Never seen this field before. You can't keep Warner there.
Never seen this field before. You can't keep Warner there.
I mean, what the fuck is that?
Lol at that 145 from McCullum though.
Must of been one epic bowling meltdown.
Unless they're obviously catastrophically lol fields are one thing that are still quite a mystery to me when watching cricket.
I've been captain of a side for five years and they're still a bit of a mystery to me to be honest. My two basic rules are if someone's obviously going to hit a boundary somewhere, put a man out there, and the number of close catchers you have should generally correlate with how nervy the batsman looks.
You can set a 'funky field' for a 'bowling plan' but then you're verging right into the territory of being a knobhead and it should only be tried if the score is about 400 for 2 (or a situation of equivalent hopelessness, as Smith demonstrated last night).
Next T20 about to start. We've brought in Billings for Willey, which is a bit silly really.
National anthems at cricket are so shit.
This will be the side for the World T20 I think. Two and a half spin options. Potential to put Moeen up to open for Roy and bring in another bowler as well
Fancy Roy to go ballistic today. Cue 0 (1).
Our tendency to throw wickets away with recklessness (not positivity) is becoming quite annoying.
Jesus. Morgan almost seemed to pull out of that and it's gone well into the crowd.
It flaahs on the haah veld.
Eventful three balls for Stokes. Bit unlucky really.
I'm ready for some Billings action
What a bizarre last 20 minutes this has been
Wasn't particularly bad from us. Extreme South African luck for pretty much all the wickets.
For it to even itself out in the second innings I think de Villiers will have to be hit by a meteorite.
Surrey have poached Australia's batting coach to be our head coach. Exceptional work.
Yep we are still cunts.
Doesn't that kind of behaviour happen every 2 minutes on a football field? Higher standards etc. I suppose.
Football is a sport by cunts for cunts, though. You can't go around abusing people, let alone those who are officiating the match. And if you're going to abuse the umpire, at least be right.
That said, if you were writing a cricket film/novel and wanted to include a clueless umpire character, there's a very good chance 'Ranmore Martinesz' would be the name you'd come up with.
Saw a slightly weird Steve Smith shot this morning on SSN. Like an overheard smash that twatted into the wicket and then ran off for a boundary. Not sure I've seen anything like it.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...-up?CMP=twt_gu
If that happened it would be the best thing to happen to cricket possibly ever. I wonder how India will bosh it.
Yeah, that sounds like it'd be too good to happen without being tweaked to suit the big three.
There are a few flaws in the plan, such as how you force India and Pakistan to play each other, but it's glorious otherwise. Imagine an Irish home Test against the Bangla Bus or Zimbabwe with the result meaning something, for example.
This in a week when cricket has treated us to the following stories:
- David Warner claims the New Zealand crowd 'went too far' with their sledging
- Indian organisers state they are not bothered whether any visiting fans come to the World T20
- Oman performed this Mankad on Hong Kong
- Aaron Phangiso censured first for imitating snorting cocaine in the dugout, and then for a suspect bowling action
- Joe Root and Stuart Broad caught in a passionate gay romp in London park
Only one of those is made up.
Whats the latest on the World T20 re. Pakistan? Are they still saying they can't play at certain venues? Are they even going?
The government have (unsurprisingly) agreed to let them go. They cannot play in Bombay, however, so their game will need moving if they get into a certain semi-final. Also, nobody knows if Delhi is going to actually host its games or not.
Hope they win the fucker. Afridi is weighing up coming out of retirement , unconfirmed reports that Wasim Akram fancies a go as well.
I don't see why he would carry on, after this there isn't another meaningful international T20 for four years, by which time he will be (reaches for calculator), erm...
Got to keep playing in case the shampoo ad money dries up.
Just found this video of his debut hundred off 37 balls against Sri Lanka as I don't think I've ever seen it before. Once I'd got over the shock of the Paul Allott/Ravi Shastri commentary team, I fast forwarded to the bit where he comes in, only to find this:
20 years on we have this article from today:
Those 'elders' are probably about 43.
Finally got around to watching the documentary film Death Of A Gentleman. It's very good. Provides a decent overview of the whole ICC carve up but also some nice human touches with Ed Cowan. Definitely worth checking out if you can.
One problem is the character of 'Giles Clarke'. Felt he was a bit too unrealistic. No real person is that slimy and unpleasant, it all felt a bit cartoony. Nevermind.
I still need to see that.
So Pakistan are playing India and in classic fashion were bowled out for 83. Then...
He's got another
T20 would be so much better with no over quotas. If Amir could bowl 10 on the trot from his end they'd win for sure.
Just watched Rabada turn Aaron Finch's stumps into firewood with a middle stump yorker in the first over. I could watch the kid bowl all day.
And now he's taken a ridiculous one handed catch. He might be some sort of deity.
That boy Rabada
First time I've seen them choke a game exclusively in the field. Behardien is a disgrace.
poor fielding in that last over really. Great finish though
Impressive bottle job from the Saffas. Those no-balls and wides towards the end were a disgrace. Not that in the day of the heavily armoured walking bat that a waist height delivery should be getting pinged for a free hit. Morris missing that run out was particularly funny. I hope they don't lose by one . . .
I also think it's reaching the point where backing up out of your ground should be grounds for one shorting batsmen. You can't steal 2 yards at the other end when you're coming back for two, why allow the 2 yard head start? It's either that of wholesale mankading, which is less palatable. Get the man in the tv booth watching the line for that and front foot no balls.
Watch out for Oman at the World T20. Apparently they are atttempting mankads (not always successfully) in most games.
Hong Kong win the toss and bowl in the World T20 opener. I love this shit.
Kind of ridiculous that Bangladesh have to pre qualify for this tournament. They've been good in the past 18 months/2 years and it's in familiar conditions. Harsh on them, doubt it will have much of an effect on them I suppose, just a glorified warm up.
Zimbob beat Hong Kong, although not by a massive amount. Madghanistan up next against Preston Mommsen's Porridge Army.
The haggis collective right in the hunt here.
Agonising failure awaits.
Not even that agonising in the end. Meanwhile: http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-worl...ry/979671.html
We need to wheel Prince Philip out for some gags.
Holland v Bangladesh this morning. All aboard the Bangla Bus, although they've lost the toss and made a fairly quiet start.
Bangla Bus now teetering on the edge of a cliff, but Shakibul Caine has had a good idea.
Oman only need 155 against Ireland. One Omani took an unreal catch in the few minutes I watched earlier.
Going well here. Boyd Rankin getting a pasting