Fuck knows. Maybe Jimmy has some more articulate insight.
Fuck knows. Maybe Jimmy has some more articulate insight.
The point of this shite is that Indians like to bet on it.
https://www.dream11.com/
This is why things like that lol 'European Cricket League' exist, increasingly in the T10 format, and always have live streams, even though the quality of the cricket is absolutely horrible - Indians want to bet on it, and they want to collect their winnings after 10 overs, not 20.
Up pops Moeen captaining the Samp Army, Eion Morgan teeing off against them with Paul Stirling alongside him in some sort of Irish dream team for the New York Strikers, who also had an enormously fat wicketkeeper. Captivating stuff.
You have to admire England's commitment to this madness. Over 900 hundred runs in this test off 136 overs. Bazshit mental.
A nice sporting declaration as well.
Finally someone understands what a declaration is for.
I am already starting to be a left a little cold by Bazball, to be honest. Basically for the same reason I'm less keen on the shorter form stuff. If it's high scoring all the time then where's the fun in it? It feels mad after some of the shit we've all watched with England to be bored because we're too good at scoring runs but it's how I feel all the same. Though if it allowed us to smash Australia to bits in the upcoming Ashes then I'll allow it.
Also: Sangakkara there, big jumper on and reclining in front of the Christmas tree.
And yes, it's nice to see us not easing to a 500 run lead until tea on day 5 before declaring.
I’m sorry but this is a mad declaration. It’s the roadiest road of all time and we have max 3 bowlers.
Genuinely I am sad Warne wasn’t around for BAZBALL. All of the stuff he would call for on comms coming to fruition. RIP King.
They're basically saying the draw does not exist, deal with it.
Not opening with Jimmy Anderson and bowling a load of short balls to try and rough it up for him is also a legendary mad tactic.
I’m on the train for sure but it is objectively mad
Big fan of this to be honest. Any other team in history and it’d be a turgid draw.
My all-time cricketing hero would be proud of this fourth innings approach.
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Impossible to please these english fans...Originally Posted by Ian
I am already starting to be a left a little cold by Bazball, to be honest. Basically for the same reason I'm less keen on the shorter form stuff. If it's high scoring all the time then where's the fun in it? It feels mad after some of the shit we've all watched with England to be bored because we're too good at scoring runs but it's how I feel all the same. Though if it allowed us to smash Australia to bits in the upcoming Ashes then I'll allow it.
Also: Sangakkara there, big jumper on and reclining in front of the Christmas tree.
Bombing them out. No mercy. Maybe Bazball could also involve sending a rocket launcher at the opposition dressing room. Turn Pakistan security concerns on their head.
It is definitely my most entitled opinion.
"But we're scoring too fast."
Finally someone understands what a declaration is for.
Truly an incredible victory. I was too young for the Karachi 2000 win but there's something incredible about winning in dying light, with the shadows lengthening.
Quite simply one of the top 5 England test wins of my lifetime. No right at all to get close to a result on that pitch.
Yeah, that was stupidly good. The Ashes are going to replicate 2005
When you think that the pitch was dead as fuck, 50+ overs were lost to light, and we scored at 6.73 runs per over throughout the match (!!!!) before getting the final wicket in the dying of the light, it's possible to conclude that no other team in the history of the game would have forced a result.
Stokes up there with Jardine and Brearley already for greatest England captains, keep this up much longer and he'll be out on his own. Bear in mind that we have no bowling attack, our batters are pretty shit really, and they were all in the bog just before the game started.
Last edited by Jimmy Floyd; 05-12-2022 at 12:06 PM.
And look at the bowling attack we’ve won with. It’s not like we have a genius leg spinner or a battery of 90mph quicks which you would anticipate being able to force something on this surface.
I had a snoop back at the Karachi win from the 2000 tour. A directly opposite approach to the game but still victorious. 388 all out off of 179.1 overs in the first innings, with an Atherton classic - 125 in 430 balls, 579 minutes.
We've hit 921 from 136.5 overs in this Test. Mindblowing how the game has evolved in 20 years and how Stokes and McCullum are just pushing the boundaries now.
Half the wickets seemed to be prised out by just taking risks, having men on the drive and fucking with the batsmen's heads. Complete departure from all forms of orthodoxy.
It'll be interesting to see what we do on a turning shithole wicket, if and when we come across such a thing. I don't see green seamers ever being a problem as our bowlers are so comfortbale on them.
Such a wrong day for things to go tits up at work. Finally get back up onto sea level to see this has happened. Truly astounding stuff.
Did you find any more fast bowlers down there? We might need some soon.
The Ashes is going to be either absolutely glorious or a spectacular crash and burn as Aussie bowlers go "It's still just Zak Crawley ffs" and rinse the batting line up.
I've still no idea how this is really working or if it can keep doing so forever but it'll be interesting to find out whether over of a century of test cricket has been people farting about when they could have just been getting four boundaries an over.
We've all got bad backs and knees so I suppose we will fit right in.
I really think there's an element of nobody daring to do the alternatives so there's nothing to say it won't work. The great Australian team of the early 2000s would regularly rattle along at 4.5rpo which was very aggressive for the time.
I think it'll be harder than one might think for other teams to replicate. One of the keys to getting it going in the first place was the fact that we were absolutely shredded in the Ashes, have been shit in general for quite a while, and so we almost had a blank canvas and nothing to lose. Similarly, we don't have people smashing the door down to take the Test places of most of these players, so (particularly in the case of Crawley) Stokes/Baz have just been able to say take the shackles off, you have full licence.
I don't think anyone in the subcontinent will ever give full licence to individuals in this way - there's just too much politics, blame culture and backbiting for that ever to happen. It's more possible in Australia.
With the batting - there is a case that they are just playing to strengths. They’re no cavalry of Alastair Cooks waiting in county cricket so just pick these fearless ball strikers and tell them to get on with it.
Question is, is essentially reinventing the way a sport is played [whilst also being at the heart of the T20 World Cup win] going to be enough for Stokes/England Cricket to overcome the lady footballers in the eyes of the BBC voting public?
Bit gutted as I had this on until tea and was going to come on here and post that whichever way the game went [looked a bit dodgy at the time] it was credit to England for making it such an exciting game. Then I saw what happened in the final session.
No, it won't be. In the last 10 years football has completely obliterated all other sports, culturally, in this country. The ladies getting good at it / women's PL happening is the last thing other sports needed.
I've just caught up with the days play.
Love everything about this.
The field for Anderson when Pope took the leg side diving catch was brilliant as well. I watched the nine minute highlight video and it properly got my heart pumping.
Am pleased to confirm that Bazball has now pushed back the Indian/Australian twitter troops to a new fallback position of 'I'd like to see you try this on a turner against Ashwin/at the MCG against Cummins'.
Although I did enjoy this one:
Cant wait to see Bazball when it's not a cement pitch. Fucking joke side. Do one you country of fat, shit teethed fucks
I think the biggest problem with 'Bazball' is what it actually seeks to do is restore the entertainment factor to what is, in reality, a fairly moribund sport [certainly in terms of test cricket] and, in doing so, it runs counter to the entire sport as serious business narrative that has dominated since the late 80s [let's blame The Premier League rather than Tony Blair]. I don't think England would have been that disappointed if Pakistan had chased the runs down today. Just having pulled off one of the all-time great test wins doesn't square into a world where every point in the test championship is to be fought for equally [or not fought for if you can just not play anyone]. It's the same reason that the advance towards relentless success has ruined league football. There is no time to savour a victory, because another game always awaits and if you don't also win that one then what is it all for? Lost 3 games before November's out? Might as well give up until next August. Yawn.
I saw a good suggestion earlier that the main thrust of Bazball is not only to entertain the crowds, but to entertain the players, who live in a constant grind of horrendous scheduling and often meaningless matches. If they're going to do it, they might as well enjoy it.
That certainly tallies with Stokes saying he wanted to try and chase 500 last summer. Trying to chase 500 is fun. Cheffing it to an hour after lunch on day five to make the draw safe, then driving 6 hours to Durham for the next game, is no fun.
Did they not watch the World T20 (they’re Indian, of course they did): Ashwin is finished, he’d get destroyed even if we played in Kandy.
Baz does Baz things. Who would have thought?
Genuinely happy to see positive cricket being successful.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...an-says-stokes
I did think they played it a bit safe in Rawalpindi, so glad to read this.
Also good to see the random introduction of guaranteed fog to what is already a truly bizarre Test series. What next, paint the grass red so no one can see the ball?
I know it's hardly Northern Scotland out there, but it's still their winter. Very cold at night in Multan (like 5C). RIPE for fog.
Wood for Livingstone and Pope keeps the gloves
Pope's keeping is horrid, but I dunno, Bazball baby.
No analysis required. Wood bowl fast. Let’s go!
Kind of stuck though. If we have to bring Foakes back in for the keeping then we probably need to drop Jacks because I don't see who else drops out and going with a Leach-Root combo is too mental even for Baz. Wood has to play, no way we con ourselves to victory on another flat deck with about 60 overs a day on offer (the smog situation will likely delay starts) with the same attack.
I reckon he might just take the piss in this one. Declare 100 runs behind to move the game along. That sort of thing.
The last time Multan witnessed Test cricket they were treated to Daren Ganga batting a full day.
I didn't know that was possible.
Anyway, David Warner has suicide bombed Cricket Australia in the middle of a Test match. This should be good.
More entertaining than the cricket at least.
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