West Indies 89/1 at lunch. Good start by the Windies, although England’s bowling didn’t seem to be particularly great, excepting Anderson. Sounds like John Campbell rode his luck a little early on, but he got a good platform going for the team and they will be the happier of the teams right now.
Oh. Cricket. I thought the thread title was about cricket rolling, maybe a new sport run in parallel with frog jumping or something. Guess not. Sorry, chaps.
Etc…
Cheers for this - interesting to get a perspective on this. The one thing that seems to be implied in amongst all this is that Warner isn’t coming back when his ban is up but Smith is? Seems to me like Australia need both of them, unless one of these guys can stick.
Speaking as someone who isn’t looking at the news on this daily or exposed to the Australian media, Warner seems like the one who is coming out of this best - just shut his mouth and got on - Handscomb and Smith on the other hand have been in the news chucking everyone under the bus.
On the rest of the team - difficult again as we don’t see much of your domestic stuff at all outside the BBL, though we do get the internationals. Labuschange looks rubbish from what I have seen. Some of the others seems to have the weight of runs in Sheffield Shield which suggest they should be tried (Burns for one) but I don’t know how much of this is just looking at a sheet with numbers on it and picking the biggest one. You’ve probably got far better idea than I as to whether there’s technical ability there to support the figures.
@Teuton - I think Wiliamson has had good results but don’t know how much that’s just because he’s got a good bowling attack. One of the issues of everything bar the first session of their Tests being on in the middle of the night here, I suppose.
@AK84 - yes, deliberate understatement. I can’t put my hands on it at the moment but I read somewhere in amongst the welter of Brexit coverage up here that Englishmen have a tendency to describe spilling their tea or burning their toast as an utter disaster, whilst describing things that could decide the fate of mankind as “somewhat sub-optimal”.
Everyone has got a start in the Windies line up but no one has kicked on. Anderson just got Hope on an inside edge to Foakes. It’s 174-4 off 65 overs.
As you can tell, scoring has also been slow. Commentators suggesting that the wicket has runs in it though. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Hetmyer living up to my expectations thus far - taken both England’s spinners for 6s, scoring at better than a run a ball, playing without a helmet. It’s like a proper throwback to 70s Windies batting.
What are we thinking about the decision to go with two spinners? We probably won’t know if it’s actually worked until the third innings, but dropping Broad seems a bit harsh on him (although I’ve seen a suggestion that he might have bedbug issues)
Up until Hetmyer started climbing into him, Rashid’s figures were pretty good - no wickets but managed to play a holding role. The main problem with going with 3 seam up bowlers and two spinners is that, in general, both the selected spinners are there to attack. The minute one of your seamers starts going around the park (as Curran did initially - and then didn’t get the ball back until about 60 overs into the innings), it puts a lot of workload onto the other two, unless a spinner can bottle an end up. Rashid managed it - but it doesn’t seem like it is a plan with a long term future, given what we know about Rashid and Moeen.
I’m not sure I am against Rashid and Ali playing per se (if we can get a decent first innings lead - itself not a given - having them to attack on a wearing pitch seems worthwhile), but I think I probably would have picked Broad instead of Curran, on the grounds that I trust him more to hold an end up. This marginally weakens the batting line up but as it is, our #10 has more first class centuries than all but two of the opposition. If we haven’t got the runs above him, I don’t see why whoever is in at 10, whether Rashid or Broad, should be expected to score the runs the rest haven’t. In that sense, I’d rather the better bowler, than the all rounder in this case.
Bloody good spell with the second new ball makes England the leaders at the end of Day 1 I’d say - 264-8 given it was 240-4 at one point. hetmyer looks good - England need to avoid letting him out tomorrow and try and wrap this thing up quickly. Then, don’t bat like complete idiots.
We’re fucked when Jimmy Anderson retires.
Does he wear the classic Windies hat?
Here’s me on TV - loungingon the left of screen in my white hat.
He got out the white floppy hat. Roston Chase at the other end went for the maroon cap. It was excellent.
Point of order: Bancroft rather than Hanscomb.
Attended an interesting forum recently where the speakers were Gideon Haig and Peter Lalor. An excellent session.
Warner is radioactive. The question is whether the half-life is longer than a Test career.
Not being one of life’s thinner planks, you get him alone with a microphone for a tell-all and he’ll be sitting in a pile of compost up to his neck with a shit-eating grin.
Warner took the role as “shiner of the ball” at mid-on for the team on his own volition several seasons ago and other teams were closely watching what he was doing. SA even got the TV broadcaster to have a camera focused/dedicated to him as well as their stump mike shenanigans. Not that he was likely doing anything other Test teams weren’t, and still are, as part of their ball management routine. The atmospherics of that series were getting rather volatile as you might recall. Australia had a poor session (playing the #1 team, on their own decks, at the end of a long season so fairly understandable) and one of the CA executives at the ground took it upon himself to do some motivational work, went into the rooms and berated the players including the line “We don’t play you XXXXXX to play, we pay you to win.” There was a very handy bonus on offer if Australia won the series and took the mantle of #1 in the Test rankings. A plausible scenario is that Warner who is hocked to the gunnels on property in a falling market and lifestyle of the “rich and famous” saw a serious cash-flow problem in the offing. His relationship with the CA Board is way on the nose because he was a leader in the contract dispute. And most of the CA board are people who genuinely deserve large non-biological things shoved up their fundamental orifices. So he picked a susceptible mark to do his dirty work. Have no idea who else was in the know but it wasn’t the bowlers and personally believe it wasn’t Lehmann.
Yes, if Warner shuts up, buries his bogan attitude and scores runs he’ll get back in. But without the bogan attitude he’s not David Warner and it’s a case of leopards and spots. If he reverts to type his boorish, abusive form in a Test the crowd will start throwing stuff at him. A whole bank of CA sponsors (both new and those who didn’t leave in the ball tampering aftermath) have told CA their money walks if they pick him. Based on a show of hands at the Haig/Lalor forum, less than a quarter of the “informed” public want him back at any price. 95% of the same forum would welcome back Smith as soon as his availability and form allows.
The issue for Smith is there isn’t much else to his whole life but cricket.
I don’t think “breakdown” or “manic depression” is the correct terminology but he made a ad for Vodaphone, donating his fee to charity on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkC46v_0nb0
There’s been fairly mixed response to the “Gutsy is Calling” ad but which might have sent a wonky signal to the selectors thinking of rushing him back. He’s had an elbow operation for an injury he took into the Bangladesh League and flared over there and there isn’t much first class cricket between the finish of rehab and the Ashes tour.
Bancroft is a twerp and will see out his career in the BBL with the Scorchers or WA cricket in that cloistered culture of “WA boys can do no wrong”. Yes the current alpha Waussie (Langer) would like him back but that ain’t going to happen. The publicity around his initial Test selection as opener because mentally he was a hard nut that wasn’t fazed under pressure. IMHO his batting didn’t back up the assertion and it turns out off-field he’s a blancmange.
The other point is that the Australian team is absolutely convinced that SA have found a mechanism to rough the ball in a clinical fashion. Seems that the deed is done using the keepers gloves where part of the dimpled rubber palms might be of a different construction say one of the thumbs is vulcanised or like, making it able to abrade one side of the ball in a controlled but surreptitious manner.
I’m watching Australia versus Sri Lanka now and wondering if these Aussie players are losing money by playing for their country instead of the BBL. I know they just played India, so I assume they can’t play BBL full time, so they must be losing some money, right? I could be wrong but I think Indian international cricket goes on hiatus during IPL season.
I hope you all don’t mind me jumping in this thread with random cricket questions, but seems like the appropriate place (esp. considering how useless google has become):
Why did KL Rahul get suspended along with Hardik (no pun intended) Pandya? I can see how Pandya’s comments get him kicked off the Indian team, but can’t tell what Rahul did.
Not a problem.
Rahul got pinged for same offence as Pandya.
BTW CricInfo is the best site for international and domestic cricket in all forms. Good live coverage, informative articles from experts and a wiz-bang stats engine.
IMHO would be a podium finish for best sports website in the world
Would be surprised if those on CA contracts were out of pocket.
Of the six batsmen, only Khawaja and Pattinson haven’t played a BBL game in 2019.
Usman was injured leading into the India series but is contracted to the Sydney Thunder. Pattinson is also contracted with the Thunder but hasn’t been called in.
Of the bowlers only Richardson has played BBL this season, because he’s a late call-up to cover for Hazlewood. He’s the only one I would thought might get more to play BBL than a Test.
Under the rotation policy Starc, Cummings, Hazlewood and Lyon would be kept in cotton wool except for first class cricket and not be available for BBL.
Peter Siddle was 12th man during the Tests series and he’s playing BBL with Adelaide Strikers
England needed that new ball burst, it may have pulled us ahead in the day, but Windies spent the rest of the day building a pretty decent position.
Regarding Warner, I’m an outsider looking in, but it does seem as if he’s being set up as the major fall guy for this, and so is unlikely to return. Smith seems a dead cert to return when fit, and I had thought the same off Bancroft, although penultima thule suggests otherwise above, but more because he’s not good enough than because he’s too tainted.
Is Smith likely to captain again? If be surprised if he got the job back immediately, but maybe in a few years, when Paine goes?
If Warner is the fall guy/scapegoat, who do you think was the instigator of the bizarrely cack-handed and Keystone Kops level clumsy attempt at ball tampering?
Personally would prefer Smith plays on as a batsman only, but yes your time line seems the most likely.
Mea culpa, re: Bancroft and Handscomb - I always get those two mixed up (and Renshaw as well to be honest - something about all of them making the side at broadly the same time I think).
The analysis up thread on Smith, Warner, etc, seems right to me, given the details PT has included that I wasn’t aware of. Ultimately, it seem obvious that this is going to come down to a cost-benefit analysis: do your skills as a batsman (also set against your potential replacement) outweight the negatives of re-integrating you into the squad. Smith is one of the best batsmen in the world, so they’ll try to re-integrate him; Bancroft isn’t and seems like a bit of an idiot, so he’s definitely out.
Warner - for me - is a real edge case. As an Englishman, I would be much more worried if he was opening the batting in the upcoming Ashes than not. For me, part of good management in cricket is dealing with difficult people and getting the best out of them (this was, I think, a failure of English management went it came to KP and you can point to plenty of examples of difficult people who were integrated into the team environment across the whole sport - Mo Amir is a proven cheat, Warne has a massive ego and served a drug related ban, ditto Botham, Boycott is widely hated, the list goes on) and, if it were me, I would be reluctant to get rid of a proven performer given the current state of the side. I can well see the other side of this though. A lot hinges on how difficult it will be to re-integrate him and, if you do, and going by what PT has written above, persuading sponsors that he’s going to be a good boy too (I have separate views on whether sponsors should be dictating selection but accept the reality of the situation). In the end, it may just be too difficult.
If Australia lose this Test in Brisbane, they want bloody shooting. Pressure is off - they could do with some guys building scores. Burns and Khawaja not getting much not brilliant in that respect.
West Indies could still post a competitive total here, if Hetmyer can do some work in the opening session. 300 or so will tee the game up nicely. Comms teams suggesting that the pitch got quicker as the day went on, indentations are already evident that should create variable bounce and Windies have an attack that seems more suited to this pitch than England’s. I still think England pulled ahead with the new ball last night, but that could be very different by tea on Day 2. They actually need to wrap the innings up - not something that they’ve done consistently over the last few years and then bat with an application that has also not been that evident.
Is this a euphemism?
Hope he’s getting a boat back home rather than flying - but with an air support team on standby in case of any accident. Then wrap him in cotton wool until June.
Part A accomplished with conviction - 289 all out. England 10/0 as I write. Now it gets interesting.
…and at 44/4, it seems the chief interest right now is in whether England will still be batting when we get home from work. Or if they are, which innings.
Ahem