The Official Cricket Thread

[lifetime fan]

Thomson was on this too, apparently Bumble had been talking himself up a bit too much before the series saying 'he could play him with his cock'.

[Rico1304]

To strengthen a class based divide and in a political context, it was said that after Karl Marx watched a game of cricket, he decided that ‘a revolution in England was improbable’ (Carrington, 1990)[12]. This was due to the fact that Marx thought that ‘if the masses could be so easily subdued by such a resolutely sedate game with its mores of bourgeois Englishness dripping from every rule and expression, then all was lost for the socialist cause’.

Cunt

[Frankenhooker]

James Taylor has had to retire at the age of 26 due to a heart condition. Big loss, the lad must be devastated.

[Spy Bee]

James Taylor has had to retire at the age of 26 due to a heart condition. Big loss, the lad must be devastated.

Poor lad, he's looked a really good bat the last couple of years too.

[Spy Bee]

Does he have to abstain from bumming too?

[alles ist gut]

Does he have to abstain from bumming too?

 

The medics advise 'avoiding exertion' for cardiomyopathy, so apathetic sex is still allowed.

[Jenson]

Bloody hell, just read that on the BBC. Although cricket aside, he's lucky they caught it before he had a heart attack

[lifetime fan]

Gutted for the lad.

[sir roger]

The medics advise 'avoiding exertion' for cardiomyopathy, so apathetic sex is still allowed.

 

Isn't he married already ?

[Rico1304]

First game of the season today, really can't be arsed.

 

Playing against a horrible team in Tameside, it's freezing, wet and dreary.

[lifetime fan]

We've our annual 6's tournament next month, can't wait.

[Rico1304]

Won by 6 runs, wind burnt to fuck. May thaw out by Tuesday.

[Rico1304]

Won by 6 runs, wind burnt to fuck. May thaw out by Tuesday.

Although I wore my Fitbit and have done 20k steps today.

[Rico1304]

"There was a thrilling game at Newton where visitors Woodley batted first and made 175-9, Graham Parry with 61 and S Richards 43 while Mark Barnard took 6-18. Newton then fell just 3 runs short at 172-8"

 

It was actually 46.

[lifetime fan]

Great interview with James Taylor on sky lunch time.

[lifetime fan]

Interesting finish to the Notts V Yorks 4 day game on SS2 now.

 

Yorks need 93 off the last 10 overs with 6 wickets in hand.

[Jairzinho]

Tony Cozier has passed away. 

 

Which is a bit of a bastard.

[rubble-rouser]

Cozier was up there with Benaud. Can't believe he was only 75 - he has looked really ill for years. 

 

One of the truly great cricket commentators and journalists. Like Benaud he seemed to speak with moral authority about cricket in his native region and in the world. Always traditional but never reactionary. Genuinely warm and entertaining. I loved listening to him because it sounded like he loved commentating. he always knew how to get the best out of his co-commentators and elicited the respect of the likes of Boycott and Viv. Magisterial and funny. A massive, massive loss to world cricket.  

[Spy Bee]

I don't catch much county cricket... what can you tell me about Ball?

[lifetime fan]

It's red and round.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Sad news about Cozier. 

 

I see the County Championship has gotten off to the same shambolic start as usual due to the weather having the biggest say on results. Out of the 17 matches played so far in Division 1 only 4 have produced a result with the majority of the draws being affected by the weather. It's about time the powers that be sorted the calendar out better or the structure of the points system. The calendar could easily be dealt with by having  a three tier system or each team just playing each other once. The point system could be tweaked by saying matches affected by a certain amount of time lost to the weather would be decided on first innings scores whereas the winners would be given 10 points instead of the pathetic 5 points handed out for a draw. The losers in such scenarios could be given the 5 points. A win is 16 points compared to a drawn match which gives 5 points, a team less affected by weather due to geographical reasons or luck get a huge advantage in the big scheme of things. 

[Spy Bee]

It's red and round.

Can you neg and rep the same post?

[lifetime fan]

Can you neg and rep the same post?

Haha

 

You should be able to.

 

I wish I could beg my own posts too.

[Son of L8]

I hear there's some cricket on tomorrow.

 

I like cricket. Much better than that other game.

[lifetime fan]

England will host a day-night Test, according to England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves.

 

 

Australia held the first day-night Test against New Zealand in November in the hope of attracting larger crowds and a peak-time TV audience.

 

"You can't turn your back on it, it will happen," Graves told BBC Sport.

"We just have to decide when it is going to happen. We're doing a lot of work on it and we'd love to see day-night cricket."

In a wide-ranging interview to be broadcast during Test Match Special's coverage of the first day of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley on Thursday, Graves also said:

• Live Test cricket will never again appear on terrestrial television
• Two or three counties were prevented from going bust in the past year
• A revamped T20 competition will not be themed on franchises but could have city-based teams
• Test cricket is safe so long as governing bodies move to protect it
• Counties should look to hold day-night first-class matches
•  

'Make Test cricket meaningful'

England have announced plans for this summer's contests against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to be multi-format 'Super Series', with points on offer for Test, one-day international and Twenty20 matches.

 

Currently, the world Test rankings are the only global form of competition for the five-day game, with plans to hold a World Test Championship in 2013 scrapped in 2011.

 

"We have to make Test cricket meaningful and we have to put some 'oomph' behind it," Graves said.

"Test cricket is safe if we do something about it, but I don't think it is safe if we do nothing. That is not an option. The International Cricket Council are looking at it and the other countries are looking at it."

 

'Live Test cricket will never return to terrestrial TV'

Live Test match cricket was last seen on terrestrial television in the UK in 2005, with all of England's matches since then being shown by Sky.

Some nine years after the move, in 2014, the ECB's own participation figures showed that the number of people playing recreationally had dropped.

"We'd like to see some live cricket on terrestrial television, but Test cricket will not be on terrestrial television," Graves said. 

"The younger generation do not watch terrestrial television, they use social media. We have to take that into account. It will be a mix-and-match situation for us to come out with the right formula."

 

Who mentioned franchises?

The domestic Twenty20 competition in England has often been a target for criticism, with some favouring the franchise model used by the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash in Australia.

The current model of 18 counties split into two divisions of nine and looking to reach the quarter-finals will remain in place until 2019, when the existing broadcast deal expires.

Graves said there could be "four or five" options for a new-look competition, potentially including city-based teams, but with a franchise model not under consideration.

"I have never mentioned the word franchise once, but it's all people talk about," Graves said. "I don't believe it is the right model for English cricket.

"We want to keep all 18 counties involved. I'm sure cities could be one option, but we have no preconceived idea of what we want. We don't have a preferred option. We will put them all on the table then decide the right way to go."

 

'I want 18 counties'

From 2017, the domestic first-class structure will be altered to a top flight of eight teams and a second tier of 10 from the current system of two nine-team divisions.

With debate ongoing over how much cricket should be played and how the counties can sustain themselves financially, Graves said he favours an 18-county structure and could even imagine a scenario where that is expanded.

However, he also revealed debt within the game totalling £120m and that "two or three counties" have been saved from going bust in the past year.

 

"I've always said I want 18 counties," he said. "It annoys me that people say we will not sustain 18 counties - we've never said that. We could have even let two or three go bust during the past year. We haven't done that. If we haven't done that in the last year, why would we change?

 

"I could give you a case where the domestic game could sustain more than 18 counties, but we do have £120m debt in the game and we have to manage that. We have to get the competitions right. It's about how we use the money."