Moderators PowerButchi Posted March 25, 2018 Moderators Share Posted March 25, 2018 Root needs a daddy hundred sooner or later. His conversation rate is shocking past couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted March 25, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 25, 2018 Not been a good few weeks for the game, has it. This from Sikandar Raza highlights one more reason, the stupid decision to only have a 10 team World Cup. http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22908625/man-series-award-painful-reminder-sikandar-raza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted March 25, 2018 Moderators Share Posted March 25, 2018 (edited) First ever world cup to not have every test playong nation. Farcical. I know the ICC need to have the big four nations to play at least 7 or 8 games for financial reasons, but they should be getting those games fair amd square and if they drop a bollock against Canada or the Netherlands in a World Cup and get eliminated then that is their fault and the associate nations shouldn't be punished for the fact that India and England have failed in the World Cup at past tournaments. Surely the Champions Trophy should be just for the 8 biggest boys at the table and the World Cup shouldhave all test nations and some associates. A sixteen team WC 4 groups of 4 with top twos going to QF knockouts would remedy the 2007 world cup only finishing last week problem that a 16 team WC has had in the past. Mind you, never mind test dying, i reckon 50 overs will be super fucked. There will be two games soon with separate players completely. Long form and T20. Look at the state of the Royal London and the Australian domestic 50 over competition. 1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said: Not been a good few weeks for the game, has it. This from Sikandar Raza highlights one more reason, the stupid decision to only have a 10 team World Cup. http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22908625/man-series-award-painful-reminder-sikandar-raza Edited March 25, 2018 by PowerButchi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted March 25, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 25, 2018 I agree that would be the best format, 16 in 4 groups of 4. It's especially a shame because the standard in those qualifiers was excellent. I watched a few of the games and I reckon many of these teams would give the supposed top 10 a run for their money. Scotland missing out was especially harsh, fucked by the D/L after a dodgy LBW. West Indies were dogshit though. I fucking hate Marlon Samuels as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted March 25, 2018 Moderators Share Posted March 25, 2018 (edited) Yeah. Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands amd Zimbabwe on a (zimbabwe on a very) good day can give any team a good game. Ireland have just got test status and the ICC, or more accurately the BCCI who wield the real power these days, are sabotaging their fucking growth as regards interest in the team so India, England, Australia and South Africa play more for sponsors amd media reasons. Mind you, we all remember the ICCs treatment of Kenya in 2003. "Well done boys. We've no plans for you because your faces don't fit financially but well done". And what a force they have been since. Edited March 25, 2018 by PowerButchi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 That is the way the ICC works Butch. The bigwigs that run it are the sort of nobs that would belong to a gentleman's club. They treat cricket in very much the same way as those clubs are run. Not keen on admitting brown faces and keen to restrict the membership so that their own nests remain fully feathered. Anyway England lasted longer than expected today, the damage was all done on that first morning and they have effectively lost the match in 3 days. I was at a cricket dinner with Angus Fraser on Friday night. He doesn't expect to last much longer as a selector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Cod Eye Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 Got to agree with Butch about the 50 over game dying. T20 is on the way to making it obsolete and I can see T20's getting the 5 game series and ODI's having a single match tagged on the end of a tour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) That was like being transported back to the golden years of dross under Hussein. I was in America during the start of the NZ/Eng test and was really looking forward to watching some real sport after ten days of March Madness basketball. I got that embarrassment of an opening session, the only redeeming feature of which was that 'lightning' Craig Overton didn't look total pony with the bat. He's approximately 4,000 miles away from being a test quality bowler, but that's another matter. Great seeing the Aussies squirm. I'm not even attempting to take the high ground on this. The current test side is as unpleasant as they come and led by an utter oaf of a man in Darren Lehmann. About the only bad thing is that they may not be able to pin anything on David Warner, who is my least favourite player on earth not named Gareth Batty. The main news is that my Somerset membership has been delivered, and I can look forward to a summer of watching 85 year old Marcus Trescothick fail to win the Championship again. I really do think the ECB will kill Championship cricket for all intents and purposes within a decade, so making the most of it while I can. Edited March 26, 2018 by Gus Mears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 The TV contract will ensure 50 over cricket survives for the minute. T20 can be exciting, 50 overs can be exciting, but nothing is better than a close fought Test. As long as Test Match cricket survives who really cares about the pyjama wearers. As for the Championship Gus, it is simple. There are far too many Counties. It's the tradition thing again. Australia produces top quality cheats, sorry cricketers with half a dozen state sides and really strong grade cricket. We should do the same. We have the ECB Premier League system in place now. Go with 8 counties and make minor counties and ECB Prems more competitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: As for the Championship Gus, it is simple. There are far too many Counties. It's the tradition thing again. Australia produces top quality cheats, sorry cricketers with half a dozen state sides and really strong grade cricket. We should do the same. We have the ECB Premier League system in place now. Go with 8 counties and make minor counties and ECB Prems more competitive. My problem with that is entirely partisan, I'm pretty sure they would try and make us a minor county because we're not a test ground, despite the fact that we have one of the highest average attendances in the country. I would be up for the minor counties system if promotion/relegation was decent and possible, but I can't have faith that the ECB will do anything competently after the appalling way they have handled the test ground expansions/remunerations and the franchise T20 league. You're probably not wrong on the too many counties thing though. My issue is I could see Glam retaining the South West berth over us, despite the fact that absolutely no one attends Glam county games, or indeed, Glam games full stop. Edited March 26, 2018 by Gus Mears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Cod Eye Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 5 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: The TV contract will ensure 50 over cricket survives for the minute. T20 can be exciting, 50 overs can be exciting, but nothing is better than a close fought Test. As long as Test Match cricket survives who really cares about the pyjama wearers. As for the Championship Gus, it is simple. There are far too many Counties. It's the tradition thing again. Australia produces top quality cheats, sorry cricketers with half a dozen state sides and really strong grade cricket. We should do the same. We have the ECB Premier League system in place now. Go with 8 counties and make minor counties and ECB Prems more competitive. I don't really agree that there are to many Counties. County cricket already suffers from an image problem, with many people of the opinion that it's not worth their time(as proven with some of the attendances around the country). If the ECB suddenly declared a bunch of clubs as "minor Counties" it would make the league seem even more small time. For me, the reason the county game's quality has dropped is directly linked to ALL televised cricket in this country being put behind a paywall. We need to get the county game on terrestrial TV, or have every game streamed live to get the next generation interested in the game and out playing it. The more kids we get playing, the better chance we have of finding the next English(or South African!!!) born world class players. It also has the knock on effect of the kids pestering their parents to take them to the grounds to see their team play live, which will generate money for the clubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted March 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2018 I'm not saying the ECB are capable of doing the right thing Gus, there is no evidence of that at all, and as someone who has a few dealings with them let me tell you: Organisation of stuff and common sense are not their forte. If they changed it they would probably try to merge Yorkshire and Lancashire or something equally stupid. You are right about Somerset though. If they changed the system they'd probably base it on test grounds. @Cod Eye All I can say is that having spoken to about half a dozen 1st Class umpires over the last year or so, the one thing they all agreed on was that there are far to many average players in the county game. They all said the level of competition needs to improve dramatically and that can't happen under the present system. As for getting kids playing, there is a lot of effort going into that. The All Stars initiative that a lot of clubs run is brilliant for getting younger kids involved. The problem is actually retaining them once they get to 14-18 years old. That is a problem a lot of sports have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Power Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 4 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: As for getting kids playing, there is a lot of effort going into that. The All Stars initiative that a lot of clubs run is brilliant for getting younger kids involved. The problem is actually retaining them once they get to 14-18 years old. That is a problem a lot of sports have. Nail on the head there. I captain a club side who play to a decent standard - three Saturday teams, one Sunday team and juniors between U19-U9. The ballache is retaining those players who are around 15/16, who discover brightly coloured alcoholic drinks, women, and hanging around bus stops smashing them up. The fact is that young lads (unless they're really talented) don't want to spend 8 hours of their Saturday's playing cricket with old men - and its a real shame. In a few years time, Saturday cricket will probably be mostly T20 cricket - especially lower down the pyramid. Maybe that won't be a bad thing, as long as there are people playing the game. I'd love to possess a solution, but I don't. We're trying to put an emphasis on the social side - a monthly function, either a quiz night or a fancy dress or something. Keep people involved. The only good this does though is provide a place for 16 year old kids to get hammered before they're old enough to go to town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Dude Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 So we're agreed then. More tradition is needed in the domestic game, but much less of it is required in the international game. Pity the ECB and ICC aren't about to see things that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted March 27, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 27, 2018 This is hilarious if true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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