World Cup and Test Cricket 2019

[Belgrove]

This year's crammed international home cricket season is already far advanced, with a convincing display by England's one-day team in the series against Pakistan forming a substantial hors d'oeuvre before the World Cup commences next week. The bookies are quoting odds of 15/8 for England to win the tournament, which is symptomatic of a remarkable transformation in the side's ODI fortunes, brought about by the efforts of Andrew Strauss and Trevor Bayliss, and Eoin Morgan's dynamic captaincy. It was a good move to decouple the one-day side from the Test team. The squad announced today contains no surprises and forms a team to awe the strongest of oppositions.

And after the World Cup, Test cricket commences with England v Ireland, followed by The Ashes. Can't wait to see what reaction Australia's openers get from the Hollies Stand at Edgbaston in the first match of the five match series, which concludes when the nights are drawing in, after the Prom's Last Night.

[burning dog]

England deserve to be favourites in the WC (85/40 with Betfair) but the Aussies are good value at 9/2. The Ashes seems to go to the home side of late, narrowly in England, massively in Oz and I would expect the trend to continue.

[antongould]

From the Archives February 2017 “It’s Just Not Cricket”

“The sight of Eoin Morgan standing with his mouth clamped shut (not just "closed") during the playing of the British National Anthem is not only an insult to her Majesty - it is an insult to the British Nation.

He has been accorded the honour of captaining our national side - in spite of already representing the Irish cricket team and it is quite obvious to me that he should be relieved of taking any further part as a representative of the England team in international cricket.

He is doing a lot better for himself in England than he would in his native country (he also earns money from playing for Middlesex) and he should respond accordingly.

Get rid of him!

Let's have a true Britisher in the side and a loyal captain.

There are several members of the current English Squad who are far more qualified to captain the side.

Rant over, but does anyone agree?

HS”

Let’s hope our captain has learned the words in the last couple of years ........

[DracoM]

Erm............leaving out David Willey...????

[antongould]

Erm............leaving out David Willey...????

I think he’ll get games when Woakes gets injured Draco ......

[Belgrove]

Erm............leaving out David Willey...????

I'm not surprised by this. The ICC are prescribing the wickets and those for the Pakistan series were uniformly flat and dry, favouring pace. But as the tournament progresses these will become used and take spin (giving sub-continental teams more familiar conditions). Thus an additional spinner is a logical choice, especially in the knock-out phase of the tournament. I'm sure Willey will feature in the Test series.

'I think he’ll get games when Woakes gets injured Draco ......'

I believe the tournament rules require that players are selected from the fifteen strong squad, so the subs are already in place.

[antongould]

I'm not surprised by this. The ICC are prescribing the wickets and those for the Pakistan series were uniformly flat and dry, favouring pace. But as the tournament progresses these will become used and take spin (giving sub-continental teams more familiar conditions). Thus an additional spinner is a logical choice, especially in the knock-out phase of the tournament. I'm sure Willey will feature in the Test series.

'I think he’ll get games when Woakes gets injured Draco ......'

I believe the tournament rules require that players are selected from the fifteen strong squad, so the subs are already in place.

“ICC regulations allow replacements to step in for injured players and with the fitness record of England’s seam attack hardly encouraging, a player like Willey can probably expect a call at some point.”

From the Telewag which is rarely wrong .....

[burning dog]

The way things are going, calling a one day bowling line-up "the attack" is becoming increasingly inappropriate.

One of the best Twenty 20 game I've seen was Sussex v Hampshire 2004 when Hampshire narrowly chased home about 70

PS

scorecard here http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8...orecard/304813

[DracoM]

.................and then, there's The Hundred.................erm....?

[Belgrove]

An impressive start by England at The Oval on Thursday, following SA's tactical coup of opening with spin to get Bairstow out second ball. England's openers will already be working to ensure they are not caught out like this again. England's 311 felt some 20 short of a competitive score, especially given SA's rather geriatric fielding, but it was an un-Oval like pitch. But SA succumbed to England's powerful bowling attack and razor sharp fielding. If Stokes' catch is not the catch of the tournament, then we are in for some remarkable spectacle. Whatever detractors say about the one-day game, it has improved the quality of fielding immeasurably.

To Trent Bridge, run capital of the circuit, to witness a dismal display by Pakistan against the W Indies. Difficult to judge from this show whether a resurgent W Indies have the quality to get to the semi's, their batsmen had no total to chase and Pakistan's resilience to the impressive pace attack was abjectly poor. Pakistan must be quaking in their boots at the prospect of facing England at the same venue on Monday.

[Old Grumpy]

This year's crammed international home cricket season is already far advanced, with a convincing display by England's one-day team in the series against Pakistan forming a substantial hors d'oeuvre before the World Cup commences next week. The bookies are quoting odds of 15/8 for England to win the tournament, which is symptomatic of a remarkable transformation in the side's ODI fortunes, brought about by the efforts of Andrew Strauss and Trevor Bayliss, and Eoin Morgan's dynamic captaincy. It was a good move to decouple the one-day side from the Test team. The squad announced today contains no surprises and forms a team to awe the strongest of oppositions.

And after the World Cup, Test cricket commences with England v Ireland, followed by The Ashes. Can't wait to see what reaction Australia's openers get from the Hollies Stand at Edgbaston in the first match of the five match series, which concludes when the nights are drawing in, after the Prom's Last Night.

Ah, the sweet sound of leather on willow...

...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[antongould]

Ah, the sweet sound of leather on willow...

...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Not a fan of Jofra Archer then OG ..... ?????

[Old Grumpy]

Not a fan of Jofra Archer then OG ..... ?????

Glad I googled that before replying...


... I thought you had phonetic spelling of the name of a disgraced Tory MP...



And no, I have nothing against the man, but, in the circumstances, I could not be regarded as a fan either

OG

[Belgrove]

Two highly entertaining matches at Trent Bridge this past week. The other face of the mercurial Pakistan side emerged after the ignominious defeat against W Indies to deservedly beat tournament favourites England. Morgan made curious choices in putting Pakistan into bat, setting almost a Test field in the opening over and then giving the ball to a wayward Woakes rather than Wood. Pakistan's openers were shown to be susceptible to pace, so why not capitalise on that weakness? Woakes' performance in the field was another matter, taking three spectacular catches, but England's otherwise ragged fielding gifted Pakistan a dropped catch and some 15 valuable runs that England failed to make up. Curious that with century's from Root and Buttler, England still lost the match. Still, it gingers-up the tournament to see the favourites fail early on.

Thursday's encounter between Australia and the W Indies resulted in the best match so far. The initial pace attack blew the Australian openers away, the first four wickets falling for 38 runs, it looked as if the W Indies were about to inflict another 'Pakistan'. But Australian grit in the form of Smith pulled Australia back from the brink, and then Coulter-Nile consolidated and advanced their position with a splendid 92. It looked like Gayle's, ultimately cameo, response would make light work of the target, but in a bizarre and rapid sequence of appeals and dodgy umpiring decisions, he was out and the W Indies thereafter were always playing catch-up. Wonderful bowling from Cummins yielded three maidens, unprecedented in the one-day game, and Starc got five wickets. It was a match filled with spectacular fielding and biggest six I've ever seen at this venue. Australia look shoo-in's for the knock-out stage.

Sadly Australia were booed on entering the field and unsurprisingly both Warner and Smith individually received hostile receptions and send-offs from the crowd. It's a shame that the other members of the hugely talented and sportsman-like Australian team are collectively treated in this way. But that's what happens if Cricket Australia readmits cheats to their national side.

[antongould]

All going better for England today .....