You may have come here in error – Twitter playing havoc. For the Death of A Gentleman review click here – https://collythorpe.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/death-of-a-gentleman-2/
Or read below…..
We should really have known.
There’s a statement made about NFL players scoring a Touchdown. “When you get into the end zone, act like you’ve been there before”. I think a lot of England fans, and that’s what they are, even if they disagree with me, need to keep that in mind. Sure, celebrate your victories and enjoy them, but don’t get carried away. Act like we’ve been there before. Act like this isn’t a vindication.
I’m happy to heap praise on England for creating an opening and then ruthlessly exploiting it. Hurrah! Jimmy Anderson pressed the “on” button, got the vital wickets with the new ball, and then let the situation and the pressure do the rest. Busting down the door on a wicket completely condemned as a dead loss (because these same bowlers did not come up to those standards in previous new ball spells, which is going to be forgotten now) was very good to see. Contrary to what those who criticise us think, I enjoyed watching us do that. What I won’t do is get carried away.
There’s something in the English sporting spirit that makes us over-react to victories. It’s the reason we never completely dominate anything for any length of time. While we seem remarkably satisfied with winning the 2005 and 2010/11 Ashes, the fact both of these were followed by total humiliation not long after summed up a lot of our England sporting psyche. I mean, seriously, how do you think Australia would have greeted this win against the 8th rated side in the world? Sure, they’d go on a little, but many would say “how the hell did we need a brilliant session to beat these guys?”
I’m one for parallels with history, and this looks and smells like Spring 2008. England had lost a shocking match to New Zealand at Hamilton, getting turned over for a small total in the 1st Test, and people had the knives out for the captain (Vaughan) and the coach (Moores). Then we won a scrappy test at Wellington on the back of a Tim Ambrose century, and went on to win at Napier as KP bailed us out on day one, and Strauss made his career best in the second. No-one went overboard over those expected victories, because coming up were sterner tests. When we lost the big home series to South Africa, the writing was on the wall for the nightmares to follow. Wellington wasn’t a new dawn, just a false one.
Let me turn to the reaction once more, and I’ll probably start with a reply to a comment below:
You know I was mad at Yossarian’s post in the week and some questioned why I should be. I’m glad I saw BTL because it proved I’m totally right to feel as I do. I’ll pick up on what those who have called people “not real fans” all I like because (and to sound childish) they started it. I’m not having any person question my fandom to the England cricket team. I went on a whitewash in 2006/7 and fronted up and pushed our corner in a foreign land. I went to South Africa. I’ve been to tests in England for many many years, often losing years. I’ve been a county member for many years. You question whether I’m a real fan? Excuse my French but Fuck Off.
If I weren’t a real fan, I’d have left. I’d have not bothered writing a blog nearly every day for a year. I don’t question your status, do not have the absloute front to question mine, and those who come on this blog. Who made you the sole arbiters of fandom? Do one. You don’t get to choose how I follow my team.
That should do it…..
You are not a real fan unless you over-react totally to this win and tell the world that Jimmy Anderson is absolutely amazing (is he a bowler of great spells, rather than a great bowler? To throw that cack back at them) and that Alastair Cook is now a very good captain in good form. If you can’t celebrate this win, what’s up with you?
We’ve beaten the 8th ranked team in the world, without their best quick bowler, and a frail batting line-up having wasted the advantage given us to a large degree on the 1st day. If this was a flawless, ruthless demolition over four days on a good deck, I’d be encouraged. But this was won because of an inspired performance on Day 5. The thing with inspired performances is that by and large, they don’t happen often. You can’t rely on them.
I was very happy with the win last night, but knew this was coming. I despair of the lack of nuanced thought. I’m not going to like Alastair Cook any more for it, but nor am I going to say he was rubbish. I’d just point out that there’s a mighty old elephant in the room if we’re celebrating 70s and cosy little 50 not outs (after the shine went off the new ball, this was no more than a net, albeit one played with some little initial pressure on it) as him being in good form, I recall him being in really decent nick when he reeled off three centuries on the bounce in India or three in five in Australia, including doubles and big tons. You are the ones clutching at straws, not me.
I knew what was coming, so I watched The Godfather for the first time. I might want to make some of those who call me “not a real fan” an offer they can’t refuse.
Being Outside Cricket 
The only shocking revelation in this post comes in the penultimate sentence. You had never watched The Godfather before? Shock! Horror!
I still haven’t. 😉
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After checking twice that my eyesight wasn’t reading Bogfather instead of Godfather, and I did it earlier this morning after your comment that you were sat watching The Godfather for the first time last night (Ooh did I really get me a peeping-tom/stalker?) – Yet again Dmitri, you have said everything I wish I could say, yet so much more succinctly (tho’ I did have a try on TFT earlier).
I shall stick to my occasional poem or hopefully cheery/sarcastic remark, and leave the true writings to yourself and a few others here and elsewhere – thank you for being you
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Oh, and later today, or tomorrow, I shall write ‘A fart-reeking train’ as promised 😉
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I had a go at Duc de whatever BTL who levelled the same crit at me. I was livid.
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Great film, isn’t it? You really need to watch Godfather II as well, it’s much more than just a sequel. But the third part was a mistake IMO, don’t bother.
Question: do England supporters/journos get over-excited about winning because we’re really not very good, or are we really not very good because we get over-excited about winning and are too easily satisfied?
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Zeph – agree TheGodfather II being the one and III being a squib.
As for your question…phew, it’s Sunday lunchtime and a bit heady to reply too at the mo’! 🙂
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Disagree though Odfather three was good and the ending gut wrenching
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@EMASL Was thinking of a name change, perhaps TheOddfather is more appropriate! lol
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If I say no, will you still comment on here?
This isn’t a film review site, and I know I had to watch it as a film of its time. It’s why I adored Citizen Kane when I first watched it, and I also loved The Third Man (which betrays the fact I think Orson Welles was just the coolest dude in all of film history. Man, what an actor). I’m also not a massive fan of the whole gangster genre (Goodfellas left me cold – sorry). So I watched it for its almost three hour duration and thought, yeah, pretty damn good, but not crashing my top 10. It was lovely to see Al Pacino play a part in a film and not scream and shout!!!!
I’m taking II and III on holiday with me, but thinking of watching French Connection (another one I’ve not seen – this is terrible, I know) on the way over to the States.
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Godfather II is better and might well make your top 10, but honestly you can skip III. French Connection never really did it for me, but again it’s a classic of its time. The Third Man, well, there you are talking classic… OK, I’ll stop now.
But of course I’d still comment even if you said you loathed my favourite films 🙂
I would stop if you came back from holiday magically transformed into Graeme Swann (see below).
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It doesn’t make sense without Godfather II. I’m with you on the whole gangster genre, Mean Streets apart it leaves me cold too (Mean Streets actually has a heart and an energy lacking from the later films). But the Godfather II is much more than a gangster film, it is a film about the making of modern America. Pacino is wonderful in both, if only he could channel that silence and stillness today. He’s become a dreadful ham. In short, give it a try: its a very good, but not great film.
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A quality advert for independent cricket travel:
https://twitter.com/search?q=howzat%20travel&src=typd
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Is this a dream, or is it just fantasy?
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Can you even begin to imagine the levels of smugness, Cook-love and Anderson-adoration coming off that stage? Root might have been deemed worthy of a passing mention I suppose…
I will be at a charity event in Sheffield, hosted by Jonathan Agnew and featuring a Q&A with Stuart Broad, next month. Quite looking forward to it actually. Even at my most pessimistic I can’t imagine it remotely comparing with the Lovejoy and Selfey show.
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So much shared oil rubbing congratulatory spouting flowed, that Sir Giles newly registered POCCITdotcom is now fracking in Grenada as we speak.. (now we now the reason for the state of the pitch…)
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I have achieved the distinction of being blocked by Selvey on Twitter
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add a k to the second now – soz
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It’s probably not ‘hold the front page’ news that I’m not and never have been a fully paid up member of the Jimmy Anderson Fan Club. I guess I’ll always prefer pace or spin to swing bowling. I admired Terry Alderman but I loved Dennis Lillee.
Anderson had a brilliant session yesterday. The ball that dismissed Chanderpaul was top class as was the run out. The Samuels’ delivery and the Blackwood catch were very good indeed. I enjoyed them at the time. But now….. I’ve read that he is comparable to Lionel Messi. And Roger Federer. And that he’d “walk into any Test team in the world” (who would SA leave out from Steyn/Philander/Morkel or Australia from Johnson/Harris/Starc?).
I’m feeling peevish again. I really don’t enjoy it.
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Or stuff like this:
“it just proves why, in my eyes, he is England’s best bowler of all time….. When you’ve got special players in your team they can produce special performances at the drop of a hat”.
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Hat must have been hidden…
Complete with moronic nonsense from The Braying Donkey.
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Yes they can can’t they? Like 8-34, or 5-1 in 28 balls against a side needing 40 to win, or 13 wickets at Bombay, for instance. And that stuff about him being the best-ever fielder to open the bowling was drivel even by Vaughan’s standards. Didn’t Both hold the England catches record for years, as well as the wickets record?
Overuse of “all time” is the biggest threat facing cricket punditry today.
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Ah yes, there he sits, one behind Strauss and nine ahead of Cook. Can’t see any bowlers near him.
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No surprises who threw this one into the ring:
“The best cricketers are those who can elevate their game to a different level when the call comes”.
Nobody called during ‘the difficult winter’?
And this one:
“Anderson was superb. He has always maintained that when he really needed it he had an extra gear”.
So he didn’t “really” need an extra gear during…… and so it goes.
Meanwhile, Hales has followed a daddy hundred off the champion county with another big ton today and is the first to 500 runs. Pity the coach thinks he can’t play nip-backers.
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Anderson has just drawn level with Makhaya Ntini on the list of Test wicket-takers.
It’s remarkable how similar their records are. I’d probably rate Anderson the slightly better bowler but a case could be made either way. What I do remember about Ntini is lots of damning with faint praise (great stamina, tries hard, not much variety, only really has one method, etc). I don’t recall him ever being called the best in the world, or the best ever, or hearing how many gears he had.
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If the England team wa– sorry, I mean — If Alastair Cook’s team (as they must now be called until they lose again), was ranked nine or ten, then this reaction would still be quite over the top.
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Here is something you wont be reading in your Daily Cook newspaper.
AN APOLOGY FROM SELVEY NEWMAN BRENKLEY
In recent weeks we have let it be known that Colin Graves had dammed England’s chances of a win in the West Indies. He referred to them as mediocre, and we made it clear this was an invitation for them to prove him wrong and show some fight.
We now realise that by firing a warning shot across the bows of an under-performing England cricket team, and making them realise they would be held to account this made them get off their complacent backsides and get a result.
We would like to apologise to the new England cricket boss for this slur and accept it was about time someone at the ECB set out some basic demands for the team. We have been responsible for cheerleading failure and poor performance. We hope this new era of accountability will sweep away the cosy, complacent clap trap we wrongly supported before.
Yours in good faith
The Royal Cook fan club
care of Bedford school
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Mark – deliciously deviant! I hope at least one of the MSM will read this and weep
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“This made them get off their complacent backsides”.
The most intriguing feature of this test for me is how Broad and Anderson could both suddenly put in one spell where they were clocking just under 90 mph when the rest of the time they were in the low 80s or even under. Broad put it down to a technical change. Why then was his pace back down in the second innings? I’ve been more convinced by some of Broady’s DRS calls than that explanation.
I’m hoping there is some other explanation than some necks were on the chopping block. At the moment I haven’t seen one and can’t think of one.
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I think Anderson has always been more of a swing bowler than a pace bowler – he was faster when he was young, but he was never going to come back from the back troubles faster. So I’m not so bothered about that, he puts in a quick spell now and then, but concentrates on swing.
Broad for me, is physically not back to proper match condition. He should have been playing in CC instead of going on this tour, building his stamina back up and getting really grooved. I blame the England medical team for this.
(Of course, Broad may already be permanently damaged due to long-term mismanagement, but I hope not…)
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Metatone, going to have to disagree with you slightly here. Anderson didn’t take his fifth morning wickets with swing but with bounce (Brathwaite) and seam (Samuels and Chanderpaul). Also I can’t prove it but I have a strong suspicion that the ball is more likely to swing (and especially swing late) if it is above a certain velocity. Pace is therefore I think important with Anderson even if he is not going to blasting batsmen out with pace alone.
On Broad, I agree with you about stamina. Broad’s pace fell markedly during the day. His fast spell (when he clocked over 90 mph at times) was early on the second day. After tea his pace has been right down. Cook got some flak for only giving Broad three overs in the final session of the 1st Test but Cook had that one right as Broad was down almost to Collingwood pace by that time.
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Fair point about how Anderson took his wickets – but my point is about the balance of the side. You don’t pick Anderson to be the pace bowler, he isn’t and thus it shouldn’t surprise that his “bounce” wickets coincided with the new ball – he usually can’t get that kind of bounce without it. I’m reasonably happy with Anderson as he is, IF we pick the rest of the bowling attack to provide some variety…
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George Dobell says Anderson was “shaken out of his slumber by some frank comments from Peter Moores and his side’s reliance upon him”.
Another ‘wish I’d been a fly on the wall’ moment!
http://goo.gl/0hIBEo
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I’m upping sticks from the suburbs of Peevishville and decamping to the city center:
So assuming England win in Barbados…. and ignoring the first two Tests against India……. and the series against Sri Lanka before that….. and the Ashes before that……
But otherwise, who could disagree?
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Elsewhere, taking absolutely no pleasure in the failure of someone who gave England great service, we have –
And then just in case anyone was in any doubt:
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Have you seen the one where he uses “just won five out of six Tests” as a response to someone quipping about Moores?
And I thought inflation was on the way down….
The impact of one ECB promo quote, eh?
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And finally not getting ahead of ourselves or at all triumphalist there’s –
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I feel proud to have beaten you to the punch on one thing, Simon!
But very much worth repeating.
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I think it’s the inability to be honest about uncertainty that bothers me more than anything.
England could beat NZ, England look good to beat NZ (in Etheridge’s view, not mine) but England WILL beat NZ? Where is the evidence to suggest that? We beat a team that were one frontline bowler down (again!) and for me that colours the whole match.
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We heard exactly the same over the the top triumphalism after last years series against India. After The Sri Lanka series had been air brushed away.
I have no idea if we will beat New Zealand. Will they be in any kind of form? What type of pitches will we play on? It seems rather presumptuous on just this Test match against a poor bowling attack.
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Metatone, I agree with you here. England may well beat NZ. A case can certainly be made. In a subsequent Tweet he gives three reasons:
1) NZ are suffering from a post-WC hangover (huh? how does that work?)
2) Some NZ players will be undercooked coming straight from the IPL (fair point)
3) England are at home (fair point)
One could add that England have a very good record in May tests, NZ have one and possibly two important players injured (Neesham and Corey Anderson), NZ last fairly resoundingly last time and they don’t have a good history in England (only four test wins ever). England also look difficult to beat with the current depth and form of batting.
It’s that WILL that, as you rightly say, grates.
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When it comes to pricing things up, the sort of guff Etheridge came up with to justify his delusionally bullish prediction is entirely secondary, not least because such factors are so nebulous.
You start with the relative strengths of the sides in the conditions in which they will be playing. And to be entirely frank, there is a cat’s whisker between them. In fact, I think their bowling is better than ours, mainly due to Broad’s poor form, and the synergistic effect of a good opening pair: Boult and Southee will be a massive handful in English conditions. Matt Henry is better than any first change we have. We’re probably just edging the batting, but that can easily be undone by our batters’ edging.
So after that, you can move the prices a bit on some soft stuff, but it has to be rational.
No other side in the world is more at home in english condition than the kiwis, but there’s the crowd and everything else that goes with it, so we can give england a shade here.
The IPL has been a factor for some sides, with players turning up the day before a test starts, but the kiwis have two warm up matches, and are very professional and driven under Hesson and McCullum. But yeah, there might be a little something there.
As for a World Cup hangover? That’s just embarrassing.
So being generous, we start at evens, and then give england a smidge for the nebulous.
And lo and behold, these are the prices being offered.
Presumably John has remortgaged his house.
He’ll probably say he’s not a betting man; but that’s untrue, because idiotic statements like the one he made on twitter last night, shows that he’s more than prepared to gamble with his dignity and reputation.
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I’d heard that the IPL players only arrive three days before the First Test although I’m not 100% certain about that. Williamson, McCullum, Boult and Southee are all playing in the IPL.
I’d like to see some of the IPL players do well just to get away from some of the preciousness about the difference between Test and limited over cricket that bedevils England. Hussain spoke of “white ball nonsense” the other day. So much for learning the lessons of the World Cup……
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“Post World Cup hangover” is a thing then, is it?
So remind me again why we’re playing the 2019 Ashes almost immediately after a home World Cup, having (disastrously) moved heaven and earth to separate the World Cup from the Australian leg?
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“Kevin Pietersen is the elephant in the room, even at England’s sleepy Sugar Ridge Hotel on the day after the first Test. Alastair Cook could be seen in a long conversation with Test Match Special’s Jonathan Agnew. It transpired this was a clear-the-air chat between the sensitive pair after Cook was upset with Agnew for being so positive about Pietersen’s World Cup stint with the programme. Quite why this should annoy Cook is hard to understand.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3046193/Arsenal-s-FA-Cup-TV-clash-Manchester-United-Chelsea-Premier-League-showdown-sees-viewers-lose-out.html
Last sentence says it all
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This sounds like Sale, so huge pinch of salt needs to be taken. That said, there’s more than a little of this narrative around.
Just watched KP’S 151 v Sri Lanka this evening. Of the trilogy this is the least commented upon. He averaged 12 that winter going into that game. Then he played that. ….
A league above anything I’ve seen in an England shirt. If he could refind that why wouldn’t you have that back? A big if, but in that knock he made Ian Bell look like a tortoise.
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Hoping to get to the Oval tomorrow where, thanks to England’s selection policy, our best batsman, keeper and spinner are playing. Unfortunately, since Surrey batted today, I could well be watching KP bowl and Monty bat
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Be good to get your views on the way Davies is batting. Seems in good nick. Enjoy your day!
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Sadly Davies didn’t last long. Mistimed a push to cover point.
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Worth recalling that Sale was first with the story about Downton leaning on the press to go easy on Moores during the WC – and that story has been subsequently confirmed by at least three of the press corps.
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If this is true it demonstrates why I can’t stand Cook. This overwhelming sense of entitlement just makes me puke. How old is he, 7?
Shouldn’t the England captain be above this sort of nonesense? I despair at this crap.
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If true, its beyond pathetic.
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“Cook was upset with Agnew for being so positive about Pietersen’s World Cup stint with the programme. Quite why this should annoy Cook is hard to understand.”
It’s perfectly clear why this should upset Cook — he’s imagining his future as some kind of ECB functionary (within or without the media) and realized that if KP gets a foothold, he’ll be competing with him for the hearts and minds of the public. He was telling Agnew that something should be done about this.
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Sigh!…I’m happy that England won a test match…I really am. I’ve also not read any of the hyperbole from the usual suspects, because I’m having a bullshit free Sunday.I can only follow the game on TMS, thankfully because I’m Sky free, but, I was pleasantly shocked at what Jimmy Anderson did..smashing!! However, there is still one more match to play….lets see what unfolds eh?
Macullum is on fire in the IPL….nobody in the MSM has noticed this…I also hear that after yesterday we WILL beat NZ….?? Who’s blowing smoke up who’s arse here do you think?
I predict…here and now….that NZ will absolutely tonk us in all formats!
You will find me, in a tent, on Morecambe front….soothsayer to the stars! 😉
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I also predict a tonking. NZ are way, way psychologically tougher than England, and they know it.
Apply the burning building test – you’re trapped with Brendon McCullum and Alastair Cook as the flames flicker ever closer in the stairwell and smoke fills the room … which of those guys is working out a way to get you out of there safely and which is waiting to be rescued and complaining about the inadequate smoke alarm system?
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Several pearlers in this lengthy exchange but an old favourite still stands out:
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Selvey talking in riddles again. My advice is put up or shut up Selvey. Tell us what is this mythical piece of information that you claim to know or STFU.
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Ah, I was hoping someone would post that conversation.
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Selvey sets the bar low – can anyone limbo under it? Step forward –
The replies are worth a look.
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England win = personal vindication for Cook. Thanks for proving one of our points yet again, Hughes.
They really haven’t got a clue between them, have they?
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Yes, because in Simons Hughes mind Cook is more important and bigger than England.
This is not The England cricket team anymore, but the Cook cricket team. Everything is judged on what effect it will have on one man, A Cook.
I didn’t choose this, the ECB stenographers chose this. They decided to steal the England cricket team, and turn it into a private club for the bennifit of one man. I don’t think it will change until Cook leaves the role. Unless of course Simon Hughes now wants to create a dynasty of Cook pod people to forever captain England. If that’s the case many of us wil no longer financially support the entity.
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No, they haven’t a clue. What’s interesting is that until about 7 or 8 years ago, I would most probably have accepted their narrative. OK, I would not have been happy, but it would all have more or less passed over in due course. However, now, because of sites like this and TFT, this will not be forgotten or forgiven for a long, long time… if ever.
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“The cult creator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until [we] are dead.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/11566228/England-captain-Alastair-Cook-rises-above-his-poor-form-and-the-even-poorer-behaviour-of-others-like-Marlon-Samuels.html#disqus_thread
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The irony is that I Understand, and agree with Steve James about player behaviour and yob like send offs of batsman. The trouble is he couldn’t have picked a worse example to make his stand. Samuels was not in anyway aggressive or yobish. It was funny and quite original.
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