Cricket 2018

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Well this is going to put him out of England contention for quite a while longer. Affray is not as bad as GBH by a long way but could still get a prison sentence but more likely it’s gonna be a suspended sentence and some community service/fines.
 
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Naughty naughty Australians.

Blatant cheating to try and get ahead. There is going to be some consequences for that. The fact that Steve Smith admitted that it was cooked up by himself and others is disgraceful really. As a leader to cheat and to purposefully put a young guy finding his way in cricket to do the dirty deed is shocking, he should resign but don’t think he will from his press conference.
 
You’d hope that cricket Australia would punish those involved and stop picking them but this is sadly a bit of the dark side of the game at top level I imagine most teams push the boundaries and their mistake was getting caught.
 
You’d hope that cricket Australia would punish those involved and stop picking them but this is sadly a bit of the dark side of the game at top level I imagine most teams push the boundaries and their mistake was getting caught.
Yeah apparently Cricket Australia are investigating as we speak, can’t see how Smith can continue, you have to lead by example and he hasn’t. Incidentally Smith and Warner have stepped down for the rest of this Test.

Makes me wonder if Australia were employing these tactics against England when they were getting prodigious reverse swing.... or maybe England were just that bad! :p
 
There’s an element of home condition knowledge when it comes to reverse but you wonder if that’s just what home bowlers know will work in their conditions. Broad raised that exact point today why would they pick this moment to change their methods?

Smith & Warner have some stepped down for the rest of the series.

I imagine those involved could face some long bans for doing what they did.
 
Smith has been banned for one test and fined 100% of his match fee by the world governing body, he's also resigned as captain of his IPL franchise.
 
Ban isn't long enough in my opinion. I think people are being naive to believe this is the first time they've done this or something similar. Footage has emerged of Bancroft pouring sugar into his pocket during the Ashes. Bancroft's batting average is pretty poor so maybe this is why he's been able to keep his place...

I think there are a number of people in that dressing room that know about. Smith spoke of a leadership group speaking about it so you'd have to assume that 2nd and 3rd choice captain would be part of that.

Awful publicity for the game but really enjoyed watching yesterday's coverage with the South Africans bowling aggressively at the Australian batsmen, some deliveries brought a new meaning to ball tampering! haha

Morne Morkel should not be retiring, a superb performance with the ball!
 
My concern is are they idiots for getting caught whereas other teams are being more subtle but in international cricket with all those cameras looking for controversy keeping it hidden is almost near impossible. As you say the sugar in the pocket now looks very suspicious as others will say why did they suddenly decide to do this now.

The penalty for it have always been fairly easy but you wonder if public opinion in Australia might force cricket Australia to go one step further. The Aussies are a lot of things but they have always felt you play fair and this is a massive embarrassment for them.
 
Ban isn't long enough in my opinion. I think people are being naive to believe this is the first time they've done this or something similar. Footage has emerged of Bancroft pouring sugar into his pocket during the Ashes. Bancroft's batting average is pretty poor so maybe this is why he's been able to keep his place...

I think there are a number of people in that dressing room that know about. Smith spoke of a leadership group speaking about it so you'd have to assume that 2nd and 3rd choice captain would be part of that.

Morne Morkel should not be retiring, a superb performance with the ball!
Yeah I can’t for one moment imagine this is an isolated incident. The sugar in the pocket thing is super suspect and obviously accusations will be coming from everywhere now. Smith says this was the first time but how can we trust a cheater? His reputation has been sullied forever - he is one of the very best batsman in the world right now but his reputation has taken a huge hit.

I could imagine Warner being a central figure to the ball tampering suggestion. He’s never been squeaky clean and can imagine him fronting him up and suggesting it. Think Bancroft was just the canary but he’s old enough to man up and be like err nah this is ridiculous. He’s not some impressionable 17 year old like Amir when he deliberately bowled no balls.

And as for Morkel, yeah the guy is still world class. His wicket tally would be so much higher but he has this habit of taking wickets off no balls! Think maybe he has a county cricket contract lined up for one last payday - sure someone like Surrey would pay him really well.
 
Someone made a good point on the radio the other day that this tends to be more common in county games because there's only 2 cameras fixed on the wicket so it's easy to get up to all sorts of tricks and it's even more common at local level where you have no cameras. Everyone knows the tricks of the trade and every country seems to have a "method" of getting the ball to reverse swing especially in home conditions as there are certainly secrets to getting it to reverse early. For Australia it's become obvious that Bancroft was their guy and his mistake was getting caught by the camera's but I don't for one minute doubt that everyone in that dressing room knew what was doing.
 
Someone made a good point on the radio the other day that this tends to be more common in county games because there's only 2 cameras fixed on the wicket so it's easy to get up to all sorts of tricks and it's even more common at local level where you have no cameras. Everyone knows the tricks of the trade and every country seems to have a "method" of getting the ball to reverse swing especially in home conditions as there are certainly secrets to getting it to reverse early. For Australia it's become obvious that Bancroft was their guy and his mistake was getting caught by the camera's but I don't for one minute doubt that everyone in that dressing room knew what was doing.
Yeah I would be baffled if there was only one or two who knew about it. Also I do wonder if the coach did know about it. Suppose until a thorough investigation is done it’s all speculation.

That is true about county cricket, obviously they do have cameras like you say but no-one really focusing on the antics in the middle. I would like to think that players in county cricket have more honour than purposely going out to cheat but I didn’t think Smith would get involved in it either because he seemed like an honest sort of guy.
 
So Smith, Warner and Bancroft have been sent home with punishments to be learnt in the next 24 hours. Lehmann has escaped punishment after having no knowledge.

Can see long bans coming up for those players.
 
Turns out it was sandpaper that they used to try to alter the ball.

Cricket Australia have handed out the following bans

Warner 12 month ban and will never be considered for any leadership roles in the national team
Smith 12 month ban and banned for 2 years from any leadership roles
Bancroft 9 month ban and banned for 2 years from any leadership roles

Lehmann found to have had no involvement his reason for coming on the walkie talkie was apparently to ask what was going on.
 
Guess the 12 month bans were kind of expected. I’m glad Cricket Australia have not let them off with hefty fines and small bans. Although it may seem like 12 months but the repercussions past the year will be all to see. Would be surprised to see Warner back in an Aussie shirt, he’s in his thirties now so this could be it for him. Bancroft was just the canary so he may come back. I can see Smith coming back but you never quite know.

It was so stupid from Smith because the way his career was going, he had the chance to catapult up the leading test run scorers of all time. The whole affair was just idiocy from all involved.
 
Now Lehmann has stepped down. You could see he was really hurting from his press conference. Shame the players have put him in this position.

Although the interview with Smith was quite hard to watch. He is definitely remorseful for sure. Gonna be a tough road back for him to get back into the Australia setup.
 
Currently England on course to break the ODI record vs Australia

434-3 with 5 overs still to play

Hales & Morgan currently swinging for the fences.
 
Haven’t been watching but been following on cricinfo. Absolute carnage.

500 is on for sure. 496 is the List A record. With Hales and Morgan smashing it, I wouldn’t put it past them. Bet they wish they could play at Trent Bridge every game!
 
Didn't quite make it to 500

481-6 off 50 overs.

21 6's in total
41 4's

20/20 has really changed the game think there's a case for the ODI being the most entertaining form of the game now as it gives the right balance you still need to look after your wickets but the scoring is crazy compared to where it was 5 years ago.
 
First we struggle to find someone to partner Cook, now we have to replace him!

A terrific player but it is the right time to go, his form has plummeted of late but he has just kept it going with the odd double century. Definitely the right time. He is not the most talented or the most technically correct but he has great heart and guts. We will struggle to replace him for sure and it’s not like there is an abundance of top class openers in county cricket right now. We might just have to give it to a young guy and see how it goes. Jennings will be for the chop for sure and I expect Rory Burns to be the next cab off the rank.
 
Think if anything he stayed to long to try and help us find some openers but his scores have been declining for a long time.

Thing is county cricket isn't really the place to judge them because they rarely face the truely quick bowlers as the international level guys down really play county games anymore so someone can score runs for fun against the 80mph county guys but when you get to the 90mph guys they just get skittled. It really just comes down to a trial and error process I doubt Jennings will get picked again after India unless he gets a massive score in the final test.

Is a solution give Butler the gloves full time and ask Bairstow to open? I don't think you can ask your keeper to open the batting it's to big a workload or do they push Ali up to open he came in at 3 in the last innings and opens at county level.

What's pretty incredible is we've won a series against India the number 1 ranked team in the world without a decent opener England's think we average under 100 for our first 4 wickets in the last year which is pretty shocking when you think about it.
 
Great to see Cook go out with 2 big scores it's how he deserves to go.

Hopefully our bowlers get the job done tomorrow and secure the win.

One more wicket and Anderson is outright as the highest wicket taking fast bowler.
 
Surely we move Root to opener and partner him with Mooen for the next test?
 
I dunno Root is our best batsman normally you let them pick their spot and protect them from the opening bowler and the new ball most of the worlds top batsmen bat at 3 or 4.

Opening batting is more about seeing off the opening spells from bowlers the first 10 overs then start building a score, Root wants to play shots which is why you want him coming in at 3 or 4.

Big problem all summer has been none of the top order really scoring runs consistently our middle order saved us constantly be it Stokes, Curran or Butler coming in and putting on big 5th, 6th or 7th wicket stands.
 
I agree about most of the top worlds batsmen bat at 3/4 but most of the captains that bat also make a point of their leadership and put the foot forward as an opener to set the tone.

I’m also not a fan of our openers not being our best batman. I wasn’t when it was Pieterson and not now with Root. The opening wicket can decide where a game is going and your best batsman should be able to cope with a new ball.
 
The opening batsman are ideally the ones with the best defensive game you need them to bat for time and build an innings only play the sensible shots and protect the wicket, that isn't really Root he scores very quickly when he does score. You tend to want the 3rd/4th in the line up to be the ones who can really pile on the runs once the openers see off the new ball and the opening bowlers first spell as in theory after that it gets a bit easier.

The biggest problem is opening batsmen at county level don't face 90 mph quicks they're seeing off 80mph guys the step up to test level is huge as the international bowlers very rarely play a 4 day county game anymore and with the rise of T20 you don't really get the touring players you used to. So it's a kind of learning on the job thing which is why they tend to give them a full series now to show what they've got but no one has looked capable of holding down that spot since Cook came in to partner Strauss ever since Strauss retired we've needed 1 opener now we need 2.

Root needs to start scoring at 3 or 4 he's had a pretty poor summer runs wise so I wouldn't want to move him up as captain he gets to pick his spot to a certain extent it's the same with Bairstow who's not really scored at his usual rate.

The most convincing looking batsman was Butler he's played some really nicely constructed innings batting for long periods playing sensible shots to help England recover after a poor start.

There is a school of thought now with so many players being more suited to the one day game as that is where the money is that in test cricket you might as well just go for it from the start because no one is spending the time developing a defensive game because there's no money in test cricket.
 
Don't really watch cricket, but they are talking about him on Radio 2 at the moment. Sounds like a real nice guy as well as an excellent cricketer.
 
Yeah he is the kind of guy I imagine every dad would like their daughter to bring home basically he's the Juan Mata of Cricket.
 
Cook has been on a bit of a downward spiral for a little while and it’s not surprising, he’s never been the flashiest of players but his defiance and grit is what sets him apart. That sort of determination and heart must take it out of you especially fronting up to the new ball test after test. I don’t think we will feel his loss as much as other players because he hasn’t been playing too well for a while now but we need to find two decent openers. I worry more when Anderson retires!
 
It's a tough one as I think we have players that can get us 20 wickets to win test matches but we have no one who can open the batting we have a lot of options in the bowling attack obviously no one is Anderson level in terms of consistency even Broad isn't the sort of guy who picks off 2 or 3 in every innings like Anderson does.

Cook's strength was mentally he was solid as a rock if he scored 10 or 210 it didn't really effect the way he played his next innings he'd just reset to default setting and go again. I think age caught up to him a bit the reaction speeds go.

Just booked my tickets for the Ashes next summer.
 
Ah happy days, let’s hope it’s a good series for you.

I think in England we will always have players who can swing the ball so should be okay without Anderson and no doubt a youngster or two will break through before he goes. However his skills overseas will sorely be missed, most of our bowlers looked utterly toothless in Australia but Anderson has that skill to get the most out of every pitch.

Cook’s record is incredible really, opening the batting in England is tough with the ball hooping around corners. To finish with an average of 45 is brilliant. He always did the hard yards up front and allowed players like Pietersen, Bell, Root etc to flourish. Not sure who will replace him, Rory Burns is a shoe-in for the Sri Lanka tour but beyond that it’s slim pickings, Jennings has looked beyond awful. The openers cupboard is definitely bare.
 
Was listening to the BBC cricket podcast and they made a valid point for Sri Lanka in the winter you need guys who can play spin well so there could be lots of changes as we will need to take 3 possibly 4 spin options which might rule out some of the all rounder options plus potentially taking a specialist wicket keeper who can stand up to the stumps.

In the bowling attack and we'd need to pick batters that can handle the spin.
 
Yeah definitely need players who play spin well in Sri Lanka, they are the most spin friendly surfaces in the sub continent. I don’t think having proper openers is so much of an issue there so Vince will probably get another chance at the top of the order. You’ll be facing spin from ball one so as long as you can play spin well then you’ll get a shot. Denly is in with a shout too I guess and his leg spin has improved beyond recognition in the last year or so.
 

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