Botham slams London scheduling domination

Botham slams London scheduling domination

He's a bore, he spent half the test whingeing about this.

Out of 25 Test matches since 2005, London has played host to 11 and the rest of the country has had 14. Of those 11 we have won just once, drawing nine and losing the other. Of the 14 games that have been allowed to be played elsewhere in the country, we have actually won 11 of those, drawn one and lost two.


Amazing stats these!!!!

Red wrote:He's a bore, he spent half the test whingeing about this.

He has a point though.

Like they'd ever take Tests away from The Oval and Lords.

Lord's and the Oval will never and should never miss out on a test, but it's greedy of Lord's to have 2 tests per summer, especially when there are other high quality grounds (Chester Le Street, The Rose Bowl) missing out.

Henry wrote:Lord's and the Oval will never and should never miss out on a test, but it's greedy of Lord's to have 2 tests per summer, especially when there are other high quality grounds (Chester Le Street, The Rose Bowl) missing out.

That may be a result of pressure from the touring sides. When you go to England you want to play at Lords - it's probably a much bigger deal for the opposition than for England.

It would be unfair on one of the touring sides if they didn't get to play there.

When you go to England you want to play at Lords - it's probably a much bigger deal for the opposition than for England.

Same for touring sides to Australia (MCG) and India (Eden Gardens).

..especially as the Poms are so shit there

Lord's and The Oval, with capacities of 28,000 and 23,000, are the biggest grounds in the country and are usually sold out, or close to being so, for the first four days.

Which is why they should dominate. Plus Northerners are knuckle dragging scum who should stay down t'pit and drink Tetley and watch Hi-di-Hi and don't deserve to have Test cricket come their way.

Personally, I wouldn't be too disappointed if India stopped playing at Lord's.

spangler wrote:

Lord's and The Oval, with capacities of 28,000 and 23,000, are the biggest grounds in the country and are usually sold out, or close to being so, for the first four days.

Which is why they should dominate. Plus Northerners are knuckle dragging scum who should stay down t'pit and drink Tetley and watch Hi-di-Hi and don't deserve to have Test cricket come their way.

VWMP

There is a commercial reality here. The test matches in London (and also Trent Bridge) are the only ones that are of decent size that sell out in advance. To guarantee this income the groundsmen are instructed to produce batting wickets to do what they can to prevent a 3 day test and having to pay refunds. This results in lots of draws.

WTF is Beefy talking about here. What a crock of shoite!

If you were a touring side, the one place you would demand to play in a Test series in England is Lords, its the home of cricket.

Its like taking away the boxing day Test match from the MCG and giving it to Hobart or Darwin!

Or the boxing day test at Cape Town and playing it at George!

Just doesn't sound right.......

Henry wrote:Lord's and the Oval will never and should never miss out on a test, but it's greedy of Lord's to have 2 tests per summer, especially when there are other high quality grounds (Chester Le Street, The Rose Bowl) missing out.

High quality grounds of the freezing shittip in Durham and the completely un atmospheric concrete dump that is the Rose Bowl???

holcs wrote:

Henry wrote:Lord's and the Oval will never and should never miss out on a test, but it's greedy of Lord's to have 2 tests per summer, especially when there are other high quality grounds (Chester Le Street, The Rose Bowl) missing out.

High quality grounds of the freezing shittip in Durham and the completely un atmospheric concrete dump that is the Rose Bowl???

Why not? They're good grounds with good facilities. If it's a case of the touring teams not wanting to miss out on playing at Lord's, then why don't the ECB scrap the 2 lots of 3 tests against 2 different sides setup that they have at the moment, and give every touring team bar Bangladesh a 5 test series? One touring team each summer. F*ck the ICC's future tours program.

Henry wrote:

holcs wrote:

Henry wrote:Lord's and the Oval will never and should never miss out on a test, but it's greedy of Lord's to have 2 tests per summer, especially when there are other high quality grounds (Chester Le Street, The Rose Bowl) missing out.

High quality grounds of the freezing shittip in Durham and the completely un atmospheric concrete dump that is the Rose Bowl???

Why not? They're good grounds with good facilities. If it's a case of the touring teams not wanting to miss out on playing at Lord's, then why don't the ECB scrap the 2 lots of 3 tests against 2 different sides setup that they have at the moment, and give every touring team bar Bangladesh a 5 test series? One touring team each summer. F*ck the ICC's future tours program.

Then they'd be no better than the BCCI in that regard.

Lord's is Lord's. Its the Home of Cricket, and therefore IMO deserves to have every touring side play a test there.

The smaller newer grounds get there share of Tests on a rotation basis. Thats the way it works. Plus they are not high quality grounds at all. Not in the grand scheme of things. The Rose Bowl for instance is an absolute nightmare to get into and out of!

If you want to watch a 5 test series between England and Windies in 2 summers time then good luck, I'd rather see two series of 3 Tests, and get more Test cricket in my summer!

Which reminds me .... HTF did Burley Chassis's hometown get the first Ashes test match next year FFS?
It's an ars*hole of a place to get to, pint sized capacity with a deck befitting that on the Titanic (awash) and stuffed full of sheep shaggers driving 1970's Ferguson tractors.

Merlin wrote:Which reminds me .... HTF did Burley Chassis's hometown get the first Ashes test match next year FFS?
It's an ars*hole of a place to get to, pint sized capacity with a deck befitting that on the Titanic (awash) and stuffed full of sheep shaggers driving 1970's Ferguson tractors.

Aye, pretty pishhole decision that. Don't mind them having a Test at all, after all they have invested plenty - but the first Test of an Ashes series??

Its just not cricket!!

Nice to see the stereotypical Londoner who thinks the country stops at Watford gap still exists!

JKLever wrote:Nice to see the stereotypical Londoner who thinks the country stops at Watford gap still exists!

Aye, Watford Gap for tNorth ... and at Fenchurch Street station for the East.
So d'you loike Cardiff then JK ??!

Merlin wrote:

JKLever wrote:Nice to see the stereotypical Londoner who thinks the country stops at Watford gap still exists!

Aye, Watford Gap for tNorth ... and at Fenchurch Street station for the East.
So d'you loike Cardiff then JK ??!

Have you ever been to Cardiff? Tis one of the best cities in the UK!

I've been to Cardiff but would have preferred our first test to be at a more traditional venue.

JKLever wrote:

Merlin wrote:

JKLever wrote:Nice to see the stereotypical Londoner who thinks the country stops at Watford gap still exists!

Aye, Watford Gap for tNorth ... and at Fenchurch Street station for the East.
So d'you loike Cardiff then JK ??!

Have you ever been to Cardiff? Tis one of the best cities in the UK!

I've never been, but have tickets for the 3rd Sept ODI

JKL -
Yep. Several times.
Nice city, as nice cities go.
Poor ground and facilities. Certainly for a 1st Ashes test.

T'would be like the Aussies starting us off at Bundaberg, Mackay or Townsville.