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Not a good start against the mighty force that is Sri Lanka  ::)

What is up with Cook?

Never has a cricket thread on the TEF been so dead.

Didn't even realise there was a thread. I've listened to most of both tests but I haven't really got much to say about either of them. Plunkett looks much improved, I'm glad we've looked at him a second time, it's always annoyed me that we dispense with players at 23 who aren't good enough then and never look again.

I like to go out on my bike and listen to TMS as I pedal along.....Agnew's interview with Dickie Bird yesterday, comedy gold.   Dickie relating the story of how they had to raise the plinth of his statue in Barnsley, as women would leave bras and knickers with lewd suggestions on Dickie's raised finger....

Fair play to the good ladies of Barnsley....who their ex Balkan striker Georgi Hristov, called the ugliest in the world.

Been a very decent short series between two well matched teams....tomorrow will decide the outcome one way or t'other, no idea at this time who'll take it though.

It's been riveting! I have enjoyed every minute of TMS. Having Swanny on board with Michael Vaughan and Boycs as analysts has been great listening. The Sri Lanka commentator has been a really good sport too.

Still two more days of it to go, but I don't think it will go to the last day. A real treat of a test match, a much better wicket than at Lords, something for everyone

 :)

Again, what the hell is up with the Chef?

Pressure of captaincy has affected his batting.....it happens to them all after a while, it's come to Cook a bit quicker than say Strauss, Vaughan etc of recentish vintage.

Unfortunately, there isn't really anyone else in a side in transition....

Awful today, from a dominant position to precarious. Can't see us making more than 250.

They may well have a lead of around 350 by the time we get them out at the rate we are going ( 292 as I type )
Anderson and Broad look spent and Cook looks like he has run out of ideas

 Eranga just knicked one off, with half a bat, Bowden unmoved, reviews badly wasted earlier.

Feel for Anderson there, blatant nick and shouldnt have needed a review,
Billy had a mare.

Lets hope England can bat tomorrow out

Edit
Anderson finally gets one with Mathews caught

If we get 350 to win this, my cock's a kipper

Highly unlikely....deserve to lose really for not being good enough at key moments....India who've just arrived must be licking their lips

Moores, Hodgson, Lancaster out  :)

Mirror image the the football team

 So is there an alternative to Cook for skipper, he looks like he needs to go back to the ranks and find his batting again.

That's always bugged me about cricket.

The captain can play shite and retain his place without question

57 for 5 is atrocious after watching the way SL batted with ease, even more so with the heavy roller on it.
Might only be a £5 tomorrow but cant see many taking up the option. Dont think England will last past lunch  :cry:

Captaining any Test side is a uniquely difficult job, England captains these days tend to last about 3 or 4 years before they're burnt out. So since Hussain took over who did 4, Vaughan managed 5, Strauss 4, Peterson and Flintoff 1 year, each.

Cook got a series in Bangladesh, in 2010 to give him a run out and give Strauss a break. So he's not quite at 4 years, but  looks to be fucked.

He's got a lot wrong recently, after a very good start, and it's affected his batting. Ideally there'd be an obvious candidate to step up v India, and give him a chance to focus on batting again.

Stuart Broad, would look like the only internal candidate, but he's starting to creak physically, so probably shouldn't be lumbered. Maybe Ian Bell might surprise us, if he was given a shot at it.

I really hope we see James Vince in and England shirt before long, playing beautifully for Hampshire at the moment.

Who needs KP?

A truly horrible day. Bowling and batting. Sigh. Will the winter never end?

Well done to Angelo Mathews and Herath though.

Sri Lanka seem like such nice chaps that it's hard to begrudge them anything, particularly for Sanga and Jayawardene who probably won't play here again. Top class players.

As for England...the new guys have made a decent fist of it but when the chips are down  the experienced pros need to step up and they didn't. Cooks captaincy is by numbers at best, and his batting is dreadful at the moment. Anderson bowled as poorly as he ever has and Broad not much better. There's the potential for a good side in here but there's something wrong at the core of it all.

No easy answers though.

Nah, definitely not Broad, he is way too emotional. we would get through our appeals in three overs. Bowlers rarely make good captains. Can't think of many who were useful, even Willis was mediocre.

Maybe Belly, but I'm thinking more like Prior. But then again I have absolutely no idea about their management skills or personal charisma.

The only reason why you think bowlers don't make captains, is because particularly in English cricket....batsmen have always been toffs, and bowlers workers....therefore the captain has to be a batsman. The best England captain of my time time was Raymond Illingworth....a bowler who batted a bit.

Illingworth, only got the job, because the distinction between Gentlemen and Players was removed in 1962...a key indicator of the radical 60's...it took about 8 or 9 years to filter through.

The worst thing that has happened in English cricket recently, is the stepping down as selector of Geoff Miller. Miller a Chesterfield boy who played for Derbyshire, seemed to get most things right....his replacement Whittaker, a public school educated toff, who so far seems to have got most things wrong.

I'd love to know whether it was Miller or Whittaker, who picked Woakes and Kerrigan at the Oval....

Prior shouldn't be in the team, never mind captain of it.

Bollox

 :cry:

Great knock from Moeen Ali though....

You couldn't make it up!  Jimmy lasts 80-odd minutes and 50-odd deliveries - without scoring - and then contrives to get out like that with only one ball left!  :no:

Ohh jimmy!! Great effort though from those two at the end, noone thought it would last that long. Top order and cook especially need a good long look at themselves

Indeed and bet he is gutted
Bet both are.

Englands woe continues no matter what the sport

Brilliant knock from Ali.

Jimmy looked proper gutted at the end.

I'd imagine Moeen is a bit disappointed, but what an effort for a second test.

England's last 5 tons have been scored by Robson, Root, Ballance, Moeen and Stokes....not many caps between them, so reasons to be optimistic there...

On form, then Cook should probably be dropped, but he wont be....I'd like to see something like this for India..
Cook
Robson
Bell
Root
Moeen
Stokes
Prior
Borthwick/Rashid
Broad
Plunkett/Jordan
Anderson

Gary Ballance would be a bit unlucky, but looks a bit technically deficient for number 3

If Moeen is half a spin bowler then Borthwick or Rashid could give you, the possibility of some wicket taking overs, even if they leak a few, would be very decent at 8...and you've still got 4 seam bowlers.

You'll think I'm picking on you after the Pirlo comments Reg, but you'd drop Ballance after a 100 and an 80?

OK mate.

Agree. Surely we have a better spinner than Borthwick and Rashid too :blowup:

As I said Ballance would be unlucky, but he's not a number 3....he bats 5 for Yorkshire, simply because he's an lbw candidate in waiting. Buveneshwar Kumar will line him up pdq.

As regards Rashid/Borthwick, neither is good enough to be a mainline spinner, but the same applies to Moeen, who's steadier.

However between them it could give you 20 overs of spin, which is important in giving the seamers a break, especially as Broad and Jimmy look to be held together with string atm. 

Too early to tell with each of the young batsmen yet. They haven't faced real top class medium/fast or fast bowlers yet. Got to persevere with them to see if they can improve.

- Robson appears to go hard with his bat ahead of his pad outside off
- Root sometimes looks good, sometimes awful
- Ballance looks unorthodox middle order
- Moeen is interesting

Of the established batsmen:
- Cook will come good again (I hope)
- Bell will always flatter to deceive
- Prior may be past his best. Didn't bat well and was a little untidy at times behind the stumps. But still the best wicketkeeper batsman we have.

Of the bowlers:
- Anderson may be more affected by the knee problem than has been let on. I think he is a shadow of the bowler he was a couple of years ago (prior to the SA test series). I hope its injury and he's not past his best, but, he may well be and may only be able to provide flashes of brilliance now.
- Broad bowled better in this series than he has in a while. But, there are still periods when he looks very ordinary
- Jordan has looked ok, but not overly threatening
- Plunkett I dont get. He looked poor in the passages of play I saw, but ended up with a haul of wickets.

Of the others:
- Stokes I would think comes back in the side. He's gone back to County cricket and taken a load of wickets. You could argue that he comes in for Plunkett, Jordan, an unfit Anderson or possibly Broad.
- Buttler could come into contention for Prior, especially as we have no mystery spinner for him keep to.

Plunkett is in as a "shock" bowler, namely 4 or 5 over spells, where he bowls round the wicket short stuff to try and unsettle  batsmen. He's a bit different to the others, and has earned a place, by being fit and doing well at county level.

Apparently Andrew Strauss just called KP a cunt live on Sky. Which is hilarious, if true.

Sky did apologise for commentary going out overseas during a break here
Wonder if that was it

Strauss has just apologised on air (to anyone who heard his comment.... and to KP).

Gutted I missed this

I fucking hate it when adults play the big man calling someone a cunt behind their back, then when it emerges it wasn't quite so behind the person's back they apologise to that person. Fair enough apologise to the viewers as he didn't mean for them to hear him use the c word, but why apologise to Pietersen? Just makes him a two faced cunt.

Whilst the language was inappropriate for TV ,it was entirely accurate ! Well said Straussy.

Groan. Another dull flat track at TB which made for a batsman's field day before lunch. But hey, reverse swing comes into play now. 120-3 (42.5 overs), looking better!

It's a snoozefest

I'm going Friday. This pitch sounds exciting!

I'm amazed they've got 4 wickets TBH - decent effort

Anyone read Pietersen's article in the Telegraph this week? Said that new drainage has ruined pitches in England. Interesting point that, pitch looks suited to India.

Heard the Sky pundits talking about this. They said that is was rubbish. The reason that the pitches are dead is because the Test grounds want to make sure that they get 5 days worth of play and income. They therefore instruct the groundsman to make a strip that will accommodate.

I think I believe them as money is the driver for everything.

Good perseverance from the England bowlers = Indian tail end collapse

 :hmmm:

I should just keep my bloody mouth shut.

New ball due in about 20 overs, Kumar and Shami, should have eclipsed Agar and Hughes world record last wicket partnership, from last year at Trent Bridge by then.

And Cook bowled for 5 against the least threatening opening bowlers around. Think it might be time for him to take a sabbatical, the signs are that he's not exactly thriving on the pressure and we need his batting back more than we need his captaincy.

Shocking decision to give Prior out. Nowhere near edging that ffs

All for those decisions if they speed up Buttler coming in for Big Cheese Prior

My main concern is that Kerrigan has been hanging about....obviously Moores would like to get him a game, but the Indians will just dismantle the poor fella.

I'm now of the opinion that if we have to pick a steady eddy spinner for Lords, then you've got to look at someone like Dean Cosker of Glamorgan  :(

Bring back Monty 'the pisser' Panesar

Unfortunately Monty can't even get a game for Essex atm, apparently his off field problems have caused some sort of meltdown, and his bowling has suffered accordingly.

Brilliant innings from Root. Fair play to Jimmy too, looks like India lead could be minimal - great effort after being 202-7

'Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy'

Blimey

Didnt really see us going ahead.  480 - 9 at the moment.

Im not going to curse Jimmy by saying anything about the next milestone.......

Oops! Great effort from Anderson and Root - an astonishing partnership. Especially for anyone who watched Anderson with a bat when he first entered the test scene!

Prior misses another chance!!

 Cook getting Ishant.... :)

 Cook was trying a Bob Willis impersonation, or more accurately an impersonation of Graham Gooch doing Bob Willis  :D

 On a more serious note Moores has got Kerrigan back in for Lords....very high risk strategy.

Presumably he's nailed on to play otherwise they wouldn't have called him up. Unless it's an absolute green top.

Which is deeply concerning.

Looking forward to some days at the Cheltenham Festival during the next fortnight.

The Worcestershire game, is very tempting, would have definitely gone if Ajmal had been playing, but he's on international duty atm.  Will wait to see what the weather looks like.

The only real hope if Kerrigan is picked is that we win the toss,  bat and rack up 500.  So unlikely.

I see the Indians have nicely spiced up the rest of the test series, starting tomorrow.

Don't think there will be much goodwill around tomorrow!!

India are starting to piss me off more and more. First the no-use of the very effective DRS system and now this. Probably just a little argument..

The whole thing about this is why wait a week, and why not do it through the match referee instead of going direct to the ICC?

 

Indians shot out for 295, not too bad but could have been much better.

...and now Cook goes! Oh dear. He needs a break, but the establishment has nailed its colours to him...

England on fire! Another poor decision by umpire, have no sympathy for Indians as they're the ones who don't want DRS

Englands inability to finish off the tail  :crash:

Oh dear oh dear.

Indeed
Be a herculean effort to get any result other than a defeat in this game now

Even the weather wont save them

Paul Farbrace suggests that 'the form of the senior players isn't a concern.' Which suggests he's either supporting India or treating fans like they're brain dead.

He also said we win and lose as a team and it's not about individuals. That's an interesting change of views since a certain individual was very much singled out...

Couldn't agree more Nemo about THAT individual - I can't think we'd be "losing as a team" if KP had been in the side and performing as the likes of Cook, Prior and Bell.

Glass half full rather than half empty though...there have been several very promising performances from the new intake and let's wait and see how this series actually turns out (and indeed this match which isn't yet over ).

No quibbles with the new intake.

However, the sooner Cook and Prior are jettisoned the better, Broad needs 6 months to get fit and Stokes is overrated garbage.

No I agree DMR the new guys have been good, Ballance especially.

Prior just looks shot, so many byes and he only seems to be able to move to one side. Buttler is not a good keeper but has a degree of X factor about him. Personally I'd bring in Chris Read to keep and be an emergency captain for 18 months but that won't happen. They may go to Root too early.

Stokes is being misused. He's a top order batsman with a bit of a golden arm bowling. Batting him below 2014 edition Prior is embarrassing.

Think my team for the next test would be Carberry, Robson, Ballance, Bell (just!), Root, Moeen, Read (captain and wkt), Jordan, Broad, Plunkett, Anderson although one of the new ball bowlers might be worth giving a break to. Onions would be a deserving recall.

My thoughts wouldn't change if we pulled off an unlikely chase tomorrow. I hope we do, I don't want us to fail and I think Cook is a good man in an impossible situation and that the true problem here is the cosy establishment at the heart of the ECB. The comments about Cook coming from the right sort of family were hideous.

Quibbles? I like that word and am gonna use it more in conversation.

Interesting idea about Read, one that certainly hasn't crossed my mind.. Not saying that Cook doesn't deserve to be captain anymore but don't see a ready replacement within the current England team. Bell not playing much better than Cook, Prior awful (as referred to), Root too young, Broad possibly injured and maybe a bit too headstrong and Anderson just not imaginative enough - that's all the senior players..
As for tomorrow, expecting a bit of fight but India to bowl us out for around 220 ish. Can't see us winning a test series in a while, hope I'm wrong!

You could make an argument for James Foster, along similar lines....and he's a couple of years younger at 34. 

 I'd stick with Cook though for the series.....things were never going to change overnight and there have been a number of positives; Matty Prior though is struggling physically, so replacing him wouldn't be a surprise.

 If things don't improve, then pick a new skipper for the next series.

I've had a friendly Erskine Henty on England at 11/4

Certainly, he isn't better than Jordan on current form, who was very unlucky to be left out of the side.

Now, a hat-trick of ducks in the last two tests...

Depressing. Anderson now facing Jadeja, script writers enjoying themselves now

The batsmen are making Ishant Sharma look like Mitchell Johnson.

And I thought it was the Indians that didn't like the short stuff...

Good call - unfortunately!

Another test match...another collapse.

About time the doddery old farts took a long, hard look at all things England (cricket) .

They furnish England with a real good green top to help their seamers and get stuffed by an Indian team who have probably never, ever seen one.

I'd be looking to get shot of Peter Moores pdq....and if he fancies a crack at it, give the job to Jason Gillespie.

I think I would like to see the following happen:

- Cook give up the captaincy and take the rest of the series off. Bring in Carberry as a short term replacement.
- Bell to be dropped, but I have no idea who to bring in. Not Morgan nor Bopara! Buttler may be the man for this
- If Prior is fit, play him and make him captain. If not, drop him and bring in either Read or Foster as a specialist captain!
- Anderson to be dropped in favour of Jordan
- Broad to be rested in favour of the best spinner we can find. If we don't have one, then bring in Woakes to shore up the batting a bit too. (I know he was crap last time, but he has supposed to have improved)

Anderson FFS? Really

Hahahahaha what have I just read? You'd bin off Anderson but elevate Big Cheese Prior to captain? Sweet merciful Jesus.

 8)

At the start of the series, it was said that the seamers would have to be rotated because of work load in back to back tests. Jimmy and Broad, both look knackered.

You'd prob want to play one and give the other a rest over the next 2 games.  I think Reece Topley at Essex looks a future bowler...could do worse than bring him in.

I don't think Anderson has been at his best for a couple of years. I think this has coincided with him believing all the hype about him being the best in the world and the media hype about the battle between him and Dale Steyn. He has subsequently not consistently put the ball in the right place (a la Broad). He still is a very good cricketer and on his day England's best bowler and one of the top bowlers in the world.

However, I think its all a bit cozy between the senior England players. Dropping Anderson for a game might motivate him and others to perform. He didn't like being rested last time (Was it 2 years ago?) and seemed to come back with a point to prove.

The reason for Prior is the fact that everyone knows he hasn't got long left. We need someone short term who can do a job through the rest of this series and is expendable. (If Buttler comes in for Bell it doesn't stop his development either)

Cook scoring runs and leading from the front would be the man to help us build around. However, that ain't working. Maybe Cook has been found out? Maybe the captaincy hangs heavy? Unfortunately, I think its time to find out.

Having said all that, should all of those changes be made? No, probably not. But I hope the selectors think long and hard about them and I hope this is communicated back to the players too!

Topley just fucked his back I'm afraid. I'd like to see a left hand quick at some point, Gurney is having a decent first class season.

 :( Typical....I'd noticed he'd got quite  a few wickets in the early season.

 Down the years somewhat strangely we've been a bit short of left arm quicks, I go back to the Somerset great Fred Rumsey, who typically being from Somerset and forming a players Trade Union (PCA)  barely got a look in for England.

Jeff Jones of Glamorgan was sharp, but a promising test career, in fact all career, was truncated by an arm injury which finished him....although he did spawn Simon, who will forever be remembered for his 2005 Ashes contribution.

John Lever was perhaps the pick notably for the 70's Vaseline series in India, a few like Alan Mullally, Mark Illott had a go without ever quite looking convincing.

Tymal Mills, gets it through without having much idea yet of where it will end up

Freddy is turning his arm over again with Lancs in T20!

Ryan Sidebottom had a decent career, still going on the County circuit as well, got 7-for for Yorkshire the other day. Presuming his day his past you have Gurney, Topley (injured), Mills (painfully overrated) and Keith Barker (former footballer, good bowler but not that quick so won't get a look in) as the only prominent left arm quicks that are England qualified. Think there's a young lad at Durham too but his name escapes me.

Edit: quick look at Cricinfo suggests Footit at Derbys has 50 wickets this season, he's had a lot of injuries but was genuinely quick last time I saw him. Can't imagine England ever picking a Derbyshire player though, who was the last, Cork?

Priors stood down admitting that he's not in the right physical condition. The right decision made by an honourable man.

The selectors have a decision now. Is it Buttler's time?

I really, really like Cook but he isn't up to the job.  Dull captaincy instincts and really too decent a man.  His talk of "hoping" his batting and "hoping" the team performances will turn round is just too diffident in a leader.

You can pick batter A or bowler B but for me it is time for responsibility to be taken at the top and not passed down.

Cook is being exposed layer by layer as the weak link whilst the men who picked him stand in the shadows watching his friendless discomfort.   Isn't it time the men who chose to build the new England around him stepped forward and took some of the heat?  Step forward Paul Downton and Andy Flower's annointed successor Peter Moores who is about to suffer another truncated captaincy under his watch as he looks for his second chance to turn round his unsuccessful international record.

The series is hardly over and I hope I am embarrassed by these thoughts but I liked the idea of Jason Gillespie - or anyone British preferably with a bit of that damn your eyes, aussie mongrel.

What's Hales' first class season been like? Whenever I've seen him play for England looks decent bat, plays proper cricket shots. Doesn't solve captaincy issue but may give us impetus at start of the innings?

This season good after a shaky start, last season terrible.

Yeah Sidey was decent....but it's still a strangely thin back catalogue.

 Derbyshire cricketers  :hmmm: probably Cork....I'm thinking before him Bob Taylor, Devon Malcolm, John Morris, Geoff Miller, Mike Hendrick got to be a few more.

 Kim Barnett, came to mind. Remember him scoring a patient 80, v Australia, which seemed to suggest a future, but it never happened. Had a sort of right handed Shiv Chanderpaul stance, whereby he stood well outside leg stump and shuffled across as the ball was being bowled. Not in the MCC coaching manual.

Well done to Craig Miles who took part in a Glos last wicket record partnership today, of 137...thus besting the previous efforts of W.R. Gouldsworthy and J.G. Bessant who put on 131 somehow in 1923 v Somerset.

I've been kind of waiting for this as the previous time that Glos had a record partnership was back in 1962, when David Young and Ron Nichols put on 395 for the first wicket v Oxford University. All other counties get a regular turnover....although I suppose when your records were set by Tom Graveney, W.G. Grace, Wally Hammond and Gilbert Jessop it takes a bit of doing.

Glos previous highest last wicket stand v Worcs involved Swindons own Jon Lewis, who also set the previous best for a Glos number 11 v Worcs until it was beaten yesterday (not by Miles though as he was number 10)

Decent days cricket.
Cook unlucky not to reach a ton but made the most of his drop on 15.
Balance with back to back centuries

Seems a lil odd starting on a Sunday tho

It's pretty crap starting on a Sunday and not surprised Hants have struggled a bit with ticket sales a bit (excluding today obviously).

Not managed to catch any of today's play but gutted Chef didn't get his ton. Setting a decent foundation though and we seem to have rather stumbled across a number 3 to replace Trotty which is a bonus.

Yeah no idea why it didn't start yesterday, silly planning.

Pleased for Cook as a man, hope it sparks a return to form. At the very least it gets him to the end of the summer, in my ideal world he'd step aside as captain at the end of the summer and stay in the team, but if he's scoring runs that's the important thing.

Ballance is a very impressive cricketer, looks not unlike Trott in just getting into the zone and making runs look inevitable but unflashy. Interesting day tomorrow, Bell could do with a score and Buttler may well have the ideal platform to do what he's best at against a tired attack on a fat deck.

Woakes and Jordan playing for Plunkett and stokes a bit of a surprise, harsh on Plunkett as Broad has looked more in the need of a rest, but that's a senior bowler pulling rank I suspect. Woakes I hope does well, along with Moeen he's been outstanding in the Cc for years without getting much of a chance at the top level.

You'd like to think we'll bat all day...however we were 300 odd for 3 v the Lankies and still lost, so nothing should be taken for granted.

Superb knocks from Ballance, Bell and Butler, the latter in one day mode.
Now let's see what - if anything - our seamers can do on this pitch.

Read the other day that Bell only seems to score runs when someone before him gets runs first.

When we lose early wickets he struggles. Born out in this innings for sure

Did you watch the Ashes over here last summer. Bell has been our best batsmen the last couple of years and really stood up.

That's something that could have been labelled at him a few years ago maybe, not now though.

Stage was perfectly set for Buttler to come in and bat in one-day mode. Brilliant knock and begs the question as to why he has been kept out of the team by an injured and out of form Prior...

Buttler really is disgustingly talented. That boy will sell a lot of tickets and play some very memorable innings, not sure he'll be a great player by numbers but like Flintoff, he'll empty the bars and change matches on occasion.

Good day for us all in, not much for seamers but the odd one spat for their offies so Moeen might have a bit of an opportunity here. If he doesn't get banned for his wristband anyway...

Shocking decision to give Ballance out, but Bell did get the benefit of a terrible decision before he had scored a run, evens itself up i guess.  Bring back Dickie Bird!!!

The only thing to be said about the umpiring in this series so far, is that the terrible decisions and there's been a lot, have been evenly shared out...meaning no bias.

Ballance missed the ball by a bat's width!

Poor decisions again from the umpires this morning, saved India from embarrassment!

Looking a poor call to drop Stokes, bowling wise at least. Woakes innocuous (always has been) and Jordan utter garbage.

Don't her tits get in the way?

India all out for 330. England bat again...

 So, why are India allowed to dip out of DRS?

If its in their own country, fair enough, but when they play here it should be under our own rules.

What's their problem with it?

I'm glad we haven't got to bat last on this, if we had a proper spinner we could declare now.  Gary Ballance, must have received the 2 worst ever umpiring decisions in Test history, given out caught both times when a bat's width away from the ball.

You can now see why India don't want DRS, especially with the ICC, you might as well call them the Indian Cricket Council, not having the balls to tell them that they've got to accept it.

The bad decisions have gone in India's favour with the top England batsmen being sawn off in the test series so far, with just Murali Vijay in the first test for India. Don't forget that Rahane was given not out yesterday when he edged the ball to Buttler, and Ballance has been given out twice despite being nowhere near the ball.

 :clap:

Decisions have been bad both ways- Bell was stone dead lbw on 0 and went on to get 160 and Buttler was caught at first on 0. Those two cost India 250 runs, about the same as the first innings lead.

The Indians are correct in that the technology isn't foolproof so why should we rely on it. The way it's treated as gospel does worry me but the excitement of the review process makes up for it I reckon.

It's not about being foolproof, it's about being better than the alternative. The "uncertainty" is why you have Umpire's Call - it's there to remove the howler. Like say, Bell being stone dead lbw on 0 and going on to make 160. No sympathy for the Indians as they don't want it, but there you go.

Going to be interesting to see if England can remember how to win a game of cricket.  As it stands I wouldn't be surprised to see India bat out for a draw.

Well that's a help  :)

Care to adjust your prediction, Reg?

Another shocking decision to reprieve that Indian batsman, Moeen had him plumb lbw!!

I didn't make a prediction. Just said I wouldn't be surprised, not the same at all. 

A bit like your advocating dropping Ballance and writing off Broad and Anderson.

At least you know your football, I will grant you that Reginald.

This is going quite well.

I'll give you Ballance, who now looks a proper number 3, in this company, but you've advocated giving Broad 6 months off. I've just said he and Jimmy look knackered. Jimmy has had a good match, perhaps he suspects he might not be playing a Test for a while after tomorrow's hearing.

The progress made by Moeen is a big bonus, I'd like us to use it now to get in Rashid for Manchester....doesn't seem to be much point in carrying 4 seamers of similar type.

Amazing what happens when you have a good first innings with the bat.

Who'da thunk that Moeen would take 6 wickets?

Broad needs surgery on his knee and will have that after this series I imagine in n attempt to be fit for the World Cup.

You come up with some of the worst shouts, Rashid is absolute pony 

Vaughan was touting him, but he'd just pick the Yorkshire first XI if he could.

Think he'd get spanked in international cricket. Don't see why we would need another spinner, Ali is good enough. Biggest problem is the 2 seamers to help with Anderson and Broad - Woakes and Jordan didn't get a wicket between them this test

Woakes bowled really well and was just a bit unlucky. Not sure he'd be much good on the subcontinental but he'll do all right at home.

We're going to have a bit of fun if Anderson gets a two game ban though, especially as Broad clearly isn't fit enough to lead the attack. Time for the return of Finn? A bit earlier than I'd like but we'll be in a bit of trouble. Perhaps Plunkett back in to take the new ball...I don't think we can play Broad in a three man attack right now.

Cook, Robson, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali, Buttler, Woakes, Broad, Jordan, Anderson (Plunkett) I supect. Kerrigan might be in the squad but I can't see him making the XI unless Anderson is available (which doesn't look likely)

Spinner with most wickets in Div 1, averaged over 50 with the bat last season, doing OK this.  Essentially I want to see a bit of variety, watching 4 fairly similar right armers is dull.  When I first started watching England play, we had an opening bat called Bob Barber, who also bowled a bit of leg spin....so the attack would be 2 quicks, a stock bowler, Freddie Titmus and then Barber would fill in. He got something like 50 wickets in 20 odd Tests.

Jimmy got off then  :)

Can we have Narayanaswami Srinivasan up before the beak next please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1UDaWTkAbs

Genuinely surprised. Pleasantly so, but suspect this might have longer term ramifications. Srinivasan is not a man to mess with, and he will back Dhoni to the hilt.

I believe this outcome is correct, as India didn't follow the right procedure in the first place, and as Mark Butcher said when the allegations came out, that if something did happen, everyone coming off the field would've see it, and why did it take a week to come out?

After Jadeja was found guilty of a lower charge a few days ago and fined, which India appealed with the charges now being adjudged today at the same time, I always thought they would then get the same punishment...or be let off.

The momentum is now with England, and Jimmy is now on his home patch, and I expect Dhoni and Jadeja will still get some stick.

Having apparently not lost a any time to weather in the Tests so far this summer, what are the odds Manchester will be a traditional wash out  :badmood:

20-20 game tonight the outfield is ankle deep in places.

Fair play to Liam Norwell for his contribution of 78 to the partnership. Liam was a bona fide number 11 who has really worked on his batting. Even at club level he was 10 (with me in at 11!) Had the pleasure of opening the bowling with him in WEPL for a season in 2012, a good guy who was genuinely stunned he'd got a decent score, let alone not far off a ton. Funny you mention Ron Nicholls as well. His son still turns out, along with his grandson, for Cheltenham 3s.

I love a good "proper" no. 11. A real treat to see Pankaj having a go in the test, I think each team should have to have one properly hopeless batsman. Anderson doesn't count. Maybe Monty.

Aggers absolutely loved Pankaj's batting and fielding on TMS. He was sympathetic towards him recording the worse bowling figures on debut or something like that though.

Did you hear Aggers' interview with the fellas about cricket and WW1...very moving, but I was disappointed, there was no mention of Indian losses, I'm sure some of them were cricketers.

Rahul Dravid came on after and gave some stats....about 70,000 Indian dead.....just stuck in my craw, I expect better from TMS.

I didn't Reg. Shame you (and some others I suspect) felt a little let down.

I did hear a Q&A with Dravid during the lunch break on a Thursday though. He is such a nice guy that someone actually asked the question "how do I become a nice man like Raul Dravid". Spoke very well on all subjects including his reservations on DRS.

The book they were discussing was Wisden on the Great War,  by Andrew Renshaw (who Aggers was interviewing). I know Andrew through my old club, Eversley in Hampshire, and know quite how much work has gone into researching the book. I'm yet to read it but it's next on the list - it looks fascinating.

I've no idea why more Indians weren't covered. There is a natural focus on Englishmen. It may also be a case of the availability of records and ability to tell the story of the players.

One of my favourite things about listening to TMS is the guest commentators/summarisers and Dravid is great to listen to.

Cozier is the best though.

A quick scoot around found this bit of an article....


Unfortunately, my machine won't open the "this article" link,  but it seems that there is something.....maybe someone could find it and put up te gist.

Here it is (if it works):

https://sportheritagereview.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/wisden-on-the-great-war-ecb.pdf

Can't open it...oh well.

That's odd.  I can open it ok.  Maybe something to do with it being in pdf format?  Have you got Adobe Reader?

Anyway, here's a copy of the text only (a pity because the pics are very good):

One hundred years ago, events unfurled
rapidly as the world stood on the brink of
the Great War. Monday 3 August was a bank

holiday and a crowd of 15,000 basked in the sun at
The Oval and watched Jack Hobbs hit 226 off a
perspiring Nottinghamshire attack, for whom
opening bowler William Riley toiled in taking
four for 153.

Just across the Thames, Sir Edward Grey, the
foreign secretary, rose in the Commons to give
the government’s first response to the crisis.

The next momentous day, when the ultimatum was
issued to Germany, there was a complete change of
mood, and police were called to eject impatient
spectators who barracked the Notts batsmen.

48 www.ecb.co.uk

Although cricket carried on until early September,
there were immediate repercussions. The War Office
requisitioned The Oval and Hobbs’s benefit match the
following Monday was switched to Lord’s where it
ended inside two days. In Kent, the matches planned
for Dover were moved to Canterbury, and in
Hampshire, games were switched away from
Portsmouth. The matches were poorly attended.

But it took a letter from WG Grace to The
Sportsman magazine on 27 August to concentrate
minds. He wrote: “The fighting on the Continent is
very severe, and will probably be prolonged. I think
the time has arrived when the county cricket season
should be closed, for it is not fitting at a time like the
present that able-bodied men should play day after

day and pleasure-seekers look on. There are so many
who are young and able, and yet are hanging back. I
should like to see all first-class cricketers of suitable
age, etc, set a good example, and come to the help of
their country without delay in its hour of need.”

By the end of the long conflict, 289 men who had
played first-class cricket had given their lives in the
service of their country.

Their number included a dozen Test cricketers of
whom the most celebrated was Colin Blythe. Wisden
was in no doubt that his loss was “the most serious
that cricket has sustained”. Blythe, sensitive and shy,
suffered from epilepsy and was not always fit to play
for England, for whom he took 100 wickets in 19 Tests.
But he readily volunteered and was deemed fit enough

to die for his country, hit by shell fragments while
working on a railway line at Passchendaele in November
1917. Two wallets, pierced by shrapnel, were recovered
from his body, and are displayed at Canterbury – surely
the most poignant of cricket’s relics.

Blythe’s match figures of 17 for 48, including 10 for
30, all taken in one day for Kent at Northampton in
1907, remain a county championship record, and are
bettered only by Jim Laker’s 19 Ashes wickets in 1956.

Another record that still stands is the highest
individual score of 628 not out amassed by 13-yearold
AEJ Collins in a house match at Clifton College in
1899. Capt Arthur Collins, of the Royal Engineers, was
killed in action on 11 November 1914; his two brothers
were also later killed. .

#ENGvIND 49


world war I

Gunner Riley, that Notts bowler who toiled against
Hobbs, also holds a joint record, but as a batsman: he
shared a last-wicket stand of 152 when Ted Alletson
struck a whirlwind 189 in 40 minutes against Sussex
in 1911. Riley’s contribution was 10 not out from 19
deliveries: his contribution was greater when he gave
his life in Belgium in August 1917. Big-hitting
Alletson, like Riley, also served in the Royal Garrison
Artillery, but survived the war.
In February 1915, Norman Callaway made his debut
for New South Wales against Queensland and scored
207. The Sydney Morning Herald predicted he would
Hit hard: the Great
War took its toll on
Hampshire CCC,
which lost 24 men
“By the end of the long
conflict, 289 men whohad played first-class
cricket had given
their lives in service
of their country”

“rise to great heights”. But it was to prove his only
innings. In the other team, George Poeppel was also
playing in his only first-class match: soon they would be
on the same side, and two years later both were dead.

While remembering the massive contribution by
men from all the Dominions, it is appropriate to
record that some 74,000 Indian soldiers lost their
lives during the war.

With its military and naval connections, it is no
surprise that Hampshire lost more men (24) than any
other county club. Arthur Jaques had a remarkable
summer in 1914: he took 112 wickets at 18.26 in
Championship matches, using his height (6ft 3in) and
employing an early version of leg theory, targeting the
leg stump and outside. A year later, on 27 September

50 www.ecb.co.uk

1915, he was killed in action in France, aged 27; his
elder brother Joseph fell on the same day in the same
action. Both are commemorated at the Stoneham War
Shrine, just six miles from the Ageas Bowl.

Another local memorial lists four brothers who
fell. Hampshire-born Corporal William Twynam
had emigrated but responded to the call to arms and
served in the Canadian Infantry: his obituary in the 1916
Wisden records that “he was well-known in Canadian
cricket circles”. His name, along with three brothers, is
to be found on the village war memorial at Soberton.

One of the first victims within a fortnight of the
outbreak of war was Major Arthur Hughes-Onslow,
who had played cricket for Eton. A noted horseman,

he rode the winner of the Grand Military
Steeplechase at Sandown three times. In August
1914, he volunteered to work again with horses but,
according to Wisden, “while engaged as remount
officer at Southampton was taken fatally ill”. The
truth is that he shot himself on the troopship going
over to France: having served in the Sudan and
South Africa, he could not face the horrors of taking
horses into battle again.

The most decorated cricketer who fell in the Great
War was Major Harold Forster. A career soldier, he
played five games for Hampshire in 1911, taking nine
wickets in his first match against MCC at Lord’s. He
was twice awarded both the DSO and MC, and was

david frith COlleCtiOn david frith COlleCtiOn
Free spirit: the
Stoneham War
Shrine in Hampshire
(above) was built
to honour men like
Major Harold Forster
Dreaming of home:
a British soldier
brandishes a bat
Ground troops:
geese mind the
pitch at Lord s
mentioned in despatches five times before being
killed in May 1918, aged 39.

Forster’s message to his two children at the family
home in Winchester, conveyed in his will, sums up
why so many men were prepared to make the ultimate
sacrifice. “Claim my war medals,” he told them, “and
then my sons will have something to remind them of
their father’s glorious death in fighting so that they
may live in dear old England as free men.”


andrew renshaw is editor of wisden on the Great war:
the lives of Cricket’s fallen 1914–1918
for more on this subject visit www.ecb.co.uk/ww1

#ENGvIND 51

strange, opens for me, good read and lovely pics!

Cheers Sir P....at least there's a mention of India's contribution in there.

Don't know why can't open it, something to do with Google Chrome, which is my browser.

Can't be that Reg.  I'm using Google Chrome, too!

Well this is going OK  :)

Sounds like one of our forthcoming scorelines 8-4

Off to a half decent start.   :)

We haven't had one like that since the 1911 Charity Shield Final.

Did you enjoy that one, Reg!

Nah..we lost to Newton Heath.

Man Utd, please!

Sounds better to,lose to them

63 for 5 at lunch. Couldn't have asked for a better session.
Good toss to lose that as expect Cook would have batted to negate the 2 spinners on last day (s)

Gonna be an interesting test this one

Ravi Jadeja lbw b Anderson 0 (7)

Cheerio lad! Old Trafford providing the required soundtrack...it might not be the most respectful crowd around but it's definitely the most fun.

 This not looking good....need some runs from somewhere, as we won't get many batting last.

Lead of 49 at lunch so hopefully can add another 100 to that as still plenty in the pitch for Englands bowlers
Deffo do not want to be chasing a big total batting last when they have 2 spinners.

Game over inside 3 days. England win by innings...despite Broad not being able to bowl in the 2nd innings.

Well Root and Buttler got those runs and we didn't need to bat last or sit around waiting for the rain to stop and outfield to drain  :)

Well that went well. Moeen is very clearly improving as a bowler game by game now, he's giving it some serious rip.

Missed the cricket yesterday with the game and all

Just watched the sky highlights
Some great bowling all round but esp by Ali
Have a feeling the Oval pitch wont be as helpful to the English bowlers tho

Afternoon all - deja vu and more for India - 36/5 at lunch!

Tell that to India...

Good days' work for England today, just a pity they couldn't shift that last pair quickly.  Still didn't lose a wicket after tea and only 90-odd behind.

Decent series win in the end
Indians didnt turn up at the last two tests and England stepped it up.
Pity its a six month or so wait until the test team take the field again

Time to switch to one day mode now.

All over. India crumbled pathetically in the last two tests and I fear may have made a good comeback from England look far better than it actually was. Many questions yet to answer - Cook looks better but still no ton, backup seamers not all that and Robson doesn't look any improvement on Compton/Carberry but you can only beat what's in front of you and there are clear steps forwards Ina single summer.

India were pitiful. 94 on a decent track was fucking poor.

 You get the impression that the Indian lads, just wanted to get some time off before the one-dayers....it's a slightly bizarre fact of the top 5 run scorers in the series 5 are Indian.

 

Top two were English
Surely you mean the top 10

The Indian players scored most of their runs by having 2 goes on the flat pitch at Trent Bridge.

Even Jimmy scored 81 on that...

Or some got very well rewarded.

If you were fixing it, you'd want it to be a bit more fucking subtle than that, surely?

You'd have thought. Just odd how differently both sides played at the beginning and end of the series.

Yeah I think India threw the last 2 games as well. I mean England aren't exactly the best Cricketing side yet they smash India in the last 2 games. Something doesn't stack up !

In innocent explanations, they've not played a five match test series since 2002 and we produced three serious green tops. Indian batsmen have never been great at playing a swinging ball and the new guys are even worse because the BCCI doesn't let them play over here, and they then had to face a pissed off James Anderson on three of the most helpful pitches he could ask for.

Doesn't sound quite as unreasonable now does it?

All they are interested in is one day and 20/20 cricket so when they turn up for a test series of proper cricket they get what they deserve.

For all the hype about cricket mad Indians the truth is that fans only want the short format of the game

Yeh and Kohli must be fucking minted now.

I know us English are supposed to like a moan but lose and we're shit and win and it's fixed! That's pushing things a little surely?!

The Ishant Sharma bowling no balls which aren't called is a bit strange; then the ump referring if he gets a wicket.  What better way to prevent a Mohamed Asif/Amir bowling no balls to order situation.

Yeah it's very odd. A no ball is a no ball regardless of whether it takes a wicket and should be penalised as such. Ishant seems to be one of the bowlers constantly pushing the line and hence it becomes an issue. There's plenty of others too who aren't being called I would summise.

I've said for a number of years that this should be called via the 3rd umpire, who does nothing mostly all day up in the TV box. You've got fixed cameras on those lines, and those pictures should be fed straight to the 3rd umpire, who calls the no-ball via the walkie talkies, and then the on field umpires give it.

Dharmasena doesn't even appear to watch the front line. I'm surprised they haven't just digitised that process.

The Indian capitulation, unfortunately, does call into question the future of Test cricket.  I've had my moan about the back to back Ashes, and now we've another next summer. Recently, the Test match program, was stitched up by India, that they'd play more regularly 5 match series with England and Australia, who agreed to it, in order to get more Ashes matches.

Why for example aren't we playing the Saffas....excellent team. The problem with Pakistan is obvious and understandable, but the Lankies are more competitive than India....what's the point of 5 match series, v  a team that can't last 3 days.

It will just drive the grounds to produce Trent Bridge style pitches, to at least see out the time.  Atm, the Kiwis have a decent outfit....a bit thin in a couple of areas, but so are England, would be good for their game to get a few more Tests.

Sadly the Windies are terrible....

Very easy to see in a few years, rather than Tests, more one dayers, probably triangular or 4 teams over here, using up the  grounds which are newly developed...India/Pakistan would get big crowds.

I see Beefy got into a spot of bother on Twitter this morning.

"Hacked". Yeah, ok.

Plum middle stump that one, not what I needed first thing in the morning at all.

ODI squad's just been announced, the usual faces plus Hales minus Bopara. Could have been a bit more adventurous for me but it's just not going to happen is it. Given free reign I'd pick something like:

Hales, Taylor/Mooen/Vince, Ballance, Morgan, Root, Bopara, Buttler, Tredwell, Finn, Broad, Gurney

But that's a bit unlikely from England. Would have settled for one more new face in the middle, I don't think you can get away with playing Cook/Root/Bell/Ballance all in one team, decent stability but more than two of those seems a bit much. Still, plenty of games before the World Cup so will be interesting to see if they look outside the existing group.

Surprised Reg hasn't been on about Wiltshire winning the Minor Counties championship for the first time in 100 years.

Were the celebrations good then, Reg!

I think it's regionally split now like the JPT and Wilts have only won our half, there's an overall final at some point.

That's correct Nemo, I think they face Staffordshire or Shropshire in the 'final'

1902 and 1909. Winning the western region is an achievement....however I'm not sure that Wilts still count Swindon as in the county, when it comes to selection....certainly don't use the CG any longer as a venue.

There always was a sniffy attitude to Swindon cricket, back in the days when both the CG and Swindon BR ground were used, but there was no chance that the toffs, could quite get away with their desired policy of cultural apartheid. 

That opportunity fell into their lap, with the creation of the Unitary Borough of Swindon, which removed services previously provided by the county.

Swindon are only in Glos/Wilts, the lads need to be playing Premier 1 or 2 to really be considered for county selection.

Fair enough point....my particular sadness is that the CG doesn't get used for Minor Counties any longer. Also I liked it when Glos played a few games there, or Minor Counties (west) played Gillette/Nat West Cup....I've seen some decent players down the years play at the CG...going back to 67 when Pakistan played Minor Counties in a 3 day game....with the likes of Intikhab Alam and Asif Iqbal.

Others I've seen.....Imran Khan, Courtney Walsh, Alan Border, David Gower all stick in the head.

I agree it's a shame, but the ground just isn't up to it. Despite the best efforts to spruce up the bar area, the pavilion is falling into disrepair. The changing rooms are v poor, the showers a cold dribble... More importantly, the wicket is very slow and low and not conducive to good cricket. It's one of the poorer places to play cricket in the area, sadly. If they could throw money at the pavilion and then dig the square up and start again, maybe they'd get games, but Corsham is a far better bet.

There's a better chance, agreed, but Gareth Roderick was signed by Glos 2 years ago on the back of his form in Glos/Wilts.

See the Convicts lost an ODI to Zimbabawe....hope we haven't got to play them any time soon as it could be Eddo Brandes revisited.....for those that have forgotten Eddo finished off England 3-0 in an ODI series in 97 by becoming the oldest chicken farmer to take a hat trick in international cricket, think Nasser Hussain was one of his victims.

That's bought back bad memories...

Saying that, England have gone out of the way of not playing the Zimbabwe because of the Mugabe factor, and we haven't played them for years, home or away.

 :(

Yet fucking cunting Cook had a pop back at Swanny...

 I know it's only one dayers, but we're going to be playing a lot of this over the next months, and atm we're not very competitive. 

 Maybe things will improve as the day pans out.....

Not helpful for a mate to point out when you're being a stubborn idiot and holding the collective back is it?

We've been shite in the 50 over format for years

Go Moeen  Ali!!!

Which is why, so say, the ECB have rejigged the international schedule, to try and give England the best chance of winning the WC....so we're led to believe, that fucking about with back to back Ashes etc and not keeping to the traditional time frame, is to enable our boys to have the best preparation; similarly playing shed loads of one dayers this winter.

Not working as yet is it?

Cook is too fucking nancy

Shameful performance by the whole team today - only Moeen Ali can hold his head up high!

I think Cook needs to be pushed from the ODI captaincy before he'll ever walk away. He's simply not good enough with the bat for ODI cricket and his captaincy is even further away from being good enough in ODI cricket. Yes the defensive minded captain he is works in the test format, but not ODI cricket and I'd back someone like Morgan to be captain instead.

My ODI side would look something like this:

Hales, Trott, Vince, Roy, Morgan (C), Buttler (WK), Ali, Rashid, Broad, Jordan, Finn (with Taylor, Bopara, Bairstow (WK), Billings and Stokes around the squad)

I'd dispense with Anderson as he seems to go around the park without a red ball in his hand, I don't really rate Woakes and I'd have Ballance/Root/Bell concentrating on playing test match cricket. Tredwell is more of a tie up an end bowler as well, plus a few others who I can't remember at work.

An interesting read on espn cric info - http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/777277.html

Anyways those are my thoughts on the current state of our ODI cricket...

 

Keep Jordan away from any England team. Liability.

The reality is that we've never particularly taken ODI's seriously in England, viewing test cricket as the measure of quality...therefore it would make little difference who you bring in the end results will be roughly the same.

The converse is true of India with tests.

As for Morgan as captain, I saw a  bit of Middlesex under him in the Royal London Cup, and they like in the 20/20 were truly awful.

Atm, the best one day captains domestically are James Taylor and Varun Chopra.

It would be fun, to have say 3 trial games for England in one dayers....put out the current side, v something like this....
Roy/Chopra
Lees/Lyth
Vince
Taylor (capt)
Bopara
Kieswetter
C. Overton
Willey
Fletcher
Riley
Parry/ R Patel

I wouldn't disagree with what you say Reg and that's a good potential side - in fact I think Chopra should have been given a go a few years ago and again some point last year when he scored a lot of runs!
You might also have seen from my previous side a Yorkshire connection, as a bit of a Yorkie fan through family, Alex Lees is going to be very good and Adam Lyth has been unlucky not to get a go. Bairstow has been in good knick in all formats this season, and his glovework is getting better.

The fact is we have the tools to get better at ODI cricket, but simply aren't using them!

I'm more or less resigned to us carrying on being shite in ODI's, in much the same way as I'm resigned to the football team, continuing to decline. 

You just have to have a laugh about it...for example, after our innings yesterday, I speculated India would knock those off in 32 overs, in fact they did it a couple of balls into the 31st...tonight, I'll be interested to see just how terrible the new England side look trying to play 4-4-2.

So, the Pietersen book is out. The quotes I've seen sound hilarious - Matt Prior is revealed to demand that he is called "The Big Cheese" and to refer to himself in the third person as such, and is later referred to by Pietersen as "A Dairylea triangle who thinks he's a brie" which may well be quote of the year.

Taking the whole thing seriously, it does rather seem that everyone involved (not least Pietersen) is a bit of a clot.

Problem to me is too many old farts still trying to run the game - old school tie etc - which Pieterson certainly wasn't!!

Matt Prior has always been regarded by many in the game as a tool, so not surprised about those revelations.

Didn't think he'd show that much vitriol towards Flower though.

Can't wait to read this, love KP and still think he should be playing for England.

Had a read of this earlier, again some interesting comments:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11142212/Kevin-Pietersen-exclusive-interview-The-truth-about-Englands-bullying-culture.html

I'm seeing him at Cheltenham  Literature Festival on Sunday. I'd take most things he says with a pinch of salt. He's a known self-obsessed, self-publicist, with publicist in chief Piers Morgan to guide his every move.

I'll never forget when he first moved to Hampshire - I played with one of the coaches there who didn't hold back in his criticism for the way Pietersen conducted himself - and he was a mild mannered guy.

In Australia this winter he was, as Paul Downton said, completely detached. It was 10+1 out in the field. He spent more time chatting to the crowd than his team mates.

He is to the England team what Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are to the US Ryder Cup side. Hugely talented, but blinkered and divisive. I expect, and hope, that Anderson, Broad, Bell et al close ranks and hit back as one.

A fully fit Pietersen, scoring runs for fun is an asset for England.

Unfortunately, in the last year, he had problems with his knees, and, importantly, he's not interested in scoring runs. He's just playing in T20's, getting paid quite a bit of cash doing so. If he was genuinely interested in ever playing for England, he would be playing in the County Championship scoring plenty of runs for Surrey...but he wasn't interested, and his batting has suffered, playing one game a week.

I agree with you there - I see he's recently signed up to play in the Big Bash League for Melbourne Stars (same team as Shane Warne I think, if he's playing again). I just wonder whether if he was still playing for England, the 2015 home Ashes series would have been the right place to go out anyway - in any case as much as I'd like to see KP back playing for England I don't think it will happen.

Simply put, KP doesn't give a shit for England any more as it doesn't pay well enough. If he was a footballer he'd have dropped whatever team built him up into the player he is and gone to Man City as soon as possible, to sit on his arse every Saturday and do fuck all whilst collecting the wage.

Cricinfo appear to have got hold of the ECB dossier, which adds further hilarity.

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/DOWNLOAD/100/0135/KP.pdf

KP is a Grade A cunt and should fuck off back to the Boers

He's right about Cook and Carberry though.

Looks like it's been removed. Though from a article on their site it doesn't sound like there was much in it, when you rely on allegations such as "whistling after being given out" and "refusing to tell Piers Morgan what to post on Twitter" I'm guessing there isn't much substance to it.

No matter how big a twat KP is, the whole saga shows a complete and utter incompetence at the ECB in being unable to manage situations and they're star players. Not acceptable that it's got to this point and it could easily have been avoided. KP doesn't give a shit anymore and the ECB are just concerned with flinging shit back, rather than their reputation.

ECB may have last laugh
KP needs a no objection certificate from them to play in the big bash
Can see them withholding that

The Guardian have reposted it- http://www.theguardian.com/sport/interactive/2014/oct/07/leaked-ashes-dossier-kevin-pietersen-pdf

can we see the ECB dossier for each of the players' Australian tours please or was the dossier just for KP?

KP, bit of a **** and England's most feared batsman, shame no one could manage him and that a few of the team through jealousy or immaturity were tolerated to undermine a match winner for their team.

We saw how PDC couldn't hack management of wealthy players and it looks like Downton and co can't manage in the modern game and feel the ECB has to get down in the swamp now to try and win an argument with a leak - pathetic.

Can you imagine Botham's dossier?

All this Pieterson shit, is very undignified.  

Cricket has been like this since the year dot, but somehow the mess was dealt with in a more dignified way....suppose it's the the tone lowering impact of social media.

My particular hero in the genre was John Snow....a great fast bowler of the 60's 70's who rarely gets much of a mention.

Could be because, he was the sort of fella, who didn't like anybody much, particularly England/MCC management, administrators....Australian batsmen...diminutive Indian batsmen who got in his way.

The successful 70/71 Ashes down under was marked by Snow's spat with the outrageously biased Aussie umpire Lou Rowan, who tried to stop Snow using his occasional well directed bouncer.  There were 7 tests that series, as an extra one was tacked on as the 3rd was abandoned without a ball bowled....England didn't get a single lbw decision  :)

Snow ended up having an altercation with a fan at long leg, after he hit Terry Jenner on the head with with a bouncer, the Convict crowd reaction, made Ray Illingworth lead England off the pitch, almost provoking a bodyline 2 incident.

No doubt, all this made the establishment realise that the Convicts were not quite grown up yet, forcing HM Governor General, Sir John Kerr, to remove the government of Gough Whitlam in 74....although of course being a democratically elected leftish Labour administration may have had something to do with it.

Bob Willis made his debut in the series....a man who shared many similar traits to Snow, but somehow managed to keep his nose largely clean in the eyes of the MCC/ECB