Random Cricket Thread (International Cricket)

[braveneutral]

I thought it was quite an achievement.

[Aidan11]

Broad on the board.

Or is it Board on the Broad?

[braveneutral]

A bit like the scores with George Dawes.

[Peter Lanky]

Whether it was an achievement or not, the concept is silly. It reminds me of when the children were young and earned certificates for swimming. If for example they swam 1000m, then the local authority tried to get us to pay for the interim certificates, of which they were told to go forth and multiply. If somebody can swim 1000m, then of course they can swim 250m, 500m and so on, so the accolade is somewhat pointless, as is being credited for taking 5 in an innings when you have taken 10 in a match.

Of course if this had happened at anywhere else other than the centre of the universe, it wouldn't have even been mentioned.

[Arthur Crabtree]

For braveneutral about Northants ground.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... intcmp=239

[Gingerfinch]

Whether it was an achievement or not, the concept is silly. It reminds me of when the children were young and earned certificates for swimming. If for example they swam 1000m, then the local authority tried to get us to pay for the interim certificates, of which they were told to go forth and multiply. If somebody can swim 1000m, then of course they can swim 250m, 500m and so on, so the accolade is somewhat pointless, as is being credited for taking 5 in an innings when you have taken 10 in a match.

Of course if this had happened at anywhere else other than the centre of the universe, it wouldn't have even been mentioned.

A bit like saying you've scored a double ton if you hit 175 in one innings and 25 in another.

[braveneutral]

Ah thanks, a good article Arthur. I had heard about the buying of the ground, but the article was very nice. Poor bloke gets a lot of stick about almost everything though.

On the Broad honours thing, 5wi and 10wm have always been classifications that are used, so slightly different to aggregate runs in a match which is not really used.

[Peter Lanky]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the sight of Gayle routinely punting balls into the crowd for 6, while standing with both feet rooted to the ground, somewhat underwhelming. I enjoy much more the sight of a 5'6" player weighing 10 stones doing the same thing (with foot movement of course) as a result of good timing. Maybe I'm old fashioned.

I don't want to know any scores or qualifiers by the way as I'm a few days behind in viewing.

[Peter Lanky]

It was a pleasant surprise to see Farokh Engineer being interviewed during the IPL. I couldn't believe how much weight he's put on since his playing days. However he still comes over as the extremely articulate and knowledgeable man who helped nurture my love of cricket in my childhood.

[Peter Lanky]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/18241318

I would guess that this sort of story will start to become more common. As these well publicised 'names' realise that they can earn a lifetime's wealth by playing a few weeks of IPL they will cease to be interested in less high profile, lower paid English competitions. Turning the story round, I can't see why counties can't be satisfied with entering a competition with their normal team and winning it on merit rather than gambling on the possibility of getting more runs/wickets by parachuting in a celebrity. If attracting celebrities to cricket is the only answer, then it is a sad day for the game.

[Making_Splinters]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/18241318

I would guess that this sort of story will start to become more common. As these well publicised 'names' realise that they can earn a lifetime's wealth by playing a few weeks of IPL they will cease to be interested in less high profile, lower paid English competitions. Turning the story round, I can't see why counties can't be satisfied with entering a competition with their normal team and winning it on merit rather than gambling on the possibility of getting more runs/wickets by parachuting in a celebrity. If attracting celebrities to cricket is the only answer, then it is a sad day for the game.

It's a bit of a doubled edged sword, the MCC stumped up funds for Middlesex to have Gilly available for home games the season before last for the T20 as it would hopefully boost ticket sales.

At the end of the day with so much international cricket being played these days, the time where Counties had their own oversea's global star for the season be it Viv at Somerset etc etc are long gone unless it is a player who won't make the Test teams ala Cosgrove or Prince and so if the only regular opportunityfans are going to get to see these names is during the T20 is it a bad thing to have them their.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Just read that Caddick, Gough and Fraser never played in the same England side. Didn't know that. How strangely shocking.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Any old pros out there? I was wondering about England not taking wickets with a very old ball. Is there a case that by getting the ball to deteriorate quicky to get reverse as soon as possible, often in 15 overs, the ball will be more of an utter rag in overs 60-80, than if the ball had been preserved to swing conventionally for longer? Therefore the very old ball becomes useful for wicket taking purposes.

[greyblazer]

Worshipping Tendulkar as God.

https://twitter.com/#!/MI_sHERRY

[dan08]

If you missed 'The Hansie Cronje Story' on BBC Radio 5 Live last night then you can still listen to it.

Listen to it on BBC iPlayer (with news breaks though) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... nje_Story/

Listen to the podcast (without news breaks) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/5l ... ayepisode1

It's 2 hours long and i found it very interesting and learnt many new things about Hansie.