow.

 

Not sure who'll replace him either. Monty, I suppose, but his fielding and batting significantly weaken the 11

[Kid Dynamite 5941]

Borthwick will come through in a year or two to replace him I reckon

[essembeeofsunderland 811]

So his central contract has been terminated today and he now has to pay his own fare back to the UK .

[desmondTUTU 0]

He should be made to walk it IMO.

[Tooj 17]

Good job your opinion means fuck all then.

[Kid Dynamite 5941]

Borthwick will come through in a year or two to replace him I reckon

Or a day or two

[Ken 119]

The wheels on England's little red bus are quickly falling off aren't they?

[Gemmill 34624]

I think Swann is class, but I think this move is weak as piss. He's just further weakened an already weak looking side in the middle of a series.

 

Interesting that his test bowling average is 29.96 (and increasing by the week) at the time of his retirement. Protecting his figures?

[Ken 119]

Doesn't like the team environment though. I believe him.