Cricket: More Than a Game

What the hell did he expect?

Let's see if Bairstow can contribute now. My gut feeling is that they've missed a trick by not giving Morgan the next shout, though, just based on number of caps that he could bring to the table. But if Bairstow comes off, he cements his place in the side... Tough call.

Yeah, Bairstow has never really impressed me, but he's obviously got mates in the selection setup.

Complaining about disharmony in the dressing room while potting your team mates via text messages to the opposition.

Nice work KP.

Tickets didn't pan out.

Just for a laugh, I looked on Stubhub, and the cheapest available are in the Compton Stand for £152/ticket. Guess I'm not going!

Wow, and they still sell at those prices? Test tickets here are cheap, most options would cost you between £5 and 10.

Supply and demand.

I'm surprised how little demand there is for test tickets in South Africa. Even the boxing day fixture looks poorly attended from what I've seen. When was there last a full house for a cricket match of any kind?

Haakon7 wrote:

Tickets didn't pan out.

Just for a laugh, I looked on Stubhub, and the cheapest available are in the Compton Stand for £152/ticket. Guess I'm not going!

Might be cheaper on one of the later days, particularly if it looks like there's not going to be a result. Of course that depends on whether you are going to be in London all weekend.

Bruce wrote:

Supply and demand.

I'm surprised how little demand there is for test tickets in South Africa. Even the boxing day fixture looks poorly attended from what I've seen. When was there last a full house for a cricket match of any kind?

Not sure, 50 over and 20 over games do well if they're on the weekend, don't know if they sell out though. Tests aren't that popular and most would rather watch from home or work.

Sad fact is cricket just isn't as popular as I'd like. Thanks to the legacy of the old days it's still considered a White sport and it's less accessible than rugby so hasn't made fans among Black folks while Whites seem to be drifting away. Getting my fiance interested has been an uphill battle. although she did look interested when I dragged her to last year's Boxing Day test.

davet010 wrote:

Might be cheaper on one of the later days, particularly if it looks like there's not going to be a result. Of course that depends on whether you are going to be in London all weekend.

Yeah, might be. But I'm playing on Saturday (and maybe Sunday if I can convince her that her parents should come to ours for dinner instead of us to theirs for lunch...)

I'm working from home tomorrow, though, so it'll be most of the day in front of coverage.

Game's been all over the place, I'd say it's ours to lose now.

I, for one, welcome our new test match overlords.

I have a total man crush on Steyn, Morkel and Philander and Amla goes about it so well.

Lunch and it looks like Bairstow is trying to save the match single handed. Haven't actually seen him play, just watching a feed as I work, but so far he seems like a solid player.

Monster chuckles at Skunk - decided to play for Surrey against his old county Hampshire at Hampshire (old in the sense that he was theoretically playing for them, he rarely if ever bothered after 2005).

Booed onto the pitch as he came out to bat, and I mean properly booed. One golden duck later, cue massive cheers.

"It was a good ball that got Pietersen, pitching middle-and-leg and hitting off stump," said BBC Sport's Steve May.

"But it was greeted as though Southampton had won the Champions League and the FA Cup at the same time - 50- and 60-year-old people standing up and cheering with their arms in the air."

Hahahahahha! Most excellent.

You know, I have no bitterness towards him for going where the opportunity was, but he's such an arrogant prick.

Well, credit to England, especially Bairstow, Prior and Swanny for making a game of it. When Prior was let off the hook with that no ball I nearly shat a brick.

But we're number 1 baby!

Excellent series, I wish we'd played 5 rather than having 3 against the Can't-be-Arsed Indies.

Could have been closer but for a couple of dropped catches and two very poor run outs. Just a shame that the attention-seeking dickhead decided to make an arse of himself by trying to negotiate his contract status through the media. Time for one tedious thing that no one gives a sh*t about (KP) to join another farce no one gives a sh*t about (the IPL - the only people who really care about it are the Indian tax authorities).

Where does all that IPL money come from? Surely TV rights alone can't make up the millions they seem to be (mostly) paying to the players.

Aussie TV networks don't even bother with it any more. They showed the first 2 series but I think I'm a typical viewer in that I started out curious and rapidly stopped giving a sh*t about it.

I think each of the franchises is effectively run by an Indian tycoon, who effectively uses it as a tax loss - hence the keen interest of the taxman.

Hey guys, nearly 3 days since this awesome news broke and no discussion? Wow, you don't know how lucky you are! Hahahahahhaha!

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Hey guys, nearly 3 days since this awesome news broke and no discussion? Wow, you don't know how lucky you are! Hahahahahhaha!

Yeah. Hopefully he comes back and plays sh*te, better than having him cast as a martyr by dicks like Botham.

Proper cricket has started in the Southern Hemisphere.

A matching for batting so far with the usual suspects getting among the runs as well as a debut ton for Cowan.

Looks like we blew the game a bit here. 22 no-balls! Not too much chance of a result though.

Blimey, how come the Aus v SA game is being played at Adelaide - the ground looks like 75% of it is being scrapped and rebuilt.

Woke up to a better situation, but a stupid soft run out has caused a problem. :/

I can't believe how well Clarke has been playing, he's really blossomed.

davet010 wrote:

Blimey, how come the Aus v SA game is being played at Adelaide - the ground looks like 75% of it is being scrapped and rebuilt.

Probably the last chance for a game on a proper pitch, looks terrible though.

Adelaide will start hosting AFL games through the winter soon and so an upgrade to seating capacity was required.

One session to go an 5 wickets required while a couple of bull-headed guys keep us at bay. Runs do not necessarily add to excitement. The tension of today's play is a direct opposite to runs or wickets flowing. Gripping contest.

I feel sorry for poor Wade. Seems like every time I look at the TV he's dropping a catch. Not that I'm complaining.

I'm pleased for Du Plessis, he's been waiting in the wings of the test team for ages good to see him take this opportunity. And Kallis is such class, hanging around while injured.

Just a little while longer.

That was an epic knock from Du Plessis.

2 great test matches so far in this series. Perhaps the Aussies will rue the lost day in Brisbane although I'm not convinced they could have pressed their advantage enough given what I saw this week.

I am prepared to give Wade a little more time to adjust to Test Cricket. Haddin would have dropped it too and probably let a few more byes through. At least Wade might learn.

And how good is it to have test cricket back to the fore front again. AUS v SA, ENG v IND and WI v BAN all at the same time.

Good win for England as well. Just loved Gambhir shaking his head after being given out LBW on a ball that he nicked. Maybe if India had agreed to adopt DRS...oh that's right, you'd still have been back in the hutch after Aleem Dar missed the most obvious bat-pad you'll ever see a couple of overs earlier.

There are few things that give me a schadenfreude-gasm than an Indian sooking about an umpires decision when they refuse the DRS. I wish them several howlers per match that they must choke down.