I wonder if the total Test match attendances in England this year will be a record aggregate. The highest series attendance in England so far has been the 549,650 who turned up for the dull 1953 Ashes.
That series was hit by rain delays in the June and July Tests and England took the series 1-0 with a win on the fourth day - with, oddly, more than a day's playing time left - in part because Australia picked no spinners and Laker and Lock bowling Australia out in the second innings.
I wish Golfie had been around that Summer - his comments would have been brilliant.
A mate and I are heading to Delhi in April and are gonna watch an IPL game or two hopefully. Finding out how you actually buy tickets is proving extremely tough!
At least they didn’t bounce him from what I recall
Yep - 1984 at Manchester. Paul Terry's arm was broken from a delivery from Winston Davis in the first innings. He came back in with arm in sling but was bowled by Joel Garner for half a dozen or so but stayed long enough to see Allan Lamb finish on 100* although England still lost by an innings.
Oh dear! England bowler, Ollie Robinson, has come out and publicly said that he thinks that we will give Australia "a good hiding" in the Ashes. One can be assured that this message will be pinned to the Aussie's dressing room door. Their batting line up is stronger than ours overall (not one of their top five averages less than 45 and Green at six averages 37.64) and their front four bowlers will offer enough in English conditions to be more than a handful. Our turf and Bas Ball might be the difference but I certainly wouldn't go round "poking the bear" right now.
Meanwhile India were 117 all out off 26 overs in an ODI against Australia in India. Australia are 90-0 off 8 overs so require 28 runs off 42 overs with 10 wickets in hand!
Edit - Australia win by 10 wickets off 11 overs. Head 51* (30), Marsh 66* (36). A humiliating defeat for India.
Oh dear! England bowler, Ollie Robinson, has come out and publicly said that he thinks that we will give Australia "a good hiding" in the Ashes. One can be assured that this message will be pinned to the Aussie's dressing room door. Their batting line up is stronger than ours overall (not one of their top five averages less than 45 and Green at six averages 37.64) and their front four bowlers will offer enough in English conditions to be more than a handful. Our turf and Bas Ball might be the difference but I certainly wouldn't go round "poking the bear" right now.
Reminds me of when Tony Greig said of the West Indies We will make them grovel. That went well.
Oh dear! England bowler, Ollie Robinson, has come out and publicly said that he thinks that we will give Australia "a good hiding" in the Ashes. One can be assured that this message will be pinned to the Aussie's dressing room door. Their batting line up is stronger than ours overall (not one of their top five averages less than 45 and Green at six averages 37.64) and their front four bowlers will offer enough in English conditions to be more than a handful. Our turf and Bas Ball might be the difference but I certainly wouldn't go round "poking the bear" right now.
Reminds me of when Tony Greig said of the West Indies We will make them grovel. That went well.
And of course Glenn McGrath predicted that the Aussies would win the Ashes 5-0 in 2009. That went equally well.
Oh dear! England bowler, Ollie Robinson, has come out and publicly said that he thinks that we will give Australia "a good hiding" in the Ashes. One can be assured that this message will be pinned to the Aussie's dressing room door. Their batting line up is stronger than ours overall (not one of their top five averages less than 45 and Green at six averages 37.64) and their front four bowlers will offer enough in English conditions to be more than a handful. Our turf and Bas Ball might be the difference but I certainly wouldn't go round "poking the bear" right now.
Reminds me of when Tony Greig said of the West Indies We will make them grovel. That went well.
And of course Glenn McGrath predicted that the Aussies would win the Ashes 5-0 in 2009. That went equally well.
I find what Robinson said as quite refreshing. New England. Go at teams like a train. Hope the Aussies pin it up in the dressing room. We won’t change our approach
I find what Robinson said as quite refreshing. New England. Go at teams like a train. Hope the Aussies pin it up in the dressing room. We won’t change our approach
I am so intrigued as to what our approach will actually be, in terms of team selection. How we balance the aggressive batting and the taking 20 wickets.
With the players that have been unavailable, selection has been quite easy but with Bairstow, Archer, Wood and Ahmed not playing in the last series it's starting to get difficult, for very good reasons.
I find what Robinson said as quite refreshing. New England. Go at teams like a train. Hope the Aussies pin it up in the dressing room. We won’t change our approach
I really do not think that any other of our players, apart from Robinson, would have said it. Root? Stokes? Anderson? Broad? Bairstow? None of them would have done so. And certainly McCullum wouldn't have either. It just puts more pressure on us to perform not them. The Aussies aren't scared of Bazball because they are number one ranked team in the world and have lost just 5 of their last 28 Tests for a reason - and they beat us last time 4-0 in a series in which Robinson himself was criticised by the bowling coach for his own lack of match fitness.
The Aussies will have plans for when we come at them and they won't back down from a fight. In fact, they will love it because that is how they have grown up to play cricket. Equally, if Robinson doesn't back those words up with wickets from the off then Aussies won't be slow in reminding him what he said and they will use the same "stick" against every batsman that walks in to bat.
I think it will end up 2-2. I backed that last time they were here and will do the same again because I do not believe that there is much between the sides. Even with us having home advantage.
The new T20 league in the United States has made a big statement before its inaugural tournament in July with deals for Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis and Quinton de Kock, raising fears that it could have an impact on the T20 Blast and the Hundred. Most of the new T20 franchise leagues take place outside of the English season, meaning their impact is minimal. Major League Cricket (MLC), however, will take place in July, thereby clashing with the T20 Blast. There are concerns that the amount of money on offer will entice overseas stars to pick playing in America over the Blast and possibly even the Hundred. One county executive said that MLC could “very easily become the second-most lucrative T20 franchise competition behind the IPL and some players will look at the size of contracts available, and the Blast and Hundred contracts just won’t compare”. MLC has substantial financial backing as well as links with the IPL bringing in further resources from the lucrative Indian market. For the moment, it is unlikely that any English player would ask for a No Objection Certificate from the England and Wales Cricket Board to play in it and therefore opt out of their county duties. However, there are concerns that MLC may pose the same challenge to English cricket that the IPL does. There has been a softening of the approach towards participation in the IPL since it came into existence, when the ECB tried to prevent its players from taking part because it clashed with start of the English season. Eventually it was recognised that players could not be prevented from earning potentially life-changing sums in the IPL and there is now a potential repeat of that scenario with MLC. Breaking into the American market is seen as strategically important for cricket as it could unlock a huge audience and help with the sport’s bid to feature at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Sources inside the ECB have privately expressed fears that the English players could start to ask for No Objection Certificates in the future, leaving the governing body needing to make a controversial decision. The six-team MLC league will be played in a round-robin format between July 13 and July 30 with a new stadium in Dallas, Texas, expected to be the main venue. In future, new stadiums in the other five cities that have franchises — Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC — are expected to be used.
Carnage on a postage stamp of a ground in South Africa. The Windies are 137-1 off the first 10 overs. Charles is 82 off 32 and Mayers is 51 off 25.
Edit - the very next ball and Mayers is out. And Pooran three balls later.
Windies end up with 258-5. Charles hit the fastest Windies 100 (39) and was out for 118 (46). Their highest ever total in a T20 international and should South Africa beat their total it will also be the highest chase in T20 international history,
After 2 overs the Windies were 11-1. South Africa are 42-0!
78-0 off 4. Windies were 33-1.
de Kock 53* off 15 balls
102-0 off 6. The highest Power Play score against a full member nation.
149-0 off 10. de Kock 99* (41) Hendricks 45* (19)
South Africa win by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare. A record chase in the history of international T20 cricket beating Bulgaria's 246-4 against Serbia. Also the highest ever total in a game of international T20 cricket.
A day, if you were a bowler, to take one look at the dimensions of the ground, another at the pitch and then to feel a sudden back spasm thus ruling yourself out of the game!
So the ECB are now proposing to double or even treble match fees for non centrally contracted players. That will not bridge the gap with those that are contracted (and receive a match fee in addition) or the various new franchise competitions that are paying a minimum of six figures for being a month or so away from home. They are also trying to insist that the contracted players do not go to the new T20 comp in the USA which might or might not work. However, it won't stop the best players around the world from partaking there instead of in the ECB's own precious comp which is an absolute shambles when compared to the quality at the IPL or even some of the other T20 comps.
Replace KP with Bumble and Morgan with Lord Gower and I would be far happier! In fact, if he wasn't still playing, I would like to see Sky find room for Steven Finn who I think is excellent in his analysis.
It's interesting that while Sky and the BBC have been grooming Broad and Anderson for the commentary box, Finn has come out of nowhere, impressing on both TV and radio.
Indeed there's quite a selection of big name part time commentators who refuse to retire from playing, with Cook about to start another county season.
Replace KP with Bumble and Morgan with Lord Gower and I would be far happier! In fact, if he wasn't still playing, I would like to see Sky find room for Steven Finn who I think is excellent in his analysis.
Comments
That series was hit by rain delays in the June and July Tests and England took the series 1-0 with a win on the fourth day - with, oddly, more than a day's playing time left - in part because Australia picked no spinners and Laker and Lock bowling Australia out in the second innings.
I wish Golfie had been around that Summer - his comments would have been brilliant.
Edit - Australia win by 10 wickets off 11 overs. Head 51* (30), Marsh 66* (36). A humiliating defeat for India.
We will make them grovel.
That went well.
With the players that have been unavailable, selection has been quite easy but with Bairstow, Archer, Wood and Ahmed not playing in the last series it's starting to get difficult, for very good reasons.
The Aussies will have plans for when we come at them and they won't back down from a fight. In fact, they will love it because that is how they have grown up to play cricket. Equally, if Robinson doesn't back those words up with wickets from the off then Aussies won't be slow in reminding him what he said and they will use the same "stick" against every batsman that walks in to bat.
I think it will end up 2-2. I backed that last time they were here and will do the same again because I do not believe that there is much between the sides. Even with us having home advantage.
The new T20 league in the United States has made a big statement before its inaugural tournament in July with deals for Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis and Quinton de Kock, raising fears that it could have an impact on the T20 Blast and the Hundred.
Most of the new T20 franchise leagues take place outside of the English season, meaning their impact is minimal. Major League Cricket (MLC), however, will take place in July, thereby clashing with the T20 Blast. There are concerns that the amount of money on offer will entice overseas stars to pick playing in America over the Blast and possibly even the Hundred.
One county executive said that MLC could “very easily become the second-most lucrative T20 franchise competition behind the IPL and some players will look at the size of contracts available, and the Blast and Hundred contracts just won’t compare”.
MLC has substantial financial backing as well as links with the IPL bringing in further resources from the lucrative Indian market. For the moment, it is unlikely that any English player would ask for a No Objection Certificate from the England and Wales Cricket Board to play in it and therefore opt out of their county duties. However, there are concerns that MLC may pose the same challenge to English cricket that the IPL does.
There has been a softening of the approach towards participation in the IPL since it came into existence, when the ECB tried to prevent its players from taking part because it clashed with start of the English season. Eventually it was recognised that players could not be prevented from earning potentially life-changing sums in the IPL and there is now a potential repeat of that scenario with MLC.
Breaking into the American market is seen as strategically important for cricket as it could unlock a huge audience and help with the sport’s bid to feature at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Sources inside the ECB have privately expressed fears that the English players could start to ask for No Objection Certificates in the future, leaving the governing body needing to make a controversial decision.
The six-team MLC league will be played in a round-robin format between July 13 and July 30 with a new stadium in Dallas, Texas, expected to be the main venue. In future, new stadiums in the other five cities that have franchises — Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC — are expected to be used.
Edit - the very next ball and Mayers is out. And Pooran three balls later.
Windies end up with 258-5. Charles hit the fastest Windies 100 (39) and was out for 118 (46). Their highest ever total in a T20 international and should South Africa beat their total it will also be the highest chase in T20 international history,
After 2 overs the Windies were 11-1. South Africa are 42-0!
78-0 off 4. Windies were 33-1.
de Kock 53* off 15 balls
102-0 off 6. The highest Power Play score against a full member nation.
149-0 off 10. de Kock 99* (41) Hendricks 45* (19)
South Africa win by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare. A record chase in the history of international T20 cricket beating Bulgaria's 246-4 against Serbia. Also the highest ever total in a game of international T20 cricket.
A day, if you were a bowler, to take one look at the dimensions of the ground, another at the pitch and then to feel a sudden back spasm thus ruling yourself out of the game!
Indeed there's quite a selection of big name part time commentators who refuse to retire from playing, with Cook about to start another county season.
The next thing was I hate listening to KP’s whining voice.