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Cricket Thread

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Oscar the Grouch Jan 2022 3:47pm, 28 Jan 2022 4,202 posts	0 Oscar the Grouch Indeed. Free the TRO one
Ocelot Spleens Jan 2022 3:48pm, 28 Jan 2022 32,996 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens Indeed. Still considering theceording of my poll
Dooogs Jan 2022 3:50pm, 28 Jan 2022 8,151 posts	0 Dooogs There's a photo of me in the Oval indoor nets with me taking guard a good stump leggier than leg (-1st stump?). I still got hit in the box by the office quick three balls later.
rf_fozzy Jan 2022 3:52pm, 28 Jan 2022 16,396 posts	0 rf_fozzy I caught this last night in the lunch break of the Washes test. bbc.co.uk Explains why a franchise system isn't going to happen (counties won't vote for it), but talks about some of the other suggestions already discussed, including a discussion with one D Stevens of Kent pastures. There, for me, is still the logical gap though that if it's the pitches are too bad and that allows the bowlers of a slightly lesser pace, but with control (around the 80mph mark) to get wickets, then why, given that the suggestion is that it's too difficult for batsmen to score runs, that the batters who have scored stacks of runs in county cricket: Pope, Burns, Sibley etc fall apart on the better pitches in test cricket, where yes the bowling might be of a higher standard, but so are the pitches. It still doesn't quite make sense. If you have the technique to deal with the moving ball on poor pitches, then why does this fall apart at the slightly higher level? The only thing that makes sense to me (and has always made sense) is the argument that too many players play too much ODI/T20 hit ball from ball one and don't think about defending and so consequently simply aren't used to batting for extended periods of time and so don't work on their concentration. The solution for that is not franchises (won't make a blind bit of difference), but less one-day cricket (scrapping the hundred would help or merging it and revamping the T20 competition) might help? And yes, get the prep better for tours would help too
Dooogs Jan 2022 3:57pm, 28 Jan 2022 8,153 posts	0 Dooogs >>It still doesn't quite make sense. If you have the technique to deal with the moving ball on poor pitches, then why does this fall apart at the slightly higher level?>> Could it be that our players have the technique to deal with seam/swing well but not express pace and bounce?
rf_fozzy Jan 2022 4:05pm, 28 Jan 2022 16,397 posts	0 rf_fozzy Could be, but I'd suggest there's not evidence of the former either! And we've had any number of batters come through and be successful without express pace bowlers in county cricket and on worse pitches than they're playing on now. I do understand touring has got harder (most teams struggle away from home in tests), but not to the extent that a batter's techique should fall apart the moment you hit alien conditions. That, to me, suggests major technical flaws, which then takes us back to the original point that if you've got major technical flaws, you're going to struggle against the moving ball. English pitches have also improved - they have got better for batting and there are any other number of technical innovations they've brought in the past 20 years that should help players work and prepare - but instead they've got worse? Is the solution really as simple as make all English pitches like Australian or Indian ones? (which I realise is actually not possible) - I don't think it is. I still can't see past the point that T20 cricket is meaning that batters are spending less time on basic technique in order to devote more time to flashy shots (e.g. the reverse sweep) and thus when the going gets tough, they don't have the technique to fall back on (and here I class the mental prep and concentration work as part of said technique).
fetcheveryone Jan 2022 4:06pm, 28 Jan 2022 27,099 posts	0 fetcheveryone Could it be that our players have the technique to deal with seam/swing well but not express pace and bounce? It sounds like the easiest thing to replicate, with a bowling machine and a concrete floor.
rf_fozzy Jan 2022 4:08pm, 28 Jan 2022 16,398 posts	0 rf_fozzy ^^ yes, that's what I was thinking exactly, Fetch. Stick me in an indoor school an I had a very effective short ball that was nasty if I wanted it to be. Stick me on a proper wicket outside and my short ball was a long hop. And at my quickest I was only high 60s mph I think.
Oscar the Grouch Jan 2022 4:11pm, 28 Jan 2022 4,203 posts	0 Oscar the Grouch Very interesting article in the Times today (behind a paywall, I bought a copy to enjoy over lunch) in which a young under 17s England player said he felt his overall game - including his ODI game - was only in top shape when his defensive technique was in alignment. Hopefully that's the future. Sorry, I forget his name so it's an utterly useless aside. Doogs - if you were batting outside leg, the quick's ball WILL follow you... too late now, but you have to get into/inside the line
Ocelot Spleens Jan 2022 4:50pm, 28 Jan 2022 33,000 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens I think that was about point 5 in the cricketer Aushes Autopsy, coaching and then mitigation, i,e preparation for a particular series. Could well be the future, but it is so wrapped up in the counties looking after themselves that it may take a while. I think that's where the problems lie, Yorks and Middx, the people at the top are blinkered, they're thinking of their club and not much else.