The summer of cricket thread 2014

[Reg Smeeton]

Indeed and bet he is gutted
Bet both are.

Englands woe continues no matter what the sport

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.

[DMR]

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.

[JoeMezz]

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

[Reg Smeeton]

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.

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. 

[Nomoreheroes]

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.

[Reg Smeeton]

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.

[Nemo]

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

[@mwooly63]

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

Sky Sports Cricket @SkyCricket  ·  49m
Earlier comments were made during a break of play which were heard overseas. We apologise for the language used.

[Sir Pissalot]

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

[JoeMezz]

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

Gutted I missed this

[janaage]

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.

[Red Squirrel]

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

[Talk Talk]

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!

[kerry red]

It's a snoozefest

[Paolo69]

I'm going Friday. This pitch sounds exciting!