You didn't used to go down in a ridiculous heap of apathy like the Oval '15 and Centurion '16 though.
You didn't used to go down in a ridiculous heap of apathy like the Oval '15 and Centurion '16 though.
We didn't tend to collapse in a pile, but Australia's dead rubber record is the only reason anyone remembers Mark Butcher's test career.
Poor Butch. He also had a great hundred against Donald, Pollock, Kallis and (a young) Ntini in the decisive Test Headingley in 98. Absolutely love Butch. I've met him twice, once when I was a kid and once as an adult, and he is the definition of a top geezer.
Good pundit. Him and Rob Key are in fact. Never quite cracking the big time though, just like their careers.
He should really get a promotion to the main team once Beefy drinks/slurs himself to death or Bumble falls off his rocking horse. I bet they'll get Kay fucking Pee though.
The other night on The Verdict they had a lineup of Butch, the Gaffer, Bob Willis (Surrey yoof player before moving to Warwickshire) and Charles (once on the Surrey committee). I nearly got aroused.
Yeah, he's good on the Verdict usually.
By the way, I've also seen both Bob Willis and 'Charles' in action at close quarters/out of context, and can reveal the truth: Bob Willis is an absolutely heroic legend of a man, and 'Charles' is a complete knobhead.
That doesn't surprise me about Charles but he's good on the Verdict. Maybe because he's a bit of a dick, I don't know.
And it wouldn't be the same without a classic "Well Charles..."
He's always struck me as a bit of a dickish Judge Reinhold.
Originally Posted by niko_cee
Well our under 19s are certainly teaching Fiji a lesson. That'll teach them to cross Her Majesty the Queen.
I swear they only keep Charles Colville because you sense everyone loathes him. Tbf, Sky's cricket coverage is first rate 99% of the time. I'm still a TMS devotee, but Sky do a vvv good job.
Sky's coverage is fantastic (although Sky are in trouble now and cost cutting could threaten it). I'm not really one of the people who screeches about free to air coverage in online comment sections. We should certainly put some domestic T20 on ITV or something if they wanted it, but internationals on FTA would be poorly covered and generate far less money for the game.
The commentators are just as one-eyed as the Australians, mind.
They really aren't, Botham aside.
I very strongly disagree.
Which ones are then?
Just watching it now and he's in fine form as usual. Butch and Key not taking any of Charles' shit, either. He's a good Devil's advocate and good at getting dickheads questioning themselves but they're having none of it.
I've not lived in the UK for a couple of years now. The British commentators all just blended into being varying degrees of English cheerleading while I was over there.
It's fine. They're English, and they're allowed to support England. But there really isn't a high horse here.
I want names, damn it. Atherton, Hussain, Bumble and Gower are the main ones and I'm pretty sure they're all about as impartial as anyone in the world. Botham makes up for them, but he's Ian Botham so he can do as he pleases.
It's only some of the Australian ones who are shite, and they're probably told to be by the execs. When you get people like Hussey or even Clarke coming in they are always intelligent and insightful because they haven't yet been reduced to a shell of blokey banter.
Oh and well done for taking Mark Nicholas off our hands. I like to think the 13/14 Ashes was just our way of saying thank you.
And I disagree. We really aren't going to get beyond this point, because it's been years since this irked me. "Impartial" commentators can sound very different to foreign ears. I had a friend who honestly tried to claim that the current Australian lot were "impartial". He read their parochialism as a perfectly reasonable and impartial stance. He was wrong, but it's telling.
Anyway, I don't have to listen to them anymore, so it's not an issue. I just wanted to raise a counter-point to the standard "our commentators are paragons of charisma, class and impartiality" circle-jerk.
Well at least none of them are Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.
I concur. And you'll never hear a word about tracer bullets.
Not to keep dragging on the topic, but Warney just tends to bring out the worst in the rest of the Aussie commentators. Mark Waugh is usually fine, only until Warne comes on and starts telling inside jokes from 10 years ago, and then they all get all "blokey" and forget that they're actually commentating a cricket match. It was mildly frustrating during the world cup.
I tend to find the English commentators like to "big up" the English players. When "foreign" players play a good shot, it's an excellent shot, but when Cook/Root/Stokes plays the same shot, it's suddenly "no one else in the world could play that shot as well as he just has". This could well be true for all commentators depending on their bias, but I've definitely actively noticed it with the English.
As long as we all agree Pommie Mbangwa is the gold standard?
Shane Warne is just a terrible human being, unfortunately.
Flintoff in the Big Bash though, fucking hell. I'm surprised they didn't cancel his visa.
I really want to be able to do an impression of Pommie Mbangwa (I'm a hit at parties), but it's just impossible. Mostly it's just stating the obvious at considerable length with emphasis in the wrong places, and he never actually stops talking.
Rameez is the best though. Always Rameez.
The emphasis at the wrong place is the key, but I can't nail the accent.
Rameez is the King, great hair.
I really liked Ponting during the Ashes as well.
On the subject of Botham I was surprised that Bob said he was talking shit on last night's Verdict. I don't think I've heard him so openly accuse him of being full of it before.
I also like Ian Bishop (sounds like he's delivering a sermon at ALL times) and for some reason Russel Arnold is growing on me, even though he talks nothing but utter bollocks.
On another note, this Jeff Thomson acceptance speech is brilliant on every level.
http://www.cricket.com.au/video/jeff...ing/2016-01-27
Surrey have come in for Farbrace. I would lol quite hard if he accepts.
This 'Masters CL' stuff is amazing. Just look at this Sagittarius Strikers batting order:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/959301.html
Fucking Jonty Rhodes
Seems a bit unfair to have Mahela stroking it around against guys who've been retired for a decade!
Is this being broadcast anywhere?
Yeah, I was wondering what Hauritz was up to playing in that (assuming it's the Nathan variety). Does he no longer harbour test ambitions?
Nathan Lyon is 28? Mind fucking blown.
Sky have it broadcasting online I think. Fucking hell, they gave Trott an over, where was I?
Another big win for our under 19s this morning, this time against the West Indies. Lawrence from Essex is getting runs and Curran ended the first over of their innings 2 for 0, which ended it as a contest. There's also been some scenes in the opposite group with Nepal beating New Zealand, which would line us up to play said mountaineers in the quarter-finals. It's on.
I'm just watching the under 19s and I'm pretty confident we've got the next England opener here, Dan Lawrence. Only watched 5 overs so far but it's obvious he has a method which he knows inside out, he has magic wrists and just exudes international class. Also talks like a proper Essex boy.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-unde...er/641423.html
Have any legitimate superstars ever been identified at U-19 tournaments?
EDIT: Plenty, actually. Michael Clarke, Rohit Sharma, Tim Southee, Mitch Johnson, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Brendan McCullum, Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli, apparently. And that's just a quick glance. I guess I'm forever scarred by Moises Henriques and Cameron White being our big superstars in the U-19 World Cup.
Lara and de Villiers too.
And memorably Rabada at the last one (may say he isn't a superstar yet but it's nailed on).
Thinking about taking the 10/1 currently available for Curran jr to make a Test debut in 2016. He makes Stokes look frankly shit. Just watched him hit five fours in an over including a ramp shot, a pull shot, an extra cover drive and a straight drive.
We have won our group fairly handsomely, and South Africa have joined New Zealand on the competition scrapheap of being dumped out by associates, in their case Namibia which is a trifle embarrassing to say the least.
Likely quarter-final lineup:
Pakistan v Namibia
Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
India v West Indies
England v Nepal
Suspect we might succumb to spin in the end but a semi-final should happen.
Surprised there hasn't been more reaction to the Mankading.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/35470796
Bot the act, and the reaction are absolutely disgraceful.
I fucking hate Mankads. I both agree and disagree with every argument about them on both sides. Can we just make them go away?
Tino Best's tweet back to Eoin Morgan is fairly SCENES though.
Mankad in the news again. Looking at the replays I'm surprised it was even given out.
Spirit of the game and all that but batsmen should just sort their lives out and stop it being an issue.
Also, isn't the bowler meant to be in his delivery stride for the game/ball to be live? Or have completed a delivery stride?
It was a pre-planned move by the bowler. He had no intention of delivering the ball. As much of a div as someone like Senanayake was, at least he was within his rights, as Buttler was being a twonk. This one was just wrong, and I hope whoever they play give them an absolute pasting.
England bat first.
Hales
Roy
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Ali
Jordan
Willey
Rashid
Topley
Have a look at that batting line-up. Potential for absolute carnage. Rashid at 10!
I love that the holding player/accumulator is fucking Root. 14 months ago we were still playing Cook up top.
Good strength in depth when you can leave Bairstow and Taylor out.
Not a fan of Moeen at 7 in ODIs though. Maybe if Hales carries his Test form into this series we could see him open up with Roy
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