[the saint]

Well, England are on top but will Harmy be fit to bowl? A long hard day for the others if he isn't.

And, Sri Lanka!! Jaywardene and Sangakkara's 624 run stand. A test and first-class record. Now here is the question people, can Jayawardene beat Lara's record?

[Walddk]

Well done England; a very convincing performance! Beating Pakistan by an innings inside 3 days is strong going.

Roland

[the saint]

Jones dropped (eventually) for Read. Will this solve England's dilemma? Or should they have done the sensible thing and picked James Foster instead?

[FrancesHinden]

At last! Jones was picked on the basis that he wasn't as good a wicketkeeper but had more potential as a batsman. Now, let's just compare Jones' first class batting average this season with Reads...

[the saint]

FrancesHinden, on Aug 1 2006, 05:12 PM, said:

At last! Jones was picked on the basis that he wasn't as good a wicketkeeper but had more potential as a batsman. Now, let's just compare Jones' first class batting average this season with Reads...

Although Jones has been playing against Test standard bowling - OK he has been facing Murali and a couple of others. Read has been up against county attacks. Still, averaging under 20 isn't enough...

[paulg]

A good performance by England in winning the Test in mid-afternoon. Monty bowled excellently and Sajid Mahmood discovered that bowling fast and straight tends to worry batsmen more than short and wide does.

I feel the key to the day was the runout of Yousuf. England's fielding has been excellent in this match and they hit the wicket frequently, definite signs of improvement there although Collingwood (the successful one this time) has always been top drawer.

Chris Read looked the business behind the stumps and he batted really well. It's going to be tough for Jones to get back into the team for the first Ashes test.

Now time for twinkle toes (and Essex #3) to do his stuff on Saturday and win the Twenty20!

Paul

[the saint]

Absolutely. Surely Monty's vastly superior bowling makes up for any lack of runs in comparison to Giles.

Essex to win the 20/20. Dazzler to win us the World Cup!!

And I'm looking forward to the Oval on the 18th!!

[the saint]

Well the 20/20 didn't quite go to plan...

Still, I'm at the Oval on Friday for England finishing off Pakistan. Apparently it will be a celebration of beards, although I don't think my boss would be too impressed if I sat next to him with the full 'Monty'.

[Walddk]

the saint, on Aug 15 2006, 11:49 PM, said:

Apparently it will be a celebration of beards, although I don't think my boss would be too impressed if I sat next to him with the full 'Monty'.

Are you implying that your boss is the one who decides if you grow a beard or not? I'm glad that I'm my own boss then

While you let yours grow (or not), we might discuss the dilemma the selectors will be in before the first test of The Ashes in Brisbane in 99 days. Provided that Flintoff is fit, who are they going to sack.

Cook, Collingwood or Bell? Tough call, I pass. If only Freddie had been 100% fit, I wouldn't mind leaving out a seamer and go with only two (Harmison and Hoggard), then Flintoff and Panesar. Still four bowlers while you strengthen the batting line-up. This could very well be needed with McGrath back in the Aussie attack.

However, I suspect that this is unlikely to happen, so they might as well flip a coin to see who they must tell: "Sorry, mate, you're the one who will be carrying the drinks". Let me stick my neck out and make this my starting 11.

Trescothick
Strauss
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Read
Mahmood
Panesar
Harmison
Hoggard *

If Simon Jones is fit (unlikely), I will discard Mahmood. Ideally, I would want Cook there and leave Mahmood/Jones out. Then let Cook bat 3 and Bell 7.

* No typo. Hoggard is an excellent nightwatchman, but in real life he is nothing but a number 11 batsman.

Roland

[the saint]

Of the top seven, Trescothick is easily the most short of form at the moment. Given the choice I would drop Mahmood for Freddie too. Monty has shown that he can bowl extremely long economical spells against the best players of spin in the world (India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan) on some unfavourable pitches and still be attacking. Giles would not bowl as many overs per match and this negates the need to some extent for a 5th specialist bowler. Colly and KP might be able to step in in some capacity too. The obvious place where there will be a change is in Sydney which is traditionally a spinner's pitch, so both Giles and Monty will play there assuming they are both fit.

As for the beard, I struggle to grow bum fluff so a falsey would have been my only option. It should be noted that my boss is my source of Test match (and ODI)tickets so riling him on cricket days is not an option!!

Another change to your XI. Harmy bats at 9 ahead of Monty.

[paulg]

the saint, on Aug 15 2006, 11:05 PM, said:

P.S. I'm having to time my visits to the internet machine at work very carefully so my boss doesn't see me on www.polbridge.pl all time time desperately catching up with the latest news!! If I still have a job at the end of these two weeks it will be a miracle!!

But I guess the live cricket update is acceptable!

Paul

[the saint]

cardsharp, on Aug 17 2006, 07:48 AM, said:

the saint, on Aug 15 2006, 11:05 PM, said:

P.S. I'm having to time my visits to the internet machine at work very carefully so my boss doesn't see me on www.polbridge.pl all time time desperately catching up with the latest news!! If I still have a job at the end of these two weeks it will be a miracle!!

But I guess the live cricket update is acceptable!

Paul

Of course. In fact its a necessity. And its exactly what happened during the third test when everybody forgot their digital radios so we couldn't listen to TMS.

[the saint]

Quite the most turgid, depressing day. We were crap.

[Walddk]

the saint, on Aug 19 2006, 01:42 AM, said:

Quite the most turgid, depressing day. We were crap.

Not a chance that England are going to get the Aussies out in a single innings if Harmison keeps on bowling the way he did Friday. It was embarrassing. Maybe London puts a jinx on him. He doesn't like to bowl at Lord's, and we may hear the same about the Brit Oval soon.

Roland

[the saint]

Walddk, on Aug 19 2006, 06:31 AM, said:

the saint, on Aug 19 2006, 01:42 AM, said:

Quite the most turgid, depressing day. We were crap.

Not a chance that England are going to get the Aussies out in a single innings if Harmison keeps on bowling the way he did Friday. It was embarrassing. Maybe London puts a jinx on him. He doesn't like to bowl at Lord's, and we may hear the same about the Brit Oval soon.

Roland

Stupid thing is, in 2003 vs the Saffers and 2004 against the Windies he was absolute mustard. The Oval is quick and bouncy - Harmy should be flying there inflicting maximum pain on oppo batsmen. He can bowl well at Lords too, he was fantastic against the Aussies in the first test last year. He needs to spend the rest of the season at Durham bowling lots of overs in county cricket to get his rhythm going.

[the saint]

England bat better. The enigma that is KP misses his ton playing his way - but we wouldn't change him! Harmy will have a back scan to sort out his problems. Anything else happen today? Oh yes the ball tampering scandal and now we wonder if there will be a fifth day!! Irrespective of whether its true or not, why is it always Pakistan?

[Walddk]

the saint, on Aug 20 2006, 11:03 PM, said:

Oh yes the ball tampering scandal and now we wonder if there will be a fifth day!! Irrespective of whether its true or not, why is it always Pakistan?

There will not be a fifth day, and the match has been awarded to England:

"Pakistan forfeited the fourth Test against England after the match descended into chaos when the tourists were penalised for ball-tampering".

http://news.bbc.co.u...and/5268886.stm

England won, cricket lost.

Roland

[the saint]

Although the Sky people say there wasn't any clear footage, there was a massive photo on the front page of the London Metro newspaper showing a Pakistani bowler playing with the quarter seam on the ball, taken a few minutes before the umpires called them for tampering. The plot thickens.

And no, we didn't want to win this way.

[Walddk]

Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq has been charged with bringing the game into disrepute after the controversial Oval Test against England. He also faces an allegation of changing the condition of the ball and a hearing will take place on Friday.

As captain, he is deemed responsible for the conduct of the entire team.

The umpires ruled Pakistan forfeited the Test by initially refusing to take the field after tea in response to being penalised for ball-tampering. It was the first time in 129 years that a Test had been conceded by forfeit.

The disrepute charge, which the International Cricket Council views as more serious, could result in a ban of up to four Test matches or eight one-day internationals, if Inzamam is found guilty.

He has also been charged with a breach of Level 2.10 of the ICC's code which relates to changing the condition of the ball. If Inzamam is found guilty of that allegation, it could cost him his entire match fee and result in a suspension of one Test or two one-day internationals.

If guilty of both charges, any bans would be served consecutively.

I predict that the Pakistanis will go home if Inzy is sentenced as charged.

This is not the first time Pakistan has been involved in a ball-tampering incident. Last time was also in England. Mind you, the English are no angels either. Some of us still remember the Michael Atherton "dirt in the pockets" farce.

Roland

[the saint]

No, I don't think we are angels. There was also the issue of 'boiled sweets' last year. And several English bowlers have been caught/admitted doctoring the ball in first class cricket. The difference is that the Pakistanis tend to make a bigger song and dance about it when they are fingered for it and blame everyone except themselves - or so it appears to me.

The distinction people have to remember to make is that a reverse-swinging cricket ball is not a sign that the ball has been doctored - it is a naturally occuring phenomenon that takes great skill to exploit. It is when the ball's condition has been artificially altered to induce and hasten the arrival of said behaviour that the problems arise.