[bazzap]

Stating the bloody obvious I know but it is the same question that everybody is asking.


How can England's team with so many world-class limited-over cricket players be performing so badly? Not just a couple of them but probably the whole team is playing sub-par cricket, especially by their lofty standards of the last 6-7 years. Nobody stays at the top forever but this is a monumental failure. From World Cup champions in T20 a year ago to running 10th (out of 10) two-thirds of the way through the current WC.


Reading many comments on the usual platforms (BBC website, Facebook etc), The Hundred seems to get the blame for everything whenever England lose a game in any format. Is that really the reason? Other causes to blame seem to be the ECB, the player contracts, the coaching staff, too much emphasis on women's cricket, players being too old, etc etc.


Surely, as an aside, it can't be playing in India being an issue these days, could it? All international cricketers play everywhere these days. I remember Shane Warne complaining that there were no baked beans available about 25 years ago. Dean Jones was physically ill in 1986 in the Madras tied test when Border told him he could not come off

More than once he vomited and, to his acute embarrassment, urinated in his flannels, which were already soaked from such painful exertion. But while he had no control over his bodily functions, his mind somehow remained focused on the task assigned by his captain, Allan Border.

Famously goaded by Border when he sought to withdraw at 174, Jones reached 210 before his body finally ground to a halt and he was bowled by off-spinner Shivlal Yadav.

Source The Disintegrating Hero


Why can't Australian cricket have hard bastards like Border, Ian Chappell, Steve Waugh as captains anymore? These days we get pampering pretty boys and cry babies as our Test cricket captains FFS!!!


My personal favourite was in the 50s & 60s when hundreds of Indians in the crowd would hold mirrors and direct light into the opposing batsman's eyes as the bowler let the ball go.



I digress (as usual). I hope this ODI form loss does not carry over to the English Test team as they have been the in-form team for the last 18 months. An Indian 5 Test tour starting in January will be their next challenge. That will be interesting to watch. Following that, the Poms play Tests against the West Indies and Sri Lanka in the 2024 English summer. Those should be near walkovers. Interspersed with that is a load of T20 and ODI international games plus all the T20 leagues.


While I am dribbling on, the Australian Test summer starts in December with Tests against Pakistan and the West Indies at home followed by two Tests against the Kiwis in NZ. No more Tests after that until the end of 2024. At the moment anyway.


It will be nearly 24/7 live cricket again over the New Year/January/February period plus in April/May the cricket world stops for the IPL.




Getting a bit much for this old fella

[bazzap]

The BIG ONE is on Saturday. I don't care where India & South Africa are on the table or how well they are playing. The main game is on tomorrow.

The Empire vs The Colony

Positions on the table mean sweet FA


England not playing well and is virtually out of it against Australia trying to stay in contention. My man, Mitch Marsh, is out due to"a family issue" which usually means someone is shagging his missus I shouldn't joke as it probably is something serious. Maxwell is also out so there is a couple of blows to the Aussies. I see my other man, Aaron Hardie, mentioned as a replacement for mighty Mitch if needed. Where is Cameron Green then? He must be totally out of form or something.


Anyway, Joey thinks England will win.



From Cricinfo

Joe Root says he is hurt by the fact that England are propping up the group-stage table of the World Cup after five defeats in six games. But he still believes that they are capable of beating Australia on Saturday in Ahmedabad, and said on Thursday: "Man for man I'd have this team every day over the Australians."

"I look at this team and it's more than capable of achieving way more than it has done throughout this tournament," Root said. "The quality of players we have, we should be sat right at the top of this [table]. We all know that, and we're all very frustrated that this isn't the case.

And this

Australia have enjoyed England's plight from afar, though Marnus Labuschagne said on Wednesday that they see them as a "dangerous" team. Root was asked specifically about how he felt when he saw Pat Cummins, Australia's captain, stifling his laughter during a press conference when questioned about England's struggles.


"Let's face it: if it was the other way around, would we be doing the same? Probably," Root said. "It hurts - it always hurts to be in this position to be sat at the bottom of the table. It's not what we expect of ourselves. If it motivates us a little bit more, then great."

Looking forward to it. As per usual, I shall have a lottery ticket on the result of the game with Adam.


Despite all the big races on in Australia and especially the Melbourne Cup next Tuesday, that is about the limit of my gambling these days. New phones, laptops, and especially gold (as usual) are quite pricey these days

[Frankie]

I blame The 100 as well, basically because I don't fuckin like it. I couldn't care less if KP Crisps XI beat the Tudor Crisps XI because it means absolutely fuck all. What The 100 has completely fucked is 50 overs cricket played by the Counties. The 50 overs Counties comp is now seen as a "development competition" by the ECB as the Counties agreed to release their first choice players to The 100. This was on the basis that each of the 18 Counties gets about £1.2m per season in compensation or, more realistically put, bribe money. Don't think the bribe money is factored into The 100 P+L Accounts though.

When this was first proposed the initial reaction was England, ironically just after winning the World Cup, would become shite at 50 overs cricket. Which is exactly what has happened. The counter argument is that other countries play little or no 50 overs domestic First Class cricket. Well I couldn't care less about that as my only concern is England and they are now shite at 50 overs cricket, as was predicted.

[bazzap]

Originally Posted by bazzap

Australia is fucked for this World Cup IMHO. Too many old players like Warner, Maxwell, Stoinis & Smith, too many are inconsistent Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, Stoinis, too many are out of form Green & Zampa, and only one recognised spinner when playing in India. Madness


By next year there will be a whole lot of limited-over players retiring or getting tapped so there will be a whole new crew replacing them. Not ideal


Hopefully, I am wrong and they start winning again,

Nahh ..... won't happen

Oh and that goes for the Test side as well






Not just me saying that



From the Roar




The link is HERE



The future looks bleak

Who wrote the above?


Old Bazz got it wrong again


Always good to beat India though. This one is extra special obviously as India was supposed to win. Over one billion Indians will be in mourning today and during their Diwali Festival to boot.











Can only bask in the glory for a few days though as Australia starts a T20 series against India on Thursday, four days after a World Cup final. That series finishes on Dec 3rd then the Australian International summer starts with a three-Test series against Pakistan followed by two Tests against the Windies. Hopefully Australia bloods some new players


And, of course, the bloody Big Bash on the domestic front


Plus I see we have ANOTHER T20 World Cup next year in the USA & West Indies for the whole of June right in the middle of the English cricket season. No international cricket in England until July.


Also, Zimbabwe is listed to come to England for Test cricket in 2025. The last time Zimbabwe played Australia in a Test series was in 2003 in Australia. They got absolutely hammered, nobody went to watch it and we have never played them in Test cricket since

[ferocious]

Bowlers won it for you Bazza bogging them down after the first power play
Was quite funny listening to the silence of 92,000 Indians

[Frankie]

Quite enjoyed watching India lose at home. To say their supporters are biased is a massive understatement, good watching them having to eat shit. Thought the competition went on too long, or maybe it was just because England were shite.

[bazzap]

Originally Posted by Frankie

Quite enjoyed watching India lose at home. To say their supporters are biased is a massive understatement, good watching them having to eat shit. Thought the competition went on too long, or maybe it was just because England were shite.

Actually, all World Cups are played in a 45-day window. It is just the structure that changes. I quite like the 10-team competition as every team plays every other team at least once. The same as in 2019. Teams like the Netherlands get to play at least 9 games. The Netherlands played 3 games in 2007 (16 teams) and 6 games in 2011 (14 teams)


The next WC is increased to 14 teams probably to accommodate Zimbabwe & Namibia as alongside South Africa, they are the home teams. So probably 2 groups of 7 teams. The top 2 teams in each group go through to the semi-finals. There are no quarterfinals according to Stephan Shemilt in his article on the BBC website on the 20th of November.

At least the 50-over World Cup will revert to 14 teams in 2027, even if the lesson on the absence of jeopardy has not been learned. There will be two group stages and an increase in the number of matches from 48 to 54, but still only three knockout matches, from the last four onwards. My kingdom for some quarter-finals.

More games for TV networks to show.

I guess some people just can't get enough.





Personally, I don't watch much live cricket these days especially Australia when Smith & Warner are playing. If I want, I have "catch-up" with my IPTV provider. The Sky Sports UK version works quite well here

[Frankie]

Was wondering if you were smiling at that LBW Smith was out to in in the WC Final Baz? If he referred it he would have been N.O. Bit of poetic justice.

[bazzap]

Good onya Mitch!! Mitch Johnson rips into David Warner, one of the greatest wankers that has ever worn the Baggy Green


From "The West Australian" today which is unfortunately behind a paywall


This from the Cricinfo website

"It's been five years and David Warner has still never really owned the ball-tampering scandal," Johnson wrote. "Now the way he is going out is underpinned by more of the same arrogance and disrespect to our country.

"As we prepare for David Warner's farewell series, can somebody please tell me why?

"Why a struggling Test opener gets to nominate his own retirement date. And why a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero's send-off?

"Warner certainly isn't Australia's Test captain and never deserved to be for that matter. In fact, he ends his career under a lifetime leadership ban.

"Yes, he has a decent overall record and some say is one of our greatest opening bats. But his past three years in Test cricket have been ordinary, with a batting average closer to what a tailender would be happy with.

"It's the ball-tampering disgrace in South Africa that many will never forget. Although Warner wasn't alone in Sandpapergate, he was at the time a senior member of the team and someone who liked to use his perceived power as a 'leader'.

"Does this really warrant a swansong, a last hurrah against Pakistan that was forecast a year in advance as if he was bigger than the game and the Australian cricket team?

"Granted he made his double century against South Africa at the MCG last summer, but they were the only runs he had scored in years. Leading into this year's Ashes series that was the only time he had reached 50 in his previous 17 Test innings."

Some fan responses are here. As you expect from a Western Australian newspaper, there is no love for Warner, especially after what happened to Justin Langer



Fans Pile into David Warner


"Thank you Mitch! I may partly change my opinion of DW if he ever apologises to Cam Bancroft - but until then he will never rate. It will be fitting if Cam replaces DW as opener as he deserves,” Robyn C said.

Matthew W added: “Warner gets to choose his send-off because he holds the bowlers, including Pat Cummins, to ransom. There is no way the bowlers didn’t know what was going on with the sandpaper on the ball. He will probably release the tell-all book down the road anyway when the money starts running out. He definitely does not deserve to be in the team on form.”


“Absolutely agree with the article. The arrogance of the guy. All he has waffled on about lately is his retirement and how much he is looking forward to his on air TV role. The guy cannot put a decent sentence together without reverting back to himself. I certainly won’t be listening to the guy,” John T wrote.

Christine C labelled Warner “a cheat” and said he “should never have played for Australia again”.





Music to my ears

[Frankie]

I don't think Warner realises that all he will really be remembered for is Sandpapergate. No matter what his career stats are they will be completely eclipsed by his role in Sandpapergate. For some strange reason he seems to think that's all forgotten about now. The rare few times I've seen him on TV he comes across as a thick, arrogant cunt. Which is what he is.