Cricket

I was dissapointed i was'nt able to see it but now im glad i did'nt

SA currently on 180-4. Looks like they will have no trouble surpassing our score.

And they've passed our score. Currently on 211-4. Prince on 65 and De Villiers on 28.

Bowlin has been none exsistant since start of day 2.

Well we lost the test with a day to spare. Well f***in done lads. First innings was a joke from start to finish, not one batsmen stood out for the right reasons. At least four or five stood out for the wrong reasons. Bowling to them in the first innings was poor from day two onwards. Picked up three early wickets at the end of day one, then didn't look likely of getting them out. Second innings, another great top order performance. Strauss duck, Vaughan 21, Pietersen 13 and Bell 4. Cook got a well earned 60, Jimmy Anderson showed the top order that you could bat on the pitch, because a geniune number 10 comes in at number four and makes a career best of 36, as well as takin some nasty bowlin from Steyn. Flintoff, Ambrose and Broad showed some resistantance but was never gonna be enough. Broad's quickly becomin a genuine all rounder though, with another decent knock. Monty and Pattinson hung around towards the end and at least forced them to bat again, requiring all nine runs.

So for the third test we can't afford to lose if we don't want to lose the series. Top order needs a shake up. Should be Strauss and Cook opening. Bell at three. KP four, Flintoff at five. Mustard/Prior at six, Broad seven, Bresnan eight, Simon Jones nine, Anderson ten and Monty 11. Gives you an extra bowler who can bat in Tim Bresnan. Broad's good enough to be at seven. Flintoff is wasted at seven so push him up to five where he should be. Bell is a top class number three an KP suits number four.

Either way Vaughan has to be dropped. He's past it, let's just face it. On his home ground he couldn't even produce anything, and it's not like the balls he got were anything special, they were just typically bad shots.

when pietersen hit 13 off 4 balls i think it was i thought they could salvage it and at least make it into the final day still having a chance but out on the 5th ball and then i gave up watching it.

Harmison back in the squad along with Collingwood. Pattinson left out.

Team in full: MP Vaughan (capt, Yorkshire), AN Cook (Essex), AJ Strauss (Middlesex), KP Pietersen (Hampshire), IR Bell (Warwickshire), PD Collingwood (Durham), A Flintoff (Lancashire), TR Ambrose (wkt, Warwickshire), SCJ Broad (Nottinghamshire), RJ Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), SJ Harmison (Durham), JM Anderson (Lancashire), MS Panesar (Northamptonshire).

Domesticly Middlesex won the twenty/20 against Kent in the final and will now take part in the Stamford Series. Well done to them, especially because their entire twnety/20 campaign was to raise awareness for breast cancer, kinda fittin they should win it.

Shame essex didnt do better, Napier deserved some kind of reward for his work

I was playing cricket last week and my team chose to field 1st and the bowler who was new to the team tried to put lots of spin on it (which we found out he cant do ) and the batter totally smashed it and it was probably the most powerful hit i have come up against and it got me straight on the inside of the knee but luckily i managed to catch it before it then hit the ground but F**k me i have a massive gert off bruise there now 

Collingwood and Sidebottom back in the test side...Pattinson and Broad out.

Somehow Vaughan keeps his place, but lets just hope this is the test he hits a 100 and we can all say just how good and graceful he is.

Collingwood and Sidebottom back in the test side...Pattinson and Broad out.

Somehow Vaughan keeps his place, but lets just hope this is the test he hits a 100 and we can all say just how good and graceful he is.

Me again Dunlop .....

I seriously hope England field there BEST side and we have a Proper 5 day test ...... 

We won't have our best side out rick, because Ambrose isn't the best keeper in England right now, Broad isn't playin, Vaughan is playin.

Another bad selection from the English selectors, there's a surprise. Geoff Miller, Michael Vaughan, Peter Moores and whoever else gets a say in who plays needs to actually look at what players they have and why aren't they gettin picked.

I'd take Rob Key or Joe Denly, the two Kent openers and put them at three ahead of Vaughan. I'd have Mustard (Durham) Prior (Sussex) Read (Notts) Jones (Kent) Cross (Lancs) Foster (Essex) all ahead of Ambrose for the keeper. Napier and Bopara have been in great form for Essex as well, but our middle order is strong enough. Broad should be playin instead of Collingwood. Simon Jones instead of Harmison.

Couple of others who will be knockin on the door in future years are Neil Dexter (Kent) Tom New (Leicestershire keeper) Tom Smith, Paul Horton and Stevie Croft (Lancs) Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire) Samit Patel (Notts) Doshi (Yorkshire I think). A lot of young talent in England but we constantly stick with the old guard. I think Bresnan and Dexter have a real chance of becomin regular test players in the next couple of years, probably not next years Ashes but certainly by the time the Aussies come back to England. Hopefully Old Trafford will have tests again in the near future as well as it's me nearest test ground, although I have seen Lancs play at Aigburth a few times.

Ambrose is definitely a week link and we all know how important a good wickey is,I watched him at Headingley for 4 day's and even his postion behind the wicket is questionable.Is he scared of the ball or just too slow to react that he has to stand so far back that his slip cordon is back to front ? It's not like he was facing any really fast deliveries ...

I can't believe Broad is not playing ......

England are not the only one's struggling with selection mate,Our problem is a different one though.South Africa have affirmative action in cricket now too.

I'm all for everyone having equal opportunities and all but sometime's this does not allow us to field the best side either , We have quality player's not even being selected as subs.......

I think it is really disappointing for the sport,Not to mention foreign player's in International side's when there is clearly enough local talent about that are not being given the Opportunity to play for their Country because some arrogant brat didn't get his own way back home .......

Anyway enough negativity,I can't wait to get home,turn the tele on and suck down a few can's while I watch the cricket .....

Then turn over to my true love @ 08.30 ........

England first innings 82 for 3 (28 overs) 
AJ Strauss hit wkt  b Nel 20 (67)
AN Cook    not out 48 (86)
MP Vaughan c Boucher  b Nel 0 (1)
KP Pietersen c Prince  b Kallis 4 (9)
IR Bell    not out 4 (7)
Extras 1b 2lb 1w 2nb 6   
TOTAL: 3 wkts , 28 overs  82   
 

i think its time for Michael Vaughan to be dropped. He hasn't been playing too well recently and i think he needs a nice long rest for him to get his form back.

We won't have our best side out rick, because Ambrose isn't the best keeper in England right now, Broad isn't playin, Vaughan is playin.

Another bad selection from the English selectors, there's a surprise. Geoff Miller, Michael Vaughan, Peter Moores and whoever else gets a say in who plays needs to actually look at what players they have and why aren't they gettin picked.

I'd take Rob Key or Joe Denly, the two Kent openers and put them at three ahead of Vaughan. I'd have Mustard (Durham) Prior (Sussex) Read (Notts) Jones (Kent) Cross (Lancs) Foster (Essex) all ahead of Ambrose for the keeper. Napier and Bopara have been in great form for Essex as well, but our middle order is strong enough. Broad should be playin instead of Collingwood. Simon Jones instead of Harmison.

Couple of others who will be knockin on the door in future years are Neil Dexter (Kent) Tom New (Leicestershire keeper) Tom Smith, Paul Horton and Stevie Croft (Lancs) Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire) Samit Patel (Notts) Doshi (Yorkshire I think). A lot of young talent in England but we constantly stick with the old guard. I think Bresnan and Dexter have a real chance of becomin regular test players in the next couple of years, probably not next years Ashes but certainly by the time the Aussies come back to England. Hopefully Old Trafford will have tests again in the near future as well as it's me nearest test ground, although I have seen Lancs play at Aigburth a few times.

DLS Got it bang on yesterday,Drop Vaughan and the rest of the Old Guard and bring in some of the Quality County Player's that are knocking about or face further humiliation.If they start now they will be ready in time to drill the Aussie's, And there's nothing like watching the Aussie's getting Drilled 

well whoopty do, another match winning DUCK from our skipper Michael Vaughan. No doubt we'll make somewhere between 300 and 400 and Vaughan will get away with AGAIN.

I want him dropped more than any probably, but I'm not sure if the captain can be dropped because he's one of the selectors and he isn't gonna drop himself. So the captaincy needs to be taken off him then we can drop him, but for that to happen either Peter Moores or the chairman of the ECB Giles Clarke needs to tell Vaughan to piss off because there isn't a chance in hell Vaughan will step down from the test captain. He may of stepped down as ODI captain but that's because England will never do well in one day cricket, we're just not good enough in that form, but test cricket there's potential there and captains take the glory in cricket. So if we perform well in tests, i.e. ashes 05, it all goes down to how well the captain did. Vaughan is a glory huntin b***ard who wants everyone to praise him, so he'll never step down as test captain. He'll have to be forced, and he'll have to be forced once this series is over.

Start fresh with a new captain with new ideas for the sub continent tour, then in the West Indies and we'll be in a settled rhythm come the 09 ashes.

Enough about him, and more on this match, Cook is lookin in good form, gotta be a century now, but problem is his highest score in tests is 126, when he's had about 7 or 8 hundreds. Proves he doesn't make big hundreds. Just as I tpye he's out Bell needs a 100 to get us a decent total.

136-4 now. Collingwood in now, a man in no form. Flintoff hit and miss, more often than not hit. Ambrose little less than useless and the tail without Broad will be lucky to make 30 between them. I said earlier in this post we'd get between 300 and 400, I may need to lower my estimation. Maybe 250 max.

England out for 231.

Absolutely ridiculous batting from England, except for Cook and Bell. They couldn't even bat for a whole day!!! 

My side for opening test against India on 11 of December (based on form right now):

Strauss (cpt) (middlesex)
Cook (essex)
Key (kent)
Pietersen (hampshire)
Bell (warwickshire)
Flintoff (lancashire)
Mustard (wk) (durham)
Broad (notts)
Anderson (lancs)
Sidebottom (notts)
Panesar (northants)

In the fifteen man squad I'd also have Joe Denly (kent), Tim Bresnan (yorkshire), Sajid Mahmood (lancs) Patel (notts). Denly from the Spitfires deserve a chance to go with the side because he's meritted it. Denly averages 40 plus in first class cricket includin 4 centuries. He's gonna be an England player one day, better sooner than later. Bresnan has played a handful of ODI's but he's like Broad, he can extend our battin lineup. A good right arm bowler who's helpful with the bat, take him to India. Mahmood has had a few chances in test cricket and not taken them, but he's bowlin up and 90mp/h in county cricket and is lookin dangerous again, I think he can add that extra bit of pace into the side. India is known for it's spin so Samit Patel has to be taken because Patel is a really talented spinner. His bowlin average is 30 odd in county but his battin is also up in the mid 40s. He's only 24 as well.

Vaughan, Collingwood, Ambrose shouldn't be going whatsoever.

We'll hear about Harmison, S.Jones, Hoggard again as well as Napier, Bopara, Shah. But I think we've finally got to go with the talented youth. I'd even be inclinded to drop Anderson and Sidebottom from the test side and include Adil Rashid (yorkshire) and Neil Dexter (kent) in the squad.

I've given up on this series, we're a million miles behind SA. First three days at Lords were just flukey, because since then we haven't looked anywhere near them. If we somehow scrape a draw from this series I'd happily shag Michael Vaughan. That's how much confidence I have in this current side, so I'm concentratin more on the India and West Indies tours before next year's ashes.

England all out on the first day again not looking good, according to the pitch report it is an easy paced batting pitch, day two, lets see what the saffers do but Vaughn defiantly needs to get dropped and Broad brought back in, I cant believe they left him out. Then anderson and panesar run out, that should not happen you have loads of time to make runs and then they get run out.
if England are up for it it should be a good test match if not then we could see it going to four days again

Anderson and Sidebottom bowlin far to wide. Just embarrassing. South Africa should and probably will bat us out of this test.

Anderson should have been making Harris play everything but he bowls a maiden of wide balls that Harris can just watch go by.
silly from England.

England will have to pick up their socks if they wanna save the series.

Go McKenzie !