Ashes 17/18 Thread (5 Viewers)

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

There must be a better opener that cook now, he has a decent knock about one in ten now. Anyway on top just need to rack up about 450 inreckon

Not really at the minute the Lions had an abysmal tour in the West Indies.
Still think they hope Hameed finds his first season form again.

Gubbins at Middlesex and Burns are Surrey May be outside bets to be next in line for a go.

 

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[tisza]

He’ll be fine over here this summer.

Starting to wonder whether this is just blind loyalty to Bears players 1st Hain now Woakes.

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Starting to wonder whether this is just blind loyalty to Bears players 1st Hain now Woakes.

Haha
Hain shouldn’t be in the squad but if last seasons white ball form transfers into red ball this year despite being div 2 he has a chance.

 

[tisza]

Haha
Hain shouldn’t be in the squad but if last seasons white ball form transfers into red ball this year despite being div 2 he has a chance.

way Div 1 sides are filling up with Kolpak and overseas batsmen Div 2 might be only option for selectors

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Squad selection tomorrow for the first test.

Vince has just scored an unbeaten double ton on a road so he will be in!

Leach has broken his thumb today.
A shock selection may be the young spinner from Surrey Virdi....

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

Squad selection tomorrow for the first test.

Vince has just scored an unbeaten double ton on a road so he will be in!

Leach has broken his thumb today.
A shock selection may be the young spinner from Surrey Virdi....

Will Woakes be in after playing zero red ball cricket?

 

[tisza]

Will Woakes be in after playing zero red ball cricket?

what is the situation? Moen Ali, Woakes, Stokes, Buttler,Plunkett still in IPL?
Vince's runs came on a flat wicket at Taunton (Somerset's no.10 got 90 odd).

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Will Woakes be in after playing zero red ball cricket?

Probably will but probably shouldn’t be! Not even playing in the IPL for past 3 weeks.

Wood came back early and took 6 wickets today

 

[wingy]

I see Bancroft is being allowed to play again 3 months prior to his bans end.
Some guff about rules being different in WA to those in NSW, with Cricket Australia pleased .

 

[tisza]

Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (capt), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Dominic Bess..

Buttler in as a specialist batsman - not sure about that in Test cricket. This positive approach etc. just hasn't worked in last 2 series.
Bess - haven't really seen him bowl.
Woakes & Stokes any 4 day cricket before Test?
Stoneman just highlights lack of options with openers - no runs this season, just plodded past 50 against NZ a couple of times.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (capt), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Dominic Bess..

Buttler in as a specialist batsman - not sure about that in Test cricket. This positive approach etc. just hasn't worked in last 2 series.
Bess - haven't really seen him bowl.
Woakes & Stokes any 4 day cricket before Test?
Stoneman just highlights lack of options with openers - no runs this season, just plodded past 50 against NZ a couple of times.

Terrible decision to pick Buttler a pick for the press what does it show a young player in county cricket if you don’t even need to play any red ball cricket to get in.

They pick Bess on county form and then Buttler who hasn’t played it’s a stupid decision.

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Butler picked as he found form in the IPL is a joke.

Bess has had a decent ish winter with the Lions and started well couple of tons batting low down.

I guess it’s between Wood and Woakes for the first test.

 

[tisza]

Little surprised ball isn't in there. Has been taking wickets.
Bess taken 1 wicket this season?

 

[tisza]

Pundits lauding Ed Smith's influence for Buttler selection. Likes attacking, exciting cricketers etc.
It's all fine if you have a solid base/score to build on but top of the order just aren't producing that.

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

AB de Villiers with a shock retirement from international cricket, wonder if he will end up at a county!?

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

AB de Villiers with a shock retirement from international cricket, wonder if he will end up at a county!?

Probably Surrey

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Probably Surrey

My first thought!

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

My first thought!

It’s a shame for international cricket, the 20/20 game is destroying the real game

 

[Covstu]

It’s a shame for international cricket, the 20/20 game is destroying the real game

it does need a reform but this 100 ball cricket wasn't needed as limited overs is thriving. You cant attract anyone to county cricket at the moment, the 'stars' aren't turning up so no one is bothered. Being weekdays is also not helping, they need to move it to Thursday to Monday and throw in a night test also.

 

[tisza]

it does need a reform but this 100 ball cricket wasn't needed as limited overs is thriving. You cant attract anyone to county cricket at the moment, the 'stars' aren't turning up so no one is bothered. Being weekdays is also not helping, they need to move it to Thursday to Monday and throw in a night test also.

This is my argument about 4 day cricket.
Never going to make money. Prize money is nothing, difficult to attract sponsors. So accept it for what it is - roughly a "loss leader" that should be used to develop players for other parts of the game.
Calendar so full of limited over cricket can't move it nearer weekends (and makes no financial sense to do so).
So don't fill sides with expensive players who don't quality for the Test side.
Do use it to accelerate the development of young players. If you have a central contract system then don't allow counties to fill those spaces with players who can't qualify for the England teams. I fail to see the purpose of loads of 30yr + Kolpak players filling county sides. Just seeing out their careers on comfortable county contracts without adding value to the game as a whole.
Still depressing as hell ECB/MCC are shipping in young overseas players so that they can qualify for England in 5 years time.
Rant over - real bugbear of mine

 

[Covstu]

This is my argument about 4 day cricket.
Never going to make money. Prize money is nothing, difficult to attract sponsors. So accept it for what it is - roughly a "loss leader" that should be used to develop players for other parts of the game.
Calendar so full of limited over cricket can't move it nearer weekends (and makes no financial sense to do so).
So don't fill sides with expensive players who don't quality for the Test side.
Do use it to accelerate the development of young players. If you have a central contract system then don't allow counties to fill those spaces with players who can't qualify for the England teams. I fail to see the purpose of loads of 30yr + Kolpak players filling county sides. Just seeing out their careers on comfortable county contracts without adding value to the game as a whole.
Still depressing as hell ECB/MCC are shipping in young overseas players so that they can qualify for England in 5 years time.
Rant over - real bugbear of mine

Agree, adding to The issue is that county’s are struggling to stay afloat given low revenues, Northamptonshire nearly went under even Warwickshire have been struggling.

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Puts a bit more meat on the ABD to Surrey bones!

 

[tisza]

Agree, adding to The issue is that county’s are struggling to stay afloat given low revenues, Northamptonshire nearly went under even Warwickshire have been struggling.

this is the point. e.g. Glamorgan take a payment to give up Tests to stay afloat. Then bring in overseas players who are more expensive than domestic ones. They are a lower half Div 2 side who can go on the odd profitable one day run. So use some funds on a couple of decent one day players but don't waste money on 4 day players that aren't cost effective.

 

[tisza]

Following the theme about ECB priorities and county finances can someone explain the logic of having a blank Saturday.
Why is it better to have midweek games and then leave a saturday fixture-free?
Know there's games tomorrow but 2 one-day games in a weekend shouldn't be that big a deal for the players. Competition is split into geographical areas so travel shouldn't be that bad with some planning.

 

[chiefdave]

From what was being said on TMS the new 100 ball competition could take place while country cricket is still ongoing so the counties would lose their best players to the city teams.

How can anyone take the county championship seriously if the best players are missing for weeks, clearly the ECB know this hence the discussion about moving from divisions to conferences with no promotion and relegation.

And how are counties expected to get anyone through the door to watch?

The 100 ball thing increasingly sounds like something they came up with in a brainstorming session and haven't actually planned anything past 'it will be 100 balls'. You can tell whenever they interview someone associated with the ECB that they don't think its a good idea but are towing the official line. The best one was the chap saying England players won't be in it as it will clash with the international program but that didn't matter as these new fans who will be attending won't know who they are anyway. Then you get each team will be assigned a top England player for marketing purposes but they won't play!

 

[tisza]

From what was being said on TMS the new 100 ball competition could take place while country cricket is still ongoing so the counties would lose their best players to the city teams.

How can anyone take the county championship seriously if the best players are missing for weeks, clearly the ECB know this hence the discussion about moving from divisions to conferences with no promotion and relegation.

And how are counties expected to get anyone through the door to watch?

The 100 ball thing increasingly sounds like something they came up with in a brainstorming session and haven't actually planned anything past 'it will be 100 balls'. You can tell whenever they interview someone associated with the ECB that they don't think its a good idea but are towing the official line. The best one was the chap saying England players won't be in it as it will clash with the international program but that didn't matter as these new fans who will be attending won't know who they are anyway. Then you get each team will be assigned a top England player for marketing purposes but they won't play!

beginning of end for England Test cricket.
already too small a pool of players with necessary technique & mentality for longer form of the game.
I don't see any merit in proposed changes (conferences etc.). No strength in argument it would make it more competitive. What are teams playing for if no promotion/relegation?
Can't for the life of me see the merits of a 100 ball format. It's still only around 3 overs less than a 20/20. Some of the Test batting already shows some players can't cope with those 2 formats of the game.

 

[chiefdave]

beginning of end for England Test cricket.

If you were a 14-18 year old coming through now why on earth would you consider playing county cricket or any red ball cricket. Play in empty grounds in meaningless competitions for little money. Or play 20/20 and go round the world making millions.

For me less is more and that start at the top with test cricket. There's way too much. England come off a bad tour and around 50 days later its another test. Now a packed summer where they finish September 11th and start the next overseas game less than a month later.

As for the county championship the ECB need to decide what its purpose is. If its to bring through test cricketers it isn't working. Looking at the list of England players Bairstow, Root and Stokes are really the only genuine test players to come through this decade and the last of them debuted 5 years ago. If it is to stand up as a prestigious competition then they need to reposition it as its an afterthought now. If its as a spectator sport then do something to get people through the doors. Go back to playing around the country and festival cricket.

Then you've got a one day competition that nobody cares about, you can walk up on the day to the final and get tickets. Even Lords have had enough of it and farmed it out to Trent Bridge.

The only competition doing well is Blast. Ticket sales up last year, sales this season currently up on this time last year. Yet now the ECB are undoubtedly going to damage it but having another similar competition.

 

[wingy]

If you were a 14-18 year old coming through now why on earth would you consider playing county cricket or any red ball cricket. Play in empty grounds in meaningless competitions for little money. Or play 20/20 and go round the world making millions.

For me less is more and that start at the top with test cricket. There's way too much. England come off a bad tour and around 50 days later its another test. Now a packed summer where they finish September 11th and start the next overseas game less than a month later.

As for the county championship the ECB need to decide what its purpose is. If its to bring through test cricketers it isn't working. Looking at the list of England players Bairstow, Root and Stokes are really the only genuine test players to come through this decade and the last of them debuted 5 years ago. If it is to stand up as a prestigious competition then they need to reposition it as its an afterthought now. If its as a spectator sport then do something to get people through the doors. Go back to playing around the country and festival cricket.

Then you've got a one day competition that nobody cares about, you can walk up on the day to the final and get tickets. Even Lords have had enough of it and farmed it out to Trent Bridge.

The only competition doing well is Blast. Ticket sales up last year, sales this season currently up on this time last year. Yet now the ECB are undoubtedly going to damage it but having another similar competition.

What you're suggesting really is that The new King of the shortened game has destroyed the long game and test cricket is dying or dead.
It's just a matter of time and Commercially driven.

 

[chiefdave]

What you're suggesting really is that The new King of the shortened game has destroyed the long game and test cricket is dying or dead.
It's just a matter of time and Commercially driven.

I think there's a market for the long game but like with any 'product' you have to give the customer what they want.

With the amount of test cricket, and the cost of tickets, how can you expect to sell out the likes of Lords for the lesser games? International cricket, in all formats, used to be a major event, now its completely over saturated. Pull back and give it room to breathe.

For domestic games a start would be getting out and around the county. When Warwick played at C&NW or Stratford it was sold out, or close to it, every day. Surely thats a better option than playing at an empty Edgbaston. How many potential fans of the longer form are being lost because they never have a chance to see a game these days? If New Zealand can put on Test Matches in a public park we can manage to stage county cricket at regional cricket grounds.