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Post by newby on Feb 17, 2024 19:52:46 GMT
Having watched the highlights I'm even more disappointed with England who seem to have had probably their direst day of Test cricket yet under Stokes.
I enjoyed the innings of Duckett but not much else, indeed nothing else.
England have been taken on quite a ride, and despite all the hype and the thrills, it's getting a little uncomfortable now.
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Post by newby on Feb 18, 2024 14:17:29 GMT
Horrendous fourth and final day for England. I doubt they have learned anything from the cricket, but I hope they have learned to keep Ben Duckett away from the media.
4th Test in just a few days and not much spare ammo in the box.
They will need to replace Wood and should probably replace Bairstow, but they probably won't.
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Post by donnylad on Feb 18, 2024 15:57:20 GMT
Awful.
I wonder who they will persuade/encourage/force to do the press but after this shambles?
If they had any cahones it would be Won Key, Baz and Stokes, all saying the sane thing : "we were rubbish, we don't really want to be here, we haven't planned this at all, we just wanted the money".
It looks like we got Stokes - make your own mind up on these key points.
"We wanted to push the game on as much as we could. Did anyone see any evidence of that? Does pushing on when the oppo are 40 for 4 include dross bowling, brainless fields? Sometimes game plans don't work out That is when a captain and a coach and senior players dig in and do something different - they didn't. Read these two together ..... Everyone has got a perception and opinion..... The people in the dressing room are the opinions that really matter to us. So you lot can eff off we get paid whatever we do and we have got a golf day tomorrow. We leave this game behind us and know we have to win the next two games to win the series." Masterful strategy .......Ben.
So it becomes clear ... not a hint of admission that just maybe things were not executed correctly ...... a clear hint that only 'us lads' matter ..... a duffer's suggestion for the rest of the series.
Memo to Joe and Jonny .... pack yer bags and get back 'ere and play for YCC. Two reasons - neither of you are really making the grade at the moment and you could lead the team to win summat this season.
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Post by newby on Feb 18, 2024 19:11:36 GMT
You can fool some of the people some of the time etc etc. I think that's a fair summary of where we are, the lunatics are running the asylum and they have the safe key.
I fear there is a way to run yet before a crack team of psychologists and psychiatrists can be assembled to wrest back control.
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Post by newby on Feb 19, 2024 20:11:09 GMT
Bairstow has been given the backing of his captain so it looks like he will get another chance. Some question of Joe not being 100% but I think they will want him to play. They won't want any critics getting the idea that they are even listening, let alone taking action.
It's the bowling that worries me most. Wood isn't fit enough to play back to back games so somebody has to come in, two if Anderson is struggling as well. That would be Robinson and/or Atkinson I suppose.
No real choice but to stick with Ahmed and Hartley, both very expensive but Bashir is more so.
I don't have a hat, but if England win, or even get close in the last two tests, I would eat it.
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Post by davemorton on Feb 19, 2024 23:14:29 GMT
Disappointing, because at close pf play, day 2, we were level, if not slight favourites (though I would tend to back runs on the board).
Then we chucked away wickets for no reason. Joe was the culprit, and this after dropping the catch that had cost us, perhaps 200 runs. Why would a player who has scored thousands of runs against the best bowlers in the world, by batting properly, suddenly start playing funky premeditated shots?
Has he had enough? Retirement pending? Burn out, mental health, all this stuff? It is human to get hacked off with your job, especially when it's done in the goldfish bowl of professional sport.
Meanwhile, two fresh Indian rookies have been making batting look easy...and fun!
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Post by karma on Feb 20, 2024 7:48:30 GMT
Disappointing, because at close pf play, day 2, we were level, if not slight favourites (though I would tend to back runs on the board). Then we chucked away wickets for no reason. Joe was the culprit, and this after dropping the catch that had cost us, perhaps 200 runs. Why would a player who has scored thousands of runs against the best bowlers in the world, by batting properly, suddenly start playing funky premeditated shots? Has he had enough? Retirement pending? Burn out, mental health, all this stuff? It is human to get hacked off with your job, especially when it's done in the goldfish bowl of professional sport. Meanwhile, two fresh Indian rookies have been making batting look easy...and fun! I haven't seen Joe Root's shot but I've read plenty of criticism and it sounds terrible. I think though there is a belief in the England Team and from the coach and Captain down that it's bazzball 'at all costs' . Maybe Joe's defence is 'I was only following orders' but everyone will say 'but you are a World class batsman and can vary your shots to fit the changing situation'. Obviously we're not party to instructions given to players going out to bat. I think it wrong to blame Joe for every thing though (I know you are not Dave) there are after all 10 other players Am I a lover of bazzball ? Not for every occasion.I do recall a brilliant shot by Joe at Trent bridge V New Zealand a couple of years ago , a reverse sweep six! Incredible .brilliant .It came off .If he's been caught it would be not so clever.
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Post by newby on Feb 20, 2024 19:54:29 GMT
Jasprit Bumrah rested for the fourth Test starting on Friday. I still don't give England a chance but the odds may have come down a little.
I love watching his bowling action, it looks so wrong but works so right.
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Post by newby on Feb 21, 2024 9:10:28 GMT
Now it seems Ben Stokes is likely to do some bowling in the 4th Test. I'm not sure if his fitness has improved quicker than the original prognosis, or perhaps it's an act of desperation with our bowling options a trifle limited.
Listening to Stokes, Pope, McCullum it seems they do think they can get something out of these next two games. Of course it would be no good them going into the games with any other mindset. Whether it's real or for show only they will know.
I can't see it myself, but that puts me somewhere I don't really want to be.
Good luck to them, I honestly would be delighted to be proved wrong.
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Post by karma on Feb 22, 2024 16:22:53 GMT
" I've not seen a pitch like this , there are lots of cracks"
So went the headline in today's paper. Of course nobody knows how it will play until balls are bowled.
" Dark and crumbly quite a few cracks in it" " It looks like an interesting pitch"
"The pitch looks drier than you would expect this close to a Test but the cracks run down one side of the cut strip, so that at one end a left-hander might find himself dealing with rough outside his off-stump, whereas a right-hander would not; and vice-versa"
I was worried for a moment that the condition of the pitch might have got inside the batsmen's head.
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Post by newby on Feb 22, 2024 16:53:47 GMT
England team: Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Foakes, Hartley, Robinson, Bashir, Anderson.
Anderson about 4 wickets short of 700 in Tests, I'd be surprised but delighted if he got them this game. As you say the pitch adds a bit of intrigue and it seems to be baffling the England camp. Are the Indians equally baffled I wonder.
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Post by davemorton on Feb 22, 2024 18:29:41 GMT
Dark and crumbly, with cracks. Sounds like a ginger biscuit.
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Post by newby on Feb 23, 2024 8:37:23 GMT
Sounds like there is some proper old school cricket going on at the moment in tricky conditions. Pleased to see Joe Root back with some runs and YJB at least got a start.
We have a long tail so we need every run this partnership can squeeze out.
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Post by davemorton on Feb 23, 2024 11:48:28 GMT
Good to see Joe Root back in the England team, his twin brother non-cricketer having been sent packing. I can't work out this pitch at all. Minefield becomes featherbed!
So much to enjoy. India have unearthed their fourth talented new player of the series. England in Deep trouble! What a pace attack Bumrah, Shami and Deep will make, if and when they all appear together!
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Post by slowleftarmer on Feb 23, 2024 13:00:05 GMT
not sure I saw one scoop or reverse sweep from Joe today, just good old fashioned sensible batting. Also helped by not being knackered from a long bowling stint before having to bat too.
Some other nice cameos from Bairstow and Foakes plus a a bit of thump from Robinson at the end.
Ahmed now returned home for personal reasons too. It seems to be a bit of a catch all for a baby being due, a family illness or mental health challenges. Hope all ok with Rehan and his family
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