I see South Africa put in a solid collapse yesterday as well. Perhaps even more impressive than ours given where they went from. God bless the rain.
I see South Africa put in a solid collapse yesterday as well. Perhaps even more impressive than ours given where they went from. God bless the rain.
There are at least 16 decent sides now. Should be a 2x8 TV bonanza to please all parties.
My heart wants Ireland to win, but I think the mad mullahs are more likely to do damage in the final tournament.
They are bottling it big time.
Really fun day lying on the sofa flicking between two contrasting but equally entertaining games of cricket. Big Vern at it again
I've been following this chase on the scorecard from ball one and throughout it, even at 90/1 my years of cricketing instinct have been saying Ireland win.
Runs on the board please in any big game. Even not many runs. Just get them on the board.
Rotating the strike has been a huge issue for both sides. Can taste the tension though, feel for the loser.
Think Ashgar Stanikzai has ruptured his appendectomy scar in this cracking cameo innings. What a game.
And that's why my instinct is bollocks.
Absloute robbery if we somehow get out of this with a draw. One more day of rain should do it.
Aussies getting done for ball tampering, I don't think it gets any funnier than that.
AW LOOK MATE IT'S DIFFERENT
Bancroft's been caught doing something naughty with the ball in the field.
And then shoving the evidence down his pants.
They've put it on the big screen and everything. What a series this has been.
The Warner v Rabada battle yesterday, which was basically Warner spending 15 minutes smashing him as hard as possible before having his stumps demolished, was a highlight.
Graeme Smith has come out with the black cap on in the post-tea commentary.
What is the sanction for this type of thing? Presumably he hasn't come out with sandpaper in his pocket off his own initiative.
Warner getting a send off from some old bloke in the crowd and Darren Lehman being outraged at the behaviour of South African crowds another good moment.
If it's proved then I imagine him and Smith will both get lengthy bans. Smith should miss a year or something really, but I doubt they'll go that far.Originally Posted by niko_cee
Po-faced saffers grasping the moral high ground another haahlaaht.
Having come out and admitted it was team-orchestrated cheating, how can Smith not resign immediately?
Amazing.
Bancroft's comments are top notch as well.
I don't think I was coerced. I was nervous about it because there are hundreds of cameras around.
"Unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
Last edited by niko_cee; 24-03-2018 at 05:21 PM.
The shot of Lehman speaking into a walkie talkie and then realising he is on camera is so damning/hilarious. You feel he will definitely go but they'll do all they can to keep Smith intact. Feel a bit for Bancroft, new in the team and will probably take the fall for simply following orders.
A bit of ball tampering is hardly career ending stuff, but coming up with a plan in 'the leadership group' and then sending the newest member of the team over the top is a bit, erm, regrettable. At least Athers was man enough to do it himself.
Smith is enemy number 1 down here at the moment.
While I agree it's the wrong thing to do, the irony of a straight-faced lecture on ball-tampering from England supporters is pretty rich. Nobody did it better.
Where's all the "well, it should just be legalised" articles today, Cricinfo?
The worst thing that will come out of this is that Bancroft has just made himself undroppable. If we drop him, it'll just look like we're pinning him as the fall guy.
Which is a pity, because Renshaw has been piling on runs in the Shield, and Bancroft is a rubbish batsman who will never score a test hundred against a competent side.
The cricketing equivalent of 'but what about her emails?!'
Point at where I said that they didn't do anything wrong.
I'm not, however, going to take seriously people who have enthusiastically supported this offence for years. If hfswjyr comes in here and takes a pop, then fair play.
Point at where Jimmy or Byron have "enthusiastically supported this offence for years"...
Edit: I'm not being snarky, I just don't think I ever recall either of them supporting this kind of thing.
Smith and Boof need to go and Warner needs to kept on a tight leash by the next captain.
They are going to be crushed by the media when they get back.
Reading the tea leaves, looks like Smith is a gonner. But the mystery of this leadership team makes it difficult to understand who's going to taken over the captaincy.
In the other game, I think we've left our declaration way too late and England will bat out the rest of the test + rain.
It's not the ball tampering, it's a combination of two things:
1. The orchestrated nature of it and the fact that they attempted (led by the dressing room, it seems) to try and hide evidence from the umpires when questioned.
2. The context of an Australian team (and cheerleading C9 comms, Malcolm Conn, etc etc) that have been claiming themselves to be whiter than white for the last year in the face of numerous controversies - including an evidence-free rant at English ball tampering.
Also, I don't think any team in world cricket has ever been stupid/arrogant enough to bring an implement onto the pitch to do it.
Then there's also the sight of them palming it off to the most junior player. It's just awful.
I should have phrased it as "enthusiastically supported a team who everyone knew were at it". There's a conversation a few pages ago where Jimmy points out that Ravi Bopara was an expert.
It's fine. They're right. The Australian team super cheated - cheated so badly and obviously that they got caught red handed - and there's a reason that they're getting excoriated by the media here. But I'm definitely not taking lectures in morality from supporters of an England team that everyone knows are masters of the art.
Smith and Warner are gone!
Wonder if this is Steve Smith's Tiger Woods moment.
For what it's worth, I hope not.
Well it seems Australia have finally breached their own mystical line in the sand. Nice to see Warner binned as well the colossal twat.
Tim Paine’s having a decent summer though. Surprise pick from relative obscurity for the Ashes, has a good series, now is Australian captain!
Smith will find his way back in time. Although it could be interesting to see if he can focus on his batting for the remainder of the tour.
He'll be back there eventually. This is the right penalty, but it also shouldn't be a career-ender by any stretch of the imagination.
Tim Paine as captain could be fun. Safe in the side, and doesn't really need to bring too much with the bat. Could work!
Where does ball tampering rank in these things? What sort of ban are we looking at?
Oh well, he'll see you right come the next Ashes then.
As Jimmy said, it's not the ball tampering, it's the pre-meditated conspiracy to cheat, and the subsequent 'evasive' actions, which is/are the bigger issue.
The 'leadership group' have obviously never heard of plausible deniability.
Above all it's just funny. Po-faced? Take a look in the mirror cobbers. I hope they get absolute dogs abuse for the rest of the series the poor precious souls.
I'd completely forgotten we're in the midst of ignominious defeat at the same time. Classic end to the day I see. I expect to lose a couple more in the first half an hour tomorrow, so is there any hope of rain saving the day again?
Cricket Australia have sent their Head of Integrity out to South Africa. Yes, their “Head of Integrity”.
Graham Swan was vitriolic against the Aussies then on radio 5. It's great listening this morning.
Michael Clarke is willing to step back in as captain. This is so funny. They’ll chase down 450 as well probably to cap it off.
I don't think anything funnier has ever happened in cricket. Not even us losing to Holland that time.
And now the collapse...
Rabada and Maharaj outstanding after tea.
Smith out for 7 himself.
Remember lads, hard but fair.
What a session. What a test match. Absolutely brutal.
Good to see the umpires getting in on things and giving absolutely everything against Australia.
I think everyone concerned just wants it to be over.
I thought I'd responded to Ital's You've no grounds to critique us!" stuff, but apparently I did not. So if 'enthusiastic' England supporters (apparently regardless of their stance on previous instances of ball-tampering) can't credibly criticise Australia here I'm curious whether you will a) never comment on any cricket-related ethical issue again now Australia have been caught out or b) stop supporting the Australian cricket team altogether on principle.
Keep us posted.
We got a Mash article, mate:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/...t-200906081811
To take an actually relevant example, I have never had a problem with other teams sledging us, because I've accepted our lot doing it to other teams. If you can accept your lot doing it, you have to accept other people coming to the party. I'm not going to clutch at my pearls when England get chippy in the field.
I've been very critical of our team for ball-tampering, as I would have if it were any other side. There's no excuse-making here. They absolutely cheated (and badly), and they deserve to be punished. Which they are.
So direct the holier-than-thou lecture somewhere else. I don't have to defend anything.
For the record, the thing that does make this hilarious is how embarrassingly poorly it was all executed.
Also, I think we can all agree that the next World Cup should have at least the four best teams from the qualifying tournament. Ideally six.
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