Paxter Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Congratulations to Younis Khan on becoming the first Pakistani to make it to the 10,000-club. He's eclipsed the likes of Javed, Inzy and Yousuf to become Pakistan's highest test run-scorer. He also boasts the highest test average of any Pakistani batsman (just shading Javed, who admittedly played in a less batsmen-friendly period). And together with Misbah, he propelled Pakistan to the top of the test rankings, despite not playing a true home test in nearly a decade. Pakistan cricket won't be the same without him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squab Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 On 5/04/2017 at 6:19 PM, Hereward said: I am unexpectedly underwhelmed by the approaching Ashes, which is unprecedented for me. This seems strange considering the one-sided thrashings of the 1990s, but at least then there was the excitement of watching some of the sport's greatest ever players and hoping for backs to the wall defiance and maybe even an occasional upset. This time there is little in the way of greatness on show, winning away is vanishingly rare and England's batting fragility against pace (and spin), combined with a lack of quality bowlers in non-English conditions, make a thrashing by an average team seem inevitable. Someone talk me out of it. ACF presale tickets for ashes start tomorrow. All except for Perth where government is involved. Its a long wait and I like Englands lead up more than Australias. I am looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Urgh. Pakistan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 What a finish to the final test in the WI v Pak series. Gabriel had a brain explosion in the penultimate over of an otherwise staid match to hand Younis and Misbah the fairtytale ending they so richly deserved. I think it's worth reflecting on just how good a test captain Misbah was. He took over when Pakistan cricket was at a particularly low ebb: in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal, the retirement of the greats Yousuf and Inzy and the ongoing loss of true home ground advantage. At the time I remember thinking that Misbah was completely set up to fail. He seemed too old and perhaps not even a good enough batsman to merit a place in the test lineup. Fifty-six matches later he completes his career as Pakistan's most successful test skipper at the age of 43, with nearly double the number of wins of Imran and Javed. And a pretty good test batting record to boot! Amazing stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular John Umber Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Misbah is a legend, and I truly hope he is remembered as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Some hope for Hereward six months out from the Ashes. It will be interesting to see how this plays out: both parties have entrenched positions and the players are saying that they would be prepared to compromise the Australian summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Well straight off the back of the IPL comes...another tournament that most here probably don't care about. But I'll try to spark some enthusiasm for the much-maligned Champions Trophy anyway! England had a good win against SA today that sets them up nicely for the tournament. Having Stokes, Buttler and Ali in the middle/lower order makes for a powerful batting lineup. And Bangladesh knocked off NZ with relative ease in their most recent match. Group A is shaping up to be a tough proposition for Australia as the reigning WC champs and the most fancied ODI team on that side of the draw. Meanwhile there will be no easy games in Group B. I think Sri Lanka might struggle but the other teams (India, Pakistan and SA) are pretty evenly matched. Overall this is looking like it will be a decent tournament. Certainly the retention of the shorter format (it goes for just over two weeks) and the omission of the lowest-ranked teams (West Indies and Zimbabwe) were good moves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 20 hours ago, Paxter said: Overall this is looking like it will be a pretty decent tournament. Certainly the retention of the shorter tournament (it goes for just over two weeks) and the omission of the lowest-ranked teams (West Indies and Zimbabwe) were good moves. I seem to remember the last tournament had some entertaining matches, even if the final got a bit curtailed by the English weather. It is a nice opportunity to see (almost) all the team playing in a relatively short space of time, even if nobody probably really cares too much about who wins in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 29, 2017 Author Share Posted May 29, 2017 I just came in and saw the England score. This is a bit of a downer after an encouraging first couple of games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 10 hours ago, ljkeane said: I just came in and saw the England score. This is a bit of a downer after an encouraging first couple of games. On the plus side, that game saw the names "De Kock", "Willey" and "Ball" appear on the scoreboard simultaneously. Worth the admission price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 1, 2017 Author Share Posted June 1, 2017 Good win for England today against a Bangladesh side who're no longer a pushover in this format. The bowling is a bit of a concern though with Woakes picking up an injury and Stokes not really looking fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Yeah good win for the hosts in the Champions Trophy opener. Bangladesh will be disappointed not to force a closer contest after posting a decent score. But judging from recent ODI history, the warm-up matches and the state of the pitches, 300 will not be an above-par total in this tournament. And I think, generally speaking, batting second will be an advantage. This applies particularly to teams like England who bat very deep. Looking forward to Australia vs. NZ today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 2, 2017 Author Share Posted June 2, 2017 Damn just as it was getting interesting more rain. ETA: And it's rained off. Unfortunately it's looking like there might be a bit of that over the next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Gah such a shame. The Black Caps were well placed after Milne's early wickets. It would have been great to watch Smith try to restore the run chase. Today's match is a bit less tantalising but we have India v Pakistan to look forward to on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 Hmm, the wheels are coming off for South Africa a bit here. Sri Lanka aren't the strongest side anymore but, still, defending a sub 300 total might get a bit nervy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dejection Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 Comments paying homage to Misbah warm my heart. He was my idol and the fact that he contrasted so starkly to the majority of the rest of his team who were sub-par players made me all the more zealous as a fan. The years from 2011 to 2015 were really an awesome period for Pakistan almost solely because of 3-4 players, Misbah included of course. The rest of the team just disgust me; these guys have crap attitudes, poor body language and in a world of 100s and 150s they content themselves with pretty 40s and 50s. That being said, I quit watching cricket after Misbah retired although not solely because of this; as a cricket addict who studied the game like a science I was beginning to grow disillusioned with the ICC allotting Pakistan a rather ordinary tours programme each year. Most of all, however, the fake and cosmetic kind of feeling brought on by premier leagues, shiny uniforms and celebrity involvement started to piss me off. Cricket had a very ancient kind of feeling to it and all the glamour just started to make it unappealing for me. I guess this is also a factor behind the dominant trend of batsman-friendly tracks, thick bats and short boundaries. >Today's match is a bit less tantalising but we have India v Pakistan to look forward to on Sunday. I haven't followed cricket regularly but I'm well aware of the skyrocket of Pakistan cricket quality after 2015 so I'll just say that Pakistan will perform horribly and lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Why does ICC let a country, where it rains 1000 days a year, host any international tournament?! Fucking England....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Was really looking forward to this match - hope the rain stays away. To be fair, I guess the tournament had to be in a northern hemisphere country if it was at this time in the calendar, which leaves out Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Given the Windies weren't participating, that leaves only India/Sri Lanka as alternatives to England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 4, 2017 Author Share Posted June 4, 2017 Play's restarting in 10 minutes apparently. On the plus side perhaps the threat of rain will force India to put their foot down because watching them amble along at 4 an over in the first 10 overs wasn't the best anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 @Dejection's username pretty much sums up that Pakistan performance. Unfortunately it's been a while since that rivalry lived up to the hype. So four matches into this tournament and it has yet to produce a decent contest. The Australia v New Zealand game had potential but it was ruined by rain. Sri Lanka and Pakistan were completely blown away. Crossing my fingers for the Bangladesh game today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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