Cricket

[jim mk2]

26 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

isn't that true of most batsmen these days. 

People are stuck in the past the way Test cricket was being played. Those boring days have gone. Crowds want to be entertained especially when paying the prices they are now for tickets. 

We seen some good batting from both sides and some good bowling from either side. 

interesting that England had added Gus Atkinson to the next test squad and I would be tempted to brig in Archer and Atkinson in for Carse and Tongue at Lords for the 3rd test

Cardiff 2009. One of the best, most tense, most excruciating Test matches of all time as England’s last wicket pair Anderson and Panesaar held out for an improbable draw. Atherton’s one man defiance of South Africa to secure a draw. Brilliant games that lives long in the memory.

There is a middle way between attack and defence,  all the best teams do it and the best teams would have fought tooth and nail for a draw today. This Bazball England team is  not one of them. 

[chaddyrovers]

stuck in the past way Cricket was played. no one was to boring 5 day test matches anymore

not acknowledging that Cricket has actually moved on from those era and England want to entertained the fans. 

Also no praised of Indian bowlers like Deep and Siraj for their efforts

[jim mk2]

The

6 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

stuck in the past way Cricket was played. no one was to boring 5 day test matches anymore

not acknowledging that Cricket has actually moved on from those era and England want to entertained the fans. 

Also no praised of Indian bowlers like Deep and Siraj for their efforts

The instant gratification generation on display. Pathetic

India's fine bowling (and England's poor bowling) has been noted 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

8 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

The

The instant gratification generation on display. Pathetic

India's fine bowling (and England's poor bowling) has been noted 

They play that way because they lack the technique to play any other way. They try to make a virtue out of a failing. They’ll get well and truly shown up in Australia.

[K-Hod]

There’s more than one way to win a game of cricket and unfortunately, England seem to excel at one and only that, really.

When it works, it’s really effective, when it doesn’t, it seems to lead to very heavy defeats. 

[jim mk2]

It's the rigid mentality of Bazball that's so annoying

Engfland prefer to bat fourth and chase a score but that defies logic when they win the toss, it's a good batting wicket and they put a very good batting team like India into bat first. Then, 1000 runs for India later, refusing to bat for a draw which would have been an excellent achievement equal of any run chase.

And before anyone points to the first Test, India would have won that too if they hadn't dropped so many catches

Then there's the nature of the defeats - absolute thrashings. This 336-run defeat follows the 423-run loss in Hamilton, the nine-wicket thrashing in Rawalpindi, the eight-wicket defeat by a poor Sri Lanka team and the 434-run thrashing by India last February.

It's all or nothing - with no in between. England say they want to follow Strauss's team and become world No 1 - they haven't a prayer playing brainless Bazball cricket

 

[Gav]

Maybe test match cricket isn't your game if you're critical of the Stokes and McCullum era. What we've seen over the past few years is records broken all over the place, some of the best games of test cricket ever witnessed in this country and probably the world. 

Last time i checked, England have won 23 of the 36 Tests they have played under McCullum, having won one of their previous 17 matches before the he took over. 

Of course we should be looking to mix things up at times, the toss at Edgbaston was the wrong decision for me. But we must also acknowledge that our bowling attack isn't great right now, but out batting on the whole is exceptional.

Gone are the days where Boycott blocked up an end for 2 days, scored 30 and we drew the game, times have moved on, the games moved on and frankly I’m loving it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

35 minutes ago, Gav said:

Maybe test match cricket isn't your game if you're critical of the Stokes and McCullum era. What we've seen over the past few years is records broken all over the place, some of the best games of test cricket ever witnessed in this country and probably the world. 

Last time i checked, England have won 23 of the 36 Tests they have played under McCullum, having won one of their previous 17 matches before the he took over. 

Of course we should be looking to mix things up at times, the toss at Edgbaston was the wrong decision for me. But we must also acknowledge that our bowling attack isn't great right now, but out batting on the whole is exceptional.

Gone are the days where Boycott blocked up an end for 2 days, scored 30 and we drew the game, times have moved on, the games moved on and frankly I’m loving it.

If you can’t win, you need to get a draw if you can.  Yesterday we’d no chance of winning. We’ve had players in the past that would have got a draw in that game.  Our current players had no chance.

[Gav]

8 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If you can’t win, you need to get a draw if you can.  Yesterday we’d no chance of winning. We’ve had players in the past that would have got a draw in that game.  Our current players had no chance.

I think you're ignoring the Indian bowling attack, but of course I agree, we should mix it up at times, but yesterday the best side won, on to the next one where hopefully Archer will be available, he's gives something different in attack. 

[jim mk2]

15 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If you can’t win, you need to get a draw if you can.  Yesterday we’d no chance of winning. We’ve had players in the past that would have got a draw in that game.  Our current players had no chance.

What was Smith playing at yesterday? Smashing the ball around the field as if it were a run chase, hits 2 sixes in successive balls then gets out trying to hit a third. Totally brainless in the context of the game and why Bazball is flawed 

[chaddyrovers]

England haven't bowled well enough. We need Archer, Atkinson and Cook back in the team replacing Woakes, Carse and Tongue. 

Smith was batting in his natural way and why shouldn't he do so? Maybe if others around him had stuck around maybe we had save the match but we can't play like defensive way if that not natural to them. Let players play their natural way. 

I didn't the usual people whinging when we won the first test by playing their natural way. People only moaned when we lose tests. They give no credit to India bowlers and batsmen but also the fact that Stokes deciding to bowl first was wrong and McCullum admitted it was the wrong decision. 

1 hour ago, Gav said:

Maybe test match cricket isn't your game if you're critical of the Stokes and McCullum era. What we've seen over the past few years is records broken all over the place, some of the best games of test cricket ever witnessed in this country and probably the world. 

Last time i checked, England have won 23 of the 36 Tests they have played under McCullum, having won one of their previous 17 matches before the he took over. 

Of course we should be looking to mix things up at times, the toss at Edgbaston was the wrong decision for me. But we must also acknowledge that our bowling attack isn't great right now, but out batting on the whole is exceptional.

Gone are the days where Boycott blocked up an end for 2 days, scored 30 and we drew the game, times have moved on, the games moved on and frankly I’m loving it.

deffo agreed there, people are stuck back in the 80's and 90's way of test cricket and its no wonder that people have turned away from 5 days cricket cos of it boring natural when played that way. Some people can't modernised and adapted to the fact the times are changing and people are changing their way, habits and want to be entertained by cricket. Similar to many things in life and way people run their life.  This test was full of good cricket by both sides but India deserved to win. 

How Jim can complained about Stokes and McCullum era when they have winning around 62% percent of test matches is quite baffling but guess you can't pleased everyone in life 

 

Edited July 7 by chaddyrovers

[oldjamfan1]

31 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

What was Smith playing at yesterday? Smashing the ball around the field as if it were a run chase, hits 2 sixes in successive balls then gets out trying to hit a third. Totally brainless in the context of the game and why Bazball is flawed 

Its both difficult to argue with this particular point and also difficult to be too critical of Smith, given the runs he scored in both innings. But in the context of the game it was a pretty dumb way to lose your wicket.

[wilsdenrover]

A boring draw is better than an exciting loss. 

[jim mk2]

So the 1980s and 1990s Test era was not entertaining? Wonderful players such as Botham, Gower, Gooch, etc, Flintoff in the 2000s - really? Those players knew how to attack and they knew how to defend and play cautiously too, when necessary.

Going back to the 60s and 70s, Boycott was a superb technician, without parallel in batting technique, and the master of building an innings and not giving his wicket away.. I used to love watching him battle against the great fast bowlers of the day - Lillee, Thomson, Holding, Marshall and the rest.  And there were dashers then too - Milburn, Dexter, Graveney and others could belt the ball around the ground when needed in Bazball style.

They were great players in the true sense of the word; the likes of Crawley, Pope, Duckett etc wouldn't get in an England 4XI against the players of those eras 

England were underperforming under McCullum's predecessors and the only way was up after those miserable failures. There's been some good wins under him but in the most important series of all, they got it completely wrong

Who can forget 2023 when Stokes's stupid declaration at Lord's gave extra time that Australia made full use of to claim a victory that should never have happened, and in the second Test, when England hooked again and again to fielders in the deep with Lyon off injured and the game at England's mercy. England 2-0 down when they should have been 2-0 up and the Ashes gone

This summer against India and the winter tour down under is the ultimate test of whether Bazball is a success. If England come through and win both series I'll take my hat off. And to be honest I don't care how England do it - as long as we win, because winning (and not losing sometimes) is all that matters.

Entertainment is for children

[jim mk2]

England win toss and bat first (hurrah). Lovely day, perfect for batting. No excuses, time for Crawley, Duckett, Pope and Root to deliver

[47er]

Crawley on 1 and doing his level best to get out. Beaten every ball in current Bumrah over.

[Gav]

Come on Joe Root (The best English batsman ever) its time to deliver 🤣

Looking forward to this, Burmrah being back is a blow, without doubt the best bowler in the world right now.

Come on England.

[jim mk2]

Root failed badly in the last Test. You’re only as good as your last game

[jim mk2]

38 minutes ago, 47er said:

Crawley on 1 and doing his level best to get out. Beaten every ball in current Bumrah over.

He’s charging down the wicket, trying to play T20 shots. When you’re trying to build a big total in a game lasting 5 days.  He might get a big score, he might not. Either way it’s not cricket as we know it (Jim) 

[47er]

Duckett out waving at a ball going down leg-side after doing all the hard work. 43-1.

[jim mk2]

Pope dropped and lucky to survive 1st ball

Since then it's been proper old school cricket,  scoring below 3 an over

 

[K-Hod]

Had my concerns when we went 2 wickets down, but fair play to the lads, they've dug in and are going along nicely.

[wilsdenrover]

Old school

[jim mk2]

That was proper Test cricket today, England carefully building the innings through  Root getting his head down and not playing any silly shots supported by Pope and then Stokes. Pope remains a flawed player, playing daft shots outside the fifth stump when he went in. Crawley is in last chance saloon for me, averaging 30 and about only  18 in the last year of so. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

That was proper Test cricket today, England carefully building the innings through  Root getting his head down and not playing any silly shots supported by Pope and then Stokes. Pope remains a flawed player, playing daft shots outside the fifth stump when he went in. Crawley is in last chance saloon for me, averaging 30 and about only  18 in the last year of so. 

Crawley is never “ in “ to me. He can always get out to the next ball no matter what the score is.