Cricket, lovely cricket (Part 2)

Robinson was under par in the last test. Atherton did a great piece contrasting him to Neil Wagner, we can only hope Robinson reads it and makes the most of his talent.

Can’t help thinking that, despite his abilities, he’s not going to trouble too many top class batsmen until he ups his pace.

He was quick enough a couple if summers ago, withought being exactly quick. I like him at his best. Competitive, deadly accurate, gets bounce and does loads with the ball laterally.

He has all the skills and bowled well in Pakistan. Stokes didn’t bowl him in the second innings which was telling.

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I grew up in Sanderstead until I was 11 or so.
Anywhere the N0 10 batsman buys a jug for scoring his first ever boundary is a good place to play cricket.

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Nice ground.

The commentary is the best thing about that

good waft

:grin:

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The sad demise of timed cricket.

A Sunday limited overs friendly game where one side wants to get everyone into the game and the other side just wants to win.

A time game is much the better format for this sort of Sunday friendly match (imo). Tea between innings and a last hour, or 20 overs. A draw is then possible, but also tactically more interesting. Often the side bowling second has to dangle the carrot to win and their first innings declaration is key to setting this up. A much subtler game with tighter finishes and the possiblity to involve more players (with varying ability) on both sides.

No-one understands it these days, which is a real shame. Too often, these games are one-sided with the side batting second a long way short. Meh.

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You can see the priorities.
The visiting team requested that the bar opened early!

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There is that! :rofl:

Buuuuut, the game going into the last over with all three results possible definitely leads to more beer being drunk afterwards, trust me.

I’ve played in a couple of ties! One of them we lost early wickets but had a partnership for the tenth ( I was 10) that was worth about fifty ( I scored about 4 of them :rofl:). We batted on and on but declared with a barely defendable total.

We then opened with the old ball and spin, got them within touching distance, then took the new ball and whipped out most of their line-up. With their last wicket and scores level, our off spinner clean bowled the final guy. There was a fantastic pic of this moment, with every member of our side with our feet off the ground punching the air!

I remember the opposition captain congratulating our skipper on how he had run the game ( the side batting first has the responsibility of managing the game well - there is give and take) and many a jug was consumed!

A lot of the guys I played with are still at it, but bemoan the demise of the time game. Overs cricket is just less fun.

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Back in the '80s I played at a (much, much) lower standard (pub team in Div 1 of the Hartlepool Church League) and it was basically a 30 over match on Saturday and a 20 over game midweek.

We all played primarily for fun, although one or two did take it rather more seriously.

After each game we always went back to the pub we represented and were given unlimited free beer and a substantial buffet. We used to hold a weekly letter draw to finance all of this which was so successful that it also covered any kit we needed, ground fees and with enough left over to pay for a long weekend away at a nice hotel with food and drink included. There was also the distribution of brown envelopes on the coach, usually containing ÂŁ100 each which we barely spent as the whole weekend was already paid for.

We did manage to win the league 4 times and the annual cup competition so it wasn’t all drinking and eating!

It was good fun while it lasted.

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Sounds great! :grin:

I was never any good but loved it and with the Club Cricket Conference, it’s always possible to find teams to play of a similar standard. We used to try really hard, and actually, we all became much better and our club improved in every way and became quite established. Great days, we had so much fun.

I went through a stage of playing a 20 over midweek game, a league game on Saturday with another club and a friendly game with our Sunday side.

I stopped when Kerri had triplets. My mates didnt really understand that I wanted to be a family man and were always trying to get me to play. “You can play, bring them along, it’ll be fine!” They didnt get that having the family the other side of the boundary wasn’t really what was after. :laughing:

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You and me both!

:rofl:

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I had my days though! Move up a level and my bowling wasn’t quick enough. But on my day on the right pitch, I could be a handful. I took 8-54 one day, when the ball was absolutely hooping!

My batting was incredibly bad but did improve with loads of practice. I scored 1×50, on a ground known locally as The Postage Stamp. I expect that explains things quite well…

:rofl:

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Being up at 3am UK time has its uses. Just a shame I have no way to watch it

You’d have missed the high quality collapse at 8am

Just seen the score line. Absolute clown shoes

Very good bowling

Why has Kuldeep only played about a dozen tests ? I know India have some great bowlers to choose from but he always looks dangerous.

Not sure! Probably, he can’t get in ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja because of his batting, when they are away from home anyway. Yesterday he was fantastic, it didn’t look as if many were picking his googly. The ripping off-break he bowled Crawley with was awesome. He gets that late drift and dip…

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