Cricket: More Than a Game

Particularly on a spinner's wicket with a load of bat pad and LBW appeals.

Oh man, someone who doesn't watch cricket will never understand the satisfaction of a hard earned draw. Very pleasing stuff.

Nice to see Michael Clarke gracious about the result when interviewed, unlike the hamster.

And a good one for England, it's getting competitive at the top.

Indeed not - who could forget Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar's last wicket stand at Glamorgan in the 2009 Ashes ? After the Brigadier's superb innings came to an end, watching the hands of the clock crawl round and the cheers when England nicked into the lead and more time went off the clock was fantastic.

Hamster ?

Thanks for reminding me about fvcking Cardiff Dave

Even the most jingoistic Aussies are applauding du Plesis this morning. That was a quality knock.

I worry that Siddle won't be able to back up in time for Perth. He left nothing out there, nudging 140 in the last overs of the day was impressive.

This is the best series we've had in years. Matches ebbing and flowing like proper test matches should.

davet010 wrote:

Hamster ?

Ponting. He looks like a rodent storing food in its cheeks, I could never stand him.

Makes you wonder why we didn't give Monty a game in the first Test.

I forget whether it was Athers or Gower, but someone said what I was thinking: 'We out India-d India.'

MrDeVil909 wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Hamster ?

Ponting. He looks like a rodent storing food in its cheeks, I could never stand him.

Ah, Punter.

Good day's play at Perth, except for one thing. Someone has decided that them cameras on wires above the play (a la NFL) are a good idea, so the 'spidercam' view is occasionally shown. All well and good, except the thing is wobbling and it's making me queasy. Good job it's morning rather than post pub, although I suppose if I was wobbling at the same frequency it'd look rock-steady

Now I know why India don't want decision review. Yuvraj had 3 lives, so let's hope the umpires are as conservative about LBW decisions when England bat.

Sort of on-topic, given that he thinks he could still play for Australia, but what the f**k does Shane Warne look like these days ? His head seems to have changed shape, and he's wearing eyeliner, by the looks of it. No wonder he's living in London, he'd probably be burnt at the stake in Oz...

Seriously, I know you're giving it to Liz Hurley, but you look more feminine that she does, and it's not like she's butch.

Warnie is the quintessential CUB or Cashed Up Bogan. There are plenty of guys who look up to him and others who look at him and shake our heads wondering what has happened to that genius cricketer. (Guess which group I fall into.)

The talk of his "test return" came down to him saying that yes he would pick up the phone if Michael Clarke called. No one really thinks he could seriously return to the top level and some recent T20 form showed that. He needs to keep playing to keep his profile up as no one in Aus gives a sh*t about poker or his clothing lines.

And well done England and especially the Chef. I am really surprised it has taken this long for an Englishman to reach 23 tons.

Yeah, I was surprised as well, particularly when I looked at how many centuries players from other nations had gotten. Still, I guess it comes down to a couple of things.

1. Relatively fewer tests series played in the pre-WW2 periods, when there were fewer nations playing and travel made touring much more difficult.

2. England being pretty poor for large periods of my cricket watching life, not many of the sides between 1975 and 1995 were much cop.

I reckon Cook has a few more in him too. He might push up near the top of that list.

I've finally got to watch some extended highlights of the SA tour. Amla is playing a different game from everyone else. Just great to watch.

Well done to Kumar Sangakara for reaching 10000 test runs.

He got a well deserved standing ovation from the MCG crowd today. Class all round.

Yeah, he's one of the greats. I like the spirit of cricket supporters, even those for opposing teams will give credit where it's due for milestones.

On another note: I should be at my traditional boxing day test today, but CSA decided on a 20/20 match in the middle of nowhere instead. :/

Blimey, all the voices of my youth are going down.

First Tony Greig, who was England captain when I first started watching cricket before he was vilified for walking out on the team to take Packer's dollars. I was never as enamoured of him as a commentator (thought he was quite dull and prone to prostrating himself before Border and Ponting), but his record as an all-rounder was surprisingly good.

Also today has seen the passing of Christopher Martin-Jenkins, for many years the voice of Test Match Special as well as a fine cricket writer and commentator.

RIP both of them.

Yeah, just heard about CMJ. Huge loss to cricket, and to TMS in particular. He will be missed.

Rough also about Tony Greig, but I didn't really have the shared history with him.

It wasn't really shared history, more a matter of timing - the first series I ever remember watching with my dad was the 1976 home series when he (Greig, not my dad) said that he was going to make the WI 'grovel'. The racist overtones that some detected in that were overblown - Greig was genuinely misunderstood, but England were battered 3-0, and were lucky to get 0.

As you say, for all Greig's purported impact on the game through WSC, C M-J will be the bigger loss for the cricket fan.

That's fair enough. (I wasn't alive at the time, so that plays a part, too.)

Very much like me watching the Cardinals in the '85 NL Championship Series. That is one of the earliest memories I've got of watching sports with my father, and one of the first series where I cared what the outcome was.

CM-J struck me as one of the men who valued the rules and traditions of the game, but he wasn't backward about it (BCCI-style). Cultured tone on TMS and he had a good grasp of the ebb and flow of the drama in each Test, which made him a pleasure to listen to. I didn't realize he had such a role at Middlesex, but it does stand to reason.

Tony Grieg is one the 3 primary voices of televised cricket in Australia (along with Bill Lawry and Richie Benaud).

Packer really looked after him for rounding up the English contingent for WSC with a job for life and the ability to flog scamorabilia during the main broadcast.

I only discovered CMJ as part of the internet age and streaming the broadcast.

WOW!!! What an amazing day in Cape Town.

Philander's 5 for 7, Steyn's 300th Test wicket and Kallis' 13,000th test run.

That was a boys vs men day.

I am going to miss Shameless Hussey. He was pro.

See Warne was making a tit of himself with Marlon Samuels at that Big Bash nonsense. Not really a good example for a captain. Ravi Bopara was on Sky's coverage laying into Mr Liz Hurley, opining that Warne's actions looked like deliberate attention seeking than a reaction to Samuels grabbing Warne's teammate.

BBL is the cricket version of WWE.

I see a cage match being tried in future seasons.

I really want to round up every dickhead that complained about Aussie behaviour in January 2008 and make them watch the bullsh*t appeals that India have gone up on today.

And then hit them on the back of the head with a stump.

Bruce wrote:

I really want to round up every dickhead that complained about Aussie behaviour in January 2008 and make them watch the bullsh*t appeals that India have gone up on today.

And then hit them on the back of the head with a stump.

Just watched the highlights, and you're quite right. I think a fair few of them had the sh*ts put up them by losing the series to England after going ahead - they had too many coasting along thinking they were great, when quite clearly they aren't.

Bloody hell!! They've hung on again!!

How many times has Monty been batting when play stopped in a test? At least 2, maybe 3.. That must be some sort of record.

The Brigadier may have gone, but his influence lives on !!

Awh, man. I was on a work trip and missed the highlights. Sounds like it was squeaky bum time.

Tough call on the long term success of this team, though. Was this just a bad series, or did we need to lose one as a wake-up call? The draw is somewhat flattering, but it did hinge quite closely on one decision.

There were a few people missing (Pietersen, Bresnan), other younger players being given an extended runout (Compton and Root)and it's probably worth noting that England would probably have won the Test before this one but for the weather.

I think the other thing to note is the fact that England had just finished a lengthy series in India, and had little chance to get acclimatised to the different conditions in NZ because of the need to give players a break over Xmas. I think this is a useful wake-up call.

It's also worth noting that Australia's 'performance' in India should give them much more cause for concern, particularly given the apparent splits in their dressing room and lacklustre performance on the pitch.