Cricket Thread

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ThorntonRunner Jan 2022 7:41am, 4 Jan 2022 5,616 posts	0 ThorntonRunner Agree with Fozzy - shouldn't need to coach technique at international level - technique should be sorted out before people are selected. The "let the player work it out for themselves" coaching method I suspect is a reaction to the "this is the only way to play the game" coaching method that caused a number of players (including Jimmy A) problems a decade or so ago. They need to find a balance between the two extremes
TROSaracen Jan 2022 7:50am, 4 Jan 2022 24,598 posts	0 TROSaracen All fair points but I keep looping back to my fundamental point: The English game is not the only domestic cricket game obsessed by and in hock to white ball cricket. Yet we have an endless supply of batters who can’t play with a straight bat out of a balanced stance. You can see some deterioration in batting standards across the board in other nations - but it’s stuff that can usually be sorted with quality coaching and decent preparation for a test series. They have better fundamentals. I think ‘it’s all white ball cricket’ is a sop to divert from the true cause: English county cricket isn’t fit for purpose any more (if your purpose is producing quality cricketers good enough at the fundamentals to potentially play any format). Remember English cricket’s other problem is still 100% there: inability to develop bowlers who are anything other than line/length trundlers who can take wickets in home conditions, if the ball is moving. No spinners, no pace. It’s just been hidden by a once in a generational pair who’ve taken 1100 test wickets and the fact that batting has collapsed more visibly. And this problem pre dates the rise of white ball.
ThorntonRunner Jan 2022 7:55am, 4 Jan 2022 5,618 posts	0 ThorntonRunner Yep - the root problem is the county championship, and my own view is that the significant difference between England and other countries is the number of teams in the premier domestic red ball competition - other countries are typically 6, we're 18 - it spreads the talent too thinly and means that pressure is never sustained in games, so weaker players can still flourish and potential internationals are not pushed to develop that potential
ThorntonRunner Jan 2022 8:02am, 4 Jan 2022 5,619 posts	0 ThorntonRunner In the same way as we have the hundred and the t20 blast in parallel, run a 6 team competition in parallel with a (effectively downgraded) county championship. And as an alternative to franchising, group the counties to run the 6 teams - for example: yorks, durham, derbys lancs, warks, glamorgan notts, leics, northants worcs, gloucs, somerset middlesex, surrey, essex kent, sussex, hants
57.5 Days of Xmas Jan 2022 9:22am, 4 Jan 2022 8,307 posts	0 57.5 Days of Xmas This sounds remarkably like the argument in the 80s which led to 4 day Championship games, improved pitch preparation and the addition of yet another County. Which obviously didn't solve the problem.
Oscar the Grouch Jan 2022 9:54am, 4 Jan 2022 4,067 posts	0 Oscar the Grouch Stop producing and encouraging green tops... bowlers don't have to work hard, knowing a good ball will be along any minute. Batters are more inclined to play at a higher risk, knowing that they will have an unplayable ball at some point. Dock counties points who produce these wickets. Low scoring games should be the exception. There should be an expectation that to win a game, you need 550 runs. I'd argue at the moment, anything over 350 across two completed innings and you are still in the game. Oh...and make the first class game played in peak summer for the most part.
Cerrertonia Jan 2022 10:31am, 4 Jan 2022 15,413 posts	0 Cerrertonia Oh...and make the first class game played in peak summer for the most part. A good first step might be to have the likely test team actually play some games of red ball cricket before test matches. Only when that happens do we need to move on to the pitches, wider re-structuring etc.
lammo Jan 2022 10:39am, 4 Jan 2022 10,950 posts	0 lammo Not sure i can even be bothered to discuss tonights game, interest seems to have evaporated, can't see past another thrashing. meh, whatevs etc etc
Oscar the Grouch Jan 2022 11:06am, 4 Jan 2022 4,069 posts	0 Oscar the Grouch Fortunately, we have picked four number 11's. Wood at 8... Start the car!!
TROSaracen Jan 2022 11:10am, 4 Jan 2022 24,605 posts	0 TROSaracen 4? I can count 10 number 11's.....