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Cricket 42: The answer to life, the universe, and the inevitable English batting collapse


Xray the Enforcer

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1 hour ago, TheLastWolf said:

Who was the last one given equal chance as his batsman (sorry MCC, batter) counterpart to prove himself competent?

Meanwhile Ind won the 2nd t20 vs NZ. Yawn

Kumble comes to mind as a recent bowling captain (and quite a good one). Arguably he could’ve gone on for longer but I think MS was looming over him the whole time. Shaun Pollock and Heath Streak were serviceable skippers.

Can’t recall any others though since I started following cricket.

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35 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Kumble comes to mind as a recent bowling captain (and quite a good one). Arguably he could’ve gone on for longer but I think MS was looming over him the whole time.

The 2007 inaugural T20 WC and the IPL next year changed the face of cricket. Commercialized.

38 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Shaun Pollock and Heath Streak were serviceable skippers.

Can’t recall any others though since I started following cricket.

Warne in the IPL :laugh:, no one else to the best of my knowledge. Maybe from the first half of the 20th century upto 60s some unknown gem

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Re: the Paine incident, I can see both sides here. 

On the one hand, it was four years ago, investigated, deemed consensual by Cricket Tasmania and exonerated, therefore the only thing he did wrong was a personal matter (given he was married). 

On the other hand, it is behaviour that could be seen as compromising the reputation or conduct generally associated with the captaincy. If he'd been sexting his wife, no problems, but he was sexting someone else and that employee has raised a complaint about it.

We'll never know whether Cricket Australia would have sacked Paine, but he resigned first and I imagine to save himself and his family further embarrassment. It would have been interesting if he stayed on and whether CA would have stuck by him. At some point I reckon the public pressure would have got to him and they would have had to sack him.

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Hopefully they don't go back to Smith. Really don't want some bullshit redemption arc for him. He can redeem himself by just playing well.

The trouble with going for a fast bowler is that they are injury prone. Cummins/Lyon combo? or maybe bring in an old head like Finch back into test setup? Marnus is too young and there aren't a lot of solid/reliable batters in the team (other than Smith and Warner....).

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9 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Who was the last one given equal chance as his batsman (sorry MCC, batter) counterpart to prove himself competent?

There's Darren Sammy and Jason Holder for the Windies as well.

I don't think England have had a (non-all rounder) bowling captain in Tests since I started watching. Last might be Bob Willis in the early 80s?

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1 minute ago, williamjm said:

There's Darren Sammy and Jason Holder for the Windies as well.

I don't think England have had a (non-all rounder) bowling captain in Tests since I started watching. Last might be Bob Willis in the early 80s?

Flintoff was well on the way to not really being an all rounder anymore by the time he captained England.

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11 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Flintoff was well on the way to not really being an all rounder anymore by the time he captained England.

If we're judging by performance in a role rather than title you could probably argue he wasn't really captaining either.

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How did I forget those Windies captains?? 

Poor Freddie. I think that tour in which he was captain was the worst Ashes I’ve seen.

Waqar as well I forgot - I think he had some crazy high winning percentage as captain. 

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8 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I bet he wishes he had kept his mouth shut now. Not only is he being painted as a racist himself, but also a nonce. This is why people don't whistleblow. 

I think in the long term he won’t regret it. Naturally there will be efforts to discredit him but the County game has really shown its true colours and it’s time for some change.

The latest twist in the Paine saga is current and former CA bosses trying to point the finger at each other for the mess. Oh and JL wanted Paine to stay, which is weird as presumably CA would have sacked him anyway based on their public statements (though they refused to confirm this hypothesis).

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Some stray observations:

  • Paine is now taking a break from cricket, which makes a lot of sense to me as his participation in the first test would probably have been an unwelcome distraction for the home side. Presumably this ends his international career, which is still a very creditable one overall. 
  • I don't think the Rafiq news around anti-Semitism or creepy texts will make a difference. This whole thing turns on institutional racism as evidenced by a massive cover up, not whether Rafiq is squeaky clean.  
  • England's prep for the first test has been ruined by weather so far. Maybe Hameed is a banker for the first test after making some runs?
  • Easy win for Sri Lanka against the Windies, mainly due to the impeccable Karunaratne and Embuldeniya. So far the post-Holder captaincy period has been mixed at best. 
  • India pretty well placed in the first test against NZ. Black Caps' spin deficiencies are on full display, much like England's were. 
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Drowning in test cricket now! Nice rearguard action from Rahim and Das against Pakistan. Das picked up his first test-match century, which was due. 

Oh and perhaps I wrote the Kiwis off a little early. Southee and Jamieson were superb and restricted India to less than 400 despite a debut ton from Iyer. Young and Latham have been in control ever since. 

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A lot to digest right now! The Windies putting in a better performance against SL this time, NZ clung on for a famous draw, Pakistan swiped aside Bangladesh.

Oh and England’s Ashes prep? Qld’s weather is preventing any…

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The drawn first test between India and NZ turned out a fantastic match, with highs and lows all round. Who'd have thought that India would have difficulty getting out the NZ Indians to win the match. Last wicket stand between Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra, holding out 52 deliveries. For 22yr old debutant Ravindra, born in Wellington and named after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar (Ra/chin) it was, as he put it "the stuff of dreams". You couldn't make this stuff up ...unless you were Rachin's parents.


What I love most about any test played in Sri Lanka is SLC's highlights package available on their Youtube channel. Most other nations barely tease 5min hightlights for a Test match day which is equivalent to a teaser trailer and is essentially a thumbnail, but the SLC typically provide a well curated 20mins of action and commentary per day, amounting to up to an hour 1/2 hrs for a five day test. Generous stuff SLC, well done.

 

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