Cricket (None Leicestershire County Cricket Club)

[shilton_fox]

25 minutes ago, Silebyfox_89 said:

Personally think for the better, Malan will help add some experience at 3, Crawley and Sibley need time away from the test team and work on technique.

I’d agree. Would love to see mahmood involved at some point to give him a shot at test cricket. Really impressed with the skill of his bowling in the white ball series this summer. 

[Bert]

Please let this be the end of Sibley. 

[Bert]

On 17/08/2021 at 15:20, Silebyfox_89 said:

This England test team is the worst its been since the 90's, alot the responsibility is with the ECB for chasing the cash with the Hundred and putting cricket behind a pay wall. With regards to the current test team i'd be inclined to make the following changes:

 

Burns-In keep for now 

Sibley- out

Hameed-Move to open with Burns

Root-out remove of captaincy burden

Bairstow-In

Buttler-In- give him the captaincy for the interim

Ali-In

Curran-Out

Robinson-In

Wood-In if fit

Anderson-in 

 

Team for Headingly- Burns, Hameed, Malan, Root, Bairstow, Buttler (c), Ali, Woakes (if fit), Robinson, Wood (if in doubt Mahmood), Anderson.  People may not agree with Malan but this team is crying for a bit of quality and experience and Malan did well in Aus last time round plus he's been in the form of his life in with the white ball over the last few years. Sibley isn't a test player for me, he has a narrow scoring range and his weaknesses have been found out. Think some of the Vince criticism is unfair too some players do/can come back from the wilderness if they work on there mental/technique, think Crawley/Pope are in this bracket at the moment.

 

Problem is that any wholesale changes are unlikely to happen during a test series as it may jeopardise/under mine the the current squad. From the outside of the test team its slim pickings but following the ECB's Pathway/Lions process to making the test team you'd think the following players would be up for consideration soon:

 

Openers:

Libby/Lees

 

Middle order:

Malan/Vince/Abell/Hain/Bohannon

 

Keepers:

Davies/Bracey

 

All rounders:

Overton

 

Bowlers:

Mahmood/Carse/Brookes/Virdi

 

The ECB need to be careful if this test team gets any worse they will struggle to sell out for upcoming home series if we are uncompetitive and in turn hurt themselves finically in the process.

Buttler as captain? He’s lucky to even be in the test side. Isn’t scoring enough. Remember when we had Alec Stewart? Matt Prior? That’s a wicketkeeper batsman. Buttler is class in white ball but he’s not up to it with the bat in red ball. He’s got one fifty this year in 9 matches. 

[Silebyfox_89]

21 minutes ago, shilton_fox said:

I’d agree. Would love to see mahmood involved at some point to give him a shot at test cricket. Really impressed with the skill of his bowling in the white ball series this summer. 

Like the look of Mahmood he has it all swing it both ways and good pace too, give him a chance with Archer/Stone/Woakes out.

[Silebyfox_89]

14 minutes ago, Bert said:

Buttler as captain? He’s lucky to even be in the test side. Isn’t scoring enough. Remember when we had Alec Stewart? Matt Prior? That’s a wicketkeeper batsman. Buttler is class in white ball but he’s not up to it with the bat in red ball. He’s got one fifty this year in 9 matches. 

Only for an interim process for the rest of the series & Ashes maybe, i'd like Foakes over Buttler but there isn't any other options in the team. Anderson/Broad possibly but both are hot headed and are likely to be rotated. 

 

[Jimmy]

is Foakes still out injured? Clearly the best with the gloves out of the wicket keepers

[Voll Blau]

40 minutes ago, Corky said:

Glamorgan host the Hundred?

 

Agreed on the other counts. Sky are showing the final having given precisely zero coverage to this tournament.

Aha yeah course they do. Didn't put two and two quite together there as the county and franchise didn't seem as closely linked as some of the others... *cough* Notts *cough*.

[Bert]

18 minutes ago, Silebyfox_89 said:

Only for an interim process for the rest of the series & Ashes maybe, i'd like Foakes over Buttler but there isn't any other options in the team. Anderson/Broad possibly but both are hot headed and are likely to be rotated. 

 

Nah. Root’s a great captain and that has shown. All captains make mistakes of course but there’s no one better for the job right now. 

[Voll Blau]

32 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

is Foakes still out injured? Clearly the best with the gloves out of the wicket keepers

Yeah, still out.

[The People's Hero]

17 minutes ago, Bert said:

Nah. Root’s a great captain and that has shown. All captains make mistakes of course but there’s no one better for the job right now. 

Agree with this. Hasn't covered himself in glory for a while, but has earnt patience and is definitely the man for the job.,

[Jimmy]

Root is without 3 of his main wicket tacking bowlers and one of them is the second best in the team with the bat and his VC no wonder he's making mistakes

[Bert]

22 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Root is without 3 of his main wicket tacking bowlers and one of them is the second best in the team with the bat and his VC no wonder he's making mistakes

That’s not the sort of stuff that makes you bowl short at tail enders rather than the stumps just because you’re after a bit of revenge though.  That’s inexcusable but you’re right it doesn’t help that Stokes, Broad & Archer are missing along with Woakes too. 

[CosbehFox]

Malan called up…..Yorkshire….

[AjcW]

Changing topic slightly.

Has anyone's feelings on the Hundred altered at all? Have you watched much of it? Not necessarily asking whether you're a convert, just whether feelings have softened at all?

 

I'll still stand by the fact creating more of an IPL feel with the T20 would have been the better way to go but....

 

- Kids do seem to have absolutely loved it during the holidays, 

- From what I could see it seemed to attract a bit more of a 'football crowd' than T20, IE big groups of mates in their 20's

- There's been some outrageous run scoring given the 20 less balls than T20

- On the flip side some bowling figures have been outstanding too and much better than in T20

- As has been mentioned in the Leicestershire thread, it's opened up an opportunity for B team and youth players to play List A 50 over cricket sooner than they ordinarily would have, and almost opened up the chance for Leicestershire to attend a finals day. 

 

Flip side... 

 

- Unless it's expanded to every county like with T20.... it doesn't solve the issue with revenue generation for the smaller counties, unless it's suddenly going to increase T20 crowds next season.

- It might even significantly reduce T20 crowds, there's A LOT of tickets available for Notts T20 QF at Trent Bridge next week... has the 'Rockets' success given people fatigue/something else to spend their ticket money on.

- It's currently another thing to fit in to the schedule, something has to give next season if it does continue, probably reduced List A 50 format likely?

 

 

Not looking to start a war here... just want some balanced comments in response  

 

 

[Rain King]

Not watched a second of it and never will.

[Voll Blau]

53 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Changing topic slightly.

Has anyone's feelings on the Hundred altered at all? Have you watched much of it? Not necessarily asking whether you're a convert, just whether feelings have softened at all?

 

I'll still stand by the fact creating more of an IPL feel with the T20 would have been the better way to go but....

 

- Kids do seem to have absolutely loved it during the holidays, 

- From what I could see it seemed to attract a bit more of a 'football crowd' than T20, IE big groups of mates in their 20's

- There's been some outrageous run scoring given the 20 less balls than T20

- On the flip side some bowling figures have been outstanding too and much better than in T20

- As has been mentioned in the Leicestershire thread, it's opened up an opportunity for B team and youth players to play List A 50 over cricket sooner than they ordinarily would have, and almost opened up the chance for Leicestershire to attend a finals day. 

 

Flip side... 

 

- Unless it's expanded to every county like with T20.... it doesn't solve the issue with revenue generation for the smaller counties, unless it's suddenly going to increase T20 crowds next season.

- It might even significantly reduce T20 crowds, there's A LOT of tickets available for Notts T20 QF at Trent Bridge next week... has the 'Rockets' success given people fatigue/something else to spend their ticket money on.

- It's currently another thing to fit in to the schedule, something has to give next season if it does continue, probably reduced List A 50 format likely?

 

 

Not looking to start a war here... just want some balanced comments in response  

 

 

Not watched a second of it so don't feel qualified to comment on the 'on the field' stuff you've mentioned, but would dispute the idea it's attracted a beerier crowd than T20 does (ironically, precisely the crowd the ECB said they didn't want turning up to it).

 

Also, playing more cricket during the summer holidays is something that could easily have been achieved with the right scheduling initiatives through the counties (free tickets to schools/clubs etc). And it's all well and good if you happen to live in or near one of the seven cities where it's being played - not so much for kids in Leicestershire and many, many other places. The idea that it's been more accessible than county cricket has been probably the greatest fallacy of this whole farce.

[AjcW]

5 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

The idea that it's been more accessible than county cricket has been probably the greatest fallacy of this whole farce.

I think the problem there is wording, rightly or wrongly by 'accessible' they meant 'watchable' not 'within 30 miles of your home. 

 

Problem is all my cricket friends I speak to with 5-10 year olds can't even get their kids to sit through T20, but for some reason they've enjoy this more.

 

Kids wont even sit through 90 mins of football these days without the iPad coming out, so I don't think the ECB are ever going to try free ticket initiatives for an entire days one day or 4 day cricket. 

 

[Silebyfox_89]

55 minutes ago, AjcW said:

Changing topic slightly.

Has anyone's feelings on the Hundred altered at all? Have you watched much of it? Not necessarily asking whether you're a convert, just whether feelings have softened at all?

 

I'll still stand by the fact creating more of an IPL feel with the T20 would have been the better way to go but....

 

- Kids do seem to have absolutely loved it during the holidays, 

- From what I could see it seemed to attract a bit more of a 'football crowd' than T20, IE big groups of mates in their 20's

- There's been some outrageous run scoring given the 20 less balls than T20

- On the flip side some bowling figures have been outstanding too and much better than in T20

- As has been mentioned in the Leicestershire thread, it's opened up an opportunity for B team and youth players to play List A 50 over cricket sooner than they ordinarily would have, and almost opened up the chance for Leicestershire to attend a finals day. 

 

Flip side... 

 

- Unless it's expanded to every county like with T20.... it doesn't solve the issue with revenue generation for the smaller counties, unless it's suddenly going to increase T20 crowds next season.

- It might even significantly reduce T20 crowds, there's A LOT of tickets available for Notts T20 QF at Trent Bridge next week... has the 'Rockets' success given people fatigue/something else to spend their ticket money on.

- It's currently another thing to fit in to the schedule, something has to give next season if it does continue, probably reduced List A 50 format likely?

 

 

Not looking to start a war here... just want some balanced comments in response  

 

 

i'll try and give you a sort of balanced opinion on the hundred,

 

Positives:

• The exposure, attendance and viewing figures of the women's game, which has been neglected internationally over the years.
• Cricket on free to air TV- Live cricket of any format on free to air TV both male/female games has been great and something we've missed greatly since 2000's.
• The quality and depth of the teams and some of the cricket has been played during a pandemic has been great to see

Negatives:

• I'm still yet to be convinced what 'the hundred' offers differently that the T20 doesn't already do just minus 20 balls
• The ECB- Just chasing more cash to fill the coffers post pandemic, this will be at the detriment to the test game.
• Impact to RL50 which has been watered down to a Sunday league competition, yes the flip side is youngsters are given a game but surely you want the best players available for each competition
• The impact the Hundred has had on scheduling has been criminal for no red ball cricket to be played for 3 weeks in August is stupid 

 

In conclusion i think the ECB are forcing something on cricket fans which isn't really needed, the amount of cricket played globally now is unparalled and causing people like Ben Stokes to have burnout. Like you've said instead of the ECB chasing the money and selling the rights to SKY, they would probably be better to have freshened up the existing T20/RL50 competitions instead of creating something new.

I think there will probably be changes for the next tournament after the backlash or marketing/timing, the ECB need to get the right balance of all formats to help ensure we are competitive at all levels of the game.

 

Quality over quantity every day of the week, as of now i'm not a convert and probably never will be. 

[Voll Blau]

14 minutes ago, AjcW said:

I think the problem there is wording, rightly or wrongly by 'accessible' they meant 'watchable' not 'within 30 miles of your home. 

 

Problem is all my cricket friends I speak to with 5-10 year olds can't even get their kids to sit through T20, but for some reason they've enjoy this more.

 

Kids wont even sit through 90 mins of football these days without the iPad coming out, so I don't think the ECB are ever going to try free ticket initiatives for an entire days one day or 4 day cricket. 

 

If we're talking about it on TV, they've probably enjoyed it more because it's actually available on TV channels everyone can watch - sometimes the games have been on five different ones at the same time! The key thing you mention though is these are your cricket friends, and therefore presumably their kids will end up being interested in cricket at some point anyway? So they're not really the target market The Hundred was allegedly aimed at.

 

The biggest issue with getting kids to actually go to games is the removal of their right to play on the outfield during breaks. It used to be the best part of the day for me! Cricket in whatever form is a long day/evening out for children but letting them emulate what they see in the flesh would go a long way to keeping them interested!

[purpleronnie]

I've watched loads of it, really enjoyed it.

[AjcW]

18 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

The biggest issue with getting kids to actually go to games is the removal of their right to play on the outfield during breaks. It used to be the best part of the day for me! Cricket in whatever form is a long day/evening out for children but letting them emulate what they see in the flesh would go a long way to keeping them interested!

This brought back so much nostalgia!! I used to bloody love doing that.

Similarly when I used to go and watch Leicester Riders and you could play behind the stands  

[AKCJ]

The Hundred has been really good from what i've seen.

 

I was vehemently against it all from the start but went into the opening fixtures with an open mind and it's surprised me.

 

However, I don't know why they couldn't have just rebooted 20/20 games and given it the same attention and coverage as this. I also don't rate the teams much in terms of why couldn't they just have counties still?

 

But overall I think that it's great cricket has been given such a spotlight. Everyone involved seems to have loved it re, fans, players, pundits etc.

[BoyJones]

35 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

If we're talking about it on TV, they've probably enjoyed it more because it's actually available on TV channels everyone can watch - sometimes the games have been on five different ones at the same time! The key thing you mention though is these are your cricket friends, and therefore presumably their kids will end up being interested in cricket at some point anyway? So they're not really the target market The Hundred was allegedly aimed at.

 

The biggest issue with getting kids to actually go to games is the removal of their right to play on the outfield during breaks. It used to be the best part of the day for me! Cricket in whatever form is a long day/evening out for children but letting them emulate what they see in the flesh would go a long way to keeping them interested!

Very valid points. I used to take a couple of my lads in the late 80’s and look forward to having a knock just in front of The Meet. Think I enjoyed being on the outfield more than them!! 
 

Also it was nice to wander over to the middle and inspect the pitch, along with a couple of dozen others. Small pleasures, but important. 

[Corky]

21 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

The Hundred has been really good from what i've seen.

 

I was vehemently against it all from the start but went into the opening fixtures with an open mind and it's surprised me.

 

However, I don't know why they couldn't have just rebooted 20/20 games and given it the same attention and coverage as this. I also don't rate the teams much in terms of why couldn't they just have counties still?

 

But overall I think that it's great cricket has been given such a spotlight. Everyone involved seems to have loved it re, fans, players, pundits etc.

Because the ECB want franchise cricket- to reduce the number of teams participating. They want as close to the Australian 6 state domestic model as possible. This is a test to see how it works. Crucially for them, fairly significant voices are on their side.

 

I always thought the Hundred would be entertaining because they recruited top players. But it should also be noted it has had every advantage going in terms of timing, coverage, player availability.

[Voll Blau]

Come on then Durham, chase these down.