I thought Durham signing Bancroft was a bit iffy, but making him captain in 2 comps seems incomprehensible. But having thought about it, Durham have been down in the doldrums and maybe this is a tactic to stir up some controversy, get some publicity, and push the club into the limelight.

If Bancroft weighs in heavily with the runs and Durham are promoted then all could be well. Think he will still get a lot of shit threw at him by English crowds and the media though.

From the IPL last night


You wanker, Ashwin. :bigfinger Not cheating but definitely not in the spirit of the game. I agree with the Kiwi commentator (Simon Doull?)


It looked like Ashwin stopped his bowling action to purposely wait for Buttler to move forward. Pre-meditated?


I'm sure Joss Buttler won't forget to say a few words the next time he is keeping and Ashwin is at the crease









Steve Smith was next in. Obviously, Ashwin was inspired by that cheating bastard




:bigfinger

I thought the law on that type of run out had been revised? Obviously not. Ashwin was never at the point of delivery and just, literally, stood and waited until Buttler was out the crease. Very snidey. Suppose it wasn't under the laws, cheating, but completely unacceptable in the spirit of the game.

However, cricket is a funny game at times and a lot of things like this come back and bite the wrongdoer on the arse. Hopefully this will happen.

He's Better Than Greg Chappell



He's playing well :haha:



Ashton Turner in record fifth successive T20 duck - Four of them first ball




Good West Aussie lad



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Australia must be favourites for World Cup now bazza’s mate Mitch Marsh has been called up

The final nail in the coffin, Reg :sad:

I like this one from Cricinfo



I Miss Incompetent England. Do You?




These short reveries and musings from our ace team of writers and correspondents are a celebration of the things that make the World Cup worth watching, dreaming of and reading about.


By Andrew Fidel Fernando June 11:




Forgive me if I'm getting a little emotional, but there was a time when representing England at the World Cup used to mean something. A time when England transcended the tournament they were playing in and stood for the good of the game at large, not merely their own narrow interests.


I'm talking about England's long tradition of arriving at the tournament full of confidence, only to crash out in wonderfully comic fashion, filling a billion hearts around the world with joy.


For 20 years, they were resplendent. Who can forget poor old Richard Illingworth in 1996, getting splatted for four fours in a row by Sanath Jayasuriya, who won that quarter-final for Sri Lanka without batting even 13 overs? What about 1999, when England rolled up to their home tournament, got decked by South Africa and India, and was knocked out before the World Cup song had even been released? This was high art - the kind of comedy that makes you want to kiss your fingers and gesture in the way of an Italian chef.


Across the years, there have been upturned pedalos, batting orders that collapsed like circus tents, opening bowlers who were shamed repeatedly through the covers, non-spinning spinners who were shunned disdainfully over midwicket, and captains who wore long, morose looks during long, morose stints in the field. The post-mortems that followed each loss were glorious. While England coaches were put through brutal press interrogations, and the English media dealt in industrial quantities of flagellation and fatalism, the rest of the world looked on with the corners of our mouths twitching, our eyes filling with tears, our bodies unable to contain eruptions of laughter.


Remember that game against New Zealand in the last World Cup? The one where England was monstered for 123 all out, before having that score chased down in 12.2 overs? Or the quarter-final from the previous World Cup, when, having moused their way to 229 for 6 in Colombo, they were convinced they had enough on the board to win? Sri Lanka's openers were so all over the chase that at one point Tillakaratne Dilshan apologised to his opening partner Upul Tharanga for hitting a four because there were only so many runs left and Tharanga hadn't made his century yet.


As the 2019 World Cup hits its straps, there are few losses more keenly felt than the absence of an incompetent England. They are not only no longer risible, but they are also one of the teams to beat, putting up gargantuan scores, driving forward the game's evolution. They have gone from being Ewoks to the Death Star in the space of four years.


Perhaps another team will fill that breach. But much as Sri Lanka are trying, it's not the same. There is a slapstick wonder about them, yes, but they have never commanded anything like the resources at the ECB's disposal, nor does their media quite do hand-wringing in the same way, so the joke is incomplete.


Much as we celebrate the batting frontiers this England team may open up, let us take a moment to reflect on what we have lost: the World Cup's most consistently comic presence.






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I thought the best World Cup defeat was when the Ozzies lost to Bangladesh about 10 years ago. Bangladesh aren't too shabby now, but back then they were on about the same cricketing ability level as Alaska are now.

Probably our most inglorious moment in ODIs. June 18th 2005. It was not a World Cup match though. It was part of a 3-way series that included England, Bangladesh & Australia. Near full strength Australian side. Andrew Symonds was missing due to having a big night on the booze the night before. Typical Queenslander :moonwalker:












Probably a bigger shock to us was that we lost the Ashes a couple of months later. The first time we had lost an Ashes series on English soil since 1985. Haven't won an Ashes series in England since then either.




:crying:




And here's another doozy


Losing to the Netherlands in 1964.









At least we lost to the Dutch only the once. I wonder how many times the Poms have lost to them in cricket?? Not good reading for those from "the mother country"



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I stand corrected Baz, wrong competition. That Ashes series in 2005 was an absolute classic though. Must be one of the best ever. It was the most viewed programme on UK television that year, the publics interest in cricket was at a new high.

So what do the ECB do? Sell out to Sky. So cricket goes from Free to View to subscription. The new found cricket fans aren't willing to go as far as Pay to View. Nowadays the ECB bemoan the general lack of interest in cricket, apart from the hardcore fans. Yet they had the public in their grasp in 2005 and then were wholly responsible for letting them go. Another set of useless money grabbing bastards.

New cricket competition starting next year in England called "The 100". Unsurprisingly its franchised and the ECB have changed their mind that many times over the format that I have given up trying to understand what it will involve. But basically it seems 8 new city based teams will be involved in a 100 balls per side completion. So all the T20 mercenaries will be rubbing their hands. BUT some or all of The 100 will be on Free to View to try and regenerate the publics interest in cricket again. Basically the ECB have to set up a new competition, completely messing up County Cricket in the process, to rectify their original cock up.

Fuckin England. :hanging:

Took them 20 overs the other day to realise they were bowling the wrong length

When I was watching some of the earlier games I was unimpressed with Pakistan. Some skilled cricketers but overall as a group their unfit and the fieldings pretty mediocre. Sri Lanka same same but far worse. Losing to Pakistan was bad but to Sri Lanka was totally unacceptable.

England have gone into this World Cup playing what they like to call "No Fear" cricket. Which seems to comprise of a premeditated game plan based on smashing the ball out the ground. Which is fine when it works but is disastrous when it fails. It seems everything is preplanned and when the wheels come off theres no Plan B. Theres no adapting to playing conditions or what other teams are doing. Just smash the ball out the ground and bowl to set lengths/fields. Thing is even the weaker nations have players who can do some damage and you have to be able to restrict them, but none of that seems to be taken into account.

I think England do/did have the talent to win this World Cup, its just the way they seem to approach each game in a reckless manner. Their struggling to even qualify for the final stages now and it's all self inflicted.

Well plan A worked today
Play like that 3 more times we should win it :paranoid:

Hope so coz I am on your lads at nearly 5/1. Couldn't resist when I saw that price. It's gone now.













Hopefully Australia vs Poms in the final. I win a few bob if the Empire wins and get bragging rights if us Colonials are successful



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I never doubted their ability and backed them all the way.:shs: In a manner of speaking.

Now got the :sheep shagger: to deal with.

The NZ batting in the game against England was really odd.

Guptill strangled down the leg side by a wide ball. If Nicholls had reviewed his LBW decision he would have been given Not Out. Williamson run out by Woods fingertips (shouldn't have been backing that far up anyway). Taylor didn't want to miss out on things so ran himself out going for a non existent second run.

4 wickets chucked away and the match along with it.

Australia vs New Zealand in the final



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1 more performance and we’re champions

I got it half right





:grenade:

Dame Edna Evarage, Sir Les Patterson, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo your boys took one hell of a beating.:roller:

Loved that throw from Buttler that nutmegged Smith and ran him out. Mind 10mm higher and Smith, the alleged lesbian look alike, would have been singing soprano.:ausflag:

England thrash NZ and lift the ICC World Cup.:georgecross: :beautiful: Well not quite a thrashing, in fact did England actually win? Think the scores were tied at the end of the 50 overs and the Super Over? Or were they? Tight doesn't describe it. Anyway who cares how it was done as its been a very long time coming.

We won it on boundaries scored during the match I didn’t know this till I got home couldn’t hear anything in the pub

Well done to the Pommy Bastards. They deserved that considering they had been the top ODI (or is it now called Two Day International?) team for the last few years. It only took 44 years for them to win a major ODI tournament. :haha:


I think that is the first time that I have ever congratulated a winning English cricket side. Must be getting soft in my old age.


One can only imagine what the Kiwi players are going through at the moment. So many what ifs and proof that cricket is a game of inches. Not to mention that Ben Stokes was born there. Please remind me again where Eoin Morgan, Jofra Archer and Jason Roy were all born? It wouldn't be a proper England side unless nearly half the team was born elsewhere. dancing


I bet the bloke who wrote the tournament rules never thought the "most boundaries" clause would be invoked as a tie-breaker.


Anyways my Betfair account received a nice boost. I only bet small amounts these days and not very often. These are my total bets in the last 3 months. Looks easy doesn't it


Thank you, England and South Africa









:toot:

Had a few technical hitches on the Big Day and had to listen to some of the game on the radio. Aggers was taking the piss out of the producer who reminded the commentators to mention to the listeners that, should the scores be tied, there would be a Super Over. They all pissed themselves laughing at the producers stupidity, then had to rapidly look up the playing conditions later on.

Baz note your comments on Roy, Morgan Archer etc. Who knows one day England may even catch Australia up and field a team where no Indigenius players whatsoever are involved. :lmao3:

Taste of own medicine today as an Englishman took 5 England wickets

Very few overseas-born players represent Australia at Test level. Currently, in the practice match in Southhampton, only two of the 24 players were born overseas. Marnus Labuschagne & Michael Neser. You can add in Usman Khawaja who is currently injured.




Now if you mean Indigenous as in Aboriginal, there has been only one Aboriginal to play Test cricket and that is Jason Gillespie. I always thought he came from a wog heritage but somewhere in his family, there is some Abo in him. Bit of a stretch but there it is


From Wikipedia



I always thought Dean Jones had some Aboriginal blood in him but I guess I am wrong.





On a different note, the first cricket team from Australia (then the colonies) was an All Aboriginal team who toured England in 1868 but they were not classed as an official representative team.








The First Australian Tour of England: 1868





:toot:

Bazz's Aussie Team for the first Ashes Test


Warner
Bancroft
Khawaja
Smith
Head (V/C)
M.Marsh
Paine (C)
Cummins
Pattinson
Siddle
Lyon




No Starc, No Hazelwood, No Harris and yes it hurts me to even mention the three cheating bastards


If Langer is true to his word, where he stated all positions were up for grabs (other than Paine as captain & Lyon as he is the only spinner we have) and that the practice match form was paramount, then this should be the team.


It could be an interesting Test squad named on Friday



:ausflag:

Based on Englands performance against the Paddy's its back to the drawing board.

Nearly got it right. Why do we need three wicket-keepers in the side? Good luck to Wade though. Always scores loads of runs at the domestic level but not much for the national side. He has his chance now



Here we go again



:toot:

When Wade first came on the scene at International level he seemed to be a good stumper and a handy bat. Then things went tits up. Remember him signing for Warwickshire and he ended up as their 3rd choice keeper. Thought then his days were up, but he's forced himself back into the International set up. Fair play to the bloke.

Well the Aussies are in control now. Best England can hope for is a draw. Didn't think much of Paines tactics, batted too long and the field wasn't all out attack when England faced the last few overs before stumps. Should have had the whole team around the bat.

Was interesting to see the wicket was prepared for Ali to take advantage of, which he was unable to do, and now looks like it will bite them on the ass with England batting last and Lyon already taking advantage of it in the 7 overs before stumps. 397 is a big ask on that wicket!

2 main points for me are smith’s batting and us being a bowler down and our best bowler at that
We’ll do very well to get a draw out of this

No argument from anyone, including me, that losing Anderson was a huge loss to England. Interestingly though that in Smith's previous two Ashes tours in England (2013 & 2015), he was dismissed 17 times in Tests but only once by Anderson which was in the first innings of the First Test in 2013.


One could argue that even if Anderson had bowled the full Test at Edgbaston he probably would not have got Smith out but he most certainly would have taken wickets and Australia would not have amassed the scores that they eventually achieved. All conjecture of course but an interesting discussion.


So onto Lords, we go. I hope Australia does not tinker with a winning team but they probably will. If I had my way, the Newlands 3 would not be playing but that is not going to happen. Warner and Bancroft need to get decent starts and Wade needs to be consistent.


I hope England win the toss and bat first coz the last time they did that at Lords on a Wednesday (last month) they were all out for 85!! They did go on and win the Test though as we know.


I might even watch a bit of it


:toot:

Moeen v. Lyon is/was no contest. Moeen seems to have lost all confidence and needs to be dropped for the next Test.

The Poms are gunna try Leach now

Should give Rashid a go. Although he does have the habit of getting carted. Doesn't seem that keen on Test cricket, but that may be more to do with the selectors.

This Australian batting lineup is performing horrendously. Other than Smith of course. Time for some changes. IMHO


The two useless cheating cunts at the top of the order? GONE :out:

Wade has failed 3 out of 4 innings. He ain't a Test batsman GONE :out:

Time to move the Paki up to open with the reinstated Harris and bring in the South African whose name I can't spell or even pronounce. Bring in Carey as a batsman from county cricket. Rest Siddle, get rid of Hazlewood. Starc and Pattinson would add potency to the attack to match Archer


Assuming Smith is fit, this is the eleven for Headingley


Harris
Khawaja
Smith
Head
Labuschagne
Carey
Paine
Starc
Cummins
Pattinson
Lyon


Of course, it won't happen but it should :angryold:

You got close with that line up Baz. Not that it matters as once England "scored" 67 the Test/Ashes are now yours. In fact you should declare now (Friday night) then you can bowl England out tomorrow morning. Then we can all fuck off and find something more worthwhile to do.

To say the England batting was shambolic isn't anywhere near to the truth. What the fuck Roy is doing opening is anybody's guess. He usually bats at 5 for Surrey in the CC, how he is expected to open in Test match cricket is beyond me. The ECB have little time for the CC as its not a money spinner, so they just mess about with it. Consequently there are now very few batsmen in England capable of compiling an innings. All they currently do is play one day shots. Except the red ball moves more than the white and the fields set are far more attacking, but nobody seems to have thought about that. I suppose its entertaining in its own way, as well as acutely embarrassing.