The Cricket Thread

Bollocks, I've only just stumbled upon this thread. Should have joined the forum sooner, then I could have spent the summer regaling you all with tales Chippenham 3rd XI's adventures in the Wiltshire County Cricket League Division 3. You'll just have to wait for the serialisation of the soon-to-be-Times-bestseller in GQ...

Wonder if the WIndies will put up a decent in the 20/20s if it's not done for by the weather.

Nick wrote:

Bollocks, I've only just stumbled upon this thread. Should have joined the forum sooner, then I could have spent the summer regaling you all with tales Chippenham 3rd XI's adventures in the Wiltshire County Cricket League Division 3. You'll just have to wait for the serialisation of the soon-to-be-Times-bestseller in GQ...

Wonder if the WIndies will put up a decent in the 20/20s if it's not done for by the weather.

Do you play against a team called Goatacre in your league? Went there once with my club,Werrington CC from Cornwall,in the national village competition.They had a very good player called Iles as i remember,very small ground but in excellent condition.Good bar facilities too,i got thoroughly pissed watching Werrington win narrowly and got off the bus at the wrong service station on the way home,had to hitch to the next one.Those were the days.As to the West Indies,in all honesty i don't really know what these matches are for,except to rake in more money,but England should be too strong,i'd have thought.Pollard very dangerous though and they have one or two others who can larrup it,i like Bishoo as a bowler as well.Take it Gayle's not playing?

Yeah, utterly pointless. Still, D/L aside it should be a simple couple of wins for Strauss Cook Broad Swann as captain. The Windies are a mess, they need to sort themselves out with the players/board fiasco. Feel for Chanderpaul, the last decent one remaining from the mid 90s when they were decent.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

Yeah, utterly pointless. Still, D/L aside it should be a simple couple of wins for Strauss Cook Broad Swann as captain. The Windies are a mess, they need to sort themselves out with the players/board fiasco. Feel for Chanderpaul, the last decent one remaining from the mid 90s when they were decent.

The West Indies decline is quite possibly the saddest story in the history of cricket.World cricket needs a strong West Indies team IMHO,but we seem to be a long way from getting it.I've heard all sorts of reasons why they don't produce great players anymore,other sports,lack of dedication from the players,bad organisation,inter island politics etc,probably a combination of factors.Very sad,when you think of Richards,Sobers,the 3 W's,Hall and Griffith,Gibbs,Kanhai,Richardson and the seemingly endless supply of fast bowlers in the 70's and 80's,of which i think the late Malcolm Marshall was the greatest.For such a small area,the West Indies have given so much,horrible to think that they may be in terminal decline.I like the look of the younger Bravo and Bishoo,but they've had a lot of promising players recently who have failed to progress,hopefully they can sort it out and thrive again.Here's Geoff Boycott's favourite memory of batting in the West Indies;

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Not played Goatacre, Greenskin. They're in a higher league structure than the 3rds but the 1sts and 2nds played them in a pre-season friendly. I've only lived here/played for Chipnum for a year, too. Lots of lovely village grounds around, though, and the clubhouse at our ground serves Stowfords so can't complain

On the Windies, seen Fire In Babylon? Superb stuff. Like you say, crying shame that they seem in terminal decline. The 'blame' appears to lie with American sports, and kids much preferring them nowadays rather than cricket.

Tring toured Somerset for a few years in the late 80's and we used to play Goatacre on the way home, on the Friday. Would never be done today. Wrecked all week plus a game on the way home then a league game on Saturday. These days the league matches commence at 11 am and are a minimum of 120 overs !

On SSN earlier,the test venues for the next two Ashes series were announced.Why is there a series in 2013 and another one in 2015? As far as i can remember,it was always 4 years between home Ashes series. Is this another money making decision or is there something specific behind it? No test for Headingley in either series,damned shame IMHO.

Maybe in today's Test cricket, no test would ever last more than half a day at Headingley.

My favourite Ashes performance by an Englander there was not Botham, good as that was, but Derek Underwood.
Early 70s series, he just slaughtered them.
One of the wierdest bowlers to ever play cricket ..... a medium pace spinner ... bit of a hero of mine ... given the right conditions, he was unplayable ... and Headingley certainly has been unplayable on a minute to minute basis.... fantastic English cricket ground..... watch out ! here come some clouds.

penzancepirate wrote:

Maybe in today's Test cricket, no test would ever last more than half a day at Headingley.

My favourite Ashes performance by an Englander there was not Botham, good as that was, but Derek Underwood.
Early 70s series, he just slaughtered them.
One of the wierdest bowlers to ever play cricket ..... a medium pace spinner ... bit of a hero of mine ... given the right conditions, he was unplayable ... and Headingley certainly has been unplayable on a minute to minute basis.... fantastic English cricket ground..... watch out ! here come some clouds.

I remember that test,the Aussies whinged about the pitch being doctored,it probably was,but what the hell anyway,common practice in many countries.There was also that test at the Oval when the crowd helped to mop the pitch up and Derek ran through the Aussies in a very short time,helped by the most attacking field i've ever seen in cricket. Deadly Derek was indeed unplayable sometimes,especially when we had uncovered wickets.A very miserly bowler too and was [and still would have been] a formidable bowler in one day cricket,hardly ever got collared.

Do Australia really want to be touring England that often in the form and set-up we've got at the moment (and their lack of ideas going forward)?



PS Fire in Babylon was ace.

Greenskin wrote:

On SSN earlier,the test venues for the next two Ashes series were announced.Why is there a series in 2013 and another one in 2015? As far as i can remember,it was always 4 years between home Ashes series. Is this another money making decision or is there something specific behind it? No test for Headingley in either series,damned shame IMHO.

Its so that the Ashes series don't clash with the cricket world cup.

Them thur Injuns 5 England 0.Who'd have thought that? England were 129-0,all out 176! Crux of the matter is that England can't play spin on turning wickets and will need to be much improved if they are to stand a chance in the next test series in India.

Greenskin wrote:

Them thur Injuns 5 England 0.Who'd have thought that? England were 129-0,all out 176! Crux of the matter is that England can't play spin on turning wickets and will need to be much improved if they are to stand a chance in the next test series in India.

Think we need to either leave them out there to play club cricket, or get the techies to recreate artificial, sub continent pitches indoors at Loughborough.

Guilty! Salman Butt,Mohammed Asif found guilty, Mohammed Amir already pleaded guilty.Sentenced tomorrow,could be a year or two at Her Majesties.Very sad that such talented people feel the need to get involved in such matters,probably the tip of an iceberg.Maybe this will serve as a warning to others in future.With the money in cricket these days,from ordinary first class and test cricket as well as the IPL,wouldn't have thought there would be any need to endanger a lucrative career but money upfront does strange things to people,i guess.Particularly sad about Mohammed Amir,a major talent indeed.

[quote="Greenskin"]Guilty! Salman Butt,Mohammed Asif found guilty, Mohammed Amir already pleaded guilty.Sentenced tomorrow,could be a year or two at Her Majesties.Very sad that such talented people feel the need to get involved in such matters,/quote]

No surprise. If it were Alex Stewart or some connected English player in the dock, I suspect the result would have been different... in fact it has been in the past.
It is so so obvious that these spread betting frauds are going on ... it's been happening for ever. Will cricket be able to get away from this sort of scandal. Almost impossible I suspect. I will never trust another sub continent cricket match again. These stupid bets like the no ball bollocks, are just asking for trouble. That such bets have not been outlawed shows the hold the gambling industry has over competitive sport.... it's become as common as shoplifting.

....and it was the tip of the iceberg. There must have been a very good reason why the NotW invested so much in the sting.

The Aussies made their test match innings for 100 years today.All out for 47,against SA.

downthetrack wrote:

The Aussies made their test match innings for 100 years today.All out for 47,against SA.

Watched it all. Hilarious ! Right down to the last ball..................... unlucky Hussey !

downthetrack wrote:

The Aussies made their test match innings for 100 years today.All out for 47,against SA.

After being 21-9! They can still win the match,too,should be an interesting day tomorrow.

I missed out lowest score,having a bit of trouble with the tv at the same time.can't multi task like the fairer sex

Our (our being Chippenham 3rd XI) use the school pitch that's round the corner from the club proper. They've just had a new artificial pitch laid on the square, right next to our grass one. The sub contractors who laid it did this

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Nick wrote:

Our (our being Chippenham 3rd XI) use the school pitch that's round the corner from the club proper. They've just had a new artificial pitch laid on the square, right next to our grass one. The sub contractors who laid it did this

I used to play a lot at Roborough. Despite the field having a locked gate it would be invaded by travellers every year. And despite there being enough room for a cricket pitch, 2 football pitches and a warm up area, the only place they could ride their quad bikes was over the cricket square.

I used to play at Roborough too! Can't remember if it was the under 11s or under 12s though

My favourite place. Tring Park Cricket Club. All day bar on match days. Runners up in Home Counties Premier League. A small town club punching above its weight ?

Not really. Success as a sports club requires realism, vision and drive.

In the first photo, my eldest lad Tom bowling against High Wycombe. Check out the middle stump !


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ps made me smile listening to Graham Swann on 5 live saying 50 overs cricket should be scrapped in favour of Test and 20/20.

Could that be because we're crap at 50 overs ? Huge crowd in India for the 1st one dayer v WI













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Frank Bullitt wrote:

Nick wrote:

Our (our being Chippenham 3rd XI) use the school pitch that's round the corner from the club proper. They've just had a new artificial pitch laid on the square, right next to our grass one. The sub contractors who laid it did this

I used to play a lot at Roborough. Despite the field having a locked gate it would be invaded by travellers every year. And despite there being enough room for a cricket pitch, 2 football pitches and a warm up area, the only place they could ride their quad bikes was over the cricket square.

Roborough amalgamated with Plymouth Civil Service last year,presumably becasue Civil lost their facilities at Beacon Park.Shame really,Civil used to be a pretty good team in the Devon league,they used to have a guy called Danny Webster,who was seriously quick- he did some coaching for a team i played for in the evening league in Plymouth,he was still pretty sharp in his forties.

Tring,can't seem to access the first two photo's that you posted-any idea why?