Cricket thread

[Bonefish Blues]

TMS Pod's worth listening to today - a very sober and balanced view I thought.

 

[Pross]

So, have the complaints about the wicket stopped now?

No, preparing a wicket that results in a Test ending in two days is stupid and does nothing to help the future of Test cricket. In the modern game the players are more than capable of delivering results without bad pitch preparation.

 

[Pross]

I do have to acknowledge the openers who managed to give us a good platform for the first time this series.
So well done England and I hope the IOC investigate the pitch.

Not sure the International Olympic Committee will be bothered (unless they get given backhanders to investigate).

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Listening to TMS one one of the BBC Sports channels, the coverage continued with Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers. The Australian commentators mentioned that the seam on the Kookaburra was raised slightly 2 1/2 years ago in an attempt to change the balance slightly in favour of the bowler but they still haven't found the right balance with the pitch preparation. Still, if as @Bonefish Blues has said, they went from a 7mm cut to 10mm, the adjustment was way too far.

Yes, the 10mm was much too green. It was clearly a deliberate choice to favour Australia's superior bowling but backfired rather spectacularly. The daft thing is, Australia have clearly been far superior, and would likely have won on a proper pitch. I think there was a degree of arrogance that even if Australia had low scores they would still skittle us cheaply and win. In reality a pitch like that was always going to be a crapshoot

 

[geocycle]

Yes, the 10mm was much too green. It was clearly a deliberate choice to favour Australia's superior bowling but backfired rather spectacularly. The daft thing is, Australia have clearly been far superior, and would likely have won on a proper pitch. I think there was a degree of arrogance that even if Australia had low scores they would still skittle us cheaply and win. In reality a pitch like that was always going to be a crapshoot

You may well be right but England can always get 4 decent seamers out with enough control on a helpful pitch. What we aren’t good at is getting the most out of flat fast wickets and we haven’t selected a credible spinner. In a chaotic match I’d back our batsmen as they thrive on that situation.