Sets it up nicely for a decider tomorrow (for the St Lucia games) atmosphere was great as loads of locals in there tonight.
Hope livingstone ok, went off after a great catch and then managed to punch bethell in the face as he came over to check on him.
Lots of fielding mistakes today. Lost the toss and proved work is to be done when we’re put into bat first. Livingstone had one over, they scored 30 off it. He got 4 with the bat so not a brilliant night for him!
Two cricketing worlds collide next week. Australia and India meet on Friday in Perth in the opening Test of what promises to be an epic encounter – the first five-match series between the two great rivals since 1991-92. Five-match Test series used to be the norm. However, with the exception of England v Australia, they have become rare. One‑day cricket, and especially Twenty20, has eroded the time available for the longest form of the game, forcing series to be shortened to three or even two matches. What used to be a novel lasting all summer has become a novella, over in a trice. But in this Australian summer, something like tradition again rules. Five Tests spread over a month and a half, with the Christmas and new year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney in their time‑honoured place.
The new cricket world, however, won’t let tradition dominate. Just two days after the Perth Test begins, the Indian Premier League (IPL) “mega-auction” will unfold in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, underscoring the desert kingdom’s growing influence in global sports. Ten IPL franchises will bid on 574 players competing for 204 slots, alongside 46 already retained. In total, 250 players will take part in the two‑month 2025 IPL season next spring.
Each player sets his auction base price, and the sums are eye-watering. Even 42-year-old Jimmy Anderson, who recently retired from Test cricket, has put himself on the slab for £115,000, a snip compared with the £2m-plus that proven Twenty20 match‑winners command. It is sport meets high finance and a vision of the future: a stark and dystopian one if the traditional Test action in Perth is more to your liking, though IPL aficionados seem to find the auction process as compelling as the games themselves.
Soon, fully fledged franchise cricket on the IPL model will come to the UK. The eight teams involved in the Hundred, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s even shorter-form answer to the IPL, are in the process of being sold, with Indian franchise owners eager for a piece of the action. When that process is complete, there will be two rival structures in the English game: traditional counties trying to keep alive the long-form (at present, in the county championship, four-day) cricket beloved of purists, and newly revamped franchises devoted to the whizz-bang version of the game, awash with money and unashamedly offering mass entertainment.
The ECB argues that the cash generated from the sale of equity in the Hundred to mega-corporations will boost cricket at all levels and help reverse a perceived decline in recreational cricket. But will the patient survive the cure? It is far from clear that the counties and the franchises can coexist, and entirely plausible that a competitive structure that dates back to the late 19th century will be marginalised or even destroyed.
Long-form cricket will increasingly have to fight for the right to exist, perhaps becoming a partly amateur (and certainly second-tier) pursuit while handsomely remunerated pros play the big-money, short-form game for interlinked franchises around the world. Tests are already under threat in some major cricket-playing countries, and they barely feature in the women’s game. So make sure you savour the traditional Test opener in Perth next weekend. If, that is, you can divert your eyes from the high rollers in Jeddah.
The Hundred's product is formulaic and dull though. I can't see appetite for it lasting
It won't. That is the point. It will convert to T20 and The Blast will, at best, become a second rate competition or, at worst, disappear all together. From anther article:
The England and Wales Cricket Board is pushing ahead with proposals to switch the Hundred to a Twenty20 format, but plans to keep the competition’s name. The Observer has learned that a return to traditional six-ball overs is on the cards when the next television rights cycle begins in 2029, although the Hundred title and branding will remain.
The Hundred's product is formulaic and dull though. I can't see appetite for it lasting
It won't. That is the point. It will convert to T20 and The Blast will, at best, become a second rate competition or, at worst, disappear all together. From anther article:
The England and Wales Cricket Board is pushing ahead with proposals to switch the Hundred to a Twenty20 format, but plans to keep the competition’s name. The Observer has learned that a return to traditional six-ball overs is on the cards when the next television rights cycle begins in 2029, although the Hundred title and branding will remain.
You can't call something "Hundred" if there isn't anything to do with a hundred. ECB trying to save face but it wont wash....
The Hundred's product is formulaic and dull though. I can't see appetite for it lasting
It won't. That is the point. It will convert to T20 and The Blast will, at best, become a second rate competition or, at worst, disappear all together. From anther article:
The England and Wales Cricket Board is pushing ahead with proposals to switch the Hundred to a Twenty20 format, but plans to keep the competition’s name. The Observer has learned that a return to traditional six-ball overs is on the cards when the next television rights cycle begins in 2029, although the Hundred title and branding will remain.
I rather optimistically feel like T20 is losing its lustre in general, but it probably isn't with the masses
Anyone have any luck in the Oval ballot? We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday. Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Anyone have any luck in the Oval ballot? We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday. Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Anyone have any luck in the Oval ballot? We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday. Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Nothing in the ballot but I was able to access a presale as I had been to the Sri Lanka Test this year, so going on day 1
Anyone have any luck in the Oval ballot? We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday. Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Seems five-match Test series are still quite popular in England. Despite everything.
For India Australia and matches with retiring bowling legends yes.
We applied for restricted view v India at lords in ballot as it’s just so expensive. Ballot results next week i thought. There will be more pop up nearer the time so am sure we’ll manage to go even if we don’t get in the ballot. Indian fans will take up loads of seats, creating a fantastic atmosphere.
Seems five-match Test series are still quite popular in England. Despite everything.
For India Australia and matches with retiring bowling legends yes.
We applied for restricted view v India at lords in ballot as it’s just so expensive. Ballot results next week i thought. There will be more pop up nearer the time so am sure we’ll manage to go even if we don’t get in the ballot. Indian fans will take up loads of seats, creating a fantastic atmosphere.
Commercially, Tests between England, Australia and India are still highly lucrative. Australia are about to take on India in what should be a cracking 5 game series, where I'll be cheering on....er....the umpires
Anyone have any luck in the Oval ballot? We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday. Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Nothing in the ballot but I was able to access a presale as I had been to the Sri Lanka Test this year, so going
How did you access a pre sale? We went to the Sri Lanka Test.
Comments
Away from England, Adam Zampa has a brutal new haircut!
Two cricketing worlds collide next week. Australia and India meet on Friday in Perth in the opening Test of what promises to be an epic encounter – the first five-match series between the two great rivals since 1991-92. Five-match Test series used to be the norm. However, with the exception of England v Australia, they have become rare. One‑day cricket, and especially Twenty20, has eroded the time available for the longest form of the game, forcing series to be shortened to three or even two matches. What used to be a novel lasting all summer has become a novella, over in a trice. But in this Australian summer, something like tradition again rules. Five Tests spread over a month and a half, with the Christmas and new year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney in their time‑honoured place.
The new cricket world, however, won’t let tradition dominate. Just two days after the Perth Test begins, the Indian Premier League (IPL) “mega-auction” will unfold in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, underscoring the desert kingdom’s growing influence in global sports. Ten IPL franchises will bid on 574 players competing for 204 slots, alongside 46 already retained. In total, 250 players will take part in the two‑month 2025 IPL season next spring.
Each player sets his auction base price, and the sums are eye-watering. Even 42-year-old Jimmy Anderson, who recently retired from Test cricket, has put himself on the slab for £115,000, a snip compared with the £2m-plus that proven Twenty20 match‑winners command. It is sport meets high finance and a vision of the future: a stark and dystopian one if the traditional Test action in Perth is more to your liking, though IPL aficionados seem to find the auction process as compelling as the games themselves.
Soon, fully fledged franchise cricket on the IPL model will come to the UK. The eight teams involved in the Hundred, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s even shorter-form answer to the IPL, are in the process of being sold, with Indian franchise owners eager for a piece of the action. When that process is complete, there will be two rival structures in the English game: traditional counties trying to keep alive the long-form (at present, in the county championship, four-day) cricket beloved of purists, and newly revamped franchises devoted to the whizz-bang version of the game, awash with money and unashamedly offering mass entertainment.
The ECB argues that the cash generated from the sale of equity in the Hundred to mega-corporations will boost cricket at all levels and help reverse a perceived decline in recreational cricket. But will the patient survive the cure? It is far from clear that the counties and the franchises can coexist, and entirely plausible that a competitive structure that dates back to the late 19th century will be marginalised or even destroyed.
Long-form cricket will increasingly have to fight for the right to exist, perhaps becoming a partly amateur (and certainly second-tier) pursuit while handsomely remunerated pros play the big-money, short-form game for interlinked franchises around the world. Tests are already under threat in some major cricket-playing countries, and they barely feature in the women’s game. So make sure you savour the traditional Test opener in Perth next weekend. If, that is, you can divert your eyes from the high rollers in Jeddah.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is pushing ahead with proposals to switch the Hundred to a Twenty20 format, but plans to keep the competition’s name. The Observer has learned that a return to traditional six-ball overs is on the cards when the next television rights cycle begins in 2029, although the Hundred title and branding will remain.
(See what I did there).
We could only get tickets for Eng v Ind Day 4, on the Sunday.
Think the Lords Ballot results are announced next week...
Carey and Cummins in