KKJ with another fine knock for Lancs!
Cricket
- Thread starter EdWeatherall
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Yep brilliant innings and run chase. He's in great form this season.
Excellent win by Pakistan in the first test against SL. Babar’s century in the first innings was very impressive. We also seem to have found an actual solid opener in Shafique.
India Vs west indies with another great game
Not 100% but I think it can, just can’t touch the floor and the catch has to be made inside the boundary
So that was a legitimate catch? Regardless, it was a hell of an athletic move.
Yeah that was last year and a legitimate catch. The ball/the fielder cannot be touching the boundary rope or floor outside the boundary.
This could very well be the only rule of cricket I now understand!
Oh don’t worry about that, it’s cricket it’ll always find a way to be convoluted, like when this happened
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He was one of the coolest umpires around.
Not one for the "IPL is killing cricket" bandwagon usually, but it's sure starting to look like that right now
MI Cape Town, MI Emirates? Really..
MI Cape Town, MI Emirates? Really..
Cricket was always destined to be a sub-continental sport with interest levels waning elsewhere, and no interest to expand the game. Greed will kill it eventually when India tires out.. And I think it may happen in our lifetime. I'm Indian btw.
I have been keeping half an eye on this and wanted to post something in here once I had properly read through the various things that I have noticed but I’ll just share my basic observations so far.
The absence of Dewald Brevis in the South Africa squad for the T20s in England was interesting. Absolutely a player you think South Africa would look at ahead of the T20 World Cup. Turns out he was in England in July, playing for a Mumbai development squad. He’s conveniently been picked up since by MI Cape Town as an uncapped player. Is he the first young player whose career will essentially be dictated by a franchise?
The UAE T20 league which allows up to 9 overseas players and is expected to run parallel to the Big Bash has been causing some tension. It’s been suggested David Warner and Cricket Australia had to negotiate a deal to keep him in the Big Bash. Trent Boult has also terminated his central contract with New Zealand and signed up to this league.
It’s been suggested FTP schedule allows a 2 and half month window for the IPL. If I was to sketch out a calendar for player playing nothing but T20/franchise cricket:
Aug - Sept - CPL
Nov - Dec - Abu Dhabi T10
Dec - Feb - LPL, BBL, UAE ILT20/CSA T20, BPL
Feb - March - PSL
Apr-June - IPL
May - July - T20 Blast
August - the Hundred
That’s a pretty ridiculous schedule. Looking at someone like Will Smeed, a product of the first-class system who hasn’t played a single first-class game but has already played in the Hundred, the PSL and has been selected for the UAE ILT20, it’s extremely foolish to view the franchise circuit as an arena for specialists only however. It’s fast-tracking and directing the careers of young talent too now.
Looking at the calendar and the overlap of so many leagues with an increasing number of common owners it’s not hard to envision wall-to-wall franchise cricket with franchise brands bound together across the globe and players contracted specifically to those franchises. 50-over cricket will surely die and I imagine test cricket will eventually be exclusive to the boards who can afford to run it (imagine how sad it will be to see the West Indies not play test cricket). The game should be focused on sustainability, playing top cricket with healthy players in a way everyone can access whether it be on TV or going to a ground and spreading money fairly to ensure the long term development of the game across the world. Instead the game will be driven by greed.
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There’s way too many T20 leagues around the world now. Playing in them is probably going to be more lucrative for most players than international cricket. Even veterans like QdK or Boult cutting short international careers for franchise cricket is a signal of how things are going.
I also think we will have more situations like with PCB recently where the best players held out signing central contracts (signed now) as they were not being able to participate in these T20 leagues.
Agree with @ArmchairCritic that ODIs will probably die. Test cricket is already on the decline & that will likely continue over the next decade. I think the big-3 will be ok, but I reckon all the other nations will struggle to compete financially against franchise cricket & we’ll see that dominate the calendar.
I also think we will have more situations like with PCB recently where the best players held out signing central contracts (signed now) as they were not being able to participate in these T20 leagues.
Agree with @ArmchairCritic that ODIs will probably die. Test cricket is already on the decline & that will likely continue over the next decade. I think the big-3 will be ok, but I reckon all the other nations will struggle to compete financially against franchise cricket & we’ll see that dominate the calendar.
This cannot be denied but I have never understood why. It’s the best format by a distance. To squander something like that takes some doing.
I hope it remains the format of the most valued WC.
With the T20 calendar, I see it evolving as
Sep-Oct IPL
Dec-Feb SA + UAE
Mar - May IPL
So someone playing for MI is essentially playing for the team and it’s franchises through Sep to May
T20 cricket is going to become an example of the tragedy of the commons.
There aren't enough cricketers in the world to have so many leagues, the t20 format is low variance across countries and looks about the same, and there aren't enough fans to watch so many leagues
The Hundred is a bit shit isn't it?
Like, I'm relatively over all of the things that annoyed me about it when it started, but having watched a bit more of it it's just a bit of a crap product with utterly forgettable teams, pretty poor quality cricket and lairy, annoying visuals.
It feels exactly as soulless as you'd expect for a tournament designed by a marketing consultancy firm.
Like, I'm relatively over all of the things that annoyed me about it when it started, but having watched a bit more of it it's just a bit of a crap product with utterly forgettable teams, pretty poor quality cricket and lairy, annoying visuals.
It feels exactly as soulless as you'd expect for a tournament designed by a marketing consultancy firm.
Nice to have you back
.Watched the first game this year which was the first time I had watched it and thought it was the Blast without an atmosphere. With Stokes dropping out 2 years in a row and Bairstow dropping out this year I don’t think this will be around for long to be honest.
I doubt I'll be back for long. Just need to vent about how shit United are before I move on to the acceptance phase!Nice to have you back
Watched the first game this year which was the first time I had watched it and thought it was the Blast without an atmosphere. With Stokes dropping out 2 years in a row, Bairstow dropping out this year I don’t think this will be around for long to be honest.
Yeah the lack of atmosphere is a big negative. But that's largely a byproduct of the biggest mistake: you can't support Tyrrell's crisps. Why these team's identities were allowed to be created based on their sponsors is absolutely beyond me. I think there's enough regional pride in the UK that you could create teams who galvanise the crowd, but there's just nothing.
I can see big name players skipping next year in favour of resting for the more lucrative T20 leagues and then it's pretty much curtains.
I really hope not. It's my favourite format for a number of reasons. It is much more balanced than the hit and hope of T20. There's more nuance and tactical variation, some sublime stroke play not just slogs, and different ways to build an innings as individuals and as a team. Also, it's a brilliant whole day out in the summer. I get the appeal of T20, you can see a match after school or work, and its more palatable for TV or people new to cricket or with a more passing interest, as its not such a big time commitment, but its not as satisfying as watching a full day. Test cricket, although I love it, I can usually only watch 1 full day of a test match due to time constraints, so you never get the satisfaction of watching every ball of a game from start to finish, and watching highlights or catching a few minutes here and there means you miss out on the nuance, tension, the ebb and flow and battle between bowler and batsmen of a test match.
I think that the boards and leagues across the world need to think carefully about what their end goal is. They need to try and steer new fans towards the longer formats, they need to consider the scheduling, and they need to consider how to rejuvenate the longer formats to be more attractive to both players and fans.
Random ideas I'd think about: Teams/franchises playing all formats, so that a player can only be signed for a whole season, not for an individual tournament, and fans follow their team across all formats. Selling a highlights package of the longer format together with the T20 stuff, and actively promote the longer format during the shorter stuff. Having global T20 leagues at the same time, or similiar times, so players can't play in them all year round - the compromise from this could be that it culminates in a global club world cup for the winners of the national franchise comps (like the CL). Selling tickets as a pair or with a voucher, ie. Buy a T20 ticket, and get a voucher for money off a 50 over or red ball game.
Not sure about that, it’s committed with Sky until 2028 and with the growth of franchise cricket elsewhere, the ECB will need to have something similar to offer as well. The big question mark is whether or not they go down the privatisation route as SA have done.Nice to have you back
Watched the first game this year which was the first time I had watched it and thought it was the Blast without an atmosphere. With Stokes dropping out 2 years in a row and Bairstow dropping out this year I don’t think this will be around for long to be honest.
As both Stokes and Bairstow are both on central contracts with big Test commitments, they weren’t really getting anything extra from the Hundred this year so can’t blame them for dropping out.
If that happens we’ll probably see MI Southern Brave sooner than expected. The benefit the Hundred has over BBL is the lack of competition during the same period.
sky and bbc are really trying to push the hundred but it does feel soulless. has a club charity game vibe to it. entertaining but not something people will follow in their droves, game in, game out.
luckily i have invented “the one” cricket format. teams are formed by lines i draw around counties and only players born without that area can be picked to play. the teams face one ball each and the highest score wins. if both teams hit a 6, then the six that has gone the furthest will be deemed to win, unless something comical happened during the other six, like a ball landing in a pint glass or a cameraman’s shorts falling down.
luckily i have invented “the one” cricket format. teams are formed by lines i draw around counties and only players born without that area can be picked to play. the teams face one ball each and the highest score wins. if both teams hit a 6, then the six that has gone the furthest will be deemed to win, unless something comical happened during the other six, like a ball landing in a pint glass or a cameraman’s shorts falling down.
The exact problem with franchise cricket is every board wanting their own piece of the pie. It’s not sustainable. I’m sure the ECB will ride out the Hundred as long as possible but I don’t think it has much star power beyond the Blast already and it’s only going to get worse as players become more selective with which franchise coin they want to get.
It’s a bad look for a tournament if top home based players are dropping out basically because the schedule is so daft. Next year they’re shifting the Ashes to provide a window for this and it won’t surprise me if after 5 tests, players drop out again next year.
The football forum gets "Erik Ten Haag is out of his depth" and we get this tepid take about the Hundred? I was expecting better
Good to see you back
You’re right the ECB will ride it out as long as they can hence why I don’t see it going anywhere in the short term future.
The BBL is the interesting comparison case as the top international players haven’t really played in for a long while and it faces a harsher competitive environment as well from other leagues. Warner has played like 3 BBL matches across 9 seasons and Smith didn’t even have a team last year.
Over here the Test players were only due to play two matches anyway. If someone like Buttler drops out then yeah alarm bells would be rung.
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That could be a double edged sword though. It's the English summer that is incongruous with the international schedule, and if you wanna build on an off season for players constantly on the go it'd be this time which could become vulnerable.
Long term there could be issues although the state of cricket could be vastly different in the long term. Regardless I don’t see it being dropped after next year.
Yeah it's got a deal with sky til 2028, so I can see it limping on until then at least. It's whether it's a vibrant tournament or a husk waiting to be killed off.
No love for the Asia cup, even though the Ind-Pak game was cracking.
Anyway, almost 25 years since Bangladesh debuted in cricket and they're still just so bad. I don't get it. They have the passion, they have the stadiums. Heck, they even have quality players. How do they still have the mentality of minnows?
Anyway, almost 25 years since Bangladesh debuted in cricket and they're still just so bad. I don't get it. They have the passion, they have the stadiums. Heck, they even have quality players. How do they still have the mentality of minnows?
SA are 9/5 against India in a T20 game. 
WowwSA are 9/5 against India in a T20 game.
How are they playing on a pitch that was a foot under water last night?
We're just really, really shit at T20 cricket irrespective of what age range the players are in. We just produce really small, wristy touch players who rely on timing and don't have a single power hitter of international quality in the whole country - and it's pretty much always been so. And while T20 run rates keep going up and power hitting becomes more and more important, it just gets further and further beyond us. It's basically unrealistic for us to compete in that format until we produce some larger men who are good at clouting sixes off slower balls and good length balls, and I'm not sure when that's going to change.
For what it's worth, we still have an excellent ODI team and are an outside chance to make the semis of the next World Cup IMO.
What I'm far more worried about is the decline in our test fortunes after some big strides forward in the 2015-2020 period. But the blokes who've carried our team are in their mid-30s now, and we've singularly failed to produce batsmen anywhere near their standard for the last 15 years and it's hard to see who we've got in the pipeline who could realistically match the consistent 40+ averages they've been putting up in the last 10 years. It's going to be a cringey few years for us.
Temba Bavuma has got to be one of the worst T20 players I have ever seen. Not only does he not score runs, he takes his time not scoring runs. In this latest T20 series against India he managed a grand total of 3 runs in 3 matches opening the batting. Worse, it took him 19 balls to get those 3 runs. SA are a pretty good T20 team, but if they want a shot at winning this coming World Cup, Bavuma has got to go.
I don't think there is another national team having a player in their squad who isn't considered good enough to be selected by domestic team for their premier t20 tournament, let alone that player is their captain!
Is the main problem if Bavuma isn’t there then who captains? His form is terrible (if it even counts as form in T20), but there’s a real lack of leadership in that squad
It’s whether they move him down the order
I'd have David Miller as captain and move Bavuma down the order to 12.