England cricket in crisis

I know it's a line we use a lot here, but it was actuallyt the headline on a story in teh Guardian a few months back. Did we miss it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/video/2009/jan/08/england-cricket-pietersen-moores-strauss-crisis

My favourite cricketing headline (which coincided with General Election Day) was after England had been bowled out for 127 in the first day of a series that had been put together to replace the cancelled South African tour in 1970 the last time Test cricket (although the descriptiion was later withdrawn) was played at Lord's on a Wednesday (in order to accommodate the aforementioned General Election):

"Rest of the World Triumphant as England Collapses!"

Aussie forumming in crisis. Resurrecting four month old newspaper headlines.

Pshaww!! I say

Zat in technology Crisis, video doesn't work.

Old news. Hot ice. Hey ho.

Bas - Phurt! I specifically mentioned that we all seemed to miss it.

Smerky - blame the Guardian for the video not working, it's their site.

Although a delay of a few months might be a tangential factor ...

The Guardian should've removed the article if they've removed the video. Poor form.

Allan D wrote:My favourite cricketing headline (which coincided with General Election Day) was after England had been bowled out for 127 in the first day of a series that had been put together to replace the cancelled South African tour in 1970 the last time Test cricket (although the descriptiion was later withdrawn) was played at Lord's on a Wednesday (in order to accommodate the aforementioned General Election):

"Rest of the World Triumphant as England Collapses!"

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't those matches count towards official test stats?

If so, it seems anomalous that the ROW v. Australia the following season didn't count despite producing some incredible performances by all-time great players.

Red wrote:

Allan D wrote:My favourite cricketing headline (which coincided with General Election Day) was after England had been bowled out for 127 in the first day of a series that had been put together to replace the cancelled South African tour in 1970 the last time Test cricket (although the descriptiion was later withdrawn) was played at Lord's on a Wednesday (in order to accommodate the aforementioned General Election):

"Rest of the World Triumphant as England Collapses!"

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't those matches count towards official test stats?

If so, it seems anomalous that the ROW v. Australia the following season didn't count despite producing some incredible performances by all-time great players.

They were downgraded, much to the annoyance of Alan Jones.

Ah, taips has found someone to beat up on at last . . . .

Red wrote:

Allan D wrote:My favourite cricketing headline (which coincided with General Election Day) was after England had been bowled out for 127 in the first day of a series that had been put together to replace the cancelled South African tour in 1970 the last time Test cricket (although the descriptiion was later withdrawn) was played at Lord's on a Wednesday (in order to accommodate the aforementioned General Election):

"Rest of the World Triumphant as England Collapses!"

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't those matches count towards official test stats?

If so, it seems anomalous that the ROW v. Australia the following season didn't count despite producing some incredible performances by all-time great players.

At the time of the Aus v ROW tests the Eng v ROW matches were still counted as official tests so I don't know why the Aus matches weren't.

Anyway, I'm glad that all of those matches were eventually counted as FC only and hope the latest version goes the same way soon.

Well if you've got to beat up on someone Alan Jones would be it.

The matches were consdiered Tests at the time and should never have had their Test status stripped from them.

You can't change history.

It'd be great to strip old matches against Bangladesh of test status, but they were tests at the time and that should be what counts.

Hass wrote:The matches were consdiered Tests at the time and should never have had their Test status stripped from them.

You can't change history.

It'd be great to strip old matches against Bangladesh of test status, but they were tests at the time and that should be what counts.

England/Pakistan?

No argument here.

Expunge ALL aparthied tainted "tests" against the Jaarps.

@ of the thread title - but when was England cricket not in crisis?

taipan wrote:

Hass wrote:The matches were consdiered Tests at the time and should never have had their Test status stripped from them.

You can't change history.

It'd be great to strip old matches against Bangladesh of test status, but they were tests at the time and that should be what counts.

England/Pakistan?

Well, the ICC tried to change history on that one but failed. It's back as a forfeit in the record books - as it should be.

I think Test cricket history has been changed before through ... someone (probably Wally, Allan D, or TYA) brought up the circumstances of some international games played 100 years or so ago, which were not billed as Tests at the time, but were given Test status later. Unfortunately I do not remember the details, but perhaps these were matches played when English teams were playing Australia and South Africa simultaneously?

Anyway ... if my memory above is correct, it gives hope to those like me who would like to have seen the ROW series of 1970 and 1971-72 given Test status. The 1971-2 ROW series v Australia will always remain a favourite of mine, with superb performances like Sobers' 254, DK Lillee's 8-29, Walters' 120 odd, Massie's first match for Australia (in which he first hinted at what he later achieved at Lords), an undefeated GSC 190 odd, and a superb century by Graeme Pollock all looming large in my memory. The teams were friendly, evenly matched, and the cricket was superb ... with only rain in Sydney spoiling what would have been a 2-2 series scoreline.

I did not see any of the 1970 series but reports of the cricket played then were very favourable, too.