Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: God help me - the Cricket thread (Read 1379208 times) previous topic - next topic
Thryleon and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1950 –
Weak as piss.

Renshaw....wtf!?!
Head.... great no. 5, not an opener's a-hole.
Marnus....finished (sh#t decision btw).
Green... Can't concentrate for more than about an hour before a mistake.
Connolly...not test standard in anything, another Bailey masterclass in wishful thinking.
Hazelwood...finished.  Toothless bowling and contributes nothing with the bat
The cliff has arrived.
DrE is no more... you ok with that harmonica man?

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1951 –
Quote from: Professer E – on
Weak as piss.

Renshaw....wtf!?!
Head.... great no. 5, not an opener's a-hole.
Marnus....finished (sh#t decision btw).
Green... Can't concentrate for more than about an hour before a mistake.
Connolly...not test standard in anything, another Bailey masterclass in wishful thinking.
Hazelwood...finished.  Toothless bowling and contributes nothing with the bat
The cliff has arrived.

You don’t think that Marnus’s two runouts will save him from the chop Prof? 🙄

We’re stuffed if one of our four bowlers has a bad day.  We desperately need an all rounder who can bowl long spells and take wickets.  A couple of batting all rounders who can bowl to Test batsmen would be handy too.

As for the batting, imagine if we had a couple of batsmen with sound technique and an unwillingness to give their wicket away 🤔
"Negative waves are not helpful. Try saying something righteous and hopeful instead." Oddball

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1952 –
Quote from: DJC – on

As for the batting, imagine if we had a couple of batsmen with sound technique and an unwillingness to give their wicket away 🤔
You can see the point I've been making about the 1 in 5 men, I suspect it's a type of laziness driven by a lack of motivation, they do not want to work too hard, and then do just enough to hang around the squad when threatened.

The whole scenario is unfolding as outlined when IPL was first launched, the only thing the BCCI got wrong was how lazy their own crew turned out to be. The BCCI thought that courtesy of the biased rules their own lot would still be driven enough to top the table in all versions of the sport, nepotism and privilege wasn't going to be a barrier to global domination. But instead they manufactured a bunch of "Bling Billionaires" who are even lazier than the rest of the world, more Bollywood than peak sport, and the thing that has suffered is test cricket.
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1953 –
Hopefully, we selectors can get their act together and select a team that is fit for purpose.

[1] Specialist openers in form.
I don't mind if head moves down, as it gives him a better chance of not going out early.

[2] No Marnus until he finds real form.
To be honest, it is all in his head. Watch play Shield or other cricket and he is a different player. But until he gets his head straight, he is not worth his spot. I don't care if it takes multiple seasons, but he isn't an option until he gains his self-belief.

[3] Middle Order
Don't expect Steve Smith to be everything. He isn't going to be around for much longer.

[4] Work on techniques:
Bugger 20-20, if the test team is to prosper, we need to get the batsmen working on their technique so they don't go out as soon as the ball starts moving. If they don't have the right technique, then they have to prove they can bat in poor conditions, because they are going to get them!

[5] Fast bowling needs to be regenerated:
Depending on our bowlers to win every game is fraught with danger. Our 3 present quicks have done it all, but none of them is getting any younger. Boland didn't deserve to be dropped, but he isn't young either. We need the next generation of top bowlers and we need to blood them before they have to come.

[6] Spinners:
This is a conundrum I don't see an easy answer to: spin bowlers in Australia don't prosper because our pitches don't wear to others do. We have some up-an-comers, but none of them looks like the next star spinner we need. Nathan Lyon has been excellent, but he is also near the end: he doesn't scare oppositions. We really need to put a lot of time into generating decent spinners, so India simply can't throw a crap wicket and we fold.
Live Long and Prosper!

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1954 –
Nathan Lyon   44   10   101   2
Simon Harmer   21.1   14   16   6

that's where the match was won and lost.    lyon not up to it on a deck ragging sideways........

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1955 –
David Warner wasn't impressed with our batting; “It is terrible. It is un-Australian. There is no fight whatsoever. It is disgraceful.“

While I tend to agree, I can't help but think about the number of times Warner gave up his wicket cheaply and/or through poor shot selection.
"Negative waves are not helpful. Try saying something righteous and hopeful instead." Oddball

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1956 –
Quote from: Milhanna13 – on
Nathan Lyon   44   10   101   2
Simon Harmer   21.1   14   16   6

that's where the match was won and lost.    lyon not up to it on a deck ragging sideways........
Except thanks to winning the toss and bowling,  Harmer had a fifth day pitch, Lyon didn't.

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1957 –
Quote from: dodge – on
Quote from: Milhanna13 – on
Nathan Lyon   44   10   101   2
Simon Harmer   21.1   14   16   6

that's where the match was won and lost.    lyon not up to it on a deck ragging sideways........
Except thanks to winning the toss and bowling,  Harmer had a fifth day pitch, Lyon didn't.

Harmer did take four wickets in our first innings giving him 10 for 120 to Lyon's 4 for 124 for the match.  Of course, Harmer did have the advantage of some inept batting.
"Negative waves are not helpful. Try saying something righteous and hopeful instead." Oddball

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1958 –
The hypocrisy in cricket circles surrounding allegations of ball tampering is astounding.

England had it's own brand of boiled lollies selected by the team because it delivered a superior shine. The business that made them grew off the back of the legend to the point it began exporting. If I recall they even had a TV Ad in the 60s or 70s extolling the use of their lollies!

Zinc cream and sunblock are the mainstay of pretty much any non-spin bowler.

Teams weak in pace or swing bowling would practise drills throwing the ball into the pitch from the outfield to accelerate the ageing and benefit the spinners.

One international team even practised the side arm throw to ensure the rough side would be facing down, which is ironic if you consider which team that was in regarding the allegations being made.

In the old days, back when soft drinks or beer came in bottles with press fit caps, some suburban clubrooms would have a deposit tin somewhere to collect the bottle caps as part of a "fundraiser!"

Suburban cricketers, where teams supply their own match balls for play, some would store new balls in zip locked in bags it the deep freezer.

One international team for a period of time had scourer pad material sewn into the official club whites, "For the purposes of hand cleaning!"

The modern lip balm industry would have collapsed without cricket, in the post war 60s and 70s it was domain of Brylcreem, fighter pilot one day, fast bowler the next!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1959 –
Things are looking ugly for Australian cricket at the moment. The sandpaper thing refuses to go away, even 8 years on. I wonder if ANY of the players from that team will survive.

What we did was wrong, pure and simple, but how many others have done something similar and escaped unscathed? If you look at cricket around the world, reverse swing seems to have disappeared. Balls haven't changed that much, nor have wickets. I wonder what has changed ...
Live Long and Prosper!

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1960 –
I was listening to Boof Lehmann on the wireless and his comment about Khawaja's claims was along the lines; publishers usually write into the contract a requirement to create a controversy when the book is released.

That may be all there is to the latest version of the story but, in Khawaja's favour is the fact that elite bowlers would know the intricate details of the ball's entire surface and would detect any change between overs or balls.

I'd like to think that only three players were involved, and I accepted that at the time, but I'm finding it harder to accept that the bowlers weren't aware if not complicit.
"Negative waves are not helpful. Try saying something righteous and hopeful instead." Oddball

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1961 –
Quote from: crashlander – on
Things are looking ugly for Australian cricket at the moment. The sandpaper thing refuses to go away, even 8 years on. I wonder if ANY of the players from that team will survive.
We've been at the top of the tree for a long time, there is a big desire globally to give us a kicking, but it's fueled by hypocrisy.

I honestly do not know how the loudest critics of the qualified mob manage to keep a straight face when launching jibes.

Boiled lollies, bottlecaps, scotch bright, zinc cream, lip balm, brylcreem, none of them were Aussie inventions, most of them were brought back domestically after tours of county cricket. That's not to say we didn't have domestic equivalents, just that we were not alone.
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1962 –
"Usman Khawaja’s Book To Be Released in Paperback, Hardback and Sandpaperback Formats"

Stolen from The Shovel.
 

Re: God help me - the Cricket thread

Reply #1963 –
Quote from: PaulP – on
"Usman Khawaja’s Book To Be Released in Paperback, Hardback and Sandpaperback Formats"

Stolen from The Shovel.

Pre-orders come with your very own sheet of sandpaper. "Just like the real thing".