The Official Cricket Thread

[handyman]

Proteas vs Bangladesh
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ODI series

1st ODI: Friday, 18 March - SuperSport Park, Centurion (13:00 - D/N)

2nd ODI: Sunday, 20 March - Wanderers, Johannesburg (10:00 - D)

3rd ODI: Wednesday, 23 March - SuperSport Park, Centurion (13:00 - D/N)

Test series

1st Test: Thursday, 31 March to Monday 04 April - Kingsmead, Durban (10:00)

2nd Test: Friday, 08 April to Tuesday, 12 April - St George's Park, Gqeberha (10:00)
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Proteas ODI squad against Bangladesh:

Temba Bavuma (captain, Lions), Keshav Maharaj (vice-captain, Dolphins), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper, Titans), Zubayr Hamza (Western Province), Marco Jansen (Warriors), Janneman Malan (Paarl Rocks), Aiden Markram (Titans), David Miller (Dolphins), Lungi Ngidi (Titans), Wayne Parnell (Western Province), Andile Phehlukwayo (Dolphins), Dwaine Pretorius (North West Dragons), Kagiso Rabada (Lions), Tabraiz Shamsi (Titans), Rassie van der Dussen (Lions), Kyle Verreynne (Western Province)

Still no Nortje, but at least no Magala.

[OomStruisbaai]

Only Janneman from Boland. Boucher didn’t watch any T20s. There are a lot of passengers in that squad.

[Thor Sedan]

England win the toss and bat on what is widely regarded to be a flat pitch.

Probably the best away tour that England could hope for after the Ashes nightmare. A good chance for some of the batters to get in and rediscover some form.

[Paddington Bear]

This side is absolutely pathetic. Can't even be bothered to watch this.

[Biffer]

England win the toss and bat on what is widely regarded to be a flat pitch.

Probably the best away tour that England could hope for after the Ashes nightmare. A good chance for some of the batters to get in and rediscover some form.

What was that you were saying?

[Thor Sedan]

This side is absolutely pathetic. Can't even be bothered to watch this.

And miss a Root and Lawrence masterclass?!?!

[Thor Sedan]

England win the toss and bat on what is widely regarded to be a flat pitch.

Probably the best away tour that England could hope for after the Ashes nightmare. A good chance for some of the batters to get in and rediscover some form.

What was that you were saying?

Still stands - best destination for an English cricket reset - against a team that has struggled for the last decade or so.

[Paddington Bear]

England win the toss and bat on what is widely regarded to be a flat pitch.

Probably the best away tour that England could hope for after the Ashes nightmare. A good chance for some of the batters to get in and rediscover some form.

What was that you were saying?

Still stands - best destination for an English cricket reset - against a team that has struggled for the last decade or so.

And yet they always thump us over there.

[JM2K6]

England win the toss and bat on what is widely regarded to be a flat pitch.

Probably the best away tour that England could hope for after the Ashes nightmare. A good chance for some of the batters to get in and rediscover some form.

What was that you were saying?

Still stands - best destination for an English cricket reset - against a team that has struggled for the last decade or so.

You're not even remotely aware of our record in the Caribbean are you

[OomStruisbaai]

Root gone. Bad left

[Biffer]

What was that you were saying?

Still stands - best destination for an English cricket reset - against a team that has struggled for the last decade or so.

You're not even remotely aware of our record in the Caribbean are you

Or that this West Indies team is potentially very good. Some cracking young players coming through.

[Thor Sedan]

What was that you were saying?

Still stands - best destination for an English cricket reset - against a team that has struggled for the last decade or so.

You're not even remotely aware of our record in the Caribbean are you

I'm not looking at that. I'm looking at 2 struggling sides - at the moment. I just thought England might see this as an opportunity to get some form in against opposition that perhaps are looking at the same thing.

But obviously so far that hasn't been the case.

[Insane_Homer]

48/4

[SaintK]

48/4

off to the usual start then?

[OomStruisbaai]

57/4 at lunch.

[Insane_Homer]

48/4

off to the usual start then?

Tier 1
I thought this cripple fight might be entertainingly well balanced, but I'm not so sure now.

[OomStruisbaai]

West Indies quicks fired up.

[Slick]

This is where I fell in love with cricket on the 2004 tour. 2 months of touring the West Indies watching cricket, as a job. Wonderful memories.

[Torquemada 1420]

This side is absolutely pathetic. Can't even be bothered to watch this.

If anyone can implode faster than Eng, it's the Windies these days.

[OomStruisbaai]

Bairstow unbeaten ton. England well set on 263/6.

[Glaston]

Bairstow unbeaten ton. England well set on 263/6.

You jest?

Last time I looked it was heading for a score comparable to the one on Atherton's watch.

[Biffer]

Bairstow unbeaten ton. England well set on 263/6.

You jest?

Last time I looked it was heading for a score comparable to the one on Atherton's watch.

Good afternoon session from Bairstow and Foakes.

[Woddy]

So pleased that Foakes finally gets picked and stays uninjured for a tour. Best wickie by miles and averages about the same as Butler and Bairstow.

But why did Bairstow have to bat one down the order from normal? We should have had Stokes, Foakes and Woakes in sequence to make the English Oaks at the centre of the team.

[handyman]

I wish we could have a go at England now.

[OomStruisbaai]

I wish we could have a go at England now.

In July. They'll thump us

[handyman]

I wish we could have a go at England now.

In July. They'll thump us

3 ODI's, 3 T20's and 3 Tests.

Can't wait.

[Biffer]

So pleased that Foakes finally gets picked and stays uninjured for a tour. Best wickie by miles and averages about the same as Butler and Bairstow.

But why did Bairstow have to bat one down the order from normal? We should have had Stokes, Foakes and Woakes in sequence to make the English Oaks at the centre of the team.

Yeah, great to see Foakes doing well. As you say, best keeper by a street, and a very long street at that.

I have a natural bias as a former burly wicketkeeper, that keeping is an under appreciated art. Particularly where you have a high quality spinner, a keeper gets you wickets that one of these clowns who are just a batsman with a pair of gloves on will miss. Someone who keeps all the time is also much more used to reading different batsmen and seeing weaknesses in technique. There’s a joy in watching really good keeping and I hate that it’s been marginalised. All too often when you see a ‘great’ catch by a keeper nowadays it’s because they’ve got bad technique but they’re great athletes, and a genuinely good keeper would have made the catch very easily - the one by the WIndies keeper yesterday is a perfect example, didn’t read the possibilities of the delivery and the batsman’s first movement properly and ended up going to his right when it was only ever going to come straight to him or get an inside edge to his left.

[Big Nipper]

I wish we could have a go at England now.

In July. They'll thump us

I did not know there could be worse takes on cricket than those of Handyman, but this takes the cake

[Thor Sedan]

Turned out to be a pretty good day for England. Obviously the top order is still an issue - but the middle order is still reasonably solid. JM2K6 must be fairly spitting with disappointment that it was Bairstow riding in on his white horse to rescue the day.

Judging by some of the chat from commentators - this target is likely to be a pretty good one with the Windies batting being the main area of concern rather then their bowling.

Think England will get minimum 300 from here.......after a disaster start they are getting themselves into a pretty good position.

Looks like Leach might be a huge part of the game come bowling time. Batty saying he saw him absolutely ripping it sideways on the practise pitch (right next to the main pitch).

[OomStruisbaai]

I wish we could have a go at England now.

In July. They'll thump us

I did not know there could be worse takes on cricket than those of Handyman, but this takes the cake

England at home is a different team. Not to long ago that same team and players destroyed us at home.

As a decent cricketer you should know that form is temporarily, class permanently.

But then you concentrate on vokken poster abuse, so go fuck yourself.

[JM2K6]

Turned out to be a pretty good day for England. Obviously the top order is still an issue - but the middle order is still reasonably solid. JM2K6 must be fairly spitting with disappointment that it was Bairstow riding in on his white horse to rescue the day.

Judging by some of the chat from commentators - this target is likely to be a pretty good one with the Windies batting being the main area of concern rather then their bowling.

Think England will get minimum 300 from here.......after a disaster start they are getting themselves into a pretty good position.

Looks like Leach might be a huge part of the game come bowling time. Batty saying he saw him absolutely ripping it sideways on the practise pitch (right next to the main pitch).

Yes, very grumpy. Fair fucks to him though, he gutsed it out and used up about 17 lives in the process. The frustrating thing about Bairstow is that he was briefly world class and really had the potential to become a genuine great Test bat for England, but he fell apart and never fixed the problems with his game (or his mentality) either. Can't argue with his last two Tests though, and no matter what I think about him in comparison to other top quality batsmen, he's miles better than most batsmen available to England, so...

Very pleased about Foakes. He's not going to destroy teams but he knows how to bat and he's a phenomenal keeper. It's insane that he was dropped. His list of innings: 107, 37, 19, 65*, 13, 36* (all Sri Lanka), 2, 5, 35, 13 (West Indies - dropped after this!!), 42*, 2, 12, 8, 1, 13 (India - dropped again), 42 (West Indies, current)

He's never played in a good England team and he's never played at home, always in challenging conditions. No faith was shown in him at all.

[JM2K6]

In July. They'll thump us

I did not know there could be worse takes on cricket than those of Handyman, but this takes the cake

England at home is a different team. Not to long ago that same team and players destroyed us at home.

As a decent cricketer you should know that form is temporarily, class permanently.

But then you concentrate on vokken poster abuse, so go fuck yourself.

Hey Oom I don't think anyone's gonna argue that class isn't permanent but uh how much class is in that England team? Maybe 3 players right now? 4 if you consider Woakes a home-grounds specialist?

[Thor Sedan]

Turned out to be a pretty good day for England. Obviously the top order is still an issue - but the middle order is still reasonably solid. JM2K6 must be fairly spitting with disappointment that it was Bairstow riding in on his white horse to rescue the day.

Judging by some of the chat from commentators - this target is likely to be a pretty good one with the Windies batting being the main area of concern rather then their bowling.

Think England will get minimum 300 from here.......after a disaster start they are getting themselves into a pretty good position.

Looks like Leach might be a huge part of the game come bowling time. Batty saying he saw him absolutely ripping it sideways on the practise pitch (right next to the main pitch).

Yes, very grumpy. Fair fucks to him though, he gutsed it out and used up about 17 lives in the process. The frustrating thing about Bairstow is that he was briefly world class and really had the potential to become a genuine great Test bat for England, but he fell apart and never fixed the problems with his game (or his mentality) either. Can't argue with his last two Tests though, and no matter what I think about him in comparison to other top quality batsmen, he's miles better than most batsmen available to England, so...

Very pleased about Foakes. He's not going to destroy teams but he knows how to bat and he's a phenomenal keeper. It's insane that he was dropped. His list of innings: 107, 37, 19, 65*, 13, 36* (all Sri Lanka), 2, 5, 35, 13 (West Indies - dropped after this!!), 42*, 2, 12, 8, 1, 13 (India - dropped again), 42 (West Indies, current)

He's never played in a good England team and he's never played at home, always in challenging conditions. No faith was shown in him at all.

I did think you'd be sitting there reluctantly clapping and grinding your teeth.....Bairstow seems to play best when he comes back from being dropped. He scores big for a few innings - then tails off - gets dropped - gets recalled and scores big again - then tails off - rinse and repeat.

Was Foakes dropped or was it the 'sock incident' that curtailed his career?

[JM2K6]

Turned out to be a pretty good day for England. Obviously the top order is still an issue - but the middle order is still reasonably solid. JM2K6 must be fairly spitting with disappointment that it was Bairstow riding in on his white horse to rescue the day.

Judging by some of the chat from commentators - this target is likely to be a pretty good one with the Windies batting being the main area of concern rather then their bowling.

Think England will get minimum 300 from here.......after a disaster start they are getting themselves into a pretty good position.

Looks like Leach might be a huge part of the game come bowling time. Batty saying he saw him absolutely ripping it sideways on the practise pitch (right next to the main pitch).

Yes, very grumpy. Fair fucks to him though, he gutsed it out and used up about 17 lives in the process. The frustrating thing about Bairstow is that he was briefly world class and really had the potential to become a genuine great Test bat for England, but he fell apart and never fixed the problems with his game (or his mentality) either. Can't argue with his last two Tests though, and no matter what I think about him in comparison to other top quality batsmen, he's miles better than most batsmen available to England, so...

Very pleased about Foakes. He's not going to destroy teams but he knows how to bat and he's a phenomenal keeper. It's insane that he was dropped. His list of innings: 107, 37, 19, 65*, 13, 36* (all Sri Lanka), 2, 5, 35, 13 (West Indies - dropped after this!!), 42*, 2, 12, 8, 1, 13 (India - dropped again), 42 (West Indies, current)

He's never played in a good England team and he's never played at home, always in challenging conditions. No faith was shown in him at all.

I did think you'd be sitting there reluctantly clapping and grinding your teeth.....Bairstow seems to play best when he comes back from being dropped. He scores big for a few innings - then tails off - gets dropped - gets recalled and scores big again - then tails off - rinse and repeat.

Was Foakes dropped or was it the 'sock incident' that curtailed his career?

He was dropped after WI in 2019, but would likely have played against NZ in 2021 (having toured India) had he not been injured. But given they refused to even consider him after that, I reckon it's fair to say that was also a dropping as he didn't even make it to Australia as cover, and was just in the Lions.

[OomStruisbaai]

I did not know there could be worse takes on cricket than those of Handyman, but this takes the cake

England at home is a different team. Not to long ago that same team and players destroyed us at home.

As a decent cricketer you should know that form is temporarily, class permanently.

But then you concentrate on vokken poster abuse, so go fuck yourself.

Hey Oom I don't think anyone's gonna argue that class isn't permanent but uh how much class is in that England team? Maybe 3 players right now? 4 if you consider Woakes a home-grounds specialist?

6 players add Broad and its 7.

We are England's bitches in tests. Haven't won a test series since 19 voertsek.

[Big Nipper]

England at home is a different team. Not to long ago that same team and players destroyed us at home.

As a decent cricketer you should know that form is temporarily, class permanently.

But then you concentrate on vokken poster abuse, so go fuck yourself.

Hey Oom I don't think anyone's gonna argue that class isn't permanent but uh how much class is in that England team? Maybe 3 players right now? 4 if you consider Woakes a home-grounds specialist?

6 players add Broad and its 7.

We are England's bitches in tests. Haven't won a test series since 19 voertsek.

Good grief, we won 2 of our last 3 tours to England

[Biffer]

Turned out to be a pretty good day for England. Obviously the top order is still an issue - but the middle order is still reasonably solid. JM2K6 must be fairly spitting with disappointment that it was Bairstow riding in on his white horse to rescue the day.

Judging by some of the chat from commentators - this target is likely to be a pretty good one with the Windies batting being the main area of concern rather then their bowling.

Think England will get minimum 300 from here.......after a disaster start they are getting themselves into a pretty good position.

Looks like Leach might be a huge part of the game come bowling time. Batty saying he saw him absolutely ripping it sideways on the practise pitch (right next to the main pitch).

Yes, very grumpy. Fair fucks to him though, he gutsed it out and used up about 17 lives in the process. The frustrating thing about Bairstow is that he was briefly world class and really had the potential to become a genuine great Test bat for England, but he fell apart and never fixed the problems with his game (or his mentality) either. Can't argue with his last two Tests though, and no matter what I think about him in comparison to other top quality batsmen, he's miles better than most batsmen available to England, so...

Very pleased about Foakes. He's not going to destroy teams but he knows how to bat and he's a phenomenal keeper. It's insane that he was dropped. His list of innings: 107, 37, 19, 65*, 13, 36* (all Sri Lanka), 2, 5, 35, 13 (West Indies - dropped after this!!), 42*, 2, 12, 8, 1, 13 (India - dropped again), 42 (West Indies, current)

He's never played in a good England team and he's never played at home, always in challenging conditions. No faith was shown in him at all.

Bairstow is frustrating but at least, unlike many others we could point at, he's made the effort to change his game and approach for red ball cricket. Unlike so many others he's prepared to drop anchor and take 250 balls to score a ton. Most of the batsmen who've been in and out of the side have some sort of fit if they're not scoring at a run a ball.

Foakes batting record is still probably better than some of the guys chosen purely as batsmen tbh.

[OomStruisbaai]

Hey Oom I don't think anyone's gonna argue that class isn't permanent but uh how much class is in that England team? Maybe 3 players right now? 4 if you consider Woakes a home-grounds specialist?

6 players add Broad and its 7.

We are England's bitches in tests. Haven't won a test series since 19 voertsek.

Good grief, we won 2 of our last 3 tours to England

Good grief that was 10 years ago.

[Woddy]

Turned out to be a pretty good day for England. Obviously the top order is still an issue - but the middle order is still reasonably solid. JM2K6 must be fairly spitting with disappointment that it was Bairstow riding in on his white horse to rescue the day.

Judging by some of the chat from commentators - this target is likely to be a pretty good one with the Windies batting being the main area of concern rather then their bowling.

Think England will get minimum 300 from here.......after a disaster start they are getting themselves into a pretty good position.

Looks like Leach might be a huge part of the game come bowling time. Batty saying he saw him absolutely ripping it sideways on the practise pitch (right next to the main pitch).

Yes, very grumpy. Fair fucks to him though, he gutsed it out and used up about 17 lives in the process. The frustrating thing about Bairstow is that he was briefly world class and really had the potential to become a genuine great Test bat for England, but he fell apart and never fixed the problems with his game (or his mentality) either. Can't argue with his last two Tests though, and no matter what I think about him in comparison to other top quality batsmen, he's miles better than most batsmen available to England, so...

Very pleased about Foakes. He's not going to destroy teams but he knows how to bat and he's a phenomenal keeper. It's insane that he was dropped. His list of innings: 107, 37, 19, 65*, 13, 36* (all Sri Lanka), 2, 5, 35, 13 (West Indies - dropped after this!!), 42*, 2, 12, 8, 1, 13 (India - dropped again), 42 (West Indies, current)

He's never played in a good England team and he's never played at home, always in challenging conditions. No faith was shown in him at all.

Bairstow is frustrating but at least, unlike many others we could point at, he's made the effort to change his game and approach for red ball cricket. Unlike so many others he's prepared to drop anchor and take 250 balls to score a ton. Most of the batsmen who've been in and out of the side have some sort of fit if they're not scoring at a run a ball.

Foakes batting record is still probably better than some of the guys chosen purely as batsmen tbh.

I'm with JM2K6 re Bairstow. 2015 (?) vs McCullum's Black Caps, he was top-class and I thought destined to take on the traditional English weakness at No.3. But then he seemed to develop a barn door between bat and pad, which some pundits blamed on him trying to improve his short-form batting and clear his leg out the way for big hitting. And he never really came back from that, except to the sporadic good innings on recall before going bad again. He also seemed to feel entitled to be in the team and threw tantrums if anyone else kept wicket; which seemed ironic given how long his first run of bad form was before he got dropped, with the feeling that as Root's bezzie mate he was getting special treatment.

Anyway, pleased he's back in good form now. We need anyone who shows a willingness to stick at the crease, using lives or otherwise.

Never understood why Foakes was dropped. Proper keepers are massively undervalued imo. There should be an estimate of runs they save behind the stumps and have that added to their batting average to give their net benefit to the team. I'd bet he'd come our well on top of Bairstow and Buttler (who I always really rated, and despite a good series or two with the bat, was just as frustrating as Bairstow).

[JM2K6]

England at home is a different team. Not to long ago that same team and players destroyed us at home.

As a decent cricketer you should know that form is temporarily, class permanently.

But then you concentrate on vokken poster abuse, so go fuck yourself.

Hey Oom I don't think anyone's gonna argue that class isn't permanent but uh how much class is in that England team? Maybe 3 players right now? 4 if you consider Woakes a home-grounds specialist?

6 players add Broad and its 7.

We are England's bitches in tests. Haven't won a test series since 19 voertsek.

7?!

Root. Stokes. Maybe Bairstow (who is playing well right now, but averages mid-30s). Anderson. Broad. Who else is class?