Thread: Cricket scores around the world

^ nice to see you helping out Bob there LT

If he doesn't mind me saying myself , I think us Aussies have been very helpful to our soap dodging cousins as far as advice on cricket goes lately. Don't know why Cook cried so much when Warne tried to help him

they sure do

Bigger boundaries on the agenda for international cricket

Date June 25, 2014 - 6:03PM

With constant advances in bat technology, the size of grounds is one of the few things match referees can control Photo: AP


Cricket, at least in its short forms, has become a batsman's game, but there is a move to claw back some of the willow-wielders' advantage by insisting that boundary ropes are pushed back to their maximum distance for all international matches.



The evolution of bigger bats in the hands of muscular, highly skilled batsmen on smaller grounds has convinced chief executives of the major cricket nations to address the imbalance between bat and ball.



The prevalence of bat over ball was a striking feature of Australia's one-day tour of India last year.


In Australia, England's Stuart Broad complained about the ridiculously short boundaries for a Twenty20 international in Hobart last summer, where the shortest distance to the rope was 56 metres and 22 sixes were hit. Even on the vast expanses of the MCG, the square boundary was brought in to about 70 metres.
"For all formats we want grounds set up to their maximum size," said the ICC's general manager of cricket, Geoff Allardice.



"It's maximum of 90 yards but with the way that bats are performing these days, and the way the batsmen are hitting the ball, sometimes mis-hits are carrying for six and there is concern that that balance is a bit skewed at the moment."
With constant advances in bat technology, the size of grounds is one of the few things match referees can control, although the ICC will monitor the evolution of bats over the next two years.



Also discussed at the ICC chief executives meeting in Melbourne was a review of the way the governing body deals with illegal bowling actions, that could lead to those reported and tested subjected to ongoing screening.


"The view of the cricket committee was that there are some bowlers operating with suspect actions and they should be scrutinised a bit more closely," Allardice said.
Sri Lankan off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake and New Zealand part-timer Kane Williamson have been reported for suspect actions in recent weeks.



A week of ICC meetings will climax on Thursday when suspended Indian president Narayanaswami Srinivasan will sweep to power. He is expected to front the media, and will face questions about his suitability to become ICC chairman given he owns the IPL franchise at the centre of a corruption investigation at home.


Srinivasan will be installed as part of the coup engineered by the boards of India, England and Australia to take a lead role in running the game (and commanding a bigger share of its revenue), which will be rubber-stamped at Thursday's ICC annual conference.


A draft of the new Future Tours Program, which extends to 2023, features series negotiated by the big three in return for support of the changes.



"Obviously the more commercially attractive opponents play each other a bit more regularly, but there was a respect among the members that they needed to try to include everyone in their schedules," Allardice said.

Read more: Bigger boundaries on the agenda for international cricket

Alastair Cook shows how not to captain a Test team

Date June 26, 2014 - 12:00AM Geoffrey Boycott

England's captain Alastair Cook and his teammates look on at the presentations after Sri Lanka won the second cricket Test match at Headingley

England thought the nightmare of Australia had been consigned to history. We were at the start of a new era, with Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann gone.

We have a new head coach in Peter Moores, a new managing director in Paul Downton, and new chairman of selectors in James Whitaker all singing the praises of Alastair Cook as England captain.

But yet we are watching the same old rubbish and we cannot go on playing like this. We have to stop spurning chances to win. At Headingley Cook gave a lesson in how to lose a Test match from a winning position.
He had no imagination, no plan B and no different tactics as Angelo Mathews batted Sri Lanka into a winning position. It was just mind boggling. You have to have a feel for captaincy. You cannot go to bloody school or learn it from a book.

Cook is too stubborn an individual to resign because he would see it as a sign of weakness. Downton, Whitaker and Moores have hung their hats on him taking England forward so if they were to sack him so quickly after all they have said about the new era, it would be embarrassing for them.

So we are stuck with him. But they can be as supportive as they want and he can be as stubborn as he wants but if he fails with the bat in the first Test against India at Nottingham, which starts on July 9, and we lose again then public opinion and the media will be so vocal he may be hounded out.

If Alastair goes of his own accord or is pushed everyone asks: "If not him, who else can lead the side?" There is no one, but that is not a reason to keep somebody in his job who is not improving but going backwards - and his batting is also going downhill. One should not be dependent on the other.

Cook, and some of his supporters, have convinced themselves that there are some commentators and ex-players who have it in for him. They have not.

Shane Warne is different, he is Australian. I do not know if he has an agenda. All of us who have played for England want them to do well. But we have a duty and a responsibility to say what we see and just because I like Alastair Cook and think he is a lovely lad I cannot gloss over his mistakes.

He is so out of form with the bat that he can invent new ways to get out. His footwork is so poor that he hardly ever gets forward consistently and sometimes opens the face to play too square on the off side. He is playing at the ball with two inches of the bat instead of showing the full face and aiming to mid-off. It is a recipe for disaster and getting out.

It is not a personal view, it is a professional judgment of what I have seen in recent months. Once he starts thinking that ex-players and commentators have got it in for him then he really is in a mess. He is not thinking clearly.

There were moments in Australia when we were in good positions to win games but we just folded. It happened again here.

At Headingley Sri Lanka made 257 in their first innings and England were 311 for three. We were all thinking they would build a lead of 200-300 and then bowl Sri Lanka out. But we had another collapse.

Even then we still had a first-innings lead of 106 with two of the best bowlers in world cricket, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, bowling with the new ball. England were sitting pretty and in total control of the game. What happened? Two bowlers who have nearly 600 Test wickets between them and are class performers bowled absolute tripe.

They made the ball seam, swing and bounce but never in the right area, which at Headingley is on a good length around off stump in that corridor of uncertainty. They were all over the place. What is the point of swinging the ball away if you are so short of a length that batsmen can easily cut the ball to the boundary? What is the point of nipping it back if the batsman has so much time to sit on the back foot and play it easily?
Headingley is a place where seam bowlers pitch it up, metronomically around off stump and let the pitch do the work. But in most overs we could only get one ball out of six in a good area and there was no pressure on the batsman whatsoever. It was absolutely awful.

The only bowler who bowled like the selectors wanted him to was Liam Plunkett. He was the enforcer, bowling fast, roughing them up with some short balls. He did exactly what he was asked to do and took nine wickets. But the performance of the others was totally inexplicable.

What compounded this poor bowling was the captain spreading the field out in defensive positions. The ball went soft and when that happens Headingley offers little for the bowlers. By then Mathews was set for a big score.

We were so defensive with three men back for the hook and just kept bowling short balls. Mathews played them fantastically well, did not take a run until the fifth or sixth ball of the over and toyed with us all day long as Cook dug his own grave.

The London Telegraph

Read more: Alastair Cook shows how not to captain a Test team

Who needs Warne to sledge the poms when they do it so well themselves! Nice one Geoff

Of course Geoff Boycott knows nothing when it suits you.......hahahahaha.... imagine scraping the barrel to agree with the man you all love to hate.....

Drug Cheat / Bookies Bumchum Warne....once a wanker always a wanker

What are you on about Bob?? I have never said I hated boycott. Perhaps I have mentioned that he is the epitomy the boring English batsmen, but hate, no - he's good for a laugh actually.

Your hatred for Warne is pretty apparent though Bob considering the words you use to describe him. He is the second biggest wicket taker of all time and regarded as having one of the best cricket brains in the business and Cook is a fool to say things like "something needs to be done about" him, when everything he has said is 100% correct

What are you on about man..... I love Warney...... when he's got his mouth shut....

Great piece from Geoffrey.

It's all pretty simple though, really.

if he fails with the bat in the first Test against India at Nottingham, which starts on July 9, and we lose again then public opinion and the media will be so vocal he may be hounded out.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

What are you on about man..... I love Warney...... when he's got his mouth shut....

Even when he's talking cricket? Love him or hate him you can't deny his knowledge of the game. I remember watching an interview of him years ago and he said that the person who has influenced him most is Ian Chappell. He spoke of how he used to spend hours with him after each match , downing pints and going over what had just happened in the middle. Lots of people don't like Chappelli for the same reason as they don't like Warne - because they tell it as they see it, and hearing the truth hurts people like Cook ..... And you too it seems Bob

Originally Posted by cyrille

Great piece from Geoffrey.

It's all pretty simple though, really.

if he fails with the bat in the first Test against India at Nottingham, which starts on July 9, and we lose again then public opinion and the media will be so vocal he may be hounded out.

Considering the best performances of his life were against India in their own backyard you would think this will be his best chance to get some runs.

But yes, Boycott has got it right. The English media/public can be pretty ruthless and are already grinding their axes for Chef

He'd be gone if there was a replacement, but there isn't so he can tough it out and get back to form that way. It'll make him stronger in the future.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

He'd be gone if there was a replacement

Exactly. Pommy cricket is at an all time low.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

He'd be gone if there was a replacement, but there isn't so he can tough it out and get back to form that way. It'll make him stronger in the future.

I seriously hope he does.

I think Warne does too. I believe he feels cricket needs a stong England side, and the comments he has made aimed at Cook really are designed to help - even if some of them were made with tongue in cheek.

England really did shoot themselves in the foot by sacking KP though. Talent aside, he brought much needed experience to the side.

Those nasty Aussies

Peter Siddle welcomes Jonathan Trott back to County Championship with a bouncer barrage

Peter Siddle welcomes Jonathan Trott back to County Championship with a bouncer barrage - Telegraph

To be honest, I don't think Cook will ever be a good captain or tactician. He will score runs again, but he really has been exposed as a one trick pony regarding his captaincy . He can't read the game like Guys like Warne and if he can't read it now he never will.

The best thing for Australia would be for England to beat India so Chef is still captain during next year's ashes - a 0-5 away win would be just dandy

Originally Posted by Wally Dorian Raffles

Love him or hate him you can't deny his knowledge of the game.

True, as a spectator you always got your money's worth from Warne and Chapelli...and you still do...that they are both arseholes is immaterial

The Kiwis have just taken the series in the WI 2 - 1

Originally Posted by Bruce Bayliss

Originally Posted by Wally Dorian Raffles

Love him or hate him you can't deny his knowledge of the game.

True, as a spectator you always got your money's worth from Warne and Chapelli...and you still do...that they are both arseholes is immaterial

You ever actually met Warne? Spoken to him?
In public (not as a media whore) he is unassuming, approachable and very open. Top bloke.

^ I have heard the same and he was great at handling not only what the Poms gave him but also the shit the Aussie fans gave him when he was paying for his state.

Was at North Sydney Oval when the whole crowd were singing "Warnies a wanker" and he just laughed it off and spanked NSW with the ball in his hand.

In fact he has received just as much as he has given out and remained a professional.

The Poms should learn from him and in this case it has nothing to do with cricket.

What about the bans for drugs and bookies?

Originally Posted by Bobcock

What about the bans for drugs and bookies?

Has he paid his dues Bob? Done his time?

And he will have to live with these accusations for the rest of his life.

Doesn't seem to have cramped his style though Bob, not like the powder puff Pommy captain.

None of you were calling him that last summer in England