Author Topic: The Cricket Thread (Read 448167 times)

LiamTheBaggie · « **Reply #75 on:** June 17, 2013, 11:50:36 AM »

England qualified to the semi-finals after beating New Zealand yesterday in a rain-affected match. We made 169 and in truth, New Zealand never looked like getting there due to a superb bowling/fielding performance until the late Anderson/Williamson cameo.

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #76 on:** June 17, 2013, 02:15:50 PM »

I didnt think that 170 would be enough, however some great bowling from the seamers in the opening overs really put the pressure on New Zealand. Cook batted very well and Joe Root contributed well again with the bat. I really think with our bowling attack and some very good batting performances that we can get into the final.

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #77 on:** June 19, 2013, 01:06:27 PM »

Excellent Cricket again from England today James Anderson has been great once again has as James Tredwell who has been a great back up for Swann. Finn and Broad have also done well aagin today. We need these last two wickets as a Partnership is getting formed by South Africa.

Bilston Dan · « **Reply #78 on:** June 19, 2013, 05:02:33 PM »

England are in the final now. Good knock from Trott. He gets a lot of stick but he's always reliable. 82 off 84 balls is not exactly a slow innings either...

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #79 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:40:23 PM »

Complete performance from England today bowling was excellent Jimmy Anderson and James Tredwell in particular. Batting was good again Root is getting better and better and looks like he is going to make a hell of a lot of runs for England. Jonathan Trott is Mr consistent for England another great knock today. I dont think it makes much difference who we get in the final as both India and Sri Lanka are both very good sides.

LiamTheBaggie · « **Reply #80 on:** June 19, 2013, 08:01:48 PM »

Can't fault them - ridiculous that we're in the final when it looked quite impossible some days ago, still, that's the beauty of sport.

I can understand the criticisms of Jonathan Trott but there's no doubting he's being reliable for us over the past few years. It seems when he does score then his strike rate does improve but I guess it's just him "getting going" but his record is faultless.

I missed the majority of our bowling as I was out but from what I've seen on the highlights James Anderson was once again superb.

Jack Russell · « **Reply #81 on:** June 21, 2013, 11:39:40 AM »

Anybody on here going to the final at Edgbaston

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #82 on:** June 22, 2013, 12:15:32 PM »

Looking forward to the final tomorrow, really fancy England to win it, funny how things can quickly change as least week I didn't fancy us at all to go on to semi finals. With the Ashes still to come it has already been a pretty successful summer for England making light work of New Zealand and getting to the final of the ICC. Looking at Jimmy Anderson stats in this tournament they are expectational averaging below fifteen runs, he really is a top class bowler.

gerry m · « **Reply #83 on:** June 23, 2013, 08:20:54 PM »

wish id taken 11/4 on India

gerry m · « **Reply #84 on:** June 23, 2013, 08:36:19 PM »

Quote from: gerry m on June 23, 2013, 08:20:54 PM

wish id taken 11/4 on India

India win by 5 runs! England threw it away.

LiamTheBaggie · « **Reply #85 on:** June 23, 2013, 10:45:44 PM »

Another England batting collapse - a collapse which betters any of our previous attempts. We got ourselves into a position with Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara where the game was only inches away from being won after managing to cut the deficit but unsurprisingly, more wickets at the inappropriate times took away any momentum we created and left with the tail-enders needing to slog for their lives. We did very well to restrict India to a moderately low score and I'm disappointed that we've once again bottled the final occasion - such a shame that the weather affected what had the makings of a potentially great final.

Well done to India who were very good throughout the tournament. Particularly in unearthing Dhawan who looks to have an increasingly positive future in all forms of the game and he is supported by the likes of Kohli, Raina and Jadeja who also continue to impress meaning they have an incredibly bright future in the short forms of the game.

For England, Jos Buttler despite being very young has question marks over his head, no doubting his ability but one score for every five leaves England in a difficult position but I guess he has time to improve. On the positive side of things, Jonathan Trott has responded to his critics by excelling and leading the batting attack whilst James Tredwell has also proved to be very effective at this level and proved to be an able deputy for Graeme Swann.

Dan · « **Reply #86 on:** June 24, 2013, 01:15:41 AM »

Buttler can't really bat, he can swing it and occassionally with the power he gets on it, even his edges are often enough to fly for boundaries and he can play some nice shots on occasion - but his shot choice looks increasingly suspect, but he looks well and truly found out at international level. Batting isn't just about getting boundaries, its about judging the situation and playing appropriate shots. Till he learns to play in more than one mode then he's a liability, he's cost England a tournament in part today, he's not ready for it. His average is 11.6 after 11 innings now which is appaling, one good innings in eleven. All we needed to do on that penultimate over even with wickets lost the previous one was play sensibly and ease the total down, there was no need to go swinging like he did on his first ball, no need at all. Of course Bresnan for some reason deciding to take a single then confirmed the loss, being pretty much as bad a run out as you can get - which was particularly galling as 15 off 7 balls or whatever it was if he'd stayed in with Bresnan and Broad was gettable, expecting Tredwell to get boundaries wasn't.

Prior should be given another chance really, he's been poor at one day level so far but even his poor performances are far better than Buttler, whilst Kieswetter was really struggling as well before he got dropped although he's a far better limited overs average than Prior. Maybe call up Davies and give him a chance.

Likewise how does Bresnan keep getting in the team? Consistently the worst bowler every match he plays, he's not great with the bat, he's ok but that's it, and he doesn't really take wickets either. Woakes got slated and dropped for the exact same performances as Bresnan in the New Zealand matches, yet Bresnan gets picked even after England's dominant win over South Africa!? His 4 overthrows also ultimately ended up being very costly.

WBAinDEVON · « **Reply #87 on:** June 24, 2013, 08:19:08 AM »

Like with most other England teams when it mattered, bottled it

zippyandbungle · « **Reply #88 on:** June 24, 2013, 08:34:27 AM »

I would suggest Bell being given out when he clearly wasn't at such a crucial stage was the factor in our defeat, if he stays and builds with Trott we win?

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #89 on:** June 24, 2013, 09:47:24 AM »

I was really disappointed that we lost Yesterday really felt as the way we bowled and the Morgan and Bopara partnership would have been enough to take us through. The Bell wicket I think shouldn't have been given as I didn't really see enough to convince me that Ian Bell should have been given out. There are a lot of positives however. The form of Boapara as he looks a different player, Tredwell has been an excellent replacement for Swann. Root has looked impressive and the top three look pretty solid too.

LiamTheBaggie · « **Reply #90 on:** June 24, 2013, 03:00:36 PM »

Dan makes some good points.

The wicket keeping has always been a problem for England recently. They like to ear mark someone and then hope to improve them to a position where they can take the role full-time. It was tried with Matt Prior, however, he too failed to score the runs which was required from coaching staff. It is also very well being able to exploit fields in test cricket but the shortened formats are totally different - in addition, since his removal from the one day side, it has seen Prior improve both his wicket keeping abilities and batting. England are keen to promote youth, especially with Prior, Read and Foster aging in the county formats and after Kieswetter's disappointments, Jos Buttler is next in line, but it appears he is just as bad, shot selection currently not his greatest asset and is in need for a lot of work - I guess the next option shall be Bairstow.

As for Tim Bresnan, I like him personally as a bowler and think we have much worse. Chris Woakes and Jade Dernbach both took an absolute pasting in the warm ups with New Zealand. Don't think Dernback has been helped with the changes in the regulations and Woakes looked incredibly ordinary. He's able to get the ball to reverse swing and is capable of taking wickets at important occasions. I thought he bowled very well in the warms up and had a fairly decent tournament - nothing brilliant but nothing poor either. His batting seems to have regressed slightly which is partly one of the reasons why he is favoured, because he adds depth to the batting line up. Personally, I'm an advocate of Steven Finn but even he hasn't been setting the world alight lately.

The over throw was a collection of mistakes to be honest and it's unfair to single Bresnan out. He did very well to gain hold of the ball and get the throw into Buttler who could only tap it behind the realms of Eoin Morgan who made a quite frankly embarrassing attempt at trying to halt the ball from going for four.

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #91 on:** July 06, 2013, 04:33:38 PM »

Nick Compton has been left out of the England squad for the first Ashes Test match. The start he made was indifferent two very good centuries but disappointing against New Zealand and with both Root and Bairstow making runs then it was going to be hard for him to be picked.

Cant wait for Wednesday now, the Aussies will cause us some problems but overall we will have enough.

Come on England.

WSBaggie · « **Reply #92 on:** July 10, 2013, 11:06:36 PM »

Interesting first day today. Tomorrows morning session is going to be crucial.

WBASPE77 · « **Reply #93 on:** July 11, 2013, 07:55:44 AM »

A very interesting days plays Yesterday, Peter Siddle bowled extremely well. A number of England players getting starts then not kicking on. However Anderson bowled one of the best balls in his career to get rid of Clarke Finn bowled really well too. The game is very much in the balance, hopefully we can get a n early wicket this morning and try and get some form of a lead and then just bat, run them ragged get a big lead and with the amount of cracks in the wicket later on in the game then hopefully Swann will get a lot of success.

B_H_Baggie · « **Reply #94 on:** July 11, 2013, 01:27:55 PM »

We have let them off the hook massively this morning. After such a good start we let Agar (never a number 11) and Hughes strike up a really good partnership and let them take the lead.

phbaggies · « **Reply #95 on:** July 11, 2013, 02:02:10 PM »

Quote from: B_H_Baggie on July 11, 2013, 01:27:55 PM

We have let them off the hook massively this morning. After such a good start we let Agar (never a number 11) and Hughes strike up a really good partnership and let them take the lead.

Agar should have been given out on just 6, Finn's bowling has been amateur at best so far! Fair play to Agar though took full advantage and I agree he is no no.11

tuamigos · « **Reply #96 on:** July 11, 2013, 02:14:57 PM »

Quote from: phbaggies on July 11, 2013, 02:02:10 PM

Agar should have been given out on just 6, Finn's bowling has been amateur at best so far! Fair play to Agar though took full advantage and I agree he is no no.11

Bet he doesn't bowl No11 in the next game

LiamTheBaggie · « **Reply #97 on:** July 11, 2013, 03:31:28 PM »

Been an intriguing days play so far. The momentum swung (literally) in England's favour. James Anderson started performing wonders with the new ball leaving us in a very strong position. Phil Hughes has improved a lot over the past couple of years and his partnership with a rookie in Ashton Algar may be remembered for a while if Australia were to win this test match. A thoroughly impressive innings which certainly merited a ton - despite some wayward bowling from ourselves.

Hopefully we can cut down their lead and bat for just under two days putting us in a commanding position - it looks friendly for batsman.

Dan · « **Reply #98 on:** July 11, 2013, 03:47:04 PM »

England bottle it once again, facing down to a defeat when they should have had a comfortable lead. Regardless of Agar batting well it was the most ineffective and lazy bowling you'll see, they clearly thought the job had been done.

And once again the batting is atrocious, as it has been for far too long. Virtually every match they let the team down and usually get bailed out of it by the bowlers. Unless Cook can get a century here its game over. Bell and Pieterson haven't played to the level expected in a long time, Bairstow rarely kicks on, and even Prior has done very poorly since his century. Need at least 300 here to have a defendable lead.

WBAinDEVON · « **Reply #99 on:** July 11, 2013, 03:47:51 PM »

England in the poo 11-2. All the hype and arrogance prior too