The Official Cricket Thread

[Ovals]

Well that was pretty shady by Hampshire yesterday. The wicket keeper had to have known what he did. Pretty poor.

For those who haven't seen it, the keeper "stumps" the batsman with his left hand while the ball is in his right hand no where near the stumps.

It was a bit of a shocker - hard, if not impossible, to believe that McManus wasn't aware of what he'd done - it was so blatant. Equally surprising that the Umps didn't see what happened. One the most bizarre and disgraceful incidents I've seen. Very embarrassing for Hampshire Cricket - hope they've apologised to Leicester.

[handyman]

72/3 after 11. Linde with his 3rd

Magala's 1st over had 12 deliveries. 3 no balls and 3 wides.

Not a gazelle in the field as well.

[Insane_Homer]

140/9 should be a cruise.

[JM2K6]

As for his form - there'd certainly be questions asked if he wasn't skipper - top score of 28 in his last 10 white ball matches - knocking on a bit now, dodgy back, and not producing the goods - with some very good white ball players snapping at his heels. He'll be gone before the end of this year - academic until then though.

Meh. It's a short run of poor form. They kept faith with Jason Roy for longer.

His last 5 T20 innings have 3 poor ones, but also a 28 off 20 and a 26 off 16 - i.e. doing his job of rapid runs towards the end of the innings. His career batting average in T20s has been very consistent for 6-7 years - he's averaged around 30 since 2014 with no real change. You don't need much more from a middle-order dasher in T20s.

His last 5 ODI innings include 3 starts, a 42, and a century. Nothing to worry about, even though we've de-emphasised ODIs now.

And he's the best limited overs captain we've ever had!

[Ovals]

As for his form - there'd certainly be questions asked if he wasn't skipper - top score of 28 in his last 10 white ball matches - knocking on a bit now, dodgy back, and not producing the goods - with some very good white ball players snapping at his heels. He'll be gone before the end of this year - academic until then though.

Meh. It's a short run of poor form. They kept faith with Jason Roy for longer.

His last 5 T20 innings have 3 poor ones, but also a 28 off 20 and a 26 off 16 - i.e. doing his job of rapid runs towards the end of the innings. His career batting average in T20s has been very consistent for 6-7 years - he's averaged around 30 since 2014 with no real change. You don't need much more from a middle-order dasher in T20s.

His last 5 ODI innings include 3 starts, a 42, and a century. Nothing to worry about, even though we've de-emphasised ODIs now.

And he's the best limited overs captain we've ever had!

And it's that captaincy that really keeps him in the side - and the absence of Hales......................

[JM2K6]

As for his form - there'd certainly be questions asked if he wasn't skipper - top score of 28 in his last 10 white ball matches - knocking on a bit now, dodgy back, and not producing the goods - with some very good white ball players snapping at his heels. He'll be gone before the end of this year - academic until then though.

Meh. It's a short run of poor form. They kept faith with Jason Roy for longer.

His last 5 T20 innings have 3 poor ones, but also a 28 off 20 and a 26 off 16 - i.e. doing his job of rapid runs towards the end of the innings. His career batting average in T20s has been very consistent for 6-7 years - he's averaged around 30 since 2014 with no real change. You don't need much more from a middle-order dasher in T20s.

His last 5 ODI innings include 3 starts, a 42, and a century. Nothing to worry about, even though we've de-emphasised ODIs now.

And he's the best limited overs captain we've ever had!

And it's that captaincy that really keeps him in the side - and the absence of Hales......................

Hales is an opener. They're not in competition at all. Morgan is up against the likes of Livingstone, Duckett, etc. Compare Morgan to the guys in the same position in other teams - like two of Australia's better middle order T20 players, Stoinis and Maxwell - and his record holds up just fine. Seriously, even if he wasn't captain, as a batsman alone his current run of form wouldn't see him dropped.

[Rinkals]

Well that was pretty shady by Hampshire yesterday. The wicket keeper had to have known what he did. Pretty poor.

For those who haven't seen it, the keeper "stumps" the batsman with his left hand while the ball is in his right hand no where near the stumps.

It was a bit of a shocker - hard, if not impossible, to believe that McManus wasn't aware of what he'd done - it was so blatant. Equally surprising that the Umps didn't see what happened. One the most bizarre and disgraceful incidents I've seen. Very embarrassing for Hampshire Cricket - hope they've apologised to Leicester.

I've not seen the latest incident, but I remember an occasion with Haddin whereby Haddin recieved the ball in front of the stumps and deflected it onto the wickets, the batsman subsequently given out bowled. I can't remember who was batting, but it was an ODI against New Zealand.

[Ovals]

Meh. It's a short run of poor form. They kept faith with Jason Roy for longer.

His last 5 T20 innings have 3 poor ones, but also a 28 off 20 and a 26 off 16 - i.e. doing his job of rapid runs towards the end of the innings. His career batting average in T20s has been very consistent for 6-7 years - he's averaged around 30 since 2014 with no real change. You don't need much more from a middle-order dasher in T20s.

His last 5 ODI innings include 3 starts, a 42, and a century. Nothing to worry about, even though we've de-emphasised ODIs now.

And he's the best limited overs captain we've ever had!

And it's that captaincy that really keeps him in the side - and the absence of Hales......................

Hales is an opener. They're not in competition at all. Morgan is up against the likes of Livingstone, Duckett, etc. Compare Morgan to the guys in the same position in other teams - like two of Australia's better middle order T20 players, Stoinis and Maxwell - and his record holds up just fine. Seriously, even if he wasn't captain, as a batsman alone his current run of form wouldn't see him dropped.

He may be an opener - which would simply allow Buttler to move into the middle order - where Morgs currently bats. Purely on batting Morgs wouldn't get in the side ahead of Roy/Hales/Malan/Bairstow/Buttler - then it'd be Stokes. Talking of all rounders - that's what Maxwell and Stoinis are - and Morgan isn't. And Stoinis wouldn't get into the England side either.

[JM2K6]

And it's that captaincy that really keeps him in the side - and the absence of Hales......................

Hales is an opener. They're not in competition at all. Morgan is up against the likes of Livingstone, Duckett, etc. Compare Morgan to the guys in the same position in other teams - like two of Australia's better middle order T20 players, Stoinis and Maxwell - and his record holds up just fine. Seriously, even if he wasn't captain, as a batsman alone his current run of form wouldn't see him dropped.

He may be an opener - which would simply allow Buttler to move into the middle order - where Morgs currently bats. Purely on batting Morgs wouldn't get in the side ahead of Roy/Hales/Malan/Bairstow/Buttler - then it'd be Stokes. Talking of all rounders - that's what Maxwell and Stoinis are - and Morgan isn't. And Stoinis wouldn't get into the England side either.

Well, Morgan's captaincy is the other string to his bow, so comparing him with an all-rounder makes perfect sense.

Morgan is an excellent player in a minor run of poor form. You mention a lot of England players, but Morgan has a better international T20 average than Bairstow, half a run worse than Buttler, *NINE* runs better than Stokes, and 5.5 runs better than Roy. I think you might have dramatically underestimated how good a player he is in the shortest form.

(Malan's record is insane at T20 level, no doubt about it!)

[Muttonbird]

It's just not cricket.

Wickets could become 'outs' and batsmen 'batters', making (a) new tournament more viewer friendly, for example, in a US market already familiar with those expressions through baseball.

Leg before wicket - possibly the most peculiar of cricket rules - may be discarded altogether.

Originally scheduled to start last year, before COVID-19 intervened, the new "Hundred format" competition is a shortened version of the Twenty-20 form, with each team facing 100 balls per innings, changing ends every 10 balls.

Obviously, the traditional six-ball 'over' may become another casualty.

Heard another suggestion cricket will be renamed "hit ball".

Presumably third man will become...


































...third person.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/20 ... ormat.html

[Paddington Bear]

I'm really trying to be supportive of the Hundred. English cricket needs change, the county system won't deliver it, and an injection of cash that brings the best cricketers in the world to England and sticks it on the BBC is fantastic.
With all that said, it does seem like they're trying to deliberately antagonise existing cricket fans. Don't mind them doing so for the letters to the Telegraph brigade, but they weren't going to watch anyway. At some point a cricket tournament does need to appeal to people who already like cricket.

Moreover, this and a few other gimicks are essentially insulting to people's intelligence. They've bet the house on this tournament, and they've outsourced it to PR firms and focus groups.

[Biffer]

I'm really trying to be supportive of the Hundred. English cricket needs change, the county system won't deliver it, and an injection of cash that brings the best cricketers in the world to England and sticks it on the BBC is fantastic.
With all that said, it does seem like they're trying to deliberately antagonise existing cricket fans. Don't mind them doing so for the letters to the Telegraph brigade, but they weren't going to watch anyway. At some point a cricket tournament does need to appeal to people who already like cricket.

Moreover, this and a few other gimicks are essentially insulting to people's intelligence. They've bet the house on this tournament, and they've outsourced it to PR firms and focus groups.

It’s a monstrosity.

[SaintK]

I'm really trying to be supportive of the Hundred. English cricket needs change, the county system won't deliver it, and an injection of cash that brings the best cricketers in the world to England and sticks it on the BBC is fantastic.
With all that said, it does seem like they're trying to deliberately antagonise existing cricket fans. Don't mind them doing so for the letters to the Telegraph brigade, but they weren't going to watch anyway. At some point a cricket tournament does need to appeal to people who already like cricket.

Moreover, this and a few other gimicks are essentially insulting to people's intelligence. They've bet the house on this tournament, and they've outsourced it to PR firms and focus groups.

It’s a monstrosity.

Sounds like it!!!

[Ovals]

Hales is an opener. They're not in competition at all. Morgan is up against the likes of Livingstone, Duckett, etc. Compare Morgan to the guys in the same position in other teams - like two of Australia's better middle order T20 players, Stoinis and Maxwell - and his record holds up just fine. Seriously, even if he wasn't captain, as a batsman alone his current run of form wouldn't see him dropped.

He may be an opener - which would simply allow Buttler to move into the middle order - where Morgs currently bats. Purely on batting Morgs wouldn't get in the side ahead of Roy/Hales/Malan/Bairstow/Buttler - then it'd be Stokes. Talking of all rounders - that's what Maxwell and Stoinis are - and Morgan isn't. And Stoinis wouldn't get into the England side either.

Well, Morgan's captaincy is the other string to his bow, so comparing him with an all-rounder makes perfect sense.

Morgan is an excellent player in a minor run of poor form. You mention a lot of England players, but Morgan has a better international T20 average than Bairstow, half a run worse than Buttler, *NINE* runs better than Stokes, and 5.5 runs better than Roy. I think you might have dramatically underestimated how good a player he is in the shortest form.

(Malan's record is insane at T20 level, no doubt about it!)

So, now you're comparing him with openers/top three - what happened to them not being in competition for his spot in the middle order

Stokes has a slightly disappointing T20I record with bat and ball - but I doubt he'd get dropped to keep Morgs in the side.

It's all academic anyway, because Morgs will still be skipper, and in the side, until the T20 WC is over - he might miss a few more games because of his dodgy back. Hopefully, he'll recover enough form to warrant his spot as a batsman.

He'll certainly need to because our middle order has looked a bit sus recently. If Morgs and Stokes still aren't firing, we're left relying on the likes of all rounders like Curran and Ali. Despite Curran's great knock in the last ODI - it looks a bit fragile after the top order have gone.

It'll be interesting to see if they take Root to the WC - he was our most successful batsman at the last one - even if his strike rate is a bit lower than the others.

Livingstone looked very confident when he played those two ODIs winter. Not sure his bowling is good enough to be considered as a potential all-rounder./occasional bowler

[Insane_Homer]

reminds me of BASEketBall.

they should merge cricket and Polo into a single sport, batters on horses scoring goals with cricket bats!

[JM2K6]

He may be an opener - which would simply allow Buttler to move into the middle order - where Morgs currently bats. Purely on batting Morgs wouldn't get in the side ahead of Roy/Hales/Malan/Bairstow/Buttler - then it'd be Stokes. Talking of all rounders - that's what Maxwell and Stoinis are - and Morgan isn't. And Stoinis wouldn't get into the England side either.

Well, Morgan's captaincy is the other string to his bow, so comparing him with an all-rounder makes perfect sense.

Morgan is an excellent player in a minor run of poor form. You mention a lot of England players, but Morgan has a better international T20 average than Bairstow, half a run worse than Buttler, *NINE* runs better than Stokes, and 5.5 runs better than Roy. I think you might have dramatically underestimated how good a player he is in the shortest form.

(Malan's record is insane at T20 level, no doubt about it!)

So, now you're comparing him with openers/top three - what happened to them not being in competition for his spot in the middle order

Stokes has a slightly disappointing T20I record with bat and ball - but I doubt he'd get dropped to keep Morgs in the side.

It's all academic anyway, because Morgs will still be skipper, and in the side, until the T20 WC is over - he might miss a few more games because of his dodgy back. Hopefully, he'll recover enough form to warrant his spot as a batsman.

He'll certainly need to because our middle order has looked a bit sus recently. If Morgs and Stokes still aren't firing, we're left relying on the likes of all rounders like Curran and Ali. Despite Curran's great knock in the last ODI - it looks a bit fragile after the top order have gone.

It'll be interesting to see if they take Root to the WC - he was our most successful batsman at the last one - even if his strike rate is a bit lower than the others.

Livingstone looked very confident when he played those two ODIs winter. Not sure his bowling is good enough to be considered as a potential all-rounder./occasional bowler

Hey, you were the one who insisted on mentioning all those players! So I thought I'd point out that he's a phenomenal T20 player and a better bat than most of them. It's easy to mix up ODI and T20 success; Morgan is right up there with Buttler as one of our "gun" batsmen, while we hope that ODI success translates for guys like Roy and Stokes.

Root I think is likely to miss out on a starting spot because Malan already plays that role and has a ridiculous average to go with it, but he should definitely make the squad. Curran is a strange one, I really like him and the Indian fans are absolutely terrified of him in the IPL, but his record doesn't quite stand up to scrutiny. I think he's a "big moments" player and I guess we can afford a couple of those in this format.

Of all the promising players outside the main group, I'd say Livingstone has done the most to warrant further examination, but I agree with you about his bowling. Still, at least it's an option. There was a lot of hype around Tom Banton but that seems to have fallen off. Not sure who else aside from Duckett would be on the radar or if there's any genuine dark horses out there. Looking at the vitality blast stats from last season, some of the most impressive performances from EQP came from real oldies, guys in their mid-30s like Laurie Evans and Ian Cockbain. Otherwise you're looking at Bell-Drummond, Eskinazi, or even Zac Crawley. Difficult to pick anyone out as being a real live option to strengthen the side in future.

(Hales averaged 18, btw! But he did well in the PSL, and has been tearing it up in the last couple of seasons in the Big Bash)

[Ovals]

Well, Morgan's captaincy is the other string to his bow, so comparing him with an all-rounder makes perfect sense.

Morgan is an excellent player in a minor run of poor form. You mention a lot of England players, but Morgan has a better international T20 average than Bairstow, half a run worse than Buttler, *NINE* runs better than Stokes, and 5.5 runs better than Roy. I think you might have dramatically underestimated how good a player he is in the shortest form.

(Malan's record is insane at T20 level, no doubt about it!)

So, now you're comparing him with openers/top three - what happened to them not being in competition for his spot in the middle order

Stokes has a slightly disappointing T20I record with bat and ball - but I doubt he'd get dropped to keep Morgs in the side.

It's all academic anyway, because Morgs will still be skipper, and in the side, until the T20 WC is over - he might miss a few more games because of his dodgy back. Hopefully, he'll recover enough form to warrant his spot as a batsman.

He'll certainly need to because our middle order has looked a bit sus recently. If Morgs and Stokes still aren't firing, we're left relying on the likes of all rounders like Curran and Ali. Despite Curran's great knock in the last ODI - it looks a bit fragile after the top order have gone.

It'll be interesting to see if they take Root to the WC - he was our most successful batsman at the last one - even if his strike rate is a bit lower than the others.

Livingstone looked very confident when he played those two ODIs winter. Not sure his bowling is good enough to be considered as a potential all-rounder./occasional bowler

Hey, you were the one who insisted on mentioning all those players! So I thought I'd point out that he's a phenomenal T20 player and a better bat than most of them. It's easy to mix up ODI and T20 success; Morgan is right up there with Buttler as one of our "gun" batsmen, while we hope that ODI success translates for guys like Roy and Stokes.

Root I think is likely to miss out on a starting spot because Malan already plays that role and has a ridiculous average to go with it, but he should definitely make the squad. Curran is a strange one, I really like him and the Indian fans are absolutely terrified of him in the IPL, but his record doesn't quite stand up to scrutiny. I think he's a "big moments" player and I guess we can afford a couple of those in this format.

Of all the promising players outside the main group, I'd say Livingstone has done the most to warrant further examination, but I agree with you about his bowling. Still, at least it's an option. There was a lot of hype around Tom Banton but that seems to have fallen off. Not sure who else aside from Duckett would be on the radar or if there's any genuine dark horses out there. Looking at the vitality blast stats from last season, some of the most impressive performances from EQP came from real oldies, guys in their mid-30s like Laurie Evans and Ian Cockbain. Otherwise you're looking at Bell-Drummond, Eskinazi, or even Zac Crawley. Difficult to pick anyone out as being a real live option to strengthen the side in future.

(Hales averaged 18, btw! But he did well in the PSL, and has been tearing it up in the last couple of seasons in the Big Bash)

Billings still seems to be one of the Selectors favourites for white ball cricket - can't remember whether he's still high in their sights for T20s - his T20I average is quite mediocre.

Banton is unlikely to displace any of the current top 3 or 4 and, as you said, his star has waned a bit recently.

Plenty of time for the guys to find some form - with the Blast and then the abortion that is the 100. Might find a few people getting into the reckoning.

My gut feel is that we probably won't be quite strong enough at the T20 WC.

[handyman]

South Africa 108/1 after 10.4 overs.

Aidan Markram dismissed for 63 runs of 31 deliveries. Janneman Malan still in with 43 of 33.

Have to go big here.

[Insane_Homer]

Malan batting too slow @ 54 of 38 - the other okes are SR of 200+

[Sandstorm]

Malan batting too slow @ 54 of 38 - the other okes are SR of 200+

Linde is annoying!! Huge strike rates and 6s galore in T20 #2 +#3. In T20 #1 he prodded the ball about for a few singles and cost us a great last 2 overs. Plonker!

[Insane_Homer]

2 wkts 8 runs off the last 2 overs have seriously but the brakes on

[Insane_Homer]

203/5 - with that start I suspect we are 20 short of where we should've been.

need to bowl well and pickup wickets.

[Sandstorm]

need to bowl well and pickup wickets.

Let's see how many full-tosses Hendricks can bowl that travel to the fence at crucial times. I reckon 7....

Pakistan by 3 wickets

[Insane_Homer]

72/0 after 7 - Hendriks getting tonked.

[SaintK]

Always though he was one of the good blokes!

Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe Test captain, has been banned from cricket for eight years after passing on betting information and introducing four players to a would-be corruptor in exchange for gifts that included US$35,000 in bitcoin.
The 47-year-old, who won 254 international caps and played county cricket for Warwickshire and Hampshire, accepted five charges under the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption code for offences that took place in 2017 and 2018.

[tabascoboy]

^ disappointing news indeed

[Green light echo]

Thank God he is not an Australian. The outcry from the moral hypocrites would have been a sight to behold.

[Insane_Homer]

Thank God he is not an Australian. The outcry from the moral hypocrites would have been a sight to behold.

lest we forget

[Sandstorm]

Proteas lose again. Rubbish.

[Rinkals]

Drove down to Durban last night and when I got there I was going to check cricinfo to see how they were doing.

The other guys in my hockey team said don't bother, we only scored 140 so it's probably over. I checked anyhow and with 19 overs bowled, Pakistan were needing 15 runs in the last over with seven down. I thought "Fuck, we're in this". Then they check Magala's foot and he's overstepped on the last ball of the previous over. Free hit. What does he do? Fucking oversteps again and gets hit for 6. Fucking idiot.

There's huge competition for the Dumbest Protea, Sandy.

[SaintK]

Thank God he is not an Australian. The outcry from the moral hypocrites would have been a sight to behold.

lest we forget

Touche

[Sandstorm]

Drove down to Durban last night and when I got there I was going to check cricinfo to see how they were doing.

The other guys in my hockey team said don't bother, we only scored 140 so it's probably over. I checked anyhow and with 19 overs bowled, Pakistan were needing 15 runs in the last over with seven down. I thought "Fuck, we're in this". Then they check Magala's foot and he's overstepped on the last ball of the previous over. Free hit. What does he do? Fucking oversteps again and gets hit for 6. Fucking idiot.

There's huge competition for the Dumbest Protea, Sandy.

So we should be looking at the bowling coach.

[Rinkals]

Drove down to Durban last night and when I got there I was going to check cricinfo to see how they were doing.

The other guys in my hockey team said don't bother, we only scored 140 so it's probably over. I checked anyhow and with 19 overs bowled, Pakistan were needing 15 runs in the last over with seven down. I thought "Fuck, we're in this". Then they check Magala's foot and he's overstepped on the last ball of the previous over. Free hit. What does he do? Fucking oversteps again and gets hit for 6. Fucking idiot.

There's huge competition for the Dumbest Protea, Sandy.

So we should be looking at the bowling coach.

I don't think the bowling coach has much to do with Magala overstepping.

In fact, considering they were defending 140-odd, the bowling was pretty good.

[Saint]

England restructure their selection committee, Ed Smith is out, Chris Silverwood now has ultimate responsibility

[Rinkals]

Some on here may be interested in reading Niel Manthorpe's cricket writing.

Why the IPL will never be cancelled…

England’s ECB have a different but similarly compelling reason for allowing their star players to miss the first two months of the domestic season and at least the first Test match of the English summer, against New Zealand.

If quarantine restrictions still apply at the end of May they will miss both Tests against New Zealand. All because they cannot afford, literally and metaphorically, to raise the ire of the BCCI by insisting that Jos Buttler return home early. India are the main tourists for the summer and the income from the five Test series will off-set the £200 million loss the ECB made in last year’s crowd-less, Covid-hit season.

That there are so many English and Australian cricketers at the IPL is especially gauling for South Africans considering England’s refusal to play three ODIs at the end of last year following two positive cases of Covid amongst the hotel staff within the bio-secure bubble. Australia cancelled their three-Test tour because South Africa was experiencing around 1000 cases of the virus per day during a second wave and a ‘South African variant’.

Cricket Australia cited an “unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players.” In India currently, world record numbers of positive tests, and deaths, are being reported daily - over 400,000 and over 3000 respectively. Many respected sources indicate the real figures are probably significantly higher.

It is important not to judge retrospectively. England’s players were jittery and so were the Australians, that must be respected. It is, however, extremely hard to ignore the conclusion that large amounts of cash can sooth frayed nerves.

[JM2K6]

Somewhat different scenarios, no? CA and the ECB have direct control over the national teams when they're touring, but do not have direct control over the IPL and what their players - who are contracted to the teams in the IPL - do once they're there. If England or Australia were due to play ODIs in India and didn't cancel them, it would be a fair comparison.

[Sandstorm]

Somewhat different scenarios, no? CA and the ECB have direct control over the national teams when they're touring, but do not have direct control over the IPL and what their players - who are contracted to the teams in the IPL - do once they're there. If England or Australia were due to play ODIs in India and didn't cancel them, it would be a fair comparison.

I won’t comment on fairness until Rinky has his say.

[Paddington Bear]

The timing of Rinkals' post is weird given the English players had literally left the IPL.

[Rinkals]

The timing of Rinkals' post is weird given the English players had literally left the IPL.

The timing is due to Manthorpe's article coming out.

@JMK, I think what he's saying is that the players (and their boards) are willing to risk being exposed to covid if there is enough money involved.

However, you're right in that the BCCI have the resources to make the bio-secure environment work; it's just that it was about twenty times more ambitious with eight teams and stadia in multiple cities. As Graeme Smith says, these bubbles aren't foolproof and I don't think it surprised anyone when the bubble burst.

The South African version was just two teams in a single location, the difference, of course being money: there isn't as much.

[Biffer]

Somewhat different scenarios, no? CA and the ECB have direct control over the national teams when they're touring, but do not have direct control over the IPL and what their players - who are contracted to the teams in the IPL - do once they're there. If England or Australia were due to play ODIs in India and didn't cancel them, it would be a fair comparison.

The only way they could get players to sign central contracts was to put clauses in allowing them to play in the IPL.