Short post to introduce the game tonight. Scotland will be batting first in this battle of the associate nations. If it lives up to the Ireland v UAE match then we are in for a cracker.
I had a late evening so not able to comment on the information paper provided by the ECB. It seems beyond parody to me, especially the re-name.
I’ll have a say….
But keep coming with your comments. Really appreciate them.
The Gabba hosts this battle of the associates in a game with a lot of meaning, especially for Ireland, fresh from their win against the WIndies, who, since then, have bashed two more scores of over 300.
I’m not feeling overly enthused about writing at the moment. I saw that throwaway line by Andy Bull in The Spin, and just feel as though these people are maliciously misrepresenting many people’s line. Then there is the reinforcement of Giles Clarke in a position of power, meaning those people who actually feel like Andy Bull’s mythical beings, have every right to be angry. How else can the refuseniks lash out at these people? Oh, of course, we all want KP back….
Any comments on this more refreshing, more enriching match-up should be added below. Keep being strong outside cricket, people.
Canberra is the scene for tonight’s game, starting in the wee small hours, between perennial ICC strugglers Zimbabwe, fresh off a win against UAE and a creditable performance against South Africa, and West Indies who have made 300 twice, and won once.
Comments for the game on here, please. Should be a fascinating contest.
After our magnificent win last night, I thought I would celebrate by hooking up the mobile keyboard to the phone and do a test post.
So my typing is slower than Ian Bell after 20 overs of last night’s innings but it is better than predictive text!
More later.
In just over an hour this crunch match for England commences. Given my need for sleep, I think I’m going to make about an hour and a half of it, whereupon I expect to top up the Lordly coffers with contributions to the old Christmas Fund Swear Box. It’s certainly had some replenishment over the last few days as those who told us all last year to quit flapping our gums over the departure of the evil Pietersen, and that all will be right with the new MD, fresh from JPM, and with BFIs, as well as the greatest coach of his generation (and will that clown ever live that down) all on the good ship Iron Rod with a core of steel.
They have to win this one, or the consequences are unthinkable for the hierarchy. Hell, they may even have to talk to the outside cricket plebs for once.
Feel free to comment below, read Maxie’s annoyance on TFT, or just listen to George Dobell’s podcast with Peter Miller one more time to actually convince the weapons grade cretins who think this is all about KP that we weren’t THAT serious about one man, but rather about the leadership and how it runs things. Why is Flower still, according to these sources, so influential when his methods resulted in a total implosion even our losers of the 1990s never quite managed (and they were up against much better teams).
OK. It’s England v Scotland in Christchurch. Have fun.
UPDATE – 75/0. Good start by Moeen, but Bell looks too cautious to me.
I’m getting royally fucked off (a quid for the swear box) by the “only care about the Ashes” mob. Many of this mob have also been the most vociferous when we are supposedly cheering against England, accusing us of all sorts. It’s needling me no end. While I appreciate this country needs something to focus on, and beating Australia is always nice, it should not be the only thing. I’m having Rugby Sevens thrown at me (indirectly) but ask the England World Cup winners in 2003’s rugby tournament, and many of them are most proud of winning in New Zealand a few months before that – not the World Cup. The sevens thing may have its world tournament, but the main format of the game does. Cricket doesn’t have a test championship, so this is its world event. If we go a distance in this, people will be interested all right.
Winning prefaces winning. The great teams don’t opt out of things. I believe these players desperately want to do well.
We have a real problem in this country in focusing on winning the big one every so often, instead of creating a culture of domination. Roger Federer won Wimbledon, won all the hard courts stuff, but desperately wanted to win the French. You don’t think not winning the French eats at Djokovic? They want a culture of dominance. We seem happy if we peak just to win a test match series against one team. I’m sorry, I’m not like that. Most great teams don’t have that mentality.
The big one in Group B in terms of prospects for the World Cup, rather than prospects for the Indian TV revenues. Comments on this match up between the two favoured nations in the supposedly weaker group should go below.
Another supposedly 90000 fans (how many times have we heard that about attendances at the MCG) will pack the concrete jungle for this match. I’ll probably be a kip for most of it.
Dunedin entertains Sri Lanka and Afghanistan for another important game in Group A. England will be paying a lot of attention as shock results could throw the group into turmoil.
Comments on this game before the big one in Melbourne, which will be the subject of another thread.
Ah yes. Always going to throw in an Armand van Helden reference where I can. If you thought not, well, you don’t even know me.
But the main reason for invoking the above album name is because of George Dobell. Those of you who have not listened to his podcast with Peter Miller, aka The Cricket Geek, should. End of. Those of you who think the “campaign” I’ve run here and on my previous incarnation, and that The Full Toss has been on too, is one based on bile and rancour need to listen to it. You have to. Choose not to believe George when he mentions when the ECB deliberately leaked misinformation on an individual, and instead believe Selfey with his “anal about leaks” comment. Choose not to believe George when he said that individual items on the dodgy dossier were leaked to journalists, and that when the full document became public property the ECB tried to sue, and instead believe the mainstream media who believe their work is good journalism rather than the beneficiary of crumbs from the table from above.
This podcast has so much to recommend it. Readers of the previous incarnation will not be surprised at my “bigging up” of George Dobell, and also Peter does a superb job of keeping the fires burning. The podcast leaves you wanting more, almost as if you’d just like to go down the pub with the bloke and get the lowdown as he sees it. There is definitely a “I know a lot of what is going on, but can’t tell you” but the fact is, he lets you know a lot more than the ECB line.
The podcast is also good on the current England set-up. From Dobell’s standpoint it is clear to him that Andy Flower remains a key influence in the England firmament. There is some even more damning stuff around the fall of the Flower Empire, which I’ve not seen or heard in such graphic detail, and the story arounf Boyd Rankin, for instance, really needs to be examined if he was told to play with what was a pretty bad shoulder injury. Flower seems to be the sort of bloke Downton is in awe of, and this is worrying. Dobell clearly initmates that it is Flower pulling many of the strings. Maybe, just maybe, we are getting some clarity on the KP exile that the ECB don’t want to admit.
I’ve got a bit of sympathy for the Moores stuff. As you know, I’m not one who wants to plunge the knife into him, but it is inescapable that this team set the 2015 World Cup as a goal, and the preparation was farcical, the late switch of plans a hint of indecision and the current performances are lamentable. Moores is going to be in the firing line, big time, if this doesn’t turn around. The narrative, set by a friendly media last summer, was that he had created a good environment, and that young talent was thriving under him. People ignored the dodgy start against Sri Lanka, leaped on the turnaround of the India series, and put the late season ODI collapse down to end of season blues. Moores had a friendly press after their initial scepticism.
Moores, as Dobell says, doesn’t do himself any favours in press conferences. He does always seem a decent bloke trying his best to me, and if that sounds slightly patronising it isn’t meant to be. Moores was handed a horrible bed of nails to lie on, and he’s starting to show the marks. The latest interviews seem to indicate that the plans are right but the execution is at fault. Fair enough, but the players look shit scared when they go out there. The problem, and I know it is extraordinarily simplistic, is that our lot go out there as if this is a job of work. Many of us who do jobs don’t love what we do, and hence we don’t perform to our best. Some respond to the threat of the Sword of Damocles, and others retrench and play it safe. How many of this lot actually look like they are enjoying playing the game out there? I felt a little bit of that once we turned it around against India, but it needs the team to grasp the nettle before we get into winning positions. Given what we’ve been told about the regime that ended in Australia last winter, it seems fun was well down the agenda. Was it really true that players were asked not to celebrate birthdays because it could disrupt the team? This is sport, not a war. It’s meant to be enjoyable, not a torture. I perform better when I’m enjoying it, not when it is a matter of fear. I have been told of players snapping at journalists for daring to suggest there may be alternatives to them in the team, as if some believe they have a right not to be questioned. They may be a likeable bunch, according to George, but that message isn’t getting through here.
There are so many nuggets in that podcast, that I urge you all to listen to it. So, before this evening’s entertainment, let me leave you with a quote from Nick Hoult’s article…
Michael Vaughan, Paul Collingwood, Cook and now Morgan all found run making difficult while Moores was the head coach. The only one who did not struggle was Pietersen, partly because his tenure was brief, and he probably did not listen to Moores anyway.
But, never forget, KP was the problem. The real problem. The thing that needed to be dealt with.
My thanks to Mr Miller and Mr Dobell. Do it again soon.
On other parish news, here is where a friend of mine has been recently and mailed to me today…
Any comments if the game goes ahead after the remnants of this beast goes by, can be added below….
This game is being played in Christchurch and features two teams who lost last time out. The game starts at 10 pm UK time, so I may actually get to watch some of it.
Weather looks set fair for this one at the moment, so let’s hope for a good game.
Comments below.
The West Indies are all pulling in the same direction. The President of the WICB shows the sort of leadership we love…
Being Outside Cricket 