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Post by Admin on Aug 21, 2022 12:55:41 GMT
Simple solution play more cricket which gets you used to bowling increasing back strength, worked for Statham and disregard the coaches who wish to change your action
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Post by richard on Aug 21, 2022 19:07:23 GMT
Simple solution play more cricket which gets you used to bowling increasing back strength, worked for Statham and disregard the coaches who wish to change your action And his England partner who picked up a wicket or two. Get fit for cricket by playing cricket, he said. More than once. |
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Post by Admin on Aug 24, 2022 13:03:44 GMT
One change Robinson for Potts
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Post by exile on Aug 25, 2022 11:23:38 GMT
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Post by alanw on Aug 25, 2022 11:49:26 GMT
I'm very happy to be a member of the awkward squad if that is the group who want to protect County Cricket.
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Post by exile on Aug 25, 2022 12:29:24 GMT
Likewise. 14 games is already too few for a genuine county championship and the idea of reducing the number any further is really quite disgraceful.
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Post by richard on Aug 25, 2022 13:32:09 GMT
I'm very happy to be a member of the awkward squad if that is the group who want to protect County Cricket. Please don’t make me read that again. Apparently we all love the women’s 16.4 and don’t have a problem with the mens except that it was forced on from above. |
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Post by exile on Aug 26, 2022 9:30:56 GMT
The comments on The Hundred - which are less than original, to put it mildly - are not the main substance of the article. If Lancs are as good as their word, it seems more than likely that they will have to vote against any further wrecking of the CC and this may be the start of a fight back. I hope so, anyway.
That said, the underlying problem for cricket in this country is that not enough people are playing the game. If cricket were still our national summer game, it wouldn't matter if the allegedly "best" players chose to go round the world playing in meaningless competitions that are little more than circus entertainment because there would be plenty to take their place.
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Post by Admin on Aug 26, 2022 18:37:03 GMT
Wonder what KP will say about County Cricket ESPN report
South Africa 151 and 23 for 0 trail England 415 for 9 dec (Foakes 113*, Stokes 103, Nortje 3-82) by 241 runs
For all that he has overseen a radical transformation in his team's success and self-belief, this summer has been a curious one for Ben Stokes, the Test-match batter.
There had been a series of starts - particularly against New Zealand - but a succession of short-lived slogs too, as if his desire to communicate a message of overt positivity to his team had run in direct opposition to the oddly accumulative methods that have tended to produce his best Test innings.
But on the second day at Emirates Old Trafford, Stokes finally had the stage upon which to craft a finished article. His magnificent innings of 103 from 163 balls - his 12th Test century, and his first since the tour of the West Indies in March - came in the midst of a game-seizing stand of 173 for the sixth wicket with Ben Foakes, who went on to top-score with an unbeaten 113, his second England hundred after a memorable debut against Sri Lanka in 2018.
Between them, Stokes and Foakes turned a position of English dominance into one of utter serenity - one in which the sight of Stokes himself giving his innings away with a mad mow, moments after reaching his hundred, resulted not in recriminations at a position of dominance squandered, but in a gleefully freewheeling response from the tail.
As Foakes ticked along to his own beat, resolutely providing the adult supervision to England's innings before seizing his moment of glory with a cut for four through backward point, the afternoon gave way to a series of cameos from Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and perhaps most preposterously, Jack Leach, whose switch-hit four through extra cover off Keshav Maharaj reduced a visibly relaxed home balcony to hysterics.
By this stage, James Anderson had abandoned his batting pads, and sure enough Stokes waved them in at the fall of Leach's wicket, to expose South Africa's browbeaten fielders to nine overs of new-ball pressure. Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee ground their way to the close with few alarms, but with a permanent coterie of close catchers in attendance - a reminder that England are minded to make every error count, with no fewer than three full days yawning in front of their opponents.
It had briefly been a different game in the far-distant morning session, in which England resumed on on 111 for 3 in reply to South Africa's sub-par 151 - a healthy position, but far from a dominant one, least of all with a pumped-up Anrich Nortje breathing fire once more from the Brian Statham End.
With reverse-swing and pace in abundance, Nortje blasted out both of England's overnight batters, Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley, before the remnants of their 40-run overnight deficit had been written off, and at 147 for 5 in the 36th over, there was a frisson of jeopardy in the air as Stokes and Foakes came together. Suddenly, England's twin collapses to 161 and 149 at Lord's felt very recent indeed.
But if Dean Elgar, South Africa's captain, was not already ruing his match choices, after foregoing those prime seam-bowling conditions on the first morning, he surely was by the mid-point of a flaccid afternoon's performance.
For South Africa's senior pair could not go on forever, and having opted to include the second spinner in Simon Harmer in place of the left-arm pace of Marco Jansen, Elgar's options were severely limited, given that Harmer and Maharaj would have been banking on a South Africa first innings extending beyond a mere 53.2 overs, and a more used surface on which to ply their trade.
Harmer's solitary over on the first evening hadn't given much away about his impending impact, although his reputation precedes him following his exploits for Essex. However, his first delivery of the day - to Foakes - was a juicy full toss, stroked through the covers for four, and when Stokes greeted him in the same over with an easy heave for six for his first six, the die was cast for an uncomfortable day's work, in which Harmer's solitary wicket would be that of Broad in his 23rd and final over of the innings.
Ben Foakes celebrates his first Test hundred on home soil, England vs South Africa, 2nd Test, Manchester, 2nd day, August 26, 2022
Ben Foakes celebrates his first Test hundred on home soil•Getty Images
Harmer was, however, bowling for the one moment in which England might have feared, not only for their match prospects, but for those in next week's third Test too. While turning for a second run after a stab to square leg, Stokes' troublesome left knee buckled and he was left needing several minutes of treatment during the drinks break. True to his recent insistence that it is a manageable issue, however, he soon shook off the pain, and before long he was galloping down the track to pump Lungi Ngidi through long-off with that habitual straight-lined poise.
By lunch, England were 61 runs to the good, handy but hardly decisive. The stage was surely set for Nortje's return to the attack, and another pace assault in a bid to protect South Africa's hard-earned series lead. However, Elgar had other ideas, resuming with Maharaj and Harmer in partnership - a lo-fi option that allowed both batters to nudge both themselves and the lead into a position of true authority.
Mind you, the ploy nearly unseated Stokes, as he twice came agonisingly close to giving his innings away, a missed reverse sweep off Maharaj and a similarly ambitious mow at Harmer skimming past his leg and the off stump, respectively.
But by degrees he settled and grew into his role, finding the middle of his bat with ever-growing assurance, before snapping into a launch into the pavilion for six off Harmer to bring up his third fifty of the summer.
Thereafter, he was unshackled - not in the wild sense of his very highest-octane innings, but with the calm assurance of a dominant match situation, a demoralised opposition, and a perfect summer's afternoon for batting.
Nortje returned to the attack moments after Stokes had reached his fifty, but with a now 68-over-old ball, he was some way short of the sharpest pace he had previously been producing, and was soon angling for a ball-change - a surefire sign that the threat had dissipated.
In his eagerness to reach his hundred before tea, Stokes did offer two half-chances - a slapped drive on 96 that skimmed through the hands of short cover, and a convincing appeal for an inside-edge to the slip, one that the third umpire reckoned was actually pad onto pad. Instead, he needed just three balls after the break to pick off his milestone single, via a ricochet off Ngidi's shin, but four balls after that he was gone; a premeditated assault on Rabada resulting only in an off-balance hack to Elgar at mid-off.
Up until the 40s, Stokes and Foakes had ticked along at a very similar tempo, but whereas Stokes saw the chance to put his foot down after reaching his half-century, Foakes recognised his role - not unlike Crawley's to Bairstow on day one - had simply been to stay there. And for the reminder of his innings, Foakes' bread-and-butter stroke was an uncomplicated clip to mid-on - as often as not off Harmer, whose offbreaks seemed to turn invitingly into his arc every ball.
Rabada gave Foakes some hairy moments with the new ball, as did Maharaj who challenged his leading edge with his left-arm line turning away from the bat, but he slipped back into his groove as the milestone approached - no doubt channelling the frustrations that have held his career back of late, among them a dressing-room accident that ruled him out last summer, and a bout of Covid that interrupted his tenure this summer. And fittingly it was Nortje, a man who had harried him twice at Lord's last week, who served up his hundred boundary-ball - a delicate dab down through deep third.
By the time of the declaration, Foakes was able to soak up the plaudits as he led the teams off, secure in the knowledge that he'd more than done the needful. South Africa have been defused in this match so far. And for all the buzz about England's proactivity, the anchor of this innings had been a man playing as if he had all the time in the world.
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Post by Admin on Aug 28, 2022 6:18:37 GMT
Another 3 day test, maybe the County Championship should take the same stance with three day games worked in the past
ESPN view
England 415 for 9 dec (Foakes 113*, Stokes 103) beat South Africa 151 (Anderson 3-32, Broad 3-37) and 179 (Petersen 42, Robinson 4-43) by 123 runs
Test centuries and all that, sure, they're nice. But for Ben Stokes, you get the sense that nothing can beat the sensation of a job well done that accompanied his down-and-dirty exploits on the third afternoon at Emirates Old Trafford.
After the highs of his game-changing stand with Ben Foakes on Friday, came the low, visually at least, of England's captain bending for breath between balls during his gut-busting 14-over spell, either side of the tea break. And yet, his apparently everyman figures of 2 for 30 were best expressed by the events that bookended them.
Before Stokes' intervention, South Africa's fourth-wicket pairing, Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen, had endured for a doughty stand of 87, spanning 42.2 overs including the entire afternoon session, to give their side hope of a miraculous turnaround.
Straight after Stokes, however, came England's second new ball, and the sight of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson completing the job they had started with such surety in the long-distant morning session. On their watch, England ripped out the remaining five wickets in 31 balls before stumps, to square the series with an innings-and-85-run victory that was no less crushing than the one they had themselves suffered at Lord's last week.
And, in between whiles, came the interventions that made the victory surge possible, two moments of raw inspiration that their captain dredged from within himself, to rip apart South Africa's burgeoning resistance and lay bare their futile prospects.
Van der Dussen, who was subsequently confirmed to have suffered a broken left index finger that will rule him out of next week's third Test, battled with huge resolve after arriving at an uncompromising 54 for 3 in the 14th over of the day - often removing his top hand on impact as England probed his stumps and forced him to dig deep for the cause. But, after 20 minutes of cooling off during the interval, he was lured outside his eyeline as Stokes shaped one away at good pace, and Foakes behind the stumps plucked a priceless chance.
One over later, and Stokes produced an even more awesome moment. Petersen had been bloodless in his resolve in the middle session, denying himself any attacking impetus as he set himself and his team for survival. But Stokes' response was a sizzling lifter - fast, straight and climbing wickedly off the seam and into his gloves as he tried to rear out of harm's way.
At 151 for 5, with 2 for 19 in eight overs, Stokes could arguably have pulled himself out there and then, the glory moment secure, and handed the attack back to his frontline quicks. But with the ball now 68 overs old, he instead took it upon himself to shoulder the burden for the remainder of its 80-over life. Within 5.1 overs of the replacement, his instinct was proven to be spot on.
The end came with startling speed. After a chastening match with the ball, Simon Harmer had got himself into line with determination throughout his 48-ball stay. But Anderson's second delivery with the new ball was simply too good - full, straight, seaming, and decisive, as it burst through the gate into the top of the off stump.
Robinson responded with equal authority - his fourth ball climbed at Keshav Maharaj for a sharp edge to Ollie Pope at fourth slip, and from there it was a race to the bottom. Anderson found Kagiso Rabada's edge for Joe Root to stoop at first slip, before Robinson wrapped up the collapse by delivering back-to-back ducks on Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, and seal impressive comeback figures of 4 for 43.
And so ended another one-sided three-day Test, although it was a significantly more compelling day of action than might have been envisaged after the first hour of action.
South Africa had fought hard on the second evening, following England's first-innings declaration, to reach 23 for 0 at the close. But that resilience was unpicked with haste upon the resumption, with their captain and linchpin Dean Elgar falling within 15 minutes of the resumption - brilliantly outfoxed by Anderson, whose 662nd Test wicket took him to 949 in all internationals, bringing him level with Glenn McGrath as the most prolific seamer across formats. By the day's end, of course, he was out on his own at the top.
Opening up from his very own End, Anderson needed just four deliveries to line up Elgar and send him on his way for the sixth time in Test cricket. The third of those jagged wickedly from round the wicket and lifted past Elgar's splice; the next, a fraction fuller, skidded straight past a now-crease-bound batter, to pluck out his off stump for 11.
Sarel Erwee was similarly out-thought, as Robinson switched to round the wicket from over, and confounded his alignment with the perfect full length. And then came Broad - relegated to first-change status for this match but gagging for his slice of the action.
Within five balls, Broad trimmed Aiden Markram's bails with the ball of the Test so far, only for the third umpire to belatedly call no-ball. Nonplussed but undeterred, Broad settled for luring Markram outside off in his second over instead… but pointedly curbed his enthusiasm until he'd received word from umpire Chris Gaffeney that his front foot had been given a clean bill of health.
And that could have been that, especially with van der Dussen visibly hampered. But, with watchfulness to the fore, he and Petersen set their sights on survival.
However, England's grip on the contest was not exactly loosened in a middle session that yielded just 53 runs, with 123 still needed for parity by tea. With his spinner, Jack Leach, bowling dry from the James Anderson End, conceding 19 runs in as many overs, Stokes was able to rotate his seamers with attacking fields, including close catchers at silly mid-off and mid-on, and keep them fresh for the new ball.
Six of those pre-tea overs were from Stokes himself - a tight, channelled burst of aggression that yielded just eight runs and a constant threat of reverse-swing, including a thin snick off van der Dussen in the penultimate over of the session that England failed to notice. But it mattered not in the final analysis. After the break, everything came flooding out, as England squared the rubber in the style that their captain has ordained.
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Post by chris on Sept 2, 2022 10:17:27 GMT
Buttler, Gleeson, Salt and Wood named in the England squad to travel to Pakistan. Assuming tour goes ahead after the current flooding crisis.
Livingstone injured but named in the 15 for the world cup along with Buttler and Salt with Gleeson named as a travelling reserve.
Pakistan tour first match is 20th September. They will fly out on 14th September so before that 17th September date.
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Post by Admin on Sept 8, 2022 18:33:22 GMT
No play today and no play tomorrow
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Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2022 6:44:48 GMT
ESPN View
Stumps England 154 for 7 (Pope 67, Jansen 4-34) lead South Africa 118 (Jansen 30, Robinson 5-49, Broad 4-41) by 36 runs
An extraordinary day from the outset ended with the third Test intriguingly poised after Ollie Robinson's five-wicket haul put South Africa on the ropes before the touring bowlers, led by Marco Jansen, curbed England's advantage.
Seventeen wickets fell at The Oval on what was officially the third day but effectively the first after Friday's pause in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, whose death on Thursday was announced shortly after that day's play was washed out.
With only three days to play, the national anthems were finally sung - movingly without musical accompaniment by Laura Wright - including the first rendition of "God Save the King" at a sporting event since 1952. Then play commenced in what appeared to be slightly more batter-friendly conditions than when Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bowl first under stormy skies 48 hours earlier.
But - Ollie Pope's half-century aside - that didn't prove to be the case. South Africa lost five wickets inside the first hour, three of them to Robinson and one each to Stuart Broad - who extracted plenty of movement in both directions to trouble the batters relentlessly - and James Anderson.
It was the lines and lengths of the three England seamers that did the damage early on as the tourists' selection shake-up aimed at shoring up their batting flopped.
Robinson took 5 for 49, including 4 for 21 before lunch in an impressive eight-over spell with the new ball, and Broad took four to contain South Africa to a paltry first-innings 118.
Both England openers fell cheaply to Jansen - also South Africa's top-scorer - who fired a fuller ball into the top of Alex Lees' middle stump and then had Zak Crawley out lbw for a laboured 5 off 33 balls, the batter's decision to review reeking of desperation as replays showed he was plumb.
Jansen also removed Joe Root and debutant Harry Brook either side of a half-hour rain delay before England got their noses in front, only to lose Stokes and Pope in contrasting innings.
Stokes was gone in single figures edging Anrich Nortje to Sarel Erwee at first slip while Pope defied the run of play with a doughty 67 before giving an expensive Kagiso Rabada his first wicket, caught behind. Pope was assertive, compiling his score with 13 fours before he went fishing outside off-stump as Rabada, who conceded 78 runs for his two wickets, finally found his line.
Rabada also had Broad caught behind by Kyle Verreynne, who clung onto a late-wobbling edge to send England seven wickets down shortly before the players left the field for bad light at 6.28pm and didn't return, leaving the hosts with a lead of just 36.
Brook got off the mark with the first of two fours in three balls, driven through cover point and threaded slightly squarer. But he fell for 12, sending a shorter Jansen delivery to Rabada at backward square leg and Jansen ended with 4 for 34 from his 11 overs.
Earlier, Robinson - who came under criticism for his fitness levels at the end of England's ill-fated Ashes tour last winter and subsequently spent seven months out of the Test side with a series of health and injury problems - had been the architect of South Africa's remarkable collapse to 36 for 6.
His third ball - the ninth of the match, to remove South Africa captain Dean Elgar, was a gem - on a length and shaping in as Elgar played around it only to see his off stump go cartwheeling.
Anderson struck next over, drawing an outside edge from Erwee with a length ball outside off that moved ever so slightly away from the batter, who sent a catch straight to Foakes.
Robinson then clipped the top of off stump as Keegan Petersen left a fuller one, and then had Verreynne caught behind for a second-ball duck with an excellent length delivery that moved away off the pitch slightly and found the outside edge.
In between, Ryan Rickelton, playing his third Test - and first since April - after being brought in to replace the injured Rassie van der Dussen, had just started to settle when Broad lured him into a drive and had him caught behind for 11.
The visitors had brought in Wiaan Mulder for the first time this series, locked at 1-1, but he provided Robinson's fourth wicket - and Foakes' fourth catch - when he chased a full, wide ball that swung away late.
Zondo, chosen to play after Aiden Markram's struggle for form prompted yet another change, remained not out at lunch, as did Jansen. The pair put on a stand of 36 for the seventh wicket, easily the strongest union of South Africa's innings, but they needed more.
Jansen topped their scorecard with 30 after being overlooked for the second Test, which South Africa lost by an innings and 85 runs at Old Trafford, having earned a recall due to Lungi Ngidi's hamstring niggle.
Broad saw Jansen dropped twice - by Foakes behind the stumps and Pope at fourth slip - but surprised Zondo with a back-of-a-length delivery that went straight to Lees behind point to put South Africa at 72 for 7. It was the first in a run of three wickets for 18 runs in the space of 33 balls for Broad which closed out South Africa's innings.
Robinson claimed his fifth when he had Jansen comfortably taken by Root at first slip. Broad struck again with another shorter ball, Keshav Maharaj dragging his attempted pull onto his stumps, then had Anrich Nortje caught by Stokes at extra cover.
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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2022 7:32:00 GMT
ESPN View
England 158 (Pope 67, Jansen 5-35, Rabada 4-81) and 97 for 0 (Crawley 57*, Lees 32*) need 33 runs to beat South Africa 118 (Jansen 30, Robinson 5-49, Broad 4-41) and 169 (Elgar 36, Stokes 3-39, Broad 3-45)
England's Test summer started with Bazball and it was screaming out for Bazball to end it inside two days of the third Test as their bowlers literally swung the momentum back in the home side's favour and Zak Crawley's unbeaten fifty took them within 33 runs of victory over South Africa.
Under-fire Crawley, whose best score in 17 innings since his century on England's spring tour of West Indies had been 46 against India at Edgbaston in July, cruised to a 36-ball fifty and was 57 not out when the umpires took the players from the field for bad light at 6.40pm.
Ben Stokes, with mouth agape and hands on hips, and Joe Root's furrow-browed stare said it all from the changing room balcony but, with the officials having taken what many regarded as an overly cautious decision to stop play just before 6.30pm the previous evening under relatively bright skies, the die was cast.
South Africa could well have wondered what might have been, Dean Elgar's failure to review his lbw dismissal and Marco Jansen's dropped slip catch on the first ball of England's run chase cases in point.
Crawley could only look at the positives, having come under prolonged criticism of his form - and fit - under England's new regime, hallmarked by its ultra-positive approach, as he and fellow opener Alex Lees left the middle comfortably intact.
South Africa had owned the morning session, cleaning up England's last three first-innings wickets inside the first 16 balls of the day before Elgar and Sarel Erwee reeled in the hosts' slim first-innings advantage with relative ease.
But then a vintage display of swing bowling from Stuart Broad and James Anderson put England back in the ascendancy before a heroic display from captain Stokes, bowling his guts out in spite of a long-term knee injury that was clearly causing him discomfort, netted three crucial wickets.
Ollie Robinson, the architect of South Africa's first-innings collapse, chimed in with two wickets in the afternoon session to help contain the target as the tourists were bowled out for 169 in their second innings, the highest score of a match where ball has dominated bat - until Crawley and Lees arrived at the crease.
There were some risky moments, Lees surviving Jansen's blunder at fourth slip off the first ball of the innings, bowled by Kagiso Rabada, and then just making his ground to beat a direct hit from Ryan Rickelton as he and Crawley completed a single off Jansen.
Lees also narrowly managed to evade Keshav Maharaj's leap at mid-off for another single off Jansen, and by the close he had faced 61 balls for his 32 as he took a back seat to Crawley. The latter unfurled 10 fours during his knock, including back-to-back efforts off Rabada through cover and clipped off his toes in front of square leg to bring up his half-century.
When Lees drove Jansen through the covers on what turned out to be the last ball of the day, a sense of urgency mixed with inevitability.
Earlier, Elgar and Erwee put on 58 runs for the first wicket to turn England's 40-run lead into a 30-run deficit by lunch.
But, resuming after the break on 35, Elgar added just one more to his score before he was adjudged lbw by umpire Nitin Menon off Broad in the third over back. Elgar, the South Africa captain, walked off, apparently giving no thought to a review, which would have seen the decision overturned with replays showing the ball was missing leg stump by some way.
The wicket took Broad past Glenn McGrath to fifth on all-time Test wicket-takers' list with 564 and second among seamers behind Anderson, who moved his tally to 666 a short time later, setting Keegan Petersen beautifully with an over's worth of inswingers before dragging his length back slightly on a wide outswinger with the third ball of his next over which Petersen guided to Ollie Pope at fourth slip.
The veteran duo kept a tight lid on South Africa's scoring before Broad trapped Rickelton playing across an outswinger that straightened and crashed into the back pad low and in line with off stump.
Khaya Zondo and Wiaan Mulder batted 87 balls for their 25-run stand and England burned their last review thinking they had Zondo caught behind off Stokes but Snicko flatlined as the ball passed Zondo's bat. Robinson broke the union a short time later though, claiming his 50th wicket in just his 11th Test when Mulder edged one that shaped back into him onto his stumps. Robinson then removed Zondo with an inswinger that struck the front thigh in his next over.
Stokes could have added the wicket of Jansen, South Africa's top-scorer with 30 in the first innings, via an edge to Pope at fourth slip, had he not over-stepped. But Stokes made amends a short time later, uprooting Jansen's leg stump with a stunning inswinger that sent the visitors to tea seven men down. Stokes completed his over after the break with the wicket of Rabada, caught at third slip by Harry Brook for a second-ball duck.
Broad then bowled Maharaj and Anderson took a return catch off Kyle Verreynne in the next over toe end South Africa's second innings.
Stokes had made England's sole breakthrough before lunch, striking within three balls of bringing himself into the attack with a late outswinger which Erwee steered towards slip, where Root took a strong catch diving forward.
Earlier, Jansen had completed his maiden Test five-wicket haul with the wicket of Ben Foakes, well caught by Petersen at third slip to end England's first innings. That was after Rabada, who had been expensive in claiming 2 for 78 on Saturday, struck with the second ball of the day to remove Robinson then Jack Leach out for a duck chopping onto his middle stump.
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