Flintoff from the start of 2004 until the end of the 2005 Ashes averaged 44 with the bat and 25 with the ball through 23 tests which is about 29% of his entire England career. 18 months is a reasonably well sustained period of being world class and about as much as any England fan could have hoped for considering his injury record.
English & Irish Cricket Summer 2018
- Thread starter ArmchairCritic
- Start date
Is correct.
Have India played the same team in consecutive matches under kohli even once? I'm guessing no..
Chopping and changing is typical Kohli. I've been seeing this right from when he started captaining RCB.
Nope
Shastri is just a beer bringer and party organiser for the team. He doesn't have any power whatsoever.
Happy with that, he's very young but he's been in excellent form. Interesting to see who they move around to make it work, maybe Buttler upto four, Bairstow at five and Pope at six. Don't think they'll want to throw him straight in at four.
Pope is very highly rated but I do find it a bit weird he's been called up ahead of Joe Clarke who is also highly rated, is a more natural top order batsman and has more experience. In theory they can take the gloves off Bairstow, let him focus on his batting @ 4 and give the gloves to either Buttler or Pope. They could also shoehorn in Moeen @ 4 with the benefit of him being an extra spinner in case the pitch is dry down at Lords, Buttler, Curran, Woakes @ 6,7 & 8.
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Reckon his unbeaten 50 in the Lions game last month gave Pope the edge, it is harsh on Clarke though. I'd be very surprised if they brought Moeen in at 4 though don't think he's done enough with the bat recently to justify coming in that early.
What will happen to Stokes if he's convicted? Do you think it'll affect his England career?
Doubt it. He might miss the rest of the series as punishment but almost no chance it goes further than that and I'd expect it to just be a ticking off rather than even that.
Saw the footage of Stokes for the first time, and he does seem like an awfully nasty cnut.
Important reminder about Stokes
If you're based in the UK you probably should avoid discussing the trial whilst it is ongoing on here. People have been done for contempt of court for messages posted on online message boards in the past.
Perhaps worth sticking a reminder in the title @KM ?
Perhaps worth sticking a reminder in the title @KM ?
I've threadmarked your post and edited your post.
Although the above two posts were only discussing the footage so they should be okay, I think contempt is when you post something about the court proceedings.
Didn't know there was legal precedent for that tbh. Interesting, thanks for the heads up. I'll delete my previous post.
For those who don't know the contempt of court legislation it basically means that when discussing an ongoing court case, you can only relate the bare facts of what's been said in court. You can't add your own opinion, or any additional background or context. It's to prevent the jury being influenced if they stumble across it.
So if you write 'in court today xxx was accused of thieving. He denies the charges', it's ok.
'ah, i always knew he was a thieving cnut' - not ok.
'of course, he's got previous for this hasn't he' - also not ok.
Think I'll probably steer clear of the whole case from now on though tbh.
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Yeah, definitely better to be safe than sorry and plenty of time to discuss the rights and wrongs of the case after the verdict.
I back Red Cafe's lawyers to clear our name if the worst comes to the worst.
So Pope in for Malan as expected, but confirmed he will bat at 4.
I think that's a pretty shoddy decision given that England's vice captain is playing as a specialist bat at 7 it would be nice for him to move up (maybe to 5 with Bairstow to 4) and allow the 20 year old who's never batted higher than 6 some protection.
I think that's a pretty shoddy decision given that England's vice captain is playing as a specialist bat at 7 it would be nice for him to move up (maybe to 5 with Bairstow to 4) and allow the 20 year old who's never batted higher than 6 some protection.
He batted 5 for England A vs India A. I imagine that he's largely batting at 4 because long-term that where England need him to fit. Root is nailed on 3, Bairstow at 5, Stokes is obsessed with batting 6 and Buttler is going to try and be Adam Gilchrist minus the wicket-keeping. They could have taken the gloves off Bairstow and said go and focus on your batting, moved him to 4 and had Pope at 5 but again that doesn't seem to be their long-term vision. Also batting @ 6 only protects the kid if the top 4 aren't being knocked over and as we've seen that's not really the case with this England team.
I understand the logic. I'm just not particularly convinced it's any good.
There's a reason specialist number 7 batsmen aren't a thing and if Buttler is to have a career as a test match batsman (rather than eventually taking the glove off Bairstow, although I think that is becoming an increasingly sensible option) he'll eventually have to move in to a batting position. If the selectors are convinced he's good enough to play as a specialist batsman (as they must be by selecting him as one) then that move might as well happen now.
I take it that Buttler will have to move up anyway with Stokes out:
Cook/Jennings/Root/Pope/Bairstow/Buttler/Woakes(Ali)/Curran/Rashid/Broad/Anderson
Anyway, looks like today might be a washout so I imagine spin will again not play a huge role in what effectively becomes a four day test.
Ffs, so it's drizzling now??
I think the weather is supposed to be back to normal British Summertime now so the next 4 tests will probably all be rained off .
Not sure, next week's prospects look better. Thought the claim was that the heatwave could last all the way to October?
Please no.
Itll be an above average temperature heatwave, if at all. Shouldnt be too bad.
We've had two months of consistent sun with almost no rain, which I can't remember the last time happened in London.
To compensate the heavens will most likely open up for the next two months straight.
To compensate the heavens will most likely open up for the next two months straight.
Next week seems to be mid twenties at best so that's not too bad. Once it goes above 30, then London is a wreck.
Lets hope its not. I read that it should end around about now, which looks like it has.
Good start for India.
India 11-2, the heavens open up as Kohli is set to go in.
I'd be absolutely seething if I were an India fan but that's a hilarious passage of play.
Lets be having that legendary English rains please
I doubt England would've been any better than this score considering the pitch conditions, terribly unlucky to lose the toss.
15-3 is verily laying a foundation by recent England standards
Don't think this stop start is fair to India, the umpires should wait until they are sure atleast 20 overs will be bowled before xalling India batsmen back.
You can never be too sure with the weather on days like this though. You can spend an hour looking at a black cloud that doesn't do anything thinking it will rain and there's no point going out only for that rain never to materialise.
If you lost a days play when it didn't rain because the umpires 'weren't sure' there'd be riots (alright it's Lord's so irritated tasks) and when insurance will have to pay £2m to reimburse fans yesterday the idea that you can do anything other than try and get on as quickly as you can when it stops is a bit of a non-starter.
Sucks for the batting side, but not much else for it really.
It's been grey and wet all day here in Manchester and now suddenly it's nice and sunny.
Just one of them days. India were unlucky to lose the toss.
Just one of them days. India were unlucky to lose the toss.
It stopped raining they should be out there playing, not waiting till 5:00 for a pitch inspection, it that passes still be about 15 min after that before they start play again.
Looks like this match will most likely be drawn. Was planning on going to day 5...