The most improbably shaped cricketer I’ve seen in my life.
Great photo. He took a really sharp catch around his ankles to get the last wicket too. Great to see the Windies win away.
*Inserts Simpsons gif
Stop, stop, we’re already dead.
Well, unless the pitch magically improved between the second and third innings, India’s second knock has comfortably proved this correct. They know how to deal with these conditions, we don’t. 15 wickets in a day is unusual, but subsequent events seem to have shown that it is not indicative of a substandard Test wicket - rather, England couldn’t deal with it. Had the match been over by this morning, maybe there was a case for that.
This also came to mind yesterday when the umpire (not sure if it was on-field or the third umpire) decided that an Indian batsman was playing a shot on an lbw decision when they were simply hiding their bat behind their pad.
482 the target.
If England get with 250 of this, I will be somewhat surprised. Get within 200 of it and someone has played a pretty decent hand.
Seven down at lunch and Root given a life as well. I doubt they’ll last an hour after lunch to be honest. All three Indian spinners looking unplayable at times.
It appears you were right - I forgot to switch on until 0730 GMT and it was well over by then.
Disappointing they couldn’t put up more of a fight, not so much for this game but because of what it might mean for the rest of the series. But as someone mentioned above, conditions for the next Test should be somewhat different.
On a related note - why has technology apparently not yet been able to replicate these kind of conditions in nets, so that batsmen can practice their technique at home before such tours? Obviously nothing can replicate the pressure of a Test match, and no doubt it’s harder facing a top-class spinner than a machine that spins the ball at you, but surely more can be done? Or perhaps it is done already, and it’s those 2 factors that mean players without the real-world experience will always struggle?
I believe it is the rut of struggling to score that leads to batsmen’s downfall in these conditions rather than outstanding bowling. The spinners just have to keep it tight and the pitch will invariably assist them.
I remember the nets in England when I lived there and while it was fun to get bat on ball and practice technique, it is just practice between one batsman and one bowler. I would play a pretty solid drive that smacks hard into the side of the net that made me feel in good form but play the exact same shot in a match and it goes straight to a fielder for no run.
When you’re not scoring runs for a while the bowling team are feeling good and the pressure builds and builds until a mistake inevitably comes. The only solution I think is if one batsman blasts the ball around for quick runs and forces the opposition captain to take the spinner away from bowling. In these conditions it must be a relief seeing the big fast bowler charge in because they are not going to be too dangerous on these pitches and they are much more likely to bowl inaccurately giving you easy runs.
I don’t think any amount of practice can result in the superhuman reaction times that would allow batsmen to correct for variable bounce when the ball is pitching 2 or 3 metres in front of them. Look at Root’s dismissal (at 3:30 here). One of the best players of spin right now, been in for hours and he’s out because the ball popped up almost a foot more than he expects and gets him on the gloves.
I turned on the Willow channel this morning and they were broadcasting the IPL auction. I knew that the player selection process is called an “auction”, but I had no idea that it was quite literally run as an auction, with the handwaving bidding. I found that process to be a bit distasteful, as these are actual humans they are bidding on. Do the BBL, CPL, PSL, etc. also do it this way?
Do players basically receive all the cash, or is the salary paid in a different manner? I know that some of these clubs have star players that never, or rarely, get a chance to play. Also, some leave their clubs early or join late due to their international duties. Are players paid the same regardless of whether they play, or how much they play?
I can’t get too worked up.
In its basic principles, it really isn’t that much different than the draft in American sports. Nor is it really any different from a free agent on the market. The only real difference is that the free agent has a sports agent to mediate the bidding process and take 10 percent.
How was Dawid Malan only sold for 150k?
Weird. Maybe because he played in the Pakistani league?
This was a “restocking” auction, all the teams are near or at their limit of T20 batsmen, they were primarily looking for bowlers, especially pace and they are a bit thin on the ground.
Aaron Finch, current Australian T20 captain didn’t garner any interest while impact players and quicks pace picked up the chocolates.
Finch didn’t have a great Big Bash with the bat, although he did pretty good against England last september. These ‘restocking’ auctions do seem to hinge largely on current form as we approach the start of the competition.
Thanks, that clears things up
I think one of the things that needs to be kept in mind when looking at how the IPL contracts get handed out is that you can only play 4 overseas players in any one game. This means that you will tend to spend on overseas players who offer something Indian players do not.
Finch, Roy, Hales (top scorer in the BBL I believe) all didn’t pick up contracts because finding top order bats amongst Indians is easier than finding some other types of players (Chris Morris being a good example). This also gives rise to why Malan didn’t command a big fee - he’s not worth it (also he’s the best International T20 bat - but International T20s are of a weaker standard than IPL, they’re actually gambling he will step up in class, not that he will prove his class).
Further, as noted, this was a top up auction and the teams were looking for ways to plug their gaps. Both RCB and Chennai, going into the auction, needed players who could play spin in the middle overs. This is why they went big on Maxwell and Moeen in particular. Hidden from the view provided by their overall numbers, their strike rates against spin in the middle overs are the core engine of their games. Both can also turn an arm over which may help spread overs amongst bowlers if someone gets a bit of tap within an innings. So unless you’re meeting a specific need for at least two teams in the auction, your price will not go up (as there is not a competitive bidding situation), and if you’re meeting a need that can be more easily met by an Indian player for anyone, you’ll go unsold.
I think someone asked a question about how the deals work. My understanding is this:
Say a player goes for 14 Crore Rupees - to make the maths easy.
This means he will be paid 1 Crore Rupees per game. This is then how they get paid. Play all the games, get all the money. Miss 7 games, only get 7 Crore. Once you then factor in agent’s fees and a number of other cost of doing business fees, the players don’t get all the money that they’re being sold for. They do get a substantial chunk of it though, and the incentive is to be playing in every game.
I don’t know enough about the structure of contracts, but I would also imagine that there is a floor to the contracts, so that squad players who may play 2 or fewer games are actually getting paid something. The detail of the contracts will doubtless differ by team and by player in some respects.
That is a shocker of a review from Bairstow. Not close to hitting it or the ball missing the stumps. Did he even ask Crawley’s opinion before signalling for it? England 27/2 having won the toss. Root has it all to do again, and has had a few scares already in his first few balls.
Bairstow shouldn’t be anywhere near to England’s test lineup. And a careless waste of a review is par for him.
Is COVID basically an after-thought in Gujarat? Sure, the stadium isn’t nearly full, but I’m seeing sections of the stands where large groups of people are sitting close together, with almost no mask use (or masks below the chin, which makes even less sense).