We Love Cricket Thread

[The Kid]

Bah, IPL is mainly shite. Saw some on telly when i was in the middle east.

First test for England this week...proper cricket!

 

[harryhoofter]

Bah, IPL is mainly shite. Saw some on telly when i was in the middle east.

First test for England this week...proper cricket!

Not this debate again! IPL is where all the money is mate. Hence increasing the appeal of cricket to the unobservant masses. "Wow, look at the way he just smacked the ball out the ground!"

I agree with you on test cricket being a true test of cricket skill. 20/20 has a big luck factor involved.

 

[The Kid]

Not this debate again! IPL is where all the money is mate. Hence increasing the appeal of cricket to the unobservant masses. "Wow, look at the way he just smacked the ball out the ground!"

I agree with you on test cricket being a true test of cricket skill. 20/20 has a big luck factor involved.

Hahha, not trying to ignite the debate again. Just pointing out that having 20/20 on ITV is nothing to get excited about. It's like watching beach football compared to the Champions League!

 

[harryhoofter]

I will agree to disagree if you get me.

 

[The Kid]

I will agree to disagree if you get me.

Nah, you're wrong there as well.

 

[harryhoofter]

Alright you've asked for it.

Tbh, it kinda strikes me as odd because it's close minded saying that 20/20 is shit etc. without taking into consideration what it is actually doing. It's promoting the sport. Expanding the sport.

Long gone are the days of only test cricket where players would get a tuppence wage and without this new format your beloved test cricket would be surely set to still be shit. All this 20/20 and one day cricket has vastly increased the athleticism of the players, made them more competitive and removed the gentleman's side of it all IMO. They are all training much harder, refining their skills, increasing strength endurance etc all down to one day cricket and sure enough 20/20 will make it even better. This if I'm not mistaken will carry over into the test cricket, making it a more intense challenge for either side.

Have you not seen recently how most of the top teams in the world, Australia, South Africa, England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand etc etc, they are all somewhat relatively close to one another in terms of ability now, where as Australia used to be the top team and do you know why? It was because they set the standard for the way they trained their players. Diet, fitness, strength as I've mentioned is all down to them and with such big money in the IPL now, every player is wanting to be at his physical best.

I love 20/20 cricket tbh, they reinvented the sport near enough. So stop being a luddite and join the change!

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Alright you've asked for it.

Tbh, it kinda strikes me as odd because it's close minded saying that 20/20 is shit etc. without taking into consideration what it is actually doing. It's promoting the sport. Expanding the sport.

Long gone are the days of only test cricket where players would get a tuppence wage and without this new format your beloved test cricket would be surely set to still be shit. All this 20/20 and one day cricket has vastly increased the athleticism of the players, made them more competitive and removed the gentleman's side of it all IMO. They are all training much harder, refining their skills, increasing strength endurance etc all down to one day cricket and sure enough 20/20 will make it even better. This if I'm not mistaken will carry over into the test cricket, making it a more intense challenge for either side.

Have you not seen recently how most of the top teams in the world, Australia, South Africa, England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand etc etc, they are all somewhat relatively close to one another in terms of ability now, where as Australia used to be the top team and do you know why? It was because they set the standard for the way they trained their players. Diet, fitness, strength as I've mentioned is all down to them and with such big money in the IPL now, every player is wanting to be at his physical best.

I love 20/20 cricket tbh, they reinvented the sport near enough. So stop being a luddite and join the change!

Let's have a heated debate!

it kinda strikes me as odd because it's close minded saying that 20/20 is shit etc. without taking into consideration what it is actually doing. It's promoting the sport. Expanding the sport.

It's promoting 20/20. A completely different animal to cricket. Fair enough if it were coupled with an all-out marketing campaign to bring people back to Tests - but it isn't. It's already edging its way into conflict with the Test calendar and has pulled a few Test stars into early retirement.

Long gone are the days of only test cricket where players would get a tuppence wage

No. AFAIK, a lot of county players still do vacational jobs in Winter because cricket pays them averagely and only for 6 months of the year. If anything 20/20 has simply increased the wage disparity between the haves and the have-nots. It's worse than football. At least there the Premier league guarantees an obscene wage for all, even if you play for Hull. Cricket limits its opportunities to proportionately less talent. And 20/20 doesn't even reward proper technical cricket talent, it just pays money to big beefy hitters. Bit like recognizing Vinnie Jones as an outstanding football talent.

All this 20/20 and one day cricket has vastly increased the athleticism of the players, made them more competitive and removed the gentleman's side of it all IMO. They are all training much harder, refining their skills, increasing strength endurance etc all down to one day cricket and sure enough 20/20 will make it even better

I'll agree one-day cricket has benefited the wider game through athleticism. 20/20 cannot claim that yet (not been going long enough) and I doubt it ever will. Sport is generally more professional these days and these benefits (through training etc) may have come naturally anyway. I'll give you 20/20 helps get rid of the gentlemans crap.

Have you not seen recently how most of the top teams in the world, Australia, South Africa, England, India, Pakistan, New Zealand etc etc, they are all somewhat relatively close to one another in terms of ability now, where as Australia used to be the top team and do you know why?

Because Warne and McGrath have retired. (Though not from 20/20 eh?)

Simple as. Nothing to do with other teams copying their training methods. Shane Warne was hardly a model of fitness was he?

I'll leave you with these thoughts from Tony Cozier, respected West Indies commentator.

Can't buy me sense

While Twenty20 riches can buy diamond earrings, gold chains, designer watches and lifelong financial security for West Indies' players, they can't guarantee basic cricketing sense

Teams packed with millionaires, the wealthiest ever to represent the burgundy and silver, were acutely embarrassed by the supposed non-entities of Zimbabwe, first in the Twenty20 international at the Queen's Park Oval, then in the first one-day international at the Providence Stadium.

The reality is that most of the highly touted, and paid West Indians have international records, and experience, no better than their counterpart paupers of Zimbabwe, not one of whom is distracted by the fame and fortune of an overseas Twenty20 contract.

Kieron Pollard, whose earnings from Trinidad and Tobago, the South Australian Redbacks, the Mumbai Indians, the Somerset Sabres and West Indies, will bring in around US$1.5 million this year, averages in the teens in his 21 ODIs and 13 Twenty20 internationals. He is yet to play a Test or score an international hundred,

Kemar Roach is less than a year into his international career and already has a US$700,000 IPL deal.

Average players with average records, big muscles and big bank accounts.

It ain't cricket.

 

[The Kid]

Let's have a heated debate!

I actually can't be that arsed!

However, I agree 100% with everything SHM has stated (perhaps a first? ) That Pollard stat is perhaps the most bewildering.

I will occasionally watch an England 20/20 on Sky, but i can't really get excited by it because if virtually wipes out the fundamentals of the game. I enjoy seeing innings' crafted and grafted, spinners tying down an end whilst a quick at the other end takes pot shots at a batsmen who doesn't like it short, captains setting fields to trap such batsmen, 3 slips and a gulley....

I went to the first International 20/20 at the Rose Bowl in 2005. And since then has there really been anything memorable in 20/20 internationals? It's the star performances in tests that people remember.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

I actually can't be that arsed!

However, I agree 100% with everything SHM has stated (perhaps a first? )
.

We agree a lot (and you know it) because we both have a brain. Just different backgrounds.

That Pollard stat is perhaps the most bewildering.

Yep. It's ridiculous. But you can't knock the free market surely Kid.

 

[The Liberal Media]

I think the Deccan Chargers will be my adopted team

 

[eclipsedesign]

20/20 is okay, if you have the attention span of a newt.

It's all about the 5 day test matches IMO

Nice cuppa in the morning, couple of beers in the afternoon nice leasurely english pace on the day :D

 

[The Liberal Media]

Thats fine if you have 5 days to spare. and dont mind it pissing down for 2 of them.

Game over in 4 hrs is fine with me, time to move into this century.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Game over in 4 hrs is fine with me, time to move into this century.

Yeah the 7 second attention span, get on it people.

20/20 The Ritalin Cup

 

[The Liberal Media]

I prefer 4 hrs to 5 days, thats a workweek for me( not 4 hrs )

No wonder Lords is full of panama hat wearing farts who smoke "Condor" in thier pipes, everyone else is at work.

It might be pajama cricket, but it beats the old colonial image into a cocked hat. Cricket is on a par with Bowls, or one man and his dog for godsake !!
Time to evolve, it doesnt have to be about " The last of the summer wine" crowd

 

[Busty St Clare]

.

20/20 and one day cricket has vastly increased the athleticism of the players, made them more competitive and removed the gentleman's side of it all IMO.

I don't see ridding the game of it's "gentlemen" element a good thing. It is the basis of good sportsmanship. Benefit of the doubt, a couple of Pims with the other side in the rooms at the end of day, applauding a well played shot, these are all crucial to setting the tone. Money does not maketh the man. Too many meaningless games (be them 20 or 50 overs) just opens people up to bribery and match fixing. I guess I am preaching to the home of Bodyline and mints in the pocket though.

The beauty of Test cricket is you don't have to sit there for 5 days straight. I don't need instant gratification. I actually work a full time job and enjoy the fact I can get back into the game at lunchtime and the end of the day, before heading to the third day live and drink with my friends. Test cricket is a celebration of cricket, a festival if you will. 20/20 is cricket for retards. I couldn't care two shits about promoting the sport to the masses. The majority of society don't even wash their hands after they go to the toilet, why the hell would they suddenly understand the intricacy's of swing bowling?

 

[The Kid]

Yep. It's ridiculous. But you can't knock the free market surely Kid.

Hahha, i LOL'd.

It's all about the 5 day test matches IMO

Nice cuppa in the morning, couple of beers in the afternoon nice leasurely english pace on the day :D

The beauty of Test cricket is you don't have to sit there for 5 days straight. I don't need instant gratification. I actually work a full time job and enjoy the fact I can get back into the game at lunchtime and the end of the day, before heading to the third day live and drink with my friends. Test cricket is a celebration of cricket, a festival if you will. 20/20 is cricket for retards. I couldn't care two shits about promoting the sport to the masses. The majority of society don't even wash their hands after they go to the toilet, why the hell would they suddenly understand the intricacy's of swing bowling?

You fellas get it.


Unlike Mr KP. Surely he needs to be dropped?

 

[Busty St Clare]

I can't believe the ECB are still perservering with him . Hell, even Tony Grieg would bleed the Union Jack. One solid innings a series coupled with a selfish, me first attitude is not what you build team moral around.

Australian vice Captain Michael Clarke has just flown home from the NZ tour to be with his soon to be ex fiancee, who is having a hard time dealing with the fact that nude shots of her in the shower have been playing phone tag on every male's mobile for the last few years. Fuck me, mind on the job son! Viv Richards would never had flown home in the middle of a tour. He would have just called back to Antigua and told her to clean the bathroom before she packs or bags.

 

[The Kid]

Australian vice Captain Michael Clarke has just flown home from the NZ tour to be with his soon to be ex fiancee, who is having a hard time dealing with the fact that nude shots of her in the shower have been playing phone tag on every male's mobile for the last few years.

Is that the Bingle bird? Fit as! :D

 

[Busty St Clare]

Yeah. She had an affair with a married footballer a few years ago and he took this shot in the shower.

NSFW:

Pretty tame compared to her legit nude shots. Shane Warne never missed a game and he was balls deep in trouble his whole career. Literally.

 

[The Kid]

Pretty tame compared to her legit nude shots. Shane Warne never missed a game and he was balls deep in trouble his whole career. Literally.

He had to take to the field as much as he could to escape from all his birds!