The Cricket Thread

[Jimmy Floyd]

There used to be an old school sports shop at the end of my road where I grew up, the guy in there told me (while closing it down after 35 years) that the reason it all went wrong was that Nike and Adidas, or at least one of them, took all their product lines out of said shops so that you had to buy either direct from their own boutique places, or from Mike Ashley who presumably places a preset massive annual contract with them. Lord Nike, or perhaps Ashley via them, was fed up with Dave's Sports having access to their gear. A tale as old as time, really.

[Ian]

All this is just making me think of Kevin Bridges talking about a scummy Glasgow sports shop selling dozens of baseball bats and not a single baseball.

"The Easterhouse Red Sox must have not played many games this year."

[niko_cee]

Ok, so, here are the runners and riders, not many at the moment:

https://villagecricket.co/product/junior-cricket-bat/

https://www.prodirectsport.com/crick...t-bats-256121/

Sports Direct was a total failure.

[niko_cee]

Got to say, I'm concerned about this 'not for use with hard balls' minefield which seems to plague the entry level junior bats.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If you're looking for any kind of durability I'd take the GM over whatever the hell 'Village' is.

[niko_cee]

The 202 gets a 1 star review on amazon with a video of it having cracked/split massively around the splice after a few uses.

Think village is either a Yorkshire based scam, or a 'small business' rival to the big brands.

[Ben]

No scams in Yorkshire chore.

[Clunge]

My first bat was a G&M and it's still in great nick 20 years+ later.

[niko_cee]

The GM 202 just arrived and it looks/feels nice.

On the subject of youth cricket my daughter also does this street cricket thing, which I assume is some sort of ECB/county initiative to get more cricket being played and it's interesting to watch the little fuckers playing. Every shot is a scoop, or reverse ramp or reverse sweep of some sort. Must be maddening to coach but I guess it shows how influential the very short format versions have become. Not sure I ever saw anyone play a reverse anything in my career as a youth cricketer, although I do consider myself to have been a pioneer of the uppercut/waft over the slips.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Reverses didn't become widespread in amateur cricket until maybe five or six years ago. Now you see them a huge amount. I did Surrey U16s a couple of times last year and they had a Whitgift lad built like a front rower who could switch hit / reverse slog seamers or spinners aerially for boundaries, with effortless poise and power. Was a bit scary to watch in a way. That said, to do it really well is still the preserve of the really exceptional hand-eye merchants. Even at county level, most can't do it like him.

[Ben]

I recall playing against Simon Guy (Yorkshire wicketkeeper) in a cup game about 15 years ago and I was bamboozled by his creativity. Hitting 360 degrees with scoops, reverse sweeps etc. We'd move the field then he would find the new gap with a new shot immediately. It's pretty much the norm now but back then it was completely alien. Impossible to defend against.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Even now, if you have fielding restrictions and you have someone who can both wallop it in front of the wicket and beat fine leg / third up in the ring with ramps, then you're basically fucked. The only panacea is a left armer bowling slower wide yorkers right across people, haven't seen that defeated yet.

[hfswjyr]

If I recall correctly, the first time I saw the scoop shot in an international was Baz playing it. Am I dreaming, and did he popularise that as well? Or did someone play it before him?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Dougie Marillier is generally considered to have been first. Dilshan probably majorly popularised it.

[thommo]

2nd winter net session yesterday and I've definitely bowled too much and my shoulder is now extremely sore. Good job we've got 6-7 weeks before any actual games so I should be fine if I take it easy.

Basically a repeat of last year, as evidenced by this post:

I think I've thrown myself back into cricket too eagerly, and I'm now ruing it. I netted on Wednesday and my shoulder felt quite sore when bowling and it got to the game on Saturday and I couldn't bowl without real pain as I got through the action.

Absolutely typical that I've injured myself just as I got involved. And of course I was an absolute magnet for the ball in the field; I think I had to pull out a slide or dive 4 times in quick succession in the outfield. Throwing the ball back in didn't feel good either.

I never learn.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I had good news this morning, added to the Premier League list for this year. Looking forward to getting volleys of abuse from Surrey players all summer.

[Danny]

Congrats Jim.

Where does that put you level wise?

[Max Power]

Not long until Joel Wilson is forced to send one upstairs for Jim to rock and roll on…

[Jimmy Floyd]

Highest level of club cricket, I guess. Last year I was starting to get a few county academy games and did the national schools final, so the wind is behind me a little bit. Pro level is not possible I don't think, but definitely aiming for national panel (minor counties / county 2nd XI) at some point in the future. Been quite surprised how it's gone given I was a dogshit player.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Not long until Joel Wilson is forced to send one upstairs for Jim to rock and roll on…

Weirdly, I'm not sure that level appeals. Hardly make any of your own decisions and from talking to a couple of people last year, it sounds like about 70% of the job is trying to stop people from sneaking onto their phones to fix the match, which, aside from at the very highest level (England/India etc), everyone is doing literally all the time.

[Danny]

Highest level of club cricket, I guess. Last year I was starting to get a few county academy games and did the national schools final, so the wind is behind me a little bit. Pro level is not possible I don't think, but definitely aiming for national panel (minor counties / county 2nd XI) at some point in the future. Been quite surprised how it's gone given I was a dogshit player.

Great stuff.

What makes you think pro isn’t possible? You must be doing something right to get where you are and get given a national final. Schools or not.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Because the English pro umpires are, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions, all ex pro players. So either the policy would have to change or I'd have to be truly the best of the best.

There's also the issue that I'd have to fund myself at the stage before and probably quit my job, which is unlikely to be sensible.

[Danny]

Fair. I didnt realize it was that way for the umpires. I would have expected more of mix, though nothing like football where they all appear to have never played it.

[Waffdon]

Another great start from England followed by the usual collapse. Root, Bairstow and Stokes all going in the space of 10 minutes isn’t really a surprise to anyone.

[Waffdon]

This also might be the greatest ground I’ve ever seen btw

[Dave.]

Jaiswal is amazing.

[Ian]

The second episode of the James May in India show on Prime had a nice bit about manufacturing cricket bats and balls if anybody hasn't seen that / is interested.

[Waffdon]

Jaiswal is amazing.

50+ in every match so far. Christ. This could be another absolute annihilation

[Waffdon]

Jesus, I’m good.

[Waffdon]

I reckon Pope & Stokes must have averaged about 10 this series if you take out both their 1 good innings. Gingers are shite

[Jimmy Floyd]

We probably need a solid northern bastard in the middle order. Josh Bohannon maybe.

Will be interesting to see how the team ends up for our inevitable stomp on Sri Lanka, particularly the seam bowling, Ollie Robinson seems to be in a nosedive towards ignominy. Anyone who hasn't seen/heard his podcast is missing out on a true bulwark of culture.

[Ian]

Anyone who hasn't seen/heard his podcast is missing out on a true bulwark of culture.

Oh god, what sort of shit is he doling out on there?

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjozinxh-Dg

Scroll to any random point in the video (this is the most recent episode) and see how long it takes before your brain just shuts down entirely.

[Ian]

I'm afraid that is simply too much charisma for me to handle.

[hfswjyr]

I never thought we'd come close to beating this Aussie team, but even with no expectations, and to have the team coming close-ish, I'm still disappointed.

[niko_cee]

Cursed

I reckon there would be a really interesting study to be had in the long term health benefits of helmets. They completely normalise getting hit on the head, and have led to a style of play were it is almost disregarded. Would be interesting if it's really bad for you in the long run, with impacts which would probably be avoided in a no-helmet alternative reality. I guess there probably aren't enough instances of getting hit on the head for it to be a CTE style issue, but it could be interesting where a safety device decreases risk aversion and ends up leading to the sort of thing it is trying to negate.

[Ben]

I think you're absolutely right. Obviously there are situations where a helmet is desired but overall I probably can't argue with that sentiment.

Personally I've worn a helmet most of my life (and currently do so) but my opening partner never does. He's quite often asked why he isn't (when the opposition has a quick bowler etc.) and his reply is always that he isn't planning to have his head anywhere near the ball. He's been the top scorer in our division the last two years so who am I to argue with his logic.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I never wore a helmet and was never hit in the head. Always thought I could see the ball far, far earlier because of it. However I also didn't face any really rapid bowling or sweep.

I was at pre season this week and chatting to our first team quick, we decided to have him run in and bowl about ten bumpers in a row a) to see if he could deliver them and b) to see what the batters did. They all had a slash at every single one and about three would have been out. One was hit on the back of the head. That would never, ever have happened pre helmets.

[Ian]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/68546045

History makers.

[Jimmy Floyd]

One of my very 'gammon' views is that English cricketers are a bunch of softies these days. You can take Anderson out of that equation but the rest are just pampered fucks who don't have the mental capacity to deal with an away 5-test series.

[Ian]

I agree and a common whinge of mine for football especially is we don't really produce anybody for the major team sports who has a proper "over my dead body", hard-nosed motherfuckers these days.

John Terry was probably the last one for England football unless I'm forgetting somebody. And my feeling is that in my youth the England rugby team, during the periods when they were a bad team, were at least a team who'd try and drag you down to their level and make you fight to beat them.

I'm glad Stokes and McCullum have made the England team actively enjoy playing test cricket but I wonder how many of them in the current setup properly hate losing?

[Ben]

I just saw something on the BBC live text about the Kookaburra ball being used in the CC. What is this heresy? Is it some bullshit about trying to nerf the dobbers on our green tops?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Yeah the last 5 years have been a series of attempts to stop medium pace in English cricket, might as well try and stop gravity.

[Kikó]

Warwickshire having a few massive partnerships against Durham https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...full-scorecard

[Clunge]

Somerset binning off the season before it's even really started, again.

[thommo]

First outdoor nets yesterday, finally. I much prefer netting outside, just feels better. Ended up bowling quite nicely after a wayward start, bowled a lot at the 1sts and kept it in the right area. Our league season isn't starting until the first weekend of May so hopefully the pitches will dry up a bit by then. Not sure how many friendlies we'll play though....

Next step is to knock in the new bat. Will have to just sit down with a film on and get to work.

[Ben]

Our league have postponed the full first round of fixtures (scheduled for this week) to be crammed in on some random Sunday.

Double weekends.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Just call it rained off ffs. Double weekends are ridiculous in this day and age. They always get far too influenced by Big Club A crying salt tears that they were rained off against Bottom Feeders B and that it's all so unfair. Deal with it ffs, it's sport.

I went to the umpires pre season meeting and we got a directive (which I think is a national ECB directive, actually) that we're all giving too many decisions out, and batters need to get more benefit of the doubt. I've been saying this for years, so felt quite smug.

[Ben]

I went to the umpires pre season meeting and we got a directive (which I think is a national ECB directive, actually) that we're all giving too many decisions out, and batters need to get more benefit of the doubt. I've been saying this for years, so felt quite smug.

Just asked my umpire mate. Can confirm they were told this up here too.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They say that there are more than twice as many mistakes on out decisions as on not out decisions. I can well believe that's true, but it's been true for 100 years (thanks to the Bumble 'keep the game moving' brigade), so I wonder what's made them crack down on it now. Maybe being sawn off is more of a participation issue than not getting a plumb one as a bowler. Maybe it's all part of the war on medium pace. Who knows.