Cricket X

[Hereward]

Ooh, I like the worst team challenge. That's going to be really, really difficult for an England fan. Shall I go for incompetent, or dull, on the rare occasions when they weren't both, that is? Let's see:

Tavare

Brearley

Maddy

Ramprakash

Fairbrother

Pringle

Jones

Salisbury

McCague

Mahmood

Pattinson

[williamjm]

Just for fun - using the same rules to compile a Worst XI:

M Slater*

C Rogers

G Blewett

S Watson

M Love

C White

A McDonald

G Manou (wk)

C Miller

N Bracken

B Williams

Slater is probably a bit unlucky to get in, but I only saw him during the twilight of his career, so on that basis he's included. TBH, the batting is still relatively strong even with this team, but the bowling is dire.

That team might still have won the Ashes some years ;)

Ooh, I like the worst team challenge. That's going to be really, really difficult for an England fan. Shall I go for incompetent, or dull, on the rare occasions when they weren't both, that is?

I'm going for a slightly different approach, the Biggest Disappointments XI of players who were never as good as they should have been:

Nick Knight (might get in the Best ODI XI, though)

Mark Ramprakash

Owais Shah

*Graeme Hick

John Crawley

Neil Fairbrother

Chris Read (wk) - nothing wrong with his keeping, but his Test batting was inept

Chris Lewis

Ian Salisbury

Sajid Mahmood

Liam Plunkett

[ljkeane]

Chris Read's a bit of a harsh inclusion, his batting was never meant to be more than servicable at best and he's a quality keeper so at least he's top class in one facet of the game. I'd say Geraint Jones was far more of a let down on all fronts.

[williamjm]

Chris Read's a bit of a harsh inclusion, his batting was never meant to be more than servicable at best and he's a quality keeper so at least he's top class in one facet of the game. I'd say Geraint Jones was far more of a let down on all fronts.

With Read's wicket-keeping talent he could have been the England wicket-keeper for the best part of a decade, but instead he's only played a handful of Tests because his batting isn't up to Test standard - the disappointing bit is that he didn't play more because of that weakness. For someone who averages 37 in First Class Cricket and has 18 Centuries to his name, I'd say his Test batting average of 18 is also underperforming.

I'm not sure Jones really had the potential to be either a top class wicket-keeper or batsman so his mediocrity was less of a disappointment.

[Hereward]

I like these games, which says something about me I'd rather not be reminded of!

OK, biggest disappointment's XI:

Trescothick

Key

Owais Shah

Hick

Ramprakash

B. Hollioake

J. Foster

Caddick

Tremlett

Panesar

Plunkett

[Jeor]

I like these games, which says something about me I'd rather not be reminded of!

OK, biggest disappointment's XI:

Trescothick

Key

Owais Shah

Hick

Ramprakash

B. Hollioake

J. Foster

Caddick

Tremlett

Panesar

Plunkett

Caddick wasn't that bad - after all, he was virtually an all-rounder with Sky Sports using him as a secondary satellite dish on the field.

[Hereward]

:lol:

I watched the 20/20 yesterday and I have to say: Stick a fork in it, it's done. I think everyone would much rather be somewhere else.

[williamjm]

I watched the 20/20 yesterday and I have to say: Stick a fork in it, it's done. I think everyone would much rather be somewhere else.

I think most of the supporters were somewhere else, it must be a contender for the worst-attended England international match played at home (or even in mythical countries nearby). Possibly one of the ODI matches coming up in the next couple of weeks might challenge for that title, though.

In slightly better news for Pakistan, police have decided to not to charge Danish Kaneira after alleged spot-fixing at an Essex match last year.

[Paxter]

Well, we have a competitive game on at least. Still feels kind of hollow though after everything that has happened this summer :worried:.

[Confalume]

Carn the Bushrangers, who needs Cam White :huh: :angry: :angry2: :crying: ????. We've still got the man with the best name in cricket, Andrew Barry McDonald. Best name ever!! (Is it Andy, Bazza or Macca (No it's Ser Ronald!!!!!)). But seriously go the Vics, I can feel the change in seasons, 2 more weeks then horses then cricket :cheers: .

Here is the best combined team I have seen.

1. Matt Hayden ~ When he was going you couldn't bowl to him. Just loved when he batted a foot out of his crease, danced down the pitch and swatted it over the bowlers head.
   
2. Justin Langer ~ Staunch, part of the best opening partnership ever.
   
3. Ricky Ponting ~ My Gen, he simply has to be in.
   
4. This is to tough. ~ I want to pick my man Simon Katich, but I can't. I have to pick Mark Waugh. Elegance personified.
   
5. Steve Waugh ~ The Ice-Man. Sure he inherited a good team but how many times did he get us out of the shit??
   
6. Allan Border ~ I will never forget listening to AB becoming the highest run scorer in history.
   
7. Adam Gilchrist ~ Whilst his keeping was not as good as Heals we all know about his batting.
   
8. Shane Keith Warne ~ I was there at the M.C.G. for his 700th wicket. Best bowler ever.
   
9. Brett Lee ~ Pace is good. This was the 2nd hardest spot. I saw Lee get 7 for bugger all in his frist game. Real hard to go past him but Damien Fleming and Dizzy Gillespie were both close (DIZZY FOR BEST TON EVER!!!!!!)
   
10. Craig McDermott ~ He was the man as I first got into cricket.
    
11. Glen McGrath ~ Clearly in. Awesome guy, beter bowler.
    
    

[Paxter]

Bah. Who let Bill Lawry join the board?

[Paxter]

End of the road for Freddie. A truly great player, although injuries and a slow start meant that he was unable to sustain the level of performance he achieved in the 2003-2005 period for his whole career. He was certainly one of the most influential players I have ever seen - not only because of his personal wicket-taking/run-scoring abilities, but because of the way his team-mates seemed to lift their game when he was in the side. And it's no coincidence that he featured in both of England's Ashes wins last year.

In terms of where he sits on the pantheon of modern all-rounders, well, probably only Pollock and Kallis were better. Statistically, Cairns is slightly better than Freddie (in both batting and bowling), but he was never able to inspire his team to the great test victories that Flintoff achieved.

Also: anyone following the CL? I've watched a couple of games, but can't really get into it (for Aussies: it's on free-to-air tv on One HD).

[Zoë Sumra]

At least we have a distraction from allegations of match-fixing.

[Jeor]

Can't say I've really gotten into the Champions League. I'll flick it on just because I'm a compulsive sports-watcher but it doesn't really take my fancy. I like the odd Twenty20 game but only if they have players that I really know and unfortunately a lot of the guys playing are just fringe names to me. Not really their fault but hey, I might get into watching these semis and the final.

Finally the farce of a tour from Pakistan is over. Ijaz Butt is a walking disaster, he's basically just committed political suicide with his crazy match-fixing allegations. Considering England were Pakistan's lifeline for neutral Test matches it's a pretty spectacular own goal. Pakistan would already have found it tough to get future fixtures with the match-fixing cloud, but now with a PCB chairman like this, it's not as if people are going to rush up to host this team.

At least we can start talking about the Ashes, which I'm privately a little afraid of. Our creaking, ageing batting lineup is going to get tested and playing in India is probably not the best warmup for a long home season. And if England could score against us in seaming, swinging conditions, their batsmen are going to like the roads of Australia even more.

[Stubby]

In the news:

ENGLAND cricketer Jonathan Trott grabbed Pakistan paceman Wahab Riaz around the throat and called him a `match-fixer'. it emerged today.

Trott and Riaz had an altercation in the practice nets minutes before yesterday's fourth one-day match at Lords' - which Pakistan won by 38 runs to level the series at 2-2 - and had to be separated by England batting coach Graham Gooch.

Dare I say it,

He trottled him.

:leaving:

[Jeor]

Dare I say it,

He trottled him.

:leaving:

You better be leaving Stubby, that was awful!! Beat me to the punch actually...

:rofl:

[williamjm]

At least we can start talking about the Ashes, which I'm privately a little afraid of. Our creaking, ageing batting lineup is going to get tested and playing in India is probably not the best warmup for a long home season. And if England could score against us in seaming, swinging conditions, their batsmen are going to like the roads of Australia even more.

I think this tour should go better than England's last Ashes tour. With home advantage Australia are probably still slight favourites, their batting line-up may not be what it once was but England's batting form hasn't been great over the summer either. At least this time, England seem to have a fairly settled squad, unlike the last tour where they were carrying a bunch of unfit players and some who probably shouldn't have been there at all and the selectors didn't seem to know what team to pick. This time round I wouldn't really disagree with any of the selections, with the possible exception of Tim Bresnan who I can't see taking wickets in a Test match - but he's unlikely to play so it doesn't really matter.

What do you think the Australian bowling line-up is likely to be? I've lost track of who the Australian selectors are favouring at the moment.

[Stubby]

They are still in love with Johnson. Hilfenhaus and Bollinger will have the other two spots to lose. Siddle will come back into the mix if he is fit. Personally, I don't think Hauritz has done anything to warrant being dropped, but in reality the spinning option is a lottery.

[Jeor]

They are still in love with Johnson. Hilfenhaus and Bollinger will have the other two spots to lose. Siddle will come back into the mix if he is fit. Personally, I don't think Hauritz has done anything to warrant being dropped, but in reality the spinning option is a lottery.

Yeah, I think Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Bollinger are the incumbent attack with Siddle trying to get back in. It's not the most awe-inspiring attack. For all his admirable work-rate, Siddle is not a natural wicket-taker (sort of like a louder Aussie version of Bresnan) and Johnson is notoriously unpredictable. I think Bollinger and Hilfenhaus are going to have to do most of the heavy lifting. I rate Hilfenhaus, and Bollinger's stats look pretty good (44 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 24.65 and strike rate of 47 are hard to argue with), but it still isn't an attack that will strike fear into England's lineup. Hauritz is still first-choice spinner but the selectors will probably pick Steve Smith to be in the squad. He isn't really a frontline spinner though, more of a bits and pieces all-rounder, so he probably won't get a match unless it's the Sydney Test. But I'm sure he'll be mentioned and float around in the mix somewhere.

Put all this together with our batting lineup (Hussey and Ponting clearly in decline, Clarke is probably the only one in the prime of his career) and this is quite possibly the weakest Australian team fielded in recent memory. Home advantage may help, but I really think this is England's best chance of taking an away Ashes seriesor a long time.

[Paxter]

Australia absolutely dominating in a tour game vs. Indian President's XI. It's a far cry from the first test, but still some positive (worrying from my perspective) signs for Australia. Good to see North make a statement though - he had a lot to prove and he certainly fired with a run-a-ball century.