The Cricket Thread

Remove this Banner Ad

Sixpence said:
The last year of Test Cricket has brought my passion for the game back, but I still find it quite hard to give a **** about Twenty20 Cricket!
Click to expand...

I love test cricket. T20 is like take away food: satisfying for a moment, then nothing.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

It used to be cricket in summer, footy in winter for me, but now I'm viewing cricket as a time killer until the footy's back. It just doesn't grab me anymore, and I'm not happy with the way it's being presented these days. While the quality is pretty good, I'm not happy with T20 commanding the attention of world cricket and dictating the scheduling, as well as the squeeze against ODI's...

I can't handle a summer without the World Series Cup, for starters! I grew up post-WSC, so Lillee running into bowl with neck chain dangling, bouncing helmetless gum chomping Viv, as the ball rockets through to Marsh standing in a fully moustached slips cordon dressed in yellow tight shirts which are bulging from the B&H cigarette packets each has tucked up their sleeves - this is how it's meant to be. Overly huge grounds where a six is an event (remember Lance Cairns' "unbeatable" 52 from 26 balls with six sixes?), and a score of 200 was considered very competitive...

The balance between bat and ball is skewed, which is why T20 can't ever achieve dominion over the other types, and there are too many matches which just make up the numbers. There should be no two test series, and all limited over cricket should be played in tournaments with no less than three teams - no best of sevens or rubbish like that...

I will say that test cricket is absolutely fantastic these days, and the last ten Ashes games have been rivetting...
 
Gibbke said:
It used to be cricket in summer, footy in winter for me, but now I'm viewing cricket as a time killer until the footy's back. It just doesn't grab me anymore, and I'm not happy with the way it's being presented these days. While the quality is pretty good, I'm not happy with T20 commanding the attention of world cricket and dictating the scheduling, as well as the squeeze against ODI's...

I can't handle a summer without the World Series Cup, for starters! I grew up post-WSC, so Lillee running into bowl with neck chain dangling, bouncing helmetless gum chomping Viv, as the ball rockets through to Marsh standing in a fully moustached slips cordon dressed in yellow tight shirts which are bulging from the B&H cigarette packets each has tucked up their sleeves - this is how it's meant to be. Overly huge grounds where a six is an event (remember Lance Cairns' "unbeatable" 52 from 26 balls with six sixes?), and a score of 200 was considered very competitive...

The balance between bat and ball is skewed, which is why T20 can't ever achieve dominion over the other types, and there are too many matches which just make up the numbers. There should be no two test series, and all limited over cricket should be played in tournaments with no less than three teams - no best of sevens or rubbish like that...

I will say that test cricket is absolutely fantastic these days, and the last ten Ashes games have been rivetting...
Click to expand...

Well said this man.

Yeah, I watch the Big Bash during the summer, only as there is nothing else on TV normally and rarely to do I take a lot of interest, just more in the back ground.

Need more test action, less T20 and less ODI (or make them meaningful).
 
One thing I am waiting to see pan out is Big Bash rivalry. At first, I didn't think it possible that eight brand new teams (openly labelled as "franchises" in the best MacDonald's tradition) could build up decent rivalry, with colours belonging to an aerobics clothing line, nicknames based upon verbs and abstract nouns, and city based names which exclude the rest of their states (do you guys realise how hard it is for a northern Tasmanian like myself to barrack for the Tasmanian state side when it calls itself Hobart?)...

But I found myself backing the Canes only a level below the Tigers (which is a Death To All Mainlanders level), and have a healthy disrespect for several other sides. The semi where we thrashed the Stars was good grudge cricket, in part due to Eddie v Tim Paine. The Hurricanes v Heat matches have been consistent thrillers, which is good because it looks like we'll always be paired with them as return match rivals. The Melbourne and Sydney matchups have suffered because the Renegades and Thunder have sucked a lot of the time...

The thing to remember though, guys, is that the surveyed average demographic for cricket fans in Australia about ten years ago was 45yo men, and this scared the hell out of CA. Understandably, it's not the sort of crowd you can build on, so they had to NBA things up a bit and appeal to the kids. We're right in everything we think (of course), but we are becoming dinosaurs...!
 
Two of my children have been doing Milo Cricket in the last couple of summers. As part of the Milo Cricket packs we've received tickets to a couple of the Stars' Big Bash games. Still haven't been and we're unlikely to do so.
 
Gibbke said:
The balance between bat and ball is skewed, which is why T20 can't ever achieve dominion over the other types, and there are too many matches which just make up the numbers. There should be no two test series, and all limited over cricket should be played in tournaments with no less than three teams - no best of sevens or rubbish like that...

I will say that test cricket is absolutely fantastic these days, and the last ten Ashes games have been rivetting...
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the BCCI & ICC don't think that way. 20/20 is a huge earner for both these entities & they'll tailor the schedules to suit.

It sucks.
 
Which is higher, the temperature in C, or the number of spectators at the ground ? :)
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

I'm just reading on cricinfo about the WI cancelling their Indian tour. Now the BCCI has retaliated by calling off future tours to the Caribbean, AND is probably going to hit the WICB for lost income. What a shambles.
 
Pakistan have a debutant named Imran Khan ! I wonder if he bowls at 140 and can bat a bit... like a tigerrrr.
 
moginie said:
Johnson gets a wicket in his first over. Welcome back to test cricket.
Click to expand...

LBW, hit on the full, batsman challenged the decision. Have a look at the challenge. The guy should be given out for the second innings after that review as well, just for sheer stupidity
 
Garf said:
I'm just reading on cricinfo about the WI cancelling their Indian tour. Now the BCCI has retaliated by calling off future tours to the Caribbean, AND is probably going to hit the WICB for lost income. What a shambles.
Click to expand...

By walking out on a tour over money, the players have successfully ensured they won't get paid anywhere, anytime.
 
Messenger said:
By walking out on a tour over money, the players have successfully ensured they won't get paid anywhere, anytime.
Click to expand...

Such a shame watching the Windies implode as a test playing nation. When I was growing up they were nigh unbeatable on the test arena, home or away. They were amazing and had some of the best players in the world. Now they are just a rabble.

Really really sad to see it happen
 
moginie said:
I keep checking the Cricinfo site for score updates as I go about my nightly work. The score has crawled along throughout this session. Are they trying to bore our bowlers to death?
Click to expand...
Somewhere a bookie has good odds on less than 200 in a day...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top