An ODI takes place in Bristol today and you can comment on it here. The Super Series is finished now, as we have an unassailable 13-3 lead, so obviously this game lacks context, and will therefore be something we really shouldn’t be interested in.
Terrific performances by Hales and Roy on Friday – regretfully, shopping trips to the supermarket and overwhelming tiredness from staying awake on Thursday night meant I’ve seen next to nothing of it. Let’s hope for more, because these are two players I can really get behind. They’ll have days like these, and then they’ll have days like those. But that’s what they can do.
I have seen a number of comments with some views on Brexit. Look, I can’t stop you either way, and I know they are of the lukewarm kind. I’m not admonishing anyone because we don’t live in a vacuum. But I’d advise against it. I’ve got some good mates, blokes who saw me through some difficult times, and I’m royally effed off with them at present. And I shouldn’t be. But there was something different about Thursday’s events that supersedes politics. There’s something about the way people of all beliefs (not one side or the other) were manipulated by half-truths and lies, by innuendo and supposition, that hits at me.
You know, through the stuff that happened with cricket in England, in 2014, and it is not on the scale of the decisions made this week I know (before anyone wants to get snippy on comparisons), we saw media manipulation, where truth and spin were at the forefront, and no-one seemed to care to look for facts, or make alternative cases based on them in the mainstream media or on TV. You know, some people can’t even say his name (Gower) while others use his name to collect hateful hits on their news site. It’s a tiny, some would say obsessive, example of what I’m trying to say. Actually, I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say, except I’m ashamed of what we’ve become as a consumer of news. News and journalism isn’t a profession, it is now a commodity and it is sold to you, the consumer, in the way you want it and the way you want to hear it. There will always be some who rail against it, but if you can brand them as loopy conspiracy theorists, that’s great. The Mail tonight doesn’t care to acknowledge that 48% of the country are not on their side. The 52% won, and the rest should shut up and eat it. Just like they did when someone they did not want to win ended up triumphant. Debate doesn’t happen when neither side is prepared to listen.
So with that, and I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it meant I could have a go at the press, and by extension, the ECB, enjoy the game at Bristol if you care, and I’ll leave it to you to comment as you see fit, but please, no fighting on the decision itself. There’s other places to do that.
All the best people. I don’t want you to leave, I’d prefer if you remain.
Being Outside Cricket 
As long as you too “remain” ,Dmitri.There is such sadness in what you have written ( it made me feel that way) but then I had been fighting the ECB as best I could since 2014 and getting nowhere.Sadly we in OZ are no different to GB and next week the same sort of results will eventuate.Why the “dark side” seems to be on top I don’t know, I would like to have more faith in people and morality but somehow at the moment I can’t.Being conned doesn’t feel good.
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Well thank Christ you made that post because I was wondering if I should refrain because this is a cricket blog, or express myself because this is a blog of thinking people.
As you have indicated, there is a clear connection between the critical approach this blog takes to cricket, and a broader view of how we should view the media. I’ve always been interested in this blog not just because it’s about cricket, but because it casts a critical eye on accepted wisdom. Critical eyes are very important.
I’m devastated by this decision, I just can’t believe England has taken this path. I think it’s probably the worst geopolitical event to have happened in my life. It’s going to break up the UK, and deeply impact the EU.
I know full well that although I’m apparently duty bound as an Australian to mock England (food, dentistry, conservatism, climate, Giles Clarke, scotch eggs, rubbish cricketers etc), it’s actually full of smart, thinking and complex people, and I’m just so sad to see it turning its back on Europe. It just doesn’t seem right for a country as smart as the UK to make such a silly decision, especially as it was based on such poor information and public debate. Where was the “Outside Cricket” blog of Brexit to challenge the fallacies? What happened to England’s famous pragmatism? You didn’t run a world empire by making such stupid decisions.
Don’t go away England, we need you to be a part of our world, and you need us. You can’t run away from globalisation.
I suppose the upside is that the EU can pursue its project without the likes of Farage nipping at its heals. Even though the UK added to the strength and diversity of the EU, it will be easier to chose a common destiny without it.
I have alot of personal and professional investment in the UK, and I’m very sad about this situation. But this was a self inflicted wound, and the UK needs to get it’s house in order to rejoin the community.
Oh and Farage mused that maybe the Commonwealth could be reinvigorated in light of this vote. Excuse me while I go and vomit.
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There’s nothing mock-worthy about scotch eggs.
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Food? You can get some great curries here!
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“Food? You can get some great curries here!”
Indeed. Back when England was interested in engaging with the world and importing its best ideas. Roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding from now on though.
Quebecer, you have all my sympathy. It seems you might soon have some new neighbours:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/06/brexit-move-to-canada/488768/?utm_source=atltw
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Quebec is a strange place. But we do understand the need for referendums, as much as we understand not to be a fucking idiot in one’s answer. My old pal LeScotsman from the guardian blogs and I are planning to burn our UK EU passports at the consulate next week. Might use some 20 pound notes to set them off. Cheaper than fire lights. However, we will both be able to get our brand new shiny Scottish EU passports soon, I don’t doubt (we were both against independence up until now). My children will also have that privilege (I hope), and thus be allowed freedom of movement in Europe, which had been their right since they were born.
I despair for my old land. We have announced that we have lost all that was in us that ever made us great. I am genuinely sorry for all me friends still there. And I will admit openly and honestly and in the full knowledge that it is a harsh point to make, that I am incredibly glad I’m here. For those back home, I am truly and utterly sorry. My heart is broken.
On the upside, Alex Hales has now started taking balls pitching on off and shaping in through midwicket rather than trying to hit straight, and doing it superbly. More 4 balls, less getting bowled. A smart move.
Yes, I will watch cricket. I refuse to allow others to dictate my happiness. Fuck them. Fuck them.
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Q, me old mucker, I’ll tell you something. My family and I might be obliged to apply for a French passport in order to continue enjoying this life of spreading the gospel of English culture and the influence of cricket to all my language students here in Nice.
The depths, the depths…
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Steady on there! Desperate times, old thing, I know, but becoming FRENCH? It would be like, oh I don’t know, becoming German or something.
Anyway, you can’t be French. You’re not surly enough.
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…and in further cricket/food related news…. it seems Jimmy Anderson may miss the start of the Pakistan series due to a stress fracture of the shoulder blade…. must be the weight of the chips on his shoulder 🙂
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For somebody who said he bowled with broken or bruised ribs during the ashes of dicontent it’s a suprise to Hear this 😬
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With the big ICC meeting imminent, here’s the latest on cricket in the Olympics:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/1029957.html
It doesn’t sound at all positive with new obstructions and problems highlighted and no inkling that there’s a will to solve them. Fundamentally, it still sounds as if the 90% of ICC members who want it (according to a 2008 poll) can go hang because the BCCI and ECB won’t wear it.
Giles Clarke and Selvey will be delighted.
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FICJAM on the ICC meeting:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/1029991.html
If you can make it past the first paragraph, there’s quite a bit to agree with here (and a spot the “were you saying this when the KP shit was hitting the fan” moment).
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It’s one of his best ones.
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There is some cobblers in there though:
1) A D1 of only five teams? That would currently see SA relegated on the back of a rain-wrecked tour of Bangladesh and a pitch-doctored tour of India.
2) The reference to growing cricket is good – but then to specify the USA and China shows someone more interested in money than merit (or just plain clueless about the quality of teams below FM level).
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The ECB haven’t got around to Tweeting their acknowledgement yet….
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Sadly, very few people can be bothered to do any basic research, even when taking a hugely important decision that will affect both their own and their childrens’ live for decades to come.
This leaves them open to the simplest manipulation. They will believe pretty much anything the press tells them, whether it is that Cook is the greatest English batsman of all time, that Labour caused the 2008 financial crisis and its a good idea to just keep voting for more and more austerity until the poor are left dying on the streets, and that it wouldn’t be a complete fucking disaster if the UK left the EU.
There are plenty of otherwise competent, intelligent people who are able to make it down the street without banging into lamp-posts who still believe the 3 huge and unfathomable lies listed above.
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Excellent scene-setting for the ICC meeting:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/1030141.html
It’s not from the UK MSM, obviously.
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Well I haven’t visited this site since last Thursday. I turned down a Saturday evening out due to general incandescence.
So I’ll just say thanks to the people I’ve ‘liked’ above, and that I don’t and won’t give the tiniest shit about cricket for the foreseeable future.
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I’ll tell you how much the world has changed – I would forgive Pam Nash absolutely everything and stand by her side, because I saw her thank a series of tweets I wholeheartedly agreed with.
🙂
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Not the smallest aspect of my general incandescence was that Boris Bloody Johnson spent part of the weekend playing in a cricket match – a ‘tradition’ of his insufferably smug family – so the game is now associated in the British public’s minds with posh gits having fun while the country falls apart.
It seems to be a choice between France and Scotland for me. There was a point as the referendum results were coming in when I turned to a French property website to see if I could afford to buy, say, a small shed in the Limousin in case of need… I also have some Scottish ancestry which seems increasingly likely to come in useful.
The UK will eventually contrive a bodge. A deal which is satisfactory to nobody and will cost us more money.
I’ll shut up about it now.
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For sheer ruddy cluelessness, this takes some beating:
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We have too many. Anointed before achievement.
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I would say that they have plenty of actual stars that they play alongside who aren’t English, which makes Hughes’s tweet rather clueless, which I think is what Simon H is trying to get at?
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It’s his view about what constitutes good coaching that I was getting at.
Eddie Jones has turned the same players (plus Itoje) from a team embarrassed at home in the Rugby WC to a team that has just whitewashed Australia away. Did he do that by just slapping on DVDs of Jonny Wilkinson or Richie McCaw? I’m guessing there was probably a bit more to it!
My point wasn’t about whether English football has any stars or not. The only interesting issue there I thought is Hughes’ insular mindset can’t seem to consider that players might learn from watching the best from any country, not just their own.
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Another encouraging sign that the new ICC is genuine about expansion:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/1030661.html
Not quite so encouraging that a complaint from Namibia against some Afghanistan players for racism has been resolved confidentially and fobbed off as a cultural “misunderstanding”.
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