Cricket: More Than a Game

Will there be a lynch mob at the airport or just indifference as the bandwagon empties again?

Well that was pretty comprehensive.

Australia 77 for 3189 defeated England ALL OUT for 2158.

Only a month or so until we head to South Africa. I think the bowling will hold up in comparison but I doubt the tail will be able to wag as much vs Steyn, Philander and Morkel and the top order will fold badly at least once.

I'm looking forward to the Aussie tour. Both teams seem to be at pretty close to their peak, so it should be an epic series.

Our batting is still very fragile. The Poms had us under a lot of pressure in every first innings and then failed to seal the deal.

Yeah, we do have quality batsmen, but the Aussie bowlers are good at attacking a side's strength. I think it's going to be a bowling contest, as test cricket should be.

Here's a feel good cricket story. Before the previous World Cup SA hosted the qualifiers and the local radio station kind of adopted Afghanistan because of the difficulties they, and Mohammed Nabi, faced. Great to see they qualified for the new one.

Enjoy your cricket while it lasts folks. If the current proposal for the future of the ICC goes through the sport is screwed.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Enjoy your cricket while it lasts folks. If the current proposal for the future of the ICC goes through the sport is screwed.

Yeah, it's deeply f*cked, but not surprising.

Clear the BCCI, CA and ECB don't give a sh*t about the smaller nations or growing the game.

I think that the ICC have been taking lessons from FIFA and UEFA in the 'f**k transparency, moar complexity equals more money !' stakes.

On a side note, I've just seen England win a cricket match. And televised live, not highlights from (our) summer !

Watching Cook's face as the last stand continued was hilarious, 2 dropped catches before Buttler held the winner. But no expletives, which means he has better control than I do.

So something amazing happened last night.

I went out with friends to a Jamaican cafe and who should walk in but Sir Vivian Richards...

Suffice to say I kinda died a little. I did manage to shake his hand, but no pictures (i don't like being that guy).

A couple of my friends were Canadian, so I had to explain to them that cricket royalty had just walked in...

OMG!! I have heard rumours that he is having a very good time on the BBL expense account.

One of the greatest we will ever see.

Admit it - Ravi Bopara has an ACB central contract, doesn't he ?

Either that, or some pictures of Andy Flower which he really doesn't want released into the wild.

The plane back to England can't leave soon enough. 12 losses and 1 win is a sh*tty tour.

Be a lot bleedin' worse if the Wheelie Bin is appointed to helm the ship - he totally mismanaged the one day series.

Oh, and 7 of them losses are slog cricket, therefore irrelevant #clutching at straws

I'm not at all surprised, but I am pretty disappointed. Looks like South Africa has been bought off.

On another note, I'm so excited for the SA/Aus series I could sh*t!

*edit*

CSA denies the report. Which doesn't really mean anything.

One week until the reality check begins.

Bruce wrote:

One week until the reality check begins.

Yeah, I can't see this going all that well for us. But who knows.

Sometimes reality is good.

So the new ICC proposals are passed. It seems however that the initial proposals have been pretty watered down.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

So the new ICC proposals are passed. It seems however that the initial proposals have been pretty watered down.

Still has N Srinivasan being the ICC Chairman, BCCI Chairman and the richest team in the IPL, the Chennai Super Kings...

I still think this is a terrible precedent and won't result in anything good.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

Lack of prep could be costly. Bring on the best. Love watching Amla and Steyn.

Good start by the Aussies, possibly a bit of a mis-read by Smith on how well they'd be go first up.

It initially looked like a good bet, but yeah, day definitely belonged to the Aussies.

Bruce wrote:

One week until the reality check begins.

Sometimes reality is AWESOME!

Bruce wrote:
Bruce wrote:

One week until the reality check begins.

Sometimes reality is AWESOME!

Word!

I struggled sleeping last night. Was listening to Johnson ripping through them again.

I don't know what to make of this. Either this is some sort of rope-a-dope setup, or the Saffers became a rabble overnight.

The English South Africans fielded poorly in the Ashes and South African South Africans had an absolute mare in the field on day 3.

Yay.

Speechless.

I wasn't super confident, but i didn't expect that.

BMac and Watling putting up one of the greatest test partnerships ever. Could they sink India and keep their wretched away record intact?

Bruce wrote:

BMac and Watling putting up one of the greatest test partnerships ever. Could they sink India and keep their wretched away record intact?

Geez BMac is having is having a field-day against India...

Good idea of them to bat india out of the game. Force it to be only a NZ win or draw.

I'll probably get exiled for this but I enjoy seeing the NZ cricket team do well. Always respected them.

1-0 up in a 2 test series. Just keep batting.