Cricket - The Greatest Game of all

[snapper]

For those like myself in a country where you cannot get a live stream of the Ashes on TV; https://www.lmisports.net/england-vs...-1-5-aug-2019/

[snapper]

Anderson injured.

[Bigfella]

Steve Smith reminded everyone today that he is the best batsman in Test cricket & one of the best of all time. On a seaming Edgbaston pitch with the English bowlers rampant & Australia staring down a first innings total under 150 he dug in & produced one of the great innings of all time. His 144, more than half the team total of 284, was a combination of incredible patience & judgement in the first half and power hitting in the second. With the top order gone cheaply Smith put on 162 with numbers 10 & 11 to keep Australia's chances in the Test alive.

It is now over to the bowlers to see if they can put Australia in a good position. A few blokes in the top order will be wanting to make amends in the second innings, so getting England out for under 350 might give us a shot at a win no one would even have been considering at 8/122. However, there is a long way to go and England remain favourites on one of their favourite grounds.

[snapper]

England Ladies certainly need some work in the nets. The real show starts tomorrow I think? I fancy England to win 3-1, Australia win at Lords.

[Bigfella]

Ellyse Perry has become the first player, male or female, to score 1000 runs & take 100 wickets in T20 International cricket. A fine achievement for the best player in the women's game right now.

[Bigfella]

The Australian women's team has won the Ashes with a series of crushing performances.

For those unaware the women's Ashes involves 3 50 over fixtures, one test and 3 T20s. Points are awarded for each in a weighted manner.

Australia won all three 50 over fixtures. The Test was drawn, but Australia was on top, with Ellyse Perry scoring yet another test century to go with a 7 for she took in a 50 over game. She now averages close to 80 in Tests & is clearly the best female cricketer in the world. After the Test Australia could not lose the series & had thus retained the Ashes, In the first T20 Australia won, scoring over 200 with captain Meg Lanning making a record 133 not out.

This sets up a fascinating World Cup in 2021. Australia unexpectedly lost to India in the semi final in 2017 & will be determined to to win. On current form they will go in favourites.

On Thursday the men's Ashes kicks off. Hopefully a good contest.

[Oracle]

Looks like the cheat Cameron Bancroft is back again. All hail Cricket Australia for that. Disgusting and shameless.

[Bigfella]

On the back of some impressive bowling Ireland are within sight of an unlikely victory against England in the first test between the two nations, being played at Lords.

On day 1 England collapsed to be all out for 85 with ageing swing bowler Tim Murtagh taking 5 wickets. Ireland were all out by the end of the day, but with a lead of 122. At 1/122 in reply England looked set to bat Ireland out of the game, but a dramatic collapse sees them only 181 ahead with one wicket in hand. The wicket appears to have flattened somewhat, so a tally of under 200 may well be chaseable for Ireland.

It should be noted that there are a few big names missing for England, including Ben Stokes and World Cup sensation Joffra Archer, however, most of the regular Test team is playing including some pretty serious talent. England appears to have seen this as just a warm up for the Ashes. It might end up being the greatest moment in Ireland's cricketing history.

GO IRELAND!!!

[Bigfella]

On the back of some impressive bowling Ireland are within sight of an unlikely victory against England in the first test between the two nations, being played at Lords.

On day 1 England collapsed to be all out for 85 with ageing swing bowler Tim Murtagh taking 5 wickets. Ireland were all out by the end of the day, but with a lead of 122. At 1/122 in reply England looked set to bat Ireland out of the game, but a dramatic collapse sees them only 181 ahead with one wicket in hand. The wicket appears to have flattened somewhat, so a tally of under 200 may well be chaseable for Ireland.

It should be noted that there are a few big names missing for England, including Ben Stokes and World Cup sensation Joffra Archer, however, most of the regular Test team is playing including some pretty serious talent. England appears to have seen this as just a warm up for the Ashes. It might end up being the greatest moment in Ireland's cricketing history.

GO IRELAND!!!

[Double Edge]

Not sure I'm catching your drift DE. Are you saying that you hope Stokes doesn't get a hard time? he won't.

In the sense if only he didn't get these runs discounted then NZ would have won.

He was the reason England got the win, so all manner of things can be forgiven.

From a sporting pov yes he can be forgiven. From a competitive, only winning counts which ever way, ruthless pov, some will disagree.

The flaw of the second line of thinking is hindsight i guess.

When he made the decision he didn't know the game would end up a tie. It's only when the game concludes as a tie that this question comes up.

Even if he had got his way I think it would have been OK. Some people would have been upset, but a lot more would have congratulated him for upholding the spirit of the game.

Gilchrist's decision boosted his standing. Stokes' actions will do the same.

Right and if the majority of the home crowd in NZ sees it that way then good.

[snapper]

Stokes definitely did ask for the extra (deflected) four runs to be discounted. Look at the video. The fact that both teams played to spirit of the game and ignored the failures of the Umpires is better than any team that won or lost. I know it's 'old fashioned' but rules of generally acceptable behaviour such as walking when given out could teach many lessons yet in the current chaotic world.

[Bigfella]

Hope they don't give him too hard of a time about this back home. This is one of those decisions that can haunt for a life time.

Not sure I'm catching your drift DE. Are you saying that you hope Stokes doesn't get a hard time? he won't. He was the reason England got the win, so all manner of things can be forgiven. Even if he had got his way I think it would have been OK. Some people would have been upset, but a lot more would have congratulated him for upholding the spirit of the game.

Gilchrist's decision boosted his standing. Stokes' actions will do the same.

[Double Edge]

A more interesting story has come to light today - that Ben Stokes apparently asked the umpires not to record the 4 runs that came of his bat & apologised profusely to the New Zealanders. Had his wish been granted (sadly beyond the powers of the umpires) it is highly unlikely England would have drawn the score. Seven off two balls would likely have required a six or another piece of bad luck for NZ. Kudos to Stokes for his sportsmanship. Reminds me a bit of Gilchrist walking in the semi final of the 2003 WC. Stokes has had a tricky couple of years, nice to see him remembered for the fight things.

Hope they don't give him too hard of a time about this back home. This is one of those decisions that can haunt for a life time.

[Double Edge]

I do think the number of boundaries rule is arbitrary and makes the tie breaker dependent on something that has occurred already in the past.

Like retroactive taxation : )

This should be changed to something else like a continuation of another super over(s) or replace the super over with a five overs per side mini second innings. Number of wickets lost per innings could be another metric but again is something that has already taken place and thus is outside the control of the two teams while in the tiebreaker. But given that this was the rule in place at the time, England do deserve the victory.

ok, so they knew this could happen

Unlucky for the Kiwis though specially when Stokes' bat found its sentience at the opportune moment and decided to intervene. Both the teams deserved the match but given the rules only one made it through. I guess this is the price we pay for the match being THAT competitive!

Definitely one of the all time great ODIs. This coming from a fan of test cricket Ha!

It's competitive but i think this is more about calling it on the day and not letting it go on indefinitely. At some point they make a decision and crown the winner. It's never fair but this happens in sports.

Definitely not! They should have their heads held high on their flight back home. Poor luck and out of control variables led to their defeat.

Their prowess will become apparent in subsequent tournaments.

[Bigfella]

According to one theory England were awarded a run too many in the Final. This happened when the ball was thrown in and hit Stokes' bat to be deflected to the boundary and England were awarded 2 runs and 4 extras. Apparently when the ball was thrown the English batsmen had not crossed again for the second run so it should only have counted as 1 run and 4 extras.

Snapper,

Not a theory, but confirmed. They stuffed up. To be fair to them, it is very obscure rule that an umpire might go most of a career without encountering and the wording could be tighter. The field umpires can be excused for missing it, though the third umpire should probably have checked more carefully. I'm not convinced that one run would have made the difference under the circumstances, but it is unfortunate that the correct ruling wasn't made.

A more interesting story has come to light today - that Ben Stokes apparently asked the umpires not to record the 4 runs that came of his bat & apologised profusely to the New Zealanders. Had his wish been granted (sadly beyond the powers of the umpires) it is highly unlikely England would have drawn the score. Seven off two balls would likely have required a six or another piece of bad luck for NZ. Kudos to Stokes for his sportsmanship. Reminds me a bit of Gilchrist walking in the semi final of the 2003 WC. Stokes has had a tricky couple of years, nice to see him remembered for the fight things.