England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Lords, June 3-7, 2011

skully wrote:

taipan wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:Oh roight. Well. I just wouldn't have thunk it. Taips, what about you?

I always thought Skully was true blue but the Aussies are whores at heart. They did take Wessels and Symonds after all.

Deary me, you nawsty troll.

I challenge thee to find a single post where I have had a shot at England for selecting Saffie-born players (I've never subscribed to that taunt). And you know I have wiped Vessels from my memory. The Roy sledge is, well, just a lame sledge.

I think thou doth protest too much.

Like skully, I am pleased that England CAN select players born overseas. There wouldn't have been much competition in the last 20 years of the Ashes if that hadn't been allowed.

I hope there will always be room for at least one or two players born in Blighty, though.

taipan wrote:

skully wrote:

taipan wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote:Oh roight. Well. I just wouldn't have thunk it. Taips, what about you?

I always thought Skully was true blue but the Aussies are whores at heart. They did take Wessels and Symonds after all.

Deary me, you nawsty troll.

I challenge thee to find a single post where I have had a shot at England for selecting Saffie-born players (I've never subscribed to that taunt). And you know I have wiped Vessels from my memory. The Roy sledge is, well, just a lame sledge.

I think thou doth protest too much.

Whore is such a harsh and unkind taunt.

Congrats to Prior, even if his last 20 runs came through the slip cordon. 108 off 88 partnership. Very nice to watch attacking Test batting, after mainly watching Cook, Trott and Bell for the last 8 months.

That was so out it didn't even need discussing for 15 seconds, but well played all the same Mr. Broad.

Aye. He may be a grating qunt but when he gets going he doesn't f@rt arse around. Well done him. 500+ looks a cert.

skully wrote:Aye. He may be a grating qunt but when he gets going he doesn't f@rt arse around. Well done him. 500+ looks a cert.

Which one ? Don't know if we'll get 500. Swanny goes at every ball, Prior's in a similar mode. Tremlett can bat a bit but won't hang around, Finn the same but to a lesser degree.

Brass Monkey wrote:Swanny goes at every ball

See you Graeme.

StuBro showing his value to the side here. Averaging not far short of 30, for a number 8 that is impressive. If he had to bat a place higher then he may not be as effective as there would perhaps be more pressure on him to get runs, but no reason why he couldn't be a Test number 7 at some stage if they have to accommodate an extra bowler or a keeper who is weaker with the bat.

Sure his bowling can be frustrating at times but he can find a game-changing spell on occasions and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with figures in the Flintoff league, low 30s with both bat and ball.

Apologies lads. Seems I've managed to snag a coupla quick wickets.

And as for Prior of course, FTB or not, you just can't argue with an average in the 40s for a keeper batting at 7. OK he might not be the man for 100-5 but we don't get in that situation as often as we once did!

Why he can't play white ball cricket remains a mystery though, and not sure he will get another go for England in the shorter games now.

I just appreciate that the game's moving on. Anything over 400 is a bonus. I'd rather they try and get as many runs as they can quickly, crabbing when there's a big score already on the board aids in causing draws. Runs on the board, back your bowling attack.

At least we've got a line-up at 6-7-8-9 who will get on with it. They're made for this situation, turning a par score into a really imposing one by taking the game to the opposition.

beamer wrote:And as for Prior of course, FTB or not, you just can't argue with an average in the 40s for a keeper batting at 7. OK he might not be the man for 100-5 but we don't get in that situation as often as we once did!

Why he can't play white ball cricket remains a mystery though, and not sure he will get another go for England in the shorter games now.

He's got runs in tough situations, I generally think he's underrated. Probably, again, because of his twattishness. Which, again, has been toned down. Though not appreciably.

I don't know why he just doesn't work out in the short forms. Nasser reckons it's because he's got license to slog and does too much. Meh, I'd rather keep him fresh for Tests. He's averaging 45.

Nasser Hussain wrote:

After the day's play, Kevin Pietersen approached Ian Botham and said: 'What am I doing wrong, have you got any advice', Botham just replied: 'Try batting left-handed'. Kevin Pietersen just walked away....

beamer wrote:At least we've got a line-up at 6-7-8-9 who will get on with it. They're made for this situation, turning a par score into a really imposing one by taking the game to the opposition.

Aye, well if they're all firing we've got Strauss, KP, Morgan, Prior, Broad and Swann who can get on with it. Mingles in nicely with the more crabby Cook, Trott and Bell.

100 runs in the session in 14.2 overs.

Prior out for 126 from 131 balls. Top innings. Well played. Let the tallest ever Test batting partnership have a tonk and then become the tallest ever Test opening bowling partnership.

We could do with being all out now to have 20 minutes or so at their openers.

Brass Monkey wrote:I don't know why he just doesn't work out in the short forms. Nasser reckons it's because he's got license to slog and does too much. Meh, I'd rather keep him fresh for Tests. He's averaging 45.

Yeah, probably the way to go now. Even his county one-day record is sh!t, which suggests that even though he's an attacking player he just has the wrong type of shots for the type of bowling and field settings in limited overs cricket.

There's a few players who might benefit from being kept fresh for Tests given that they are less valuable in the shorter games. Cook's obviously going to play both now, as is Morgan if he cements his Test place but Strauss no longer is, and surely there isn't room for both Trott and Bell in the one-day side going forward. There's enough young batsmen worth trying out, and in time they can put pressure on the Test players, who can potentially extend their careers with a lighter workload. Their counties might even see them a couple of times a season!

Brass Monkey wrote:That's the thing though, 'perceived arrogance'. We allow journalists to tell us he's arrogant. In the audio / tv interviews we see of him, he's incredibly reticent - he's become sufficiently self-aware, any stupid set-ups to help him along his way to looking arrogant he's got a 'party line' to toe. Therefore I'm not going to say he is, or isn't, arrogant - we don't know and I doubt many do. What do we care, anyway? All we need to know is the fact he's still one of the hardest workers in the England team.

I have no idea if he's an arrogant bloke, but his batting style can be. I just think when that's the case, some people are not going to like it because of the one chance thing with batting. Maybe I look at him from a bowler's perspective, where I always want to see respect for a good ball. Doesn't mean I don't think it incredible and audacious what he can do, and like with anything, when it comes off it's amazing and when it doesn't, you're an idiot.

also, bye Matt Sussex. Good score now. I'm going to spend a hawt day at work listening to Tuffers. What a treat.

How does KP return to being that carefree, run-scoring, attack-dominating machine we saw in the first couple of years in international cricket?

Simple. Re-grow that "skunk" haircut. Like Fernando Torres, he lost it when he cut his hair and started to look less silly...

beamer wrote:There's a few players who might benefit from being kept fresh for Tests given that they are less valuable in the shorter games. Cook's obviously going to play both now, as is Morgan if he cements his Test place but Strauss no longer is, and surely there isn't room for both Trott and Bell in the one-day side going forward. There's enough young batsmen worth trying out, and in time they can put pressure on the Test players, who can potentially extend their careers with a lighter workload. Their counties might even see them a couple of times a season!

There are plenty I'd play in front of Bell and Cook. But the strongest cases are for Hales (when fit), Stokes and probably Taylor. Sort of Trott too, but I supposed we need one 'rock'. For rock read crab.

Cook's in there to prepare him for taking over the Test captaincy, really. He can play the role of the "steady" player with a few aggressive young batsmen to follow.

Not sure what they're doing here by the way, 10 and 11 scratching around instead of a few overs at Tilly Dilly and Piranha before lunch.

Chris Tremlett is a very long man.

Yorkie Jill wrote:

I have no idea if he's an arrogant bloke, but his batting style can be. I just think when that's the case, some people are not going to like it because of the one chance thing with batting. Maybe I look at him from a bowler's perspective, where I always want to see respect for a good ball. Doesn't mean I don't think it incredible and audacious what he can do, and like with anything, when it comes off it's amazing and when it doesn't, you're an idiot.

also, bye Matt Sussex. Good score now. I'm going to spend a hawt day at work listening to Tuffers. What a treat.

Yeah, he just has a tendency to want to feel bat on ball and it's a silly habit. But one that it's totally fine when he's in top nick. Even though we're talking about him not, he does leave the ball and leaves it pretty well. When he's not in nick, as you say, he looks like an idiot. I suppose it's a bit of a rough with the smooth sort of scenario with him, because I just love it when it pays off.