Cricket Thread..

[Sir Calumn]

Yeah.

No KP this time

 

[SAM32]

Yeah england is going to miss him very much!!

 

[SAM32]

The Sydney Thunder have secured two of the biggest names in Twenty20 cricket, with Chris Gayle set to return for the side this year, alongside the Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi.

 

[ultragroudon]

Yay, some cricket. Well, I think India will win the T20 World Cup this year. Still waiting for our form to pick back up.

 

[SAM32]

well kohli played well 2day! india surely counting on him!

 

[Alex]

The Sydney Thunder have secured two of the biggest names in Twenty20 cricket, with Chris Gayle set to return for the side this year, alongside the Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi.

But they lost Warner to the Sixers

 

[SAM32]

The transfer was expected, after Warner had expressed interest in the Sixers and failed to strike a deal with the Thunder, leaving him unsigned at the end of the competition's primary recruitment window. Subsequently, the Thunder had taken Michael Clarke on board for the 2012-13 season.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Slightly less embarrassing from us in the second test but we still look by far the inferior side. Still havent managed to take 20 wickets!

 

[Sir Calumn]

A riveting final days play, but sadly did not go our way in the end. Now down to number two test side in the world and rightly so, South Africa are better than us in every department except spin bowling. More work required.

Also, what do you guys think of the KP situation?

 

[Alex]

I just think it's funny that a KP turned away from England/vice-versa during a series with South Africa...Oh the irony! Just need all the other Saffas to do the same now, and your side may even start sounding English!

Sooo happy you guys aren't number 1 - South Africa have been a top 2-3 side for so long now without ever really being 1 though. I'm sure they won't remain 1 for that long. But to be fair, I don't know who will take their place. No one is knocking the door down at the moment. It's good though, in test cricket there are a few sides at close enough levels that they could surprise each other with a win. Not like when Australia were dominating for so long for the 15 years prior (prior meaning prior to the last 4-5).

A slight disappointment is that this Ashes will be the first series in an absolute age, where the number 1 test side won't be involved.

 

[Xifio]

Also, what do you guys think of the KP situation?

would love to see him return to South and represent his country of birth ... shame he's already 32 ... then again, if he continues not to be selected for England, he would be available for the Proteas even if he didn't plan for it ...

Sooo happy you guys aren't number 1 - South Africa have been a top 2-3 side for so long now without ever really being 1 though. I'm sure they won't remain 1 for that long. But to be fair, I don't know who will take their place. No one is knocking the door down at the moment. It's good though, in test cricket there are a few sides at close enough levels that they could surprise each other with a win. Not like when Australia were dominating for so long for the 15 years prior (prior meaning prior to the last 4-5).

I'm still not sure about this ... not about SA's #1 status, which I'm delighted to see ... I mean about the no-longer-invincible Oz ...

during Australia's dominance, you knew that the era contained one of the greatest test teams ever; you knew that, if you weren't an Aussie, your team was playing against the best ... the other major teams were about equal, but there was one juggernaut whose toppling was a universal objective, because it meant a place in history ...

cricket also seems devoid of true monolithic individuals now, and instead filled with talented, but still mere, mortals ...

 

[Sir Calumn]

Peitersen the new Tony Greig?

I see this getting smoothed over and him being back in the test side next year, maybe even in the group to tour India.

I just think it's funny that a KP turned away from England/vice-versa during a series with South Africa...Oh the irony! Just need all the other Saffas to do the same now, and your side may even start sounding English!

Sooo happy you guys aren't number 1 - South Africa have been a top 2-3 side for so long now without ever really being 1 though. I'm sure they won't remain 1 for that long. But to be fair, I don't know who will take their place. No one is knocking the door down at the moment. It's good though, in test cricket there are a few sides at close enough levels that they could surprise each other with a win. Not like when Australia were dominating for so long for the 15 years prior (prior meaning prior to the last 4-5).

A slight disappointment is that this Ashes will be the first series in an absolute age, where the number 1 test side won't be involved.

It's good for cricket as a whole but not so good for us England fans who hoped we might consolidate this team and number one spot into a bit of a cricketing dynasty...

The problem is that England's tactics have been pretty one dimensional - ie just piling pressure on opposition batsmen with a rotating bowling attack all of roughly equal quality (so there is no "soft spell", we are still the only bowling attack in the world without a single soft bowler though overall our attack is not as good as SA) and waiting for them to crack under the pressure and make a mistake, which the Aussie batsmen did due to inexperience, the Windies did due to fear of our bowlers reputations and the Indians did due to age and concern for their figures. At not one point did SA show the slightest sign of creaking under that pressure, they didnt care if the run rate was low, didnt care if they had a couple of scares, not once did they let the pressure get to them - thats why even in spells where England played well we looked powerless to finish them off.

I am also getting seriously concerned about the form of some of our batsmen.

 

[Xifio]

At not one point did SA show the slightest sign of creaking under that pressure, they didnt care if the run rate was low, didnt care if they had a couple of scares, not once did they let the pressure get to them

all hail Gary Kirsten!

 

[Sir Calumn]

Yes he is a quality coach, but Smith needs some credit too. The difference between Smith and Strauss as batsmen but more importantly as captains was apparent and decisive in this mini-series.

 

[Xifio]

fair enough, Biff takes his due for being an amazing captain who led from the front ... I can let this vid (with Mark Nicholas' glorious voice, and the ever-impressive Channel 9 commentary team) do all the talking about his character:



still, I feel Gary Kirsten was the missing link ... it'll take a trophy for the choker tag to be truly dislodged, but his work in transforming India into the #1 side in both ODIs and Tests, and now looking to work the same wonders with South has me convinced of his abilities, and his importance ...

 

[Sir Calumn]

I do agree with you there Fluffy but I think the gap in quality between Smith and Strauss is much larger than that between Kirsten and Flower.

Also I had no idea what a phenomenal player Amla was, and even the batsmen I singled out at the beginning as the weak links (Petersen, Rudolph and Duminy) all played very, very well, leading me to believe that other than the spin bowler there are no weak links. Or did those guys have an unusually good series?

Smith vs Strauss........ Smith
Petersen vs Cook....... Cook
Amla vs Trott...... Amla
Kallis vs Peitersen (or Taylor)....... Kallis
Rudolph vs Bell........ Bell
Duminy vs Bairstow...... Duminy
de Villiers vs Prior......... de Villiers
Morkel vs Broad....... Morkel
Philander vs Bresnan or Finn........ Philander
Steyn vs Anderson...... Steyn
Tahir vs Swann....... Swann

(picking based on my overall opinion of the players based not just on this series) is 8-3 (alright maybe if I put Philander against Broad is would be 7-4) to South Africa which in a nutshell is why South Africa deserve to be number 1.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Also the groups for the T20 world cup have been announced.....

four groups of three, two go through from each group?

Group A - England, India and Afghanistan
Group B - Australia, West Indies and Ireland
Group C - South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe
Group D - New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Is there actually the tiniest bit of point in these groups? This makes the Champions League group stage look viciously competitive...

 

[Sir Calumn]

I want Afghanistan to host the next one.

Also I love how your Petersen spells his name in a less South African way than our Peitersen

 

[Alex]

^Pietersen

I actually sometimes think England's problem as a potential number 1 test side, is they don't have any one superstar match winner. Australia had a team full of them - Gilchrist, Hayden, Warne, Ponting, McGrath, Waugh etc.

I don't expect a number 1 side to be like that - they were a great side. But one or two serious match winners can be all the difference. I think KP is of that class, funnily enough

 

[Sir Calumn]

^Pietersen

I actually sometimes think England's problem as a potential number 1 test side, is they don't have any one superstar match winner. Australia had a team full of them - Gilchrist, Hayden, Warne, Ponting, McGrath, Waugh etc.

I don't expect a number 1 side to be like that - they were a great side. But one or two serious match winners can be all the difference. I think KP is of that class, funnily enough

Well I had hoped Cook would be one, looked very much like he was heading that way but progress has stalled a little in the last year, I hope opposition bowlers havent sussed him out. KP could be if he learned some discipline. We work as a team unit rather than as stars, which is fine in some respects, but yeah we do really really lack people who step up and make the runs every time they are needed, and also as good as our bowlers are, an attack this good should never not have at least one bowler on lethal form in a match, and we do go matches where none of the bowlers hit top form (for example every match in this series).