Cricket

[Spike]

It is shocking the quality of Stokes’ batting. That is why is he is the skipper. Wish he played for NZ

[Stan]

Broad ably supporting him. Getting lucky on a couple of occasions. 

Starc should have been brought in earlier... 

[JoshBRFC+]

Had both on at the same time but now just watching the cricket. Much better viewing than the F1. Come on England 

[Spike]

It's another 'England get dragged kicking screaming to win by a Johnny Foreigner' episode. Bloody hell, Stokes sold his soul to the devil for this innninng.

[JoshBRFC+]

Fair play to Australia, since before drinks they got their game plan spot on to really slow the runs down for Stokes.

[Stan]

For the romance of the game I so hoped Stokes would do it. But Aus got their heads straight and stuck to an efficient game plan. 

1 minute ago, JoshBRFC said:

Fair play to Australia, since before drinks they got their game plan spot on to really slow the runs down for Stokes.

Yep, took all the control away and started bowling in the right places. 

But it was some innings from him up to then. 

[Spike]

Lords is seething. Hurling boos at Khawaja during his post-match interview. The members had a meltdown in the long room, saying me posh prick is going to get a formally written letter by the MCC. 
‘Dear sir,

One must refrain from heckling the colonials in the long room. We must show our lessers the proper conduct of cricket.

Sincerely,
MCC’

[Reluctant Striker]

I have watched most of the 2 tests so far. Feels to me like the end of the unusual era of England being quite reasonable at cricket. Certainly no chance of England winning the series from 0-2. 

The top 6 would be weak without Root & Stokes. And Anderson & Broad are not at all the match winning bowl attack they used to be. Which is to be expected at around 36 ? and 40?

[Lucas]

We lost that match because of that shocking collapse in the first innings where we spent a good hour and half trying to fly swot high balls that just got us out. Careless batting.

To even come close having been 4 down shows a bit of spirit, testiment to when Stokes goes into "Fuck this shit" mode, but it would have been get out of jail time had we won that match. I didn't feel we were on top of this one as much as the First Test, Australia deserved it.

Just on the Bairstow incident though. Yeah, maybe it's a little careless of him but he's got no intent to run, it's the end of an over. He has even put his foot back on the crease and held it there a second then thinks its a dead ball and goes to have a chat with Stokes.

That's just not how you do things and you can say what the fuck you like about the technicalities of it, you just don't do it. Same as anything in life, most of us aren't cunts and think as decent folk would, we know what we should and shouldn't do.

Do we really want to see that stuff come up in the game? Course not.

Sadly for Australia, that will taint what was in the main a very deserved victory.

Headingley will be spicy, especially on the Western Terrace now. Expect fireworks. Maybe that's the catalyst we'll need to fire ourselves back up again because it's obviously must win territory now and perhaps both sets of players have been a little too nicey nicey with eachother.

Thank god Lords is done though. The MCC members having a pop at the Aussies in the long room want to get back in their box, most noise they have probably generated in years there.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Lucas

[Spike]

33 minutes ago, Lucas said:

We lost that match because of that shocking collapse in the first innings where we spent a good hour and half trying to fly swot high balls that just got us out. Careless batting.

To even come close having been 4 down shows a bit of spirit, testiment to when Stokes goes into "Fuck this shit" mode, but it would have been get out of jail time had we won that match. I didn't feel we were on top of this one as much as the First Test, Australia deserved it.

Just on the Bairstow incident though. Yeah, maybe it's a little careless of him but he's got no intent to run, it's the end of an over. He has even put his foot back on the crease and held it there a second then thinks its a dead ball and goes to have a chat with Stokes.

That's just not how you do things and you can say what the fuck you like about the technicalities of it, you just don't do it. Same as anything in life, most of us aren't cunts and think as decent folk would, we know what we should and shouldn't do.

Do we really want to see that stuff come up in the game? Course not.

Sadly for Australia, that will taint what was in the main a very deserved victory.

Headingley will be spicy, especially on the Western Terrace now. Expect fireworks. Maybe that's the catalyst we'll need to fire ourselves back up again because it's obviously must win territory now and perhaps both sets of players have been a little too nicey nicey with eachother.

Thank god Lords is done though. The MCC members having a pop at the Aussies in the long room want to get back in their box, most noise they have probably generated in years there.

When Carey three the ball Bairstow was behind the line. Bairstow has also tried to do that before, as has Foakes.

England ‘that wasn’t a catch, laws of the sport’
also England ‘that wasn’t a stumping, against the spirit of the sport. I don’t care about technicalities’

[Lucas]

22 minutes ago, Spike said:

When Carey three the ball Bairstow was behind the line. Bairstow has also tried to do that before, as has Foakes.

England ‘that wasn’t a catch, laws of the sport’
also England ‘that wasn’t a stumping, against the spirit of the sport. I don’t care about technicalities’

Not to have a go at you here but I don't want to hear that bollocks because that's just a sweeping statement being made that we are all saying that and we aren't.

I was happy with Starc's catch. More of a catch than Steve Smith's off Root if I'm being honest, which is exactly what I said yesterday in this very thread.

But that run out is total unsportsmanship. Don't sugarcoat it in any other way, you know it's shithouse behaviour.

You don't just leave a trolley in the middle of Tesco's when you've unloaded your shopping in the car, even though you don't have to technically put it back in the trolley shed, its just wanker behaviour though that isn't it.

But it's done now. That is my view and how I see the spirit of the game. Tbh, had Carey not done that, I don't think we'd have seen the Stokes fireworks and it didn't really have any bearing on the result overall either.

Anyway, enjoy Headingley next week. The atmosphere should be proper class, especially after today. Got a feeling we could be in for a corker there as long as the weather plays ball. It's nice to have a bit of an edge to the series now, I expect the quality to go up a notch.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Lucas

[Spike]

20 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Not to have a go at you here but I don't want to hear that bollocks because that's just a sweeping statement being made that we are all saying that and we aren't.

I was happy with Starc's catch. More of a catch than Steve Smith's off Root if I'm being honest, which is exactly what I said yesterday in this very thread.

But that run out is total unsportsmanship. Don't sugarcoat it in any other way, you know it's shithouse behaviour.

You don't just leave a trolley in the middle of Tesco's when you've unloaded your shopping in the car, even though you don't have to technically put it back in the trolley shed, its just wanker behaviour though that isn't it.

But it's done now. Tbh, had Carey not done that, I don't think we'd have seen the Stokes fireworks and it didn't really have any bearing on the result.

Anyway, enjoy Headingley next week. The atmosphere should be proper class, especially after today. Got a feeling we could be in for a corker there.

I didn’t say you said that but it’s the general consensus of a lot of people. The laws are the laws except when they are not.  Even Patty Cummins said that Bairstow had been threatening the Aussies with the same thing and had attempted it several times. I know it wouldn’t be controversial if it had happened to Warner, because Australians are the bad guys and whenever even the most minor incident happens it’s ten times worse if an Aussie does it. 
 

it’s no different from mankading, give them a warning and them stump em. I’m sure Carey was in Bairstow’s ear.

[Spike]

I don’t mean to be sour-grapes or banging on about something that is over and done with but I cannot find anything much on when Ollie Pope did the exact same thing as Carey to Colin de Grandhomme last year during an LBW review. It’s hard to find footage or even articles talking about it, I think it just drives home that he media circus goes into overdrive when an Australian does something. 

This is pretty much all I can find

https://www.guerillacricket.com/3655,video-ollie-pope-shows-great-presence-mind-run-out-colin-de-grandhomme

[Stan]

57 minutes ago, Spike said:

I don’t mean to be sour-grapes or banging on about something that is over and done with but I cannot find anything much on when Ollie Pope did the exact same thing as Carey to Colin de Grandhomme last year during an LBW review. It’s hard to find footage or even articles talking about it, I think it just drives home that he media circus goes into overdrive when an Australian does something. 

This is pretty much all I can find

https://www.guerillacricket.com/3655,video-ollie-pope-shows-great-presence-mind-run-out-colin-de-grandhomme

Slight difference there is that De Grandhomme is off balance and in momentum of the shot still, and Pope was just that quick in the mind for the run out. So don't have any surprise there was little uproar. 

[Spike]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

Slight difference there is that De Grandhomme is off balance and in momentum of the shot still, and Pope was just that quick in the mind for the run out. So don't have any surprise there was little uproar. 

I thought he was more confused about the LBW call and the ball still being live.

Carey was even quicker than Pope! It was immediate.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

This will be 5-0, and I thought as much after game 1. Smith and Marnus scored fuck all and Australia still won.
Game 2 England were behind all the way and it took a Stokes miracle to make it respectable. 

Bazball is fun, I enjoy watching the fast moving innings for sure, but only through huge luck in a few key moments did England beat Pakistan, and they couldn't win the series against NZ. Yes, this is a far better showing than last ashes, but the bar is low. A team with a fat wicket keeper, no spinner, a quartet of medium pacers and an entire batting line up where no matter how 'settled in' they are, the next wicket can come at any moment isn't going to win games where the par score is 700+. 

Gotta play green tops and use the confidence and aggression to win in sketchy low scoring games where the ability to score 150 a session actually does more good than harm. 

[Lucas]

I think we'll see Mark Wood at Headingley. He's obviously not been fit enough but they have tried to save him.

We miss genuine pace. He's the only one that can really provide it bar Archer and that man's sadly a fucked unit.

I think with him charging in with the Headingley crowd behind him, that would give us more a threat in the bowling department. We've not really had that quality start yet where we've got Australia 40-3 or something like that.

[Danny]

Just seen footage of the MCC members booing and hissing at the Aussies, enough to make you want Australia to win the Ashes instead 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Danny

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Lucas said:

I think we'll see Mark Wood at Headingley. He's obviously not been fit enough but they have tried to save him.

We miss genuine pace. He's the only one that can really provide it bar Archer and that man's sadly a fucked unit.

I think with him charging in with the Headingley crowd behind him, that would give us more a threat in the bowling department. We've not really had that quality start yet where we've got Australia 40-3 or something like that.

Would you swap Bairstow out for Foakes?

1 hour ago, Danny said:

Just seen footage of the MCC members booing and hissing at the Aussies, enough to make you want Australia to win the Ashes instead 

Must have been more than that, surely?

Even Khawaja got pissed and he's known as a calm guy. There must have been verbals towards them?

Given they were suspended, had to have been more than boos and hisses. 

[Danny]

25 minutes ago, Stan said:

Would you swap Bairstow out for Foakes?

Must have been more than that, surely?

Even Khawaja got pissed and he's known as a calm guy. There must have been verbals towards them?

Given they were suspended, had to have been more than boos and hisses. 

Maybe so yeah, I’ve not been keeping up with things that much, just saw a video of grown men booing and hissing other grown men lol

[Lucas]

9 hours ago, Stan said:

Would you swap Bairstow out for Foakes?

Hmm. It would be tempting, got to be honest.

But I dunno, when all's said and done, we have a potential match winner there. Contrary to some of the mistakes he's made, he's got something extra about him that I'm not sure someone like Pope has.

Also, not sure I'd be taking him out at Headingley, his home ground and especially not after what happened the weekend. He's going to be desperate to put that right.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Lucas

[Spike]

Bairstow hook to square leg, out on first delivery. 

[Azeem]

On 02/07/2023 at 17:14, Stan said:

How can anyone not love Ashes cricket. 

Because it's the Liverpool vs Everton of cricket. We get the history and rivalry all that but one team is clearly way better than the other. 

[Stan]

6 minutes ago, Beelzebub said:

Because it's the Liverpool vs Everton of cricket. We get the history and rivalry all that but one team is clearly way better than the other. 

It's the drama of it all though. 

It's much more than a Liverpool vs Everton... 

[Spike]

3 hours ago, Beelzebub said:

Because it's the Liverpool vs Everton of cricket. We get the history and rivalry all that but one team is clearly way better than the other. 

Not really. The score is 34-32. Australia hasn’t won in the UK since 2001.