Howzat

[Drog]

This is well worth a read (play the links). http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41391493

My mate was the East Lancs bowler who Viv Richards knocked to the boundary for 4 runs in the clip and is somewhat miffed that he got him out next ball and they didn't show it!

 

[Drog]

Shame they can't show it in action somewhere or at least an artist's impression- I'm struggling to picture what it will look like, especially the hot air balloon bit

Don't worry WB. If we get a wind like yesterday you'll be able to see it passing overhead.

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

A thought provoking article on the state and future of world cricket . I'm a fan of a limited amount of T20 but my first love is test cricket . Matthew Engel fears for the future .

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/b...is-rotting-destroyed-icc-ecb-t20-test-matches

 

[Wilpshire Blue]

A thought provoking article on the state and future of world cricket . I'm a fan of a limited amount of T20 but my first love is test cricket . Matthew Engel fears for the future .

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/b...is-rotting-destroyed-icc-ecb-t20-test-matches

Well OOT, that's a tough read and quite despairing but mostly true.
As in many things in life, money is the destroyer of the path of righteousness.

Anyway, do Sky give a toss! No, keep paying your subscriptions folks.

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

It's a catch 22 situation Wilpshire . Cricket needs TV and T20 money to survive , but TV and T20 money could end up destroying cricket . Only in Australia and England is test cricket played in front of full grounds and very few watch County Championship games . In the season just gone I went to Headingly for 2nd day of Yorkshire v Lancashire County Championship and the ground was barely an eighth full , went to Headingly again to watch England v West Indies 4th Day and the ground was barely two thirds full ( discounted tickets ) and also went to Old Trafford for Roses T20 and the ground was packed to the rafters. That's where the demand is.

Like Matthew Engel , I really hope the new T20 franchise that starts in 2020 flops , I think the one we already have is enough. I can't say I'll be attracted to a Manchester v Leeds city franchise game , and I can't see the rest of Lancashire cricket fans being attracted to it either.

I found the saddest part of the article was the following bit :

"When did you last see a group of children (public schools and Asian community partially excepted) playing cricket without an adult ?"

I remember when I was primary school age it was football in the winter and cricket in the summer . We'd play cricket all day during the school holidays and only pack up when it went dark . The wife, a teacher , who has West Indian parents and comes from Yorkshire ( so cricket runs through her veins) despairs at the lack interest amongst her class ( mainly white kids) when it comes to playing cricket in the summer term , even though the school gets an ex cricket professional in to coach them for a couple of hours a week.

 

[Drog]

20 years ago it was my belief that Esst Lancs would go on to rule the roost in the Lancashire League given the amount of IndoPak immigrants moving in and around Alexandra Meadows. I thought they'd be as keen as mustard and all over the cricket club facilities there. For whatever reason that's never happened. If anyone knows the answer I'd genuinely be grateful to hear it.

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

I've discussed that issue with quite a number of local cricket " nuts ". As an example I was over in Preston watching Vernon Carus ( Palace Shield) and an English guy of West Indian origin sat next to us .We got chatting and he told me he used to play for Preston in the Northern League . I asked him how Preston were doing , he said not too well. He told me they'd had quite an influx of Indian/Pakistani players who had played but then all left at once , leaving them severely weakened.

Amateur league cricket is a social game . It relies on players/volunteers mucking in , rolling the wicket etc , wives doing the teas , players spending money over the bar and joining in at club events etc . His take on it all was Indian/Pakistani players didn't want to get involved in the social side , these were his exact words " They come , play and go "

When I played the social side was just as important ( if not more !) than the cricket side and if you didn't have a thriving social side then the cricket suffered . Maybe that's East Lancs's problem , the difficulty Indian / Pakistanis have in mixing with and playing in a western amateur cricketing culture that is heavily based on the social side of the game

 

[ABBEY]

Same as they do normally ...no social skills with a desire to mix .

 

[Drog]

Should that be 'no desire to mix'?

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/...ro-saving-us-say-gay-menfollowing-homophobic/

Hopefully if this is true, it might allow Stokes to play in the Ashes .

 

[Drog]

He should be the first on the plane. I've no time for this pussyfoot mentality gripping our nation and instigated and nourished by the press and media. Pretty obvious from experience that we're going to want warriors in the team in Oz.

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

So the Aussies are now ratcheting up the chat prior to the first test . Nathan Lyon ( for heaven's sake !) is vicariously threatening to end the careers of several England batsman during the Ashes series , not with his own bowling I hasten to add.

I think Alastair Cook's response was typically English . He said the comments " Made him chuckle .................England have won four of the past five Ashes series , you can look at that how you want."

Oh and Warner has ricked his neck , but still finds time to have a pop at Ben Stokes . Pity it wasn't his mouth.

 

[ABBEY]

Time has cometh to put them down a peg or two...gonna be strange for me I've been on nights for last few ashes games in Oz.

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

The opening Test at the Gabba starts at 00:00 GMT on Thursday.

England team: Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root (capt), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Jake Ball, James Anderson.

Come on England !

 

[Alan]

When are the stuffed shirts going to get real and send Ben Stokes out there? I still haven't got over Kevin Peiterson. Strauss is a pillock who let his own petty quarrel influence his judgement.

 

[ABBEY]

Botham reckons worst Aussie batting lineup since Kerry Packer days... Cue 600 for 2

 

[Drog]

When are the stuffed shirts going to get real and send Ben Stokes out there? I still haven't got over Kevin Peiterson. Strauss is a pillock who let his own petty quarrel influence his judgement.

Hear Hear. As for Pieterson I think that's a different matter. World class batsman for sure but maybe a disruptive element and I doubt that he was a team player.

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

Pieterson was/is a narcissistic asshole and was a disruptive element in the team. Yes a decent player but he had to go , those sorts of characters have a limited use. England are better off without him.

I agree Ben Stokes should be in Australia , why has it taken plod so long to investigate and decide whether they are charging him or not ? For the sake of England and English cricket the investigation should have been fast tracked

 

[Drog]

Innocent until proven guilty is the basis of our law. Seems to me that the 'stuffed shirts' don't have much packed in their trousers.

 

[Alan]

Pieterson was/is a narcissistic asshole and was a disruptive element in the team. Yes a decent player but he had to go , those sorts of characters have a limited use. England are better off without him.

I agree Ben Stokes should be in Australia , why has it taken plod so long to investigate and decide whether they are charging him or not ? For the sake of England and English cricket the investigation should have been fast tracked

He was the best player we had and was left out purely because he and Strauss hated one another. It was more a class of personalities than for the benefit of the team. Strauss always was and still is a boring prat and probably responsible for Stokes omission. We will never have our best team out whist he is picking them according to who he is mates with.