Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke than Ari, known on our circuit as a massive racist saffa cunt.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke than Ari, known on our circuit as a massive racist saffa cunt.
Holy shit Graham Thorpe has died.
He'd been very unwell the last couple of years, from what I understand. Fairly sad life, other than his success as a cricketer. His son plays in the leagues I'm in and I know he was estranged from him since a long time ago.
He once boffed a whopping six into the crowd at Taunton which my uncle tried to take, only to misjudge it and get it right on the bicep. His arm was black for months.
Here ends my recollections of Graham Thorpe.
I loved Graham Thorpe, desperately sad news. One of the few players in the 90s you just knew could nurdle and make scores while all around him was falling over. Typical he got a decent score of 55 before bowing out.
Stokes crocking himself playing The Hundred is sure to go down well.
The talismanic Test captain fucking himself playing in a purple shirt with Popchips on it against Wayne Madsen, it's all part of the plan to win back young viewers.
Turns out Thorpe took his own life. Terribly sad.
Last edited by John Arne; 12-08-2024 at 01:28 PM.
Seen a few people saying "he could have done it anytime" and sure he could have but if he did it in a county champ game ahead of a test series it makes sense. There is no reason for him to be playing here. Obviously being leaned on to play in this crap to help force it.Originally Posted by Gray Fox
Stepped in front of a train.
And people moan when train drivers strike for more pay.
My mate does it, he hit a person once and said it ruined his own life for weeks. He said just seeing them step out and waiting for it is absolutely sickening because there's nothing you can do as the driver.
Very tired of all the 'it's important to speak up' stuff left over from about 2014. Sure it is, but this man had access to a lot of help, everyone including his loved ones knew how ill he was, and it still wasn't enough.
In the 1s (mainly for my fielding) for a league game for the first time this weekend. I was in for 2 Sunday cup games so far this season but this being a league match will be more pressure; especially as there are only 3 games left and this is a 2nd (us) vs 3rd matchup.
In general it's been a really stop-start year for me in club cricket. The 3s season being only 12 games long (and completed already) has really prevented gaining any momentum whatsoever. Thankfully there is a re-shuffle in the league next year so it should mean a more regular 16 or 18 game season.
Not sure what's more shocking, that leave and review by Mathews, or the fact that he's still going. How old is he?
37.
Speaking of old people, Chris Woakes at seven is a fabulous innovation from the drink tank. All we need is Kerrigan back and we'll be partying like it's whatever awful year that was.
Gus Atkinson at 8 is very ballsy I must say.
Jamie Smith looks the real deal though.
Also, bookmark this one, Ben McKinney from Durham will be a Test opener within two years. Watched him get 120 off his bell end in the Champ today. He’s got it.
I didnt want to jinx this before, given the conditions, but he really does.
Very much a 'look at how quirky and different we are" selection.
I can see the theory behind these picks (tall, quick, left arm) but the bit where he strikes at 100 in nine county games would worry me.
In Div 2 too
Seems BazBall hasn't made it everywhere yet.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/...s/cj08epv1ejlo
If I had a wild guess, I'd say the team batting first were full of ringers / players dropping down from a higher team and the team batting second wanted to piss them right off.
I saw that on twitter this morning. Was hoping to see Thommo in here sharing his story on this weekends heroics for the 1s!
A quick look says the other teams opener scored 186 from 128 balls. 17 4's and 14 6's. Only got out stumped too so was likely swinging everything for the fences. So that was my reckoning too.
Thommo does have a story full of seethe but I'll let him tell it. He wasn't in his 1sts this week.
I used to be a practitioner of this, though more down at number 8 or 9 when the game was gone. Personal bests were 3* off 76 and 4* off 78.
Thankfully most cricket at that sort of level has gone to limited overs now, which is much better on a number of levels.
Twitter also reckons the lad was clean bowled early on, only for the stand in to call no ball. Not so sure there was a post match beer shared after this one
I was just thinking there can't be many people on both honour boards after 2 games, has anyone ever done it in one?
There is always a tweet
What are the three boards? 5-fers, hundreds and ???? MotM?
6 innings in 2 games also threw me a bit, but I get that now.
10 fer in a match
Beefy scored 108 and took 8/34 in his first Lord's Test (against a no doubt vibing Pakistan).
Bairstow SILENCING HIS CRITICS with a big ton for Yorkshire.
lol at that LBW decision by Reiffel trying to chop Atkinson down in his prime. Barely hitting a second set. Where's the fast bowlers' union rep?
It goes without saying but Root is unreal man
Pope gotta be one of the worst players to be an England captain, surely? Only in there because he plays for Surrey.
I went out to do the first innings of my game with Root taking guard. Came back after the 50 overs and he was 98*. Unreal stuff.
Picking people because they play for Surrey is a winning strategy tbh.
Assuming he makes 96 runs in the next test, he becomes England all time run scorer above Cook.
To put it into perspective, should he do it in the next test, he will have done it in 15 fewer matches and 25 fewer innings.
I liked the graphic of him, Kohli, Smith and Williamson from 2019 to now. Root had the least centuries and has now surpassed them all. Kohli only increased his by two
It's a bit sad to see that sort of crowd at Lords on a 4th day Sunday. I assume the prices have done it. Ten fifteen years ago you'd struggle to get an on that day ticket if it went the full five. I know the comparison isn't quite there with a Sri Lanka series but I vaguely recall the queues to get into day 5 when it was Tendulkar's last match were back past the station and stretching into regents park at other gates
Bazball has quite a bit to do with it I'd say. Nobody dares buy a Day 4 ticket in advance because there's a good chance the game is over. Then if the game goes to a Day 4 you're relying purely on local walk ups.
£125 for a ticket which has to be bought in advance, it's stupid.
The best cricket crowds tend to be spontaneous ones that just go on the day, you can't plan that from a boardroom though can you. There was some pathetic MCC weasel sent on the radio earlier to defend the 'macro pressures' they face.
A full house of people paying 2.5 times less than that would earn more than the 7000 people who forked out and your sport wouldn't look like its dying on its arse. Isn't that the definition of macro economics?
Ah but phonics you see, and I quote, in setting prices they were 'benchmarking against similar environments like Twickenham and Wimbledon'.
So much of modern life is just stupid vapid cunts talking shite.
Imagine benchmarking your prices against the other formerly popular now dying on it's arse sport. If it was India or Pakistan, even Bangladesh (no idea if they're any good at cricket just a slightly racist guess) I'd understand it maybe. Theres only about 100,000 Sri Lankans in the country and they all live in fucking London not Leeds.
Tbf the test was in London.
If it was in Leeds it would have lasted 15 days because the pitch Yorkshire and Middlesex just played on was an absolute road. Bairstows critics unsilenced.
Speaking of Bangladesh, they're currently gubbing Pakistan, in Pakistan.
Quite the feat after being 26/6 in their first knock.
Pakistan still wondering after all these years why they are crap and never make the most of their talent. Probably because you're a bunch of hot-headed imbeciles who do everything based on the concept of seniority.
I didn't do much in my appearance for the 1s, but we did absolutely hammer the opposition. Having been put into bat, we were 27-3 with our captain out so potential for a collapse was on, but we took it long and our keeper tonked a lovely quick 50 at the end to set the opposition 168 to win. They crumbled and we bowled them out in 30 overs, for just 41. That, combined with the leaders losing a narrow game, put us top of the league going into the final 2 weekends.
GF was right, the penultimate weekend was a very tetchy one. Back in the 2s in Division 3 and we were scheduled to host the league leaders, but the rain in the preceding week and particularly the Friday night was torrential. 9am on Saturday morning and the group chat has pictures and videos of the bowlers run ups basically under water. Our captain contacted the opponents to call it off, but they wouldn't take no for an answer and said they'd travel anyway (45 miles or so, 75 minute drive).
So we're required to turn up but the conditions are not improving. It was a pretty cool day and there wasn't much wind so it didn't dry out quickly at all. Upon arrival, they are up and down checking the pitch and outfield constantly. There's nothing we can really do about it but wait and see so we're milling about for 4 hours, in the nets, watching the football, hoping for it to dry up. They are absolutely DESPERATE to play. They're always speaking loud enough for us to hear, saying they've played on worse, time to get the kit on as we'll be playing soon, you get the drift. It gets to half 4 (latest we can start) and our group head out for a final look. It's improved but it's still sodden underfoot, and we say as much.
They are fuming at this point. One old boy supporter comes over for a quick shout "Thanks for the hospitality, fucking shambles the lot of you". Their players are taking pictures and videos, calling us arseholes while we just sit there watching the seethe unfold. Later in the evening, a couple of their players even posted some bitter tweets aimed at the club account. Ultimately, there was no way we could get a game on though. We sent them the info at half 9, they decided to waste their whole day coming down. I'd rather have bloody played as well, it's not like we deliberately didn't fancy a match.
Our captain definitely didn't help the situation by saying "If you'd have won last week, you wouldn't be in this situation so it's your own fault really"
Those are always awkward. My lot are in a relegation battle at the moment - a proper great escape attempt from three wins behind - in which the bottom of the league are completely adrift (1 win all year) and then we're 9/10 within range of several other teams above us. Last week we played one of those teams, huge rain disaster across Surrey, abandoned. Meanwhile another of our rivals (let's call them 'dickheads') were down to play the bottom side ('useless') who might as well just field their grannies for all the chance they have of beating anyone. Rain there too, so dickheads v useless was abandoned after they spent hours and hours hanging around in the same manner you described.
Fast forward a week and the next fixture is dickheads at home to my lot. If dickheads win then they relegate us and it was made clear that they fully intend to do so. No rain all week, so they artificially soaked the square to wet it up for their star seamer, won the toss and bowled, had us 30/3 and 60/4 or something. We then put on a ridiculous partnership and finished 230/4, and our seamers then ripped through them and won by 100. After the game an absolute seethefest as they told us we were lucky and they were still steaming about their game vs useless being rained off. Who was the side that gave useless their only win of the season earlier on? Of course it was dickheads, who shat the bed against them much earlier on. Your fault lads.
Think the table is now something like this (in football terms)
7 dickheads 35
8 other club 35
----
9 my lot 33
10 useless 8
Obviously last fixture of the season this week is my lot v useless, while 7 and 8 both have to travel to the top two. Unless rain fucks us, it could be an absolutely epic conclusion to the great escape. I want dickheads to go down so, so much. Love club cricket.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote