Morning all.
Comments thread for today’s game which, given we have had to rest Jos Buttler, is one where our clear minds can overcome a formidable foe.
I can’t believe Strauss is patting himself on the back but while he does that, England need to rediscover their form in this series. It has been sobering so far.
Congratulations to Surrey for making the 50 over final. I missed yesterday’s game and was disappointed there appeared to be no highlights. A pain.
Comment away and also add your thoughts to Sean’s county cricket post and the TLG post on cricket bloodbaths!
Dmitri
Being Outside Cricket 
I understand that some international cricket is finally to be played in the north of England today, within a 35-mile radius of four of the six largest cities in England.
*sarcastic applause*
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Not totally thrilled that OT gets 2 games so close together.
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“I can’t believe Strauss is patting himself on the back but while he does that, England need to rediscover their form in this series. It has been sobering so far.”
See Dmitri? And Just when you thought you were running out of steam…….the ECB never let you down.What is interesting, particularly after 2005, is how little interest or column inches this Ashes win has generated. That’s what should be keeping them up at night rather than the spectre of KP.
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KP is all they have been concerned with for 2 years. The Ashes was all about winning without KP. Cooks captaincy and the ludicrous eulogising of him is all about keeping KP out. Last years entire season was all about KP. Strauss’s appointment is all about keeping KP out. The reason the media are so in love with him is because he would not allow KP back when Graves had left the door open. You can read the contempt someone like Newman has for the new ECB regime. Strauss is the only thing he gives them credit for. I wonder why?
Strauss has a job for as long as he likes now because he dumped on KP. The media/ECB will be in his debt for ever regardless of the results. As Simon has pointed out, every time England win its put down to Strauss. Every time we lose they gloss over Strauss.
But apparantly it is us who are obssesed with KP. We are only about KP according to our critics. Yet every thing they have done for the last two years has been about stopping KP and promoting people who will continue that policy. They are a joke.
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every thing they have done for the last two years has been about stopping KP And I still don’t understand why. It’s mad.
Except, of course, for the fact that he’s repeatedly been right about the actual game of cricket when they’ve repeatedly been wrong.
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Is Strauss the new Cook?
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Dick comma Head Chef?
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I have more time for Strauss, I think he’s way smarter than Cook and a good man-manager as well as an under-rated/somewhat forgotten batsman. Currently I’m not sure whether he’s sold his soul to the ECB or only leased it.
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Strauss the batsman was very good. (His biggest skill in my mind) Strauss the captain was ok, but like a lot of leaders I think he piggy backed onto a team of very good players. The mistake is then to only credit his leadership rather than the fact he was leading a number of good players.
His commentary skills were poor. As to his ability to run things…….who knows? I’m not aware of very much he has run since retiring from cricket. Reading self help books, and military tactic books is very different from physically running something.
What will stand him in good stead is he is establishment through and through. That alone will give him a lot of breathing space. His problem is I’m not sure what power he actully has. He can’t start telling counties what to do. If they don’t come up with new players what can he do? I can’t help thinking he has done his job for the next 2 years in the eyes of the ECB by saying no to KP, and appointing a new coach. What else does he do?
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I don’t think that Strauss was a good man manager with the cliques that he allowed to form and fester in 2011/12.
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Admired him immensely as a batsman; one half of my favourite England opening pair of the last 35 years; still think what he did on the field in 2004 and 2005 > anything Cook has ever done or ever will do.
Totally, and I mean totally, finished with him as a person/man manager/administrator, however. Thought he was indulged to a quite absurd degree during textgate: never challenged by anyone on the circumstances that may in part have led to a star player’s disillusionment. Instead we just read over and over again that his integrity should not be questioned. Which, in a society where critical thinking is encouraged, ought to have raised eyebrows and hackles straight away.
And sorry, but no-one says what he said on Sky, does what he did on the day of the 355*, *and* brings it all up again now a propos of nothing much at all, unless the problem is theirs alone. Nor can I ever have much respect for someone who’s perfectly happy to tag along with Tom bloody Harrison. Absolute company suit right down to his marrow; give him enough power and he’ll just become another Giles Clarke.
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I agree Arron. There has been no examination of Strauss leadership that created all the problems. He did let cliques develop, and he seemed to be just following orders from Flower.
As for,his famous outburst on Sky that revealed much more than he would have liked I think. It was very revealing how all the media rushed to his defence in a cringing manner that showed them up for the lackeys they have become.
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All good points about Strauss, certainly he was rubbish as a commentator and his ‘slip’ re KP revealed to me a rather pathetic attempt to be in with Nick Knight, more than anything else. I think he was a good, if dull captain and did manage well, but he stayed too long. He was hanging on for 100 Tests, and IMO he was actually tired and bored for some time before he quit, hence allowing cliques and completely screwing up the whole textgate thing.
But if you asked me to choose between working with Strauss or Cook it would be Strauss every time. You could make him into a good manager in the right setup.
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I’m in no doubt what Strauss thinks of you know who. None whatsoever.
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‘A society where critical thinking is encouraged?’
Are you sure, Arron? Rather the opposite I’d have thought, hence this blog, hence ‘outside cricket’.
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Paul, I was positively dripping with irony when I wrote that. Such a society would not have put up with yesterday’s “news coverage”, to name just one thing.
We did all this BTL at the time – the coverage of textgate was a joke, as if some nasty evil Saffer just decided (while preventing a humiliating home whitewash) to be a pain in the arse without the slightest provocation from various thoroughly honourable men who never made mistakes and whose word is bond. At the time there was an intelligent community well-versed in critical thinking – very cold water was poured all over it, and so we end up here.
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Maybe we’ll finally play a left arm bowler.
Not sure it will change the result though, we’re still a significant distance behind Aus at this kind of game.
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This KP thing infuriates me. If they wanted to drop him from Tests and bring in someone ‘new’ (Gary Ballance Gary Ballance Gary Ballance etc), that’s one thing. But halfway through what looks to be a 5-0 whitewash at home, after the worst World Cup in history, to be congratulating yourself for dropping a player with his record is fucking infuriating.
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There is no vacancy in the middle order. Remember that meme? Still has me rolling about laughing.
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#StraussLogic …
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England win the toss and elect to bat. The only change is Bairstow in for Buttler.
Never change a faltering attack. Woakes, Plunkett, Rashid, and Finn, coupled with some offerings of Moeen and Stokes.
Finch in for Warner, Pattinson for Watson and Agar makes his debut and replaces Coulter-Nile.
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It’s been driving me nuts over the last year or so, England keep making bad decisions and then all reasonable discussion gets shouted down with “you can’t drop someone after one match.” Which is a reasonable attitude in principle, but Plunkett just isn’t a good pick. He’s too old for 2019, too similar to Finn in general. Why aren’t we trying out Willey or Topley? We need more variety.
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He’s as funny as earache. Once I can get Lovejoy’s joke up you’ll know what I mean.
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Was Wood injured? If not, then Wood was dropped after one match. If it is just a precaution, why not let him miss the entire series?
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Gah. Send him to the Hackney Empire for the Xmas panto.
And never let him leave…
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I wonder if anyone tweeted to him, “Just like 20 quid tickets”.
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Think we’ve found the perfect home for Lovejoy here:
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/sep/08/xfm-rebranding-radio-x-chris-moyles-johnny-vaughan-ricky-wilson#comment-59070224
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England win the toss and bat. No left armer.
Aus lots of injury changes, but still look stronger.
Perhaps England can go after Agar…
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Hales couldn’t pierce the field – think the frustration got to him and he pulls one to a fielder in the ring. Another disappointing innings.
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Hales tortured innings has come to an end. 52/1, after 9.3 overs. Hales made 9 from 31 balls. Roy is on 38 from 26.
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Jacques Kallis never turned in any memorable Test-match winning performances.
Just one of the pearls of wisdom that awaits if you haven’t read this week’s The Spin yet.
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I suppose he was just average at the Oval in 2012. 182*, to go with a measly 26-8-60-2. He took as many wickets as England managed over the entire match. Clearly a sub-average performance by Kallis.
149 in Cape Town in 2005 against England. England comfortably won the match by -197 runs. For some bizarre reason, the South Africans celebrated having lost the match by -197 runs. And I don’t think too many England fans celebrated that particular game result either.
9/92 against England in Leeds 2003. Clearly not a matchwinning performance. 5/32 at Lord’s 1998. England must have won that game too, since it is obviously not a match winning performance. Next best bowler (Donald) took 5/32 and 0/82 in that match. And Kabir Ali return the best figures for England with 5/136.
But when an England captain scores a 43, it is a matchwinning performance.
Do they think cricket supporters have the memory span of a lobotomized squirrel?
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Sadly, many do.
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England still look all at sea against spin. No sense that even first capper Agar is under pressure from the batsmen.
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103/2 after 19 overs.
This tends to be the bit when we lose our way for 20 overs.
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165/2 after 28 overs
Can they make 300+ from here?
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221/3 after 38 overs.
Morgan out. Will it all turn to shit now?
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News from the cheery stat department:
Australia have batted second 32 times against England in ODIs this century and only lost six (plus one n/r):
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?batting_fielding_first=2;class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=1;orderby=start;orderbyad=reverse;team=2;template=results;type=team;view=innings
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Right – but I don’t think that’s out of line with their general winning record. Apart from 2005, when have we looked like a good ODI side?
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How can you forget our triumphant reign as No.1 ranked ODI side?
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Don’t make me invoke He Who Must Not Be Named…
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More seriously, Australia’s record, batting second in ODIs against ‘top eight’ nations this century, is a W/L ratio of 2.4. Their figure against England is 4.2. Only Pakistan (5.7) have a worse record. SL have fared best although Australia have won more matches than they’ve lost against everyone.
Perhaps England’s figures are distorted by the small sample size? 32 matches since 2000 is obviously not enough to be sure! Let’s have some more…..
#gilesclarkethinking
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Ok, I know when I’m being ragged.
I don’t think batting first is a magic route to an England win – I just think it’s a higher percentage choice for the team with a weaker bowling attack.
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Curiously, when Australia bat first against England their W/L ratio drops to 1.7. (Since 2000 again).
I’m genuinely surprised there is such a difference and that it is that way around.
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Overall in this batting innings, England seem to have it right tactically, they just don’t have the quality to turn those tactics into a winning position. Finding fielders too often, too many dot balls, etc.
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England limping. After an excellent platform they may struggle to even post 300. No excuse of chasing targets ,and thus RRR-pressure.
277/6, with just 22 balls remaining, and Taylor and the bowlers have a job to do.
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Not against England changing the pre-ordained batting order for once – but FFS promoting Plunkett?
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If I had altered the batting order, Moeen would have come before Stokes. Stokes is really not doing that much with the bat. All series long. Moeen does not do much, because he has to slog from the get go / finds himself facing a hopeless situation when he gets in.
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England make 300/8 in 50 overs.
Maybe not enough and at 25 overs I would have thought 325 should have been on. Of course Australia have scoreboard pressure but at half way I think England didn’t finish as well as would have liked.
We will see. But they had a good platform to post a big score.
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Cheery stat time again:
England have made 300 on four previous occasions batting first in 50 over cricket against Australia. Number of victories: one.
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Nice to hear Smith being booed on my radio.
The footballisation of cricket continues.
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Put “boo Smith” into Twitter if you really want to depress yourself.
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On another message board, many forum members who commented noted that the latter part of Taylor’s innings was a bit of a mare. Even the Notts fans were critical of it there. Seems like England should have been closer to 350. I confess I didn’t have the chance to watch.
Anyway having got home the issue of the England bowling not looking threatening enough with the new ball has come back to hurt us. Finn has bowled decently this time but Woakes is very, very predictable. I had hoped that they might have changed things by giving Plunkett the new ball but I really think they have been a little regimented in their thinking. Am I being wrong to give Morgan a bit of stick for this? He kept Woakes on for more than a few overs too despite little sign of a breakthrough.
Anyway, Steven Finn has taken a great catch that has removed Smith and the players seem to be pretty happy for him. Finn has been a bit disappointing in the ODI series before tonight but he’s bowled well and now taken a lovely catch.
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The stat is still that of all the wickets taken by England bowlers, 50% have been taken by Rashid in this ODI series.
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Right – but remember, wickets from full tosses don’t count!
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England’s new secret weapon Andrew Strauss-Clarity is going to scythe through this Australian batting line-up any second now……
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Well it is over that now with him having taken his second.
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After that over against Moeen, you have to ask: “Does Bailey have English Grandparents?”
He seemed utterly confused.
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Bailey gives it the charge against Moeen and is caught. Is it a full toss if it’s taken on the full when charging?
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England may regret taking that wicket, he was nicely treacling up one end…
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Only if it is Rashid bowling. Else it is better than any ball Murali or Warne ever bowled.
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Is anyone wondering if this match has been fixed? Some odd shots from Smith,Bailey, Maxwell and Marsh… Very odd shots
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No, it’s not been fixed – the Australians want to get out of the country as quickly as possible following David Cameron PM (sic) decision to drone anybody he likes …..
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No I am not wondering that.
But such perceptions will only increase, courtesy of the transparent manner in which the governing boards and the ICC conduct their business. Footballism, as Arron calls it, which is what Giles Clarke and his ilk want to promote contribute to that as well.
I am getting more pessimistic about the future of the game with each passing day.
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Well, I was too pessimistic. England’s batsmen did enough – thanks in part to a great spell from Rashid and Moeen that really put the pressure on the Australian batting. Once again, not exactly a competitive game – WASP was down to 0% with far too many overs left – but at least the series is still live for Friday.
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Dear YCCC,
One bunsen for tomorrow please. This is not a directive but I wouldn’t ignore it if I were you.
Giles says you better have sold those £60 tickets for a match on a mid-week chilly September day after schools have gone back or he’ll want to know why.
Please burn after reading.
Yours etc,
Andrew Strauss-Clarity.
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I see the G took the first opportunity to mention him and his strategy again as soon as England won an ODI….
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P.S. I didn’t send that e-mail.
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don’t suppose there much point in commenting about the latest Sky viewing figures that suggest only about 130,000 views of the T20 Blast finals day – some 6% down on last year – out of a piddling little population of about 65 million people – talk about exclusive??? – talk about totally unsustainable business model – talk about the death of cricket …….
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Here’s the article on it by the excellent Freddie Wilde:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2015/content/story/919289.html
Oh, and they’ve injured Chris Woakes again.
All in an afternoon’s work for the ECB…..
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An interesting moment of honest here.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/cricket/james-anderson-admits-england-cricket-board-doctored-wickets-to-suit-hosts-during-ashes/story-fni2fnmo-1227521705451
I’m only surprised at how bluntly Anderson put it.
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Paging Andrew Strauss, paging Andrew Strauss.
I hope they will stop the pretend bullshit they have been spouting all summer. As usual with the cricket establishmemt you can never believe a word they say.
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