England v Australia, 5xODIs + 1xT20, 13-28 June, 2018

embee wrote:shame on you for listening to a station that thinks cricket and JAMODIs are comparable

Hehehe... Just gave myself an uppercut.

Aust heading for another flogging. Maxwell is an embarrassment

Correction. The whole side is an embarrassment.

England sweep imminent.

So everyone but Fink and Bog had shit tours.

Thus augurs well for a mid-80s period of malaise for Aus cricket. I'm astounded at the lack of depth in our batting and bowling.

Cbnlg has been notably quiet. Poor old Ima,who was in appalling form had to carry the media load.

skully wrote:So everyone but Fink and Bog had shit tours.

Thus augurs well for a mid-80s period of malaise for Aus cricket. I'm astounded at the lack of depth in our batting and bowling.

Think we'll be joining you, certainly in the test arena.

Unkown territory?

vilkrang wrote:

skully wrote:So everyone but Fink and Bog had shit tours.

Thus augurs well for a mid-80s period of malaise for Aus cricket. I'm astounded at the lack of depth in our batting and bowling.

Think we'll be joining you, certainly in the test arena.

I don’t think Test cricket can survive a shit England and a shit Australia...

Is the lack of depth at Test level for Eng and Aus a direct result of the ever increasing amount of Clown Cricket? Or is this just an Anderson Cycle of Shit?

A bit of each probably... not sure if the Aussie domestic FC competition has been sidelined into spring and autumn and watered down as much as ours has, but the financial dominance of the shorter forms and their prominence in the calendar has to be having an effect.

Still, all modern day players have been brought up with T20, so it’s just about adaptability.

Our Shield season has been broken into 2, with roughly half played before Christmas, then a 5 week break for the Big Bash, then the 2nd half of the Shield season in Feb and March.

"Adaptability" is interesting. Personally I reckon players ARE slowly adapting to the greater proliferation One Day stuff. Hardy bowlers like Freddy Trueman seem fewer and far between, and likewise, batsmen capable of sticking in at the crease through tough conditions seem fewer in number.

By adaptability I mean players who grew up with T20 being able to change their game to handle the longer form. Those who can block out a session for a draw just as well as they can smash a 25-ball fifty. Those who can see off a new red ball with four slips and a gully in place. Those who can find a wicket when a partnership is set and a session is drifting.

The lack of such players not only weakens individual Test sides, it has also contributed to the fact that most Tests are now over as a contest by the end of day two, and that a lot of touring sides roll over without a fight in unfamiliar conditions.

beamer wrote:By adaptability I mean players who grew up with T20 being able to change their game to handle the longer form. Those who can block out a session for a draw just as well as they can smash a 25-ball fifty. Those who can see off a new red ball with four slips and a gully in place. Those who can find a wicket when a partnership is set and a session is drifting.

The lack of such players not only weakens individual Test sides, it has also contributed to the fact that most Tests are now over as a contest by the end of day two, and that a lot of touring sides roll over without a fight in unfamiliar conditions.

Aye beams. Tis a shame how the fight has largely gone out of Test Cricket. You can imagine a player in the middle of a tense session thinking "fark this, this is all too hard and stressful". One wonders how long it will be before the ICC mandates the length of a Test down to 4 days.

To me, a nail-biting 5th day Draw (with other results in play) is still one of cricket's great spectacles.

Doubt that many fans over 30 would disagree with you Skully.

Even 9, 10 and jack could bat out an hour or two to save a match on occasions... now you wouldn’t back an entire batting line-up to last a couple of sessions in that scenario.

There’s enough times I’ve thought “there’s half a chance of drawing this” at the start of the final day, and then they haven’t threatened to make it to tea.

And it’s not just about Boycotts, Tavares and Athertons either - among those of recent vintage, ABDV and KP have done so, along with aforementioned lower order players of supposedly much lesser ability. It’s mindset more than anything else.

beamer wrote:There’s enough times I’ve thought “there’s half a chance of drawing this” at the start of the final day, and then they haven’t threatened to make it to tea.

Aye. In the past 10 years, almost without exception, a Test with a gripping 4th day that has set up a juicy final day with all 3 results in play, has ended tamely by Lunch.