Immense! I can't ****ing believe it.World Record 10th wicket partnership
Immense! I can't ****ing believe it.World Record 10th wicket partnership
Here's a question that me and my friend are currently debating - given Flintoff's fairly promising start in the T20 for Lancs, would anyone consider him coming back into the England fold, at any level? My view is, that if he shows form, and can prove fitness, he could be what we need for a temporary replacement for Cook as captain, even till the end of the India series - and what a swansong it would be!
None of that compares to some of the shocking decisions made by indian umpires down the years.I have a contact in India ( reasonably high up the cricket pecking order ) who informs me that Indian scientists have been studying ' hawkeye' for some time and are dubious as to its accuracy. We have all been sold on the idea that it is extremely reliable and can replicate the moving ball but those of us who have played a lot of cricket know that a cricket ball sometimes moves in a mysterious way. Go into a net and bowl 6 balls at the stumps and count the number of times you think its hitting and then at the last minute it doesn't. Hawkeye works on predictability but it has no way of coping with the unexpected. Sometimes the umpires intuition is more reliable than Hawkeye. Tennis has accepted Hawkeye as an arbiter of line calls but it doesn't necessarily mean its 100% accurate. It can't always follow the spin imparted and just plots the most predictable path. It also serves to cut down the number of disputes on court ( a la McEnroe / Tarrango etc )
I know DRS covers a wider range of issues than LBW's and I think its invaluable in determining run outs and stumpings. The Indians seem to be prepared to forsake this in their discomfort over Hawkeye. It wouldn't surprise me if they were working on their own system to introduce first in a home series and then to try and sell the idea worldwide.
Cook drops an absolute dolly to let Dhoni off.
Is there a worse regular slip fielder than Alastair Cook in world cricket? I'd love to see some stats on percentage success chances to catches.
He's a pretty shite captain as well.
And he is out of form with the bat - but no doubt the selectors will bury their heads in the sand and award him the captaincy for the next umpteen series.
You all knew it at the start - it's completely pointless playing test cricket on a wicket that flat.
I appreciate teams have to earn a victory, but I think if one team outplays another, they should have the chance of a result in 4 days, because we're often going to lose a couple of sessions due to rain.The perfect wicket would see a result after tea on day 5 .....