England v Australia, 4th test, Leeds, August 7-11 (II)

Or if a select few members of the FB were given free reign of the ECB and access to automatic machine guns.

It's simple.

North,South,West,East regional cricket played by the best players in county cricket. 6 games a year. A level between county cricket & test cricket.

I may have mentioned this before.

Infact I may even have mentioned before that I've mentioned this before.

Wales have got to be involved Lever. Unless, you move the Welsh players to the South or West leagues. No question.

DJ_Smerk wrote:Wales have got to be involved Lever. Unless, you move the Welsh players to the South or West leagues. No question.

Uh, any Glammy players would qualify for 'West'. Obviously...

What about bringing back the "Academy" as it was supposed to be in the first place, with a tough Aussie in charge to produce tough international cricketers... I think the concept was watered down and eventually turned into the Lions which is just the old England A team under another name, that production line of mediocrity containing mostly capped players who have already proved to be not quite good enough.

JKL, some sort of regional tier is definitely required.

Where would you draw the border lines to separate the regions?

Why not just emulate the current ESCA set-up which has 4 regions, but split the Northern and Midlands ones, to make 6 regions.

Hass wrote:JKL, some sort of regional tier is definitely required.

Where would you draw the border lines to separate the regions?

yeah, it doesn't have to be NSWE per se - as obviously not all FC counties are in those regions.

Perhaps.... West & Wales, Midlands, North, South - you could even run it along state of origin lines whereby someone like Luke Wright although he plays for Sussex would play for Midlands.

3 home games, 3 away. It doesn't matter if no-one goes to watch, they hardly queue up to see state cricket do they? They run alongside the county season. If there is a county fixture at the same time - tough tit. The regional side gets the call, and the county replaces the player called up with a younger player not a kolpak.

They would be a good standard of FC cricket, we've seen the Lions give a decent account of themselves against touring sides. The games themselves would be virtual test trials as anyone making runs in that type of cricket will jump ahead of someone tearing county attacks up for fun.

It'll probably never happen. It's just a way to get a better standard without killing off counties.

I really like the State of Origin (or Region of Origion) idea.

It adds a point of difference to the County set-up and reinforces the fact that it's a representative fixture.

filosofee wrote:

"Langer dossier rips England apart":

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25905597-5001505,00.html


Was Langer too harsh?

No. Imran was saying the same things about English cricket twenty years ago.

holcs wrote:Why not just emulate the current ESCA set-up which has 4 regions, but split the Northern and Midlands ones, to make 6 regions.

6 max, though I prefer 4 teams I think - better games of cricket. Top 44 players.

Hass wrote:I really like the State of Origin (or Region of Origion) idea.

It adds a point of difference to the County set-up and reinforces the fact that it's a representative fixture.

Sadly it'll get dismissed out of hand because it'll diminish 'counties' status. And why? Because those counties run English cricket.

People do need to have a long look at themselves and ask why have England not produced a great player in the last 35 years whereas Australia has?

Imo, it is the system. Just look at British sport in terms of Rowing & Cycling. They are utterly professional outfits (even though they aren't strictly pro)

JKLever wrote:

holcs wrote:Why not just emulate the current ESCA set-up which has 4 regions, but split the Northern and Midlands ones, to make 6 regions.

6 max, though I prefer 4 teams I think - better games of cricket. Top 44 players.

I'd prefer to run it along ESCA lines, as that type of trial system is already in place and has been proven to work in some ways.

Top 44 would be plenty actually, as you'd then add maybe 6 of the current fixed England players to that, giving your pool of 'talent' for England to pick from at 50 players.

Well, nice to be back on level terms. But WTF was going on with the Aussie bowlers once Broad strode to the wicket? The 'bowl him short stuff' theory wasn't working, so what was the plan? Bowl him more short stuff. OK the result realy wasn't ever in doubt, but once the smug Sky gits started talking about Headingley 1981, it removed a lot of the gloss from the match for me.

Ponting is an ass and should be forced to step aside as captain, ostensibly so he can offer Clarke - or whoever - some 'assistance and the benefit of his expereince as captain' to ensure a smooth transition of leadership, as soon as possible.

Or, as someone lese suggested, shot and run over by a heavy vehicle...

Finally an Aussie win - it's taken us long enough. Phew!
Have to say I thought Strauss was impressive in his interview after the match. I'm not particularly a Strauss fan (prefer Mozart meself, ah me), but he made no excuses and kept a level head, even when Atherton asked the obvious questions about the English top order, bowling changes and the Oval pitch.

The last Test should be a beauty and England will roll Flintoff out even if he's in a wheelchair, poor beggar. Hope he gets a great last hurrah, in a losing side.

May I say all yous English fans are the biggest pessimists...
I'm expecting a really close tussle - well that's if we don't roll yas fer nothin again.

Not pessimistic. We've been punching above our weight all series and this Test was just the dose of reality most of us were fearing. That was our real level. That was the kind of shite we've been playing for three years now.

Since Aus hasn't been a paragon of consistency, I don't think it's all done and dusted yet.
And with Flintoff back the side will lift.
I reckon this match will be phenomenal - and what a way for an Ashes series to end, with the last Test a nailbiter!

Indeed - I can't believe all the doom and gloom about the Poms. The next test starts all even. As for being soft etc - they have been mostly outplayed for whole series and still go into the final test with a chance to win. Didn't they do something similar against Saf in 1998?

Indeed, JGK, it will only take a morning of bowler-friendly conditions and Oz rolled for 250 and the poms will own the last test . . . 1-1 with a test to play . . . I wish it was starting tomorrow. 10 days lay-off gives the poms a chance to regroup (and Freddie to regain a little fitness) as they did after Cardiff . . .

I feel a bit nervous too....tho the poms were heartened after the draw at Cardiff they have not a scintilla of positives to emerge from this match..all the momentum is with Oz

I barely missed a ball over the 7 and a bit sessions. Never have I seen an english team in such disarray...even the 5-0 thrashings in the last series did not see the poms reach such a nadir...

the only pity in all this is that I doubt the Poms will ever again pick Bop til ya drop, the rat faced Shermanator or Jandy...collingwood was terrible and harmi stunk the place up too but the pom selectors cannot sack them all....Swann (whose massive chin constantly open mouth reminds me a laughing clown in side show alley - where is the ping pong ball to put down his gullet?) might be the worst spinner to have ever represented the Poms but who have they got to replace him? Swann is like Broad who bowled poorly but cashed in when the tail were going for it seems to be selected for his batting

JGK wrote:Indeed - I can't believe all the doom and gloom about the Poms.

We just got rolled for 102 and lost inside 2 and a half days! Of our 2 best players, 1 is out for the series and t'other is falling to pieces.

Our 3,4,5 contributed 16 runs in 6 innings. Not much cause for optimism this side of the equator!!!

Must be about time to dust off Hick.

JKLever wrote:

JGK wrote:Indeed - I can't believe all the doom and gloom about the Poms.

We just got rolled for 102 and lost inside 2 and a half days! Of our 2 best players, 1 is out for the series and t'other is falling to pieces.

Our 3,4,5 contributed 16 runs in 6 innings. Not much cause for optimism this side of the equator!!!

As was the case at Lords, Aussie hubris is in your favour.

horace wrote:the only pity in all this is that I doubt the Poms will ever again pick Bop til ya drop, the rat faced Shermanator or Jandy...collingwood was terrible and harmi stunk the place up too but the pom selectors cannot sack them all....Swann (whose massive chin constantly open mouth reminds me a laughing clown in side show alley - where is the ping pong ball to put down his gullet?) might be the worst spinner to have ever represented the Poms but who have they got to replace him?

Even I can't help but chuckle at that summation (when I would normally not bother reading h's drivel).

JGK wrote:

JKLever wrote:

JGK wrote:Indeed - I can't believe all the doom and gloom about the Poms.

We just got rolled for 102 and lost inside 2 and a half days! Of our 2 best players, 1 is out for the series and t'other is falling to pieces.

Our 3,4,5 contributed 16 runs in 6 innings. Not much cause for optimism this side of the equator!!!

As was the case at Lords, Aussie hubris is in your favour.

If the Drunk allows that, JGK, then we shouldn't let the rat-faced little qunt back into the country. Still, with Clark at his disposal, his captaincy did seem to improve in T4. I think he erred in opening with Midg last night. Let Milf, Cot and Gump soften 'em up and then let Midge lose.