Cricket: More Than a Game

Wow. That was quite the tense finish.
One way to get a result is to score 5 sessions worth of runs in 75 overs.

Nice for an umpire not to bottle a plumb LBW with the match on the line too.

EDIT: It was the same fricken umpire!! Oh now you call it. No I'm not still pissed off about Headlingly 2009.

I will admit that for the last 3 or 4 overs, when they started to mention the fading light, I was getting acid flashbacks to the famous last stand of Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar.

How were the nerves davet010 when PAK were 5 down and only needing 65 runs?

It's great watching as a neutral when all results are possible as the game heads into the denouement.

The fall of WI is one of the great sporting tragedies of my lifetime, especially from a bowling point of view. Titans of the game from the 70s and 80s to some pretty thin offerings.

They were ok-ish, Bruce. There was enough playing and missing to indicate that the pitch still had some movement, and Pakistan have quite a long tail, so I was less nervous about them getting the total than I was about them in the first Test being able to see out day 5 until close of play.

That said, I was getting a little twitchy when Abrar was having his little cameo...

Had the BBL on in the background while I was working today, but kept turning round to see the Sydney Thunder chase a total of 139, and get all out for.....15.

The previous lowest score in the competition was 57, I think.

And they aren't a scratch side, the lineup included Alex Hales and Rilee Roussow.

In fact, looking at ESPN, 15 is the lowest score ever in Men's T20 cricket, beating Turkey's 21 against the Czech Republic in 2019. It also equals the lowest score in any format of First Class cricket in Australia.

I have played in a team that scored less, although in my defence it was the team's first match. And we were at primary school, so aged 9 or so.

I was watching that one too and it was just insane. Lots of regulation nicks rather than anything silly.

If you put 2 high quality pace bowling attacks on a bouncy greentop - you get a 2 day test.

Brook and Root casually turning 21-for-3 into 315-for-3 with unbeaten hundreds each was a thing to watch. New Zealand had their tails up after the early wickets and then it all went a bit wrong for them.

Aside from Matt Henry the Kiwi's player of the day was the rain that took England off early.

I presume Harry Brook will get found out eventually, but four hundreds in your first six tests is kind of absurd. He has over 800 runs in his first nine test innings.

Mr Bismarck wrote:

Brook and Root casually turning 21-for-3 into 315-for-3

New Zealand now also 21-3.

They just need to find a 300-run middle order partnership now.

Kiwi batting has fallen off a cliff since the WTC. Home and away.
Not that we can offer much on the away front. Getting rolled in a session TWICE has me calling for the return of the pillory to be set up at the airport when they come home.

England are having a very strong showing away from home this year.

And if you have a means to watch the end of the WNCL between Tasmania and South Australia I highly recommend it. Absolutely bonkers finish.

Kiwi follow on going well though.

Bruce wrote:

Kiwi batting has fallen off a cliff since the WTC. Home and away.

Good moz from me there.

Test Cricket is amazing.

Epic match.

Five days, 1,383 runs, and it comes down to that. Remarkable.

What a game! Went to bed last night with Root and Stokes on point needing 90 to win. Wake up to a one run defeat. Well played New Zealand!

I still think that enforcing the follow on was a step too far - although it almost wasn't

davet010 wrote:

I still think that enforcing the follow on was a step too far - although it almost wasn't :)

I think people are being a little harsh on him there, the NZ battling just fell apart and when you look at it England kind of did in the first innings as well. If it weren't for Root and Brook they would have had nearly as bad an innings as NZ.

I'm thinking the logic there was if NZ goes out and falls apart again, England wins and even if they put a decent effort it's a big mountain to climb. Where as if England batted and had issues it would give NZ an achievable target.

High speed Bazball = 5 day tests.

Regular test matches - over in 3 days.

Joel Wilson back to his usual form of not giving LBWs off Nathan Lyon that are going to hit middle stump half way up.

First England Test Match of the Summer today, England taking on Ireland at Lords. Ireland currently 65-4, recovering a little from 19-3 when Broad was on a hatrick.

Feels good to be sat at home working away with Test Match Special wittering away in the background. I’ve been more productive today than I have been a quite a while……

Zak Crawley really is the most exasperating cricketer in the current England setup. The scorecard says 56, but there were as many false strokes and inside edges as good cricketing shots against an attack that is about county standard.

davet010 wrote:

Zak Crawley really is the most exasperating cricketer in the current England setup. The scorecard says 56, but there were as many false strokes and inside edges as good cricketing shots against an attack that is about county standard.

Yes. Of all the Bazball attributes, the persistence of, well, persisting with Crawley as an opener is one the puzzles me most. Yes he has some great innings in him, but it's about 1 in 20. Surely there are better options out there.

Feel a bit for Ireland here. Their players have very little experience (either Test or first class), so they don't have the variations or the little tricks to get the England batsmen out. This also means that while the captain can set fields, his bowlers can't bowl to them, so the run rate remains at more than 5 and a half an over.

I can now more understand why Ireland tried to play this Test down a little in favour of qualification for shorter formats. They aren't going to get many Test matches, so they might as well target the sort of formats where they do play more often, and just take this as a workout.

It has been a little one sided hasn’t it? While I think it’s good that this test match is happening, you do wonder how much it’s helping Ireland, and exactly what it’s offering to England a week before the Ashes starts.

I suppose it gives the England team a game of red ball cricket, particularly those who have played in the IPL and thus missed the start of the county season. There's now little chance of getting any other opponents to play before the Aussies turn up, given the timing of the ever more uninteresting IPL.

Blimey, Stokes looks about as fit as I am - the reaction after that catch looked distinctly worrying.

And another record set. Apparently this is the first Test win where the captain did not bat, bowl or keep wicket.

davet010 wrote:

Blimey, Stokes looks about as fit as I am - the reaction after that catch looked distinctly worrying.

And another record set. Apparently this is the first Test win where the captain did not bat, bowl or keep wicket.

Fair play to Ireland for making England bat again but Stokes is a worry this close to the opening game.

Leach out of the Ashes

Let's hope they find a replacement quickly...

davet010 wrote:

Leach out of the Ashes

Let's hope they find a replacement quickly...

That's terrible news for Leachy - I think they should probably either go with Ahmed or a recall (if he'll do it) for Moeen Ali. Still if Stokes genuinely can't bowl at the moment it's a big blow.

Leachy's one of (my) own from Somerset, really feeling for him from here.

Yeah, feel sorry for Leach - the fella has had some rotten luck, as well as dealing with medical conditions that are onerous enough, let alone for top flight sports people.

I think Ahmed, though good enough to play, is probably a bit young to be saddled with the burden of having to hold up one end against the shackle-draggers.

Cupboard is looking a bit bare at the moment, and one of the other pieces on the BBC site, entitled "England in the best possible shape for Ashes tilt" is looking a little premature.

I'd also forgotten that the Aussies were playing India in the World Test Championship during the middle of the Ashes. What an utterly ridiculously structured competition that is - play games against a variety of opponents with a labyrinthine scoring system, then have a one-off game to decide it. Ludicrous.