Timeless Test Continued
MPaul
Shipmate
Just an update.
England rolled for 58 in Day/Night pink ball test in NZ.
Oh Dear, what can the matter be?
England rolled for 58 in Day/Night pink ball test in NZ.
Oh Dear, what can the matter be?
Comments
AG
Meanwhile, England are pure as the driven, but showing how they got thrashed by Australia
Damn right. For anyone in *any* government to try to take the moral high ground in something this trivial when they won’t get the important things right is a disgrace. Now I read that Smith and Warner have stepped down from their roles for the rest of the match; I hope they don’t expect things to end there.
Why not just allow ball tampering? Let them make it spiky, shiny, rough, smooth, cover it in glue - whatever. There will be a point at which tampering is no help at all and, if both sides can do it, the playing field is level anyway.
Winter cannot come too soon
Life is suspended
That’s a dramatic turnaround from a 4-0 win in the Ashes not so long ago! Mind you, SA&NZ are possibly showing Australia and England’s true standing
Still, at least I am not Australian. It must really suck right now.
I get the idea that Smith is a little like Ponting. Both are excellent batsmen, automatic choices for the team but to be honest I don't think Punter was much of a captain. After all, he had three all-time greats playing for him; Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist. He wasn't so far off that, the top order was strong and when your third bowler is Brett Lee you hardly need to be much of a captain.
Smith, for all his talent, doesn't have those luxuries. Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon are very good, way too good for England but the rest of his XI just doesn't compare. I'm not surprised they do stupid things with the expectation put upon them.
I think the ACB has acted appropriately. I reckon the penalties are about right, certainly way more than any others I can remember or ball tampering.
I thought the IPL clubs were a bit OTT to suspend them. You use a tennis ball to play tippedy-run.
I didn't think they were numbered like that! Darren Lehmann has announced he will leave his post at the end of the Test series. He looks genuinely upset, disappointed, the lot. I feel for the guy.
Still, no one is going to do anything more than clean a ball then polish it for some time. I expect umpires will pay rather more attention to the ball being bounced into old wickets to roughen the surface too. Not sure it will put an end to "reverse swing" but it may have some effect.
Langer, Gillespie, Bayliss or Rogers could do the job. I'd plump for Justin Langer.
Batting
200-249 runs: 1 point
250-299 runs: 2 points
300-349 runs: 3 points
350-399 runs: 4 points
400+ runs: 5 points and
Bowling
3-5 wickets taken: 1 point
6-8 wickets taken: 2 points
9-10 wickets taken: 3 points
nb: the difference between a draw and a tie is that a draw is an incomplete match, while in a tie, both innings are complete for both sides with the total number of runs level.
I’m glad it’s not on terrestrial TV, as it saves me watching it.
C'mon England, don't let them get many more but let the pitch dry out a bit to make batting easier (Pakistan have decent bowlers).
I got the impression that, late in the day, Pakistan was doing a good job of limiting the runs scored, even if wickets weren't falling. I have no idea if it is a meaningful stat, but I calculate that Pakistan was scoring at the rate of about 3.61746 runs per over, while England clocked in at 2.86485 runs per over. (The more I think about it, in Day 1 of a Test match, that probably is a meaningless stat--it isn't a limited overs contest.)
One reason Pakistan recovered late on was that as the ball gets older it doesn't bounce, swing or move of the pitch so much: in short, it becomes easier to play, hence the Pakistan run rate. When England came out to bat there was (and still is) an awful lot of time left, so after the disaster of the first test, England are going to bat for as long as possible, ideally right through the next two days. which should see them about five hundred ahead (and the Pakistan bowlers out on their feet).
Just reflecting on England's men scoring nearly 500 in 50 overs and the women scoring 250 in a 20 over game. Both, admittedly, against weak and weakened opposition.
What's got me thinking is whether the rules (and maybe the use of the white ball) are now more stacked in favour of batting than bowling. Or maybe it's the flat pitches?
Not saying both of those matches weren't fun to watch (if you were English!) But maybe some rebalancing is necessary?
I think the IPL got it right this year. Lots of very close games, with excellent limited over batting and bowling.
- Bowlers are severely constrained regarding line and length. Short-pitched bowling is discouraged, even penalised. Then again, it's possible, with some bottle, practice and a good eye, to score a lot of runs very fast if the bowling isn't directed at the stumps! I couldn't hook the ball but I could sweep the ball down to fine leg ("don't try to hit the ball too hard!") and play a fine hoick to cow corner.
- There are restrictions on field placing. What is crazy is that some of these are, supposedly to make the game "more realistic". My best captain always kept at least one slip in, firstly because we had a very good slip fielder but mostly to discourage "driving without due care".
- Boundaries are far shorter than they used to be: on many grounds back in the sixties and into the seventies there were no boundary ropes. You didn't get a boundary until the ball reached or passed the boundary of the field of play. I suppose this is reasonable to look after players safety.
Then again, bowlers (and fielders) can make mistake after mistake, but if a batter makes a single error, that's it. I'd definitely restrict the weight of bats though.
There's no need for the boundaries to be quite so short though - they are several yards in from the advertising hoardings. Some hits that went for 6 probably wouldn't even have a four on my home ground (though some were admittedly absolutely massive).
On the other hand, good batting tracks and high scores means that spectators get a full days play and quite a bit of excitement - so from that point of view batting friendly conditions make sense.
In the meantime in the Caribbean the Windies and Sri Lanka seem intend on out-collapsing each other. Looks exciting, if inept!
It's clear that India are in an entirely different class! England might win the odd game but India are a lot smarter than Australia and the IPL gives their players a great background for high-pressure limited overs cricket. To compare it to Football, Australia are like Sweden, lacking penetration, while India are like Croatia.