Think you are right foz, interesting to see who they go to. Maybe back to Finn, although I've only seen him on tv he looks to have got his pace back. Completely left field would be Footitt of Derbyshire. He has some raw pace when he gets it right and is a left armer which gives a bit of variety.

C'mon England!!.Knock over the rest of the batsmen quickly today



:unionjack:

No ploplem.

Baz, I put the win down to your Rourkes Drift post above inspiring the English team on to victory. Keep up the good work especially when we are next in battle with our colonial convict cousins.

Finn recalled for the Manchester test. Robson given another (last?) chance.

Will be interesting to see how Finn bowls. Hopefully he has worked on and improved his game. No more hand clipping the stumps.

As Robson played in a winning team he has probably kept his place on that basis. Would rather see Taylor in the team, on an extended run, and try him opening or Root. Might not work but both are more talented than Robson.

Hopefully the team has now turned a corner, confidence has returned and we wont have to rely on the late middle order and tail to post a competitive score.

I think Root would have to go back and open, with Taylor at 5. I don't think Taylor has opened since his Leicestershire seconds days. If he has a weakness it would be judging length against quick bowling and the new ball may find him out early on.

Wonder if they will ever go for tiron mills,fastest/on target bowler ive seen in a England shirt. But never gets mentioned ,he must off done something wrong

Great days play at the Test today. Had everything. Just as well it was wrapped up today as unlikely there would have been any play tomorrow and possibly Monday.

No idea what the Indians or Dhoni were thinking about. What's Dhoni's/Indian selectors problem with Ashwin? Gets left out and when picked hardly gets a bowl. Didnt bowl until the 105th over in Englands innings. He even weighed in with the bat but does not seem to be rated by Dhoni/Indian selectors. Very strange.

India steamrollered again. Think England have now turned the corner and can start to prepare for next years Ashes.

Watched it in Metro last night. Every time we looked up while chatting another wicket had fallen. Lovely to see India getting flogged. Let's hope that the Aussies can do the same thing in the upcoming summer. Only 4 Tests though and they dodged a bullet due to no Perth Test this year.


If the real Mitch Johnson turns up in England, you will be in trouble . Notice how much better he plays since he has become a West Australian and no longer a mongrel Queenslander.


dancing





Watch out if young quickie Gurinder Singh Sandhu (good Aussie name that one :ausflag:) gets a berth. He cant be too far away from Test selection

To stop Johnson and any other Aussie quicks getting a head start we will make sure the Trent Bridge groundsman prepares the first few wickets. Using 500 year old Nottinghamshire Red Marl clay it will make the last Trent Bridge wicket look like the WACA in the 1970's.

Once they are shagged out and injured and on the big bird back to Oz decent tracks will then be prepared as the Ashes will be in the bag.

251 runs off 40 overs


Now that is how you play Test cricket



:ausflag:

Been watching the big bash bazza putting in my mornings on a weekend over here

Nicked this from Cricinfo after Friday's ODI. An interesting stat considering that England has played one dayer's since the start.




One Day Batting Records




Still can't work out why Bell did not get the Man-of-the-Match award even if he was in a losing side. It's not like it was a final or anything.




:clueless:

Have to agree - His innings was all class.

What a finish to the Big Bash final last night.

The Perth Scorchers needed 1 run from the last 3 balls.

Brett Lee took wickets with the next 2 balls and was on a hat trick.

So down to the last ball, the Scorchers batsman gets bat on ball and they head off for the run.

The Sydney Sixers fielder fires a return in to the bowlers end but the fielder over the stumps fails to take the ball cleanly and the Scorchers win.

Brad Hogg still playing at nearly 44 years old




:trampoline:

Pinched from the BBC website


I like this line about Michael Clarke


"He's captain of Australia, the second most important position behind the prime minister and as such, we need our captain playing well," Lehmann said.



Sad to say, but when we have a absolute clown like Tony Abbott running the country, the Australian cricket captain might even be the MOST important man in the country.


I come from the opposite side of politics and although I did not agree with their policies and agendas (especially the union bashing), previous Liberal party (Conservative) prime ministers in Malcolm Fraser and John Howard still had my respect. They were both statesman. This bloke Abbott comes across as a fool. The sooner he is gone, the better IMHO



Plus he is the federal member for Manly Warringah in Sydney. I was born in the Sutherland Shire and and have followed Cronulla Sutherland RLFC since their beginnings in 1967. Lets just say that Many & Cronulla supporters don't get along too well.

:malletfight:





Plus Abbott married a Kiwi, is a practicing Tyke and was born in London.


Not much to like about him.



dancing

Baz you mean he's a like a tight Yorkshireman? Bit like Boycott, a batsman that did'nt like scoring runs but took a long time over it. Would'nt give anything away.

I suspect Bazza has concerns regarding the Honourable Member's allegiance to the Church of Rome.:MyEmoticons-com__po

As opposed to the Westminster religion followed by Her Madge and other members of the Court of St James.:riverdance:

Read this on Cricinfo regarding the World Cup



England seeded at #1!!!!


World Cup Groups





Wondering if England was the number one ODI side when the pool groups were sorted??



:dunno:

Maybe the seeding was done using the Duckworth Lewis method?

Anyway it will be sorted in the near future. Starting tommorrow.

I hope they've got the covers sorted. Monster deluge last night, still bucketing down this morning,

Must have been a half decent storm coz Moonee Valley races were called off last night due to the presence of lightning in the area


Anyway, back to the cricket. The big bet is on for tonight's Poms vs Aussie game. I won a lottery ticket off Adam after the Australians won the recent ODI series final. Being of generous mind, I gave him double or nothing which he accepted. This is serious stuff. :haha:



Actually might make some money here betting against the Aussies when they play against the better sides especially from the quarter finals onwards. Australia will start favourites in every game they play so the good value in the opposition. A win/win situation. Of course I want Australia to win. Bragging rights for the next four years but if they do get beat my sadness will be tempered by a few extra bob in my pocket.

:yay:



Off to Betfair now to have a look at the odds




:cashtoburn:

Well that was close. England only lost by 111 runs. At least Taylor made a good impression at International level.

What were the umpires doing at the end? Anderson ran out after Taylor was given out LBW? The LBW decision was rightly referred and overturned, but doesnt alter the fact that once a batsmen is given out in live play the ball is dead. Unbelievable that so called "elite" umpires could make such a stupid decision. Didnt affect the result but probably robbed Taylor of a well deserved ton.

Have to agree with everything you say - Can't believe how they got it so wrong.

Looks like the Poms have a team to follow now in the Indian Premier League.

KP, Ravi Bopara (Capt Jack's favourite cricketer) and Eoin Morgan all due to play for Hyderabad.



Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad




With David Warner and Moises Henriques also in the team, I wonder if they will have a few beers down the pub after the game.

:malletfight:




Royal Challengers Bangalore should also be a fun team. With that mouthy prick, Virat Kohli as captain and the likes of Aussies Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott and Nic Maddinson all in the same team, I hope Kohli sledges the opposition and not his own team "mates".



Big money brings on strange bedfellows.





:haha::haha::haha:

Hey Fork Handles, did you see this?


NSW vs Victoria Feb 15



Look who got all the wickets!!!




The Blues must have prepared a dodgy pitch just like the Poms used to do back in the 70's for Derek Underwood




:unionjack:

Yeh, I was getting scores through on the radio when I was driving.

Hat trick to Doug the Rug and Lion Nathan cleaned up.

Hey, Wanking Wodger, Penetrator, Foz, Ferocious, Simie, Jake......


YOUR BOYS COPPED ONE HELL OF A BEATING! :sheepshag: :flyswat:

We took the option Of keeping our beaten run going. Total utter shite!

...and Mankeyspanner:guitar3:

Hopefully England will improve by at least 50% in the few games that will be left in the World Cup. After all losing by a mere 55 runs or 4 wickets would be a 50% improvement.

I watched the highlights of the England v. NZ game today. It wasnt all bad. Woakes took 2 for 8. Mc Cullum didnt hit every ball for 6 some only went for 4. Hopefully the fourth top run scorer on the day, Extras, pulls his finger out and puts some big scores together. Apart from the batting, bowling and fielding England played OK. I reckon we will beat Afghanistan, not too sure about anybody else though.

A Win!!!!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/31581609

On the way now watch us take the cup

Was Mel Gibson in their team?:twirl:

Another set back for England. Batting did well but the bowlers served up the usual shit, as they did against Australia and NZ, and got hammered. Never seen such a one dimensional "attack". Seems like a game plan is set (the wrong one) and stuck to no matter what.

Never mind could have been worse a 10 wicket defeat is worse than a 9 wicket. Not by much though. Anyway Bangladesh and Afghanistan are next up. Should beat Afghanistan but dont know about Bangladesh. Shows the current state of English ODI cricket.

At last England get their act together and hammer a country. Pity its only Afghanistan. Plus the defeat to Bangladesh was not exactly impressive, but at least it was by a narrow margin.

In summary a totally inept and unacceptable performance in this World Cup competition by England on all levels. Complete and utter shite.

Good luck to the Kiwi cuzzies in the WC final today.


Of course I want the Aussies to win, but if they do lose, I could not think of a better opponent to lose to. They are, after all, our brothers in arms.


For those that don't know, Google the word ANZAC.



So many of my bessy mates are my cuzzie bro's from the Land of the Long White Cloud and as they have won sweet fuck all on the international stage in cricket, who could begrudge them.


Everything is in the Aussies favour. Home ground advantage and if every Australian plays to their maximum skill level, the Kiwis will not get within coeee of us. There is a reason the Aussies are $1.40 to win and the Kiwis $2.80 with the bookies.



Still cricket is a funny game. May the best team win. I hope I don't choke on my oysters at the Mantra tomorrow. There will be plenty of Poms there to give me a hard time if the Aussies lose





:ausflag:

I hope NZ wins ,, by 11 wickets ,,,,