Phil & Browny's Cricket Thread

[The Doctor]

There was that one time in Doctor Who when the TARDIS landed in the middle of a cricket match for about a minute.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

First England player to carry his bat for 20 years. First time an Englishman has carried his bat in an Ashes game since Boycott's 99* in the 79/80. Highest score by a player carrying their bat.

[browny87]

yeah pretty insane figures, felt a bit for Anderson but we aren't bowling well as it stands

[browny87]

what a damp ending (literally) to the entire test

[Philip Ayres]

Root's in hospital with severe dehydration

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42599472

[browny87]

was a depressing result

[Philip Ayres]

So what do we make of the ball tampering scandal?

I don't think the three that have been charged and banned are all that's involved by a long way....

[Andy Turnbull]

Oh good lord no.

You don't get players suddenly deciding to do that off their own back, absolutely no question that coaching staff and I suspect Lehman knew what was going on. Whether they instigated it or not is another matter.

Thing is, now you have to ask, was it the first time?

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Lehmann at the very least spotted what was going on and tried to cover it up:

www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22932540/smith-warner-bancroft-leave-south-africa

The ball-tampering incident took place during the afternoon session on day three of the Cape Town Test and was picked up on by TV cameras. A small, yellow object was seen in Bancroft's hands after he had worked on the ball, and he was also captured taking it from his pocket and placing it down his trousers. The footage showed Bancroft rubbing the rough side of the ball, the opposite side to which he would usually be trying to shine on his trousers. He put the object down his pants after being spoken to by the substitute Peter Handscomb, who had come on to the field after speaking to coach Darren Lehmann over a walkie talkie. Lehmann seemed to speak to Handscomb after footage of Bancroft working on the ball was shown on the TV screens at the ground.

As one of my colleagues put it

Sooooo… Cricket Australia say the following, and expect us to believe it.

1. The "leadership group", which in December of last year consisted of four or five players and was said at that time to include Starc, Smith and Warner, along with one name I can't recall but may have been Hazelwood, now only contains two players.

2. Those two players took it upon themselves to concoct a plan, without anyone else's knowledge, and then chose to include the least experienced player in the team in the scheme, instead of senior players like …. Starc. Or Lyon.

3. That nobody else knew, when as someone said on tv the other day, every member of the fielding side has to be on the same page when it comes to handling the ball and trying to get it to reverse, to ensure players don't work on the wrong side of the ball to shine it and keep it dry (see point five.

4. Darren Lehmann knew nothing, when he was caught on camera apparently telling the 12th man to go out onto the field to get Bancroft to hide the tape (or bit of plastic, which seems more likely)

5. That these three players, none of whom is a bowler, decided for the first time ever, to work on the ball to get it reversing. Without telling any of the bowlers what they were doing. Bowlers who handle and polish the ball constantly, so would therefore need to know so they didn;t negate the work that was being done by polishing the side the cheats were roughing up!

Sounds credible that.

Add to this that Bancroft was clearly lying when he spoke about using tape to try to get "granules" off the pitch to rub into the ball and that after Lehmann's intervention, apart from hiding the evidence he then misled the umpires with the whole sunglasses case thing.

I hope the pressure cracks this wide open and the real truth comes out, and they're not allowed to get away with a whitewash by their own fans. If I was Warner, for example, and I knew I'd been hung out to try I would blow the lid off it. He can only come out of this well if he does so, and he can sod off around the world playing T20 for big money once the stink dies down. And if he tells the whole truth of it, he could come out of this really nicely. Far better than Smith and Lehmann and CA anyway.

and

A couple of points raised by another forum ...

1. Warner has had the padding on his hand for a while now, but oddly, only for test matches:


as opposed to T20:


Must be the warmer weather in India that performs this miraculous recovery.He also doesn't have that support on his hands while batting

2. As he has such horrifically damaged hands, why is he the one with responsibility for shining the ball?

A bonus thought is that it's a modern miracle that he's such a great fielder with such a damaged hand.

[Philip Ayres]

Cricket Australia Statement:

[Philip Ayres]

England squad for 1st Test v Pakistan.

Cook
Stoneman
Malan
Root
Bairstow (wk)
Stokes
Buttler
Bess - never heard of him, OB at Somerset, www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/646847.html
Broad
Wood
Anderson
Woakes

At least they dumped Vince. Not sure the Buttler call up is right, not sure Bess is right at all, I'd have recalled Moeen.

[browny87]

Bess is half decent, I understand the moeen drop he either does one or the other and has been very ineffective recently so I do understand that. having said all that I'm very nervous that we will leave bess as 12th man and play with no spinner,

although it is England so 4 seamers should work

[Shockprowl]

WHAT RHYMES WITH CRICKET?


OTHER THAN WICKET?

[Grand Moff Muffin]

May 18, 2018 16:53:36 GMT Shockprowl said:

WHAT RHYMES WITH CRICKET?


OTHER THAN WICKET?

Ticket
Picket
Thicket
Stick it
Trick it
Nick it
Prick it
Flick it

And if that doesn't work, put some ointment on it.

Martin

[Philip Ayres]

Lord's Masterplan: designs for Compton and Edrich stands unveiled

www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/23711097/designs-compton-edrich-stands-unveiled

Struggling with this one, I can remember Compton & Edrich going up. In particular I can recall Kapil hitting 6's into the building works. But that was 28 years ago....

[browny87]

saw your twitter post mate, its an interesting modernisation isn't it!!

[Andy Turnbull]

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/44431264

I'll just post this here...

[Philip Ayres]

Anything can happen in Cricket! Looked a top game

[browny87]

he batted really well

[browny87]

good start so far today, im actually at Edgbaston with the old man tomorrow for the day so should be good fun

[Philip Ayres]

Hundred for Cook in his final innings! Hasn't scored a run all summer and now this!

[Philip Ayres]

BBC: Can you name all Test debutants since Cook's first cap?

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/46078324

I got 36/58

[Pinwig]

Illegal post! Cricket doesn't exist in November!

[Philip Ayres]

First test, SL vs E starts tomorrow in Galle. First without Cook since 2006, hence the quiz.

[Pinwig]

Outrageous. Wish I could just bugger off to the Indian Ocean.

[Philip Ayres]

Caribbean in the spring

[Philip Ayres]

Cgrats to SL for becoming the first of the Asian teams to win a test series in SA!

[Philip Ayres]

Banger's calling it a day at the end of the Championship season.

www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27067024/marcus-trescothick-retire-end-county-championship-season

One of the very best batsmen I ever saw for England. I can remember seeing him bat in his first ODI and thinking "Oh yes, you've got it" and he had, and then some. With Michael Vaughan, half of my favourite England opening partnership. They were just so good batting together. Such a shame he had to pack international cricket in early.

[browny87]

he was my hero, as a fellow leftie i used to love watching him, saw him get 3 centuries in his career it was class!

[Stomski]

I don't care much for cricket, but I just walked past a luxury coach with 'Australia Cricket Team' labelled on the front outside a hotel.

Did not see any players.