Int sport brilliant?

[Draytonian III]

Someone I used to know who was a very very good bowler, played county 2nds and had the chance to pro at Pudsey St Lawrence, used to practice by putting a beer mat down and hitting 9 out of 12, moving it to bowl different lengths.
 He turned down the chance of going professional/semi professional because he could earn more money down the mine, he had a young family and unfortunately he got killed down there

[BobG]

I used to have my lad, Alex, bowl at a handkerchief when he was 10-11 years old.  If he hit it, he got an ice cream.As he got older the targets got smaller.  By the time he was 16 he could successfully bowl a very rapid inswinging leg stump yorker 9 times out of 12. Then he discovered girls. And beer...

If he'd had the mental determination and focus, two international players told me he could end up playing for England. A Gillette Cup Final MoM winner who had turned to coaching told me Alex was the second best teenager he'd ever seen. But Alex hadn't got those attributes. Shame. But he's  still a damn good club all rounder.

Them girls...They got a bloody lot to answer for 

BobG

[ravenrover]

At junior school our cricket teacher checking out who would be the bowlers would put a half a crown on the.length. if you hit you kept it.
 I ended up wicket keeper!

[BobG]

Ha ha ha ha!!!

BobG

[ncRover]

Squeaky bum time

[Donnywolf]

Not any more

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

A bit unfortunate both sides in the series had to play with injured players but it's just how it goes.  A couple of poor shots from England I thought this morning.

Credit to Siraj though, great bowling and a character too.

[tommy toes]

Several poor shots to get out from Brook, Root, Smith, Duckett.

[knockers]

A series draw was the right result in the end.

Very entertaining set of matches.

[Mike_F]

Agreed. For there to be so much to play for with single digit runs required on the last day of a test series really underlines how gripping the long format of the game is. There's really nothing quite like test cricket.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Several poor shots to get out from Brook, Root, Smith, Duckett.

I guess they could all play like Boycott and Tavare.

Test cricket was going down the pan before Bazball. This England side has reinvented it as a spectator sport and that means it is never dull.

India understand too. It's better to lose entertainingly than win boringly.

[BillyStubbsTears]

PS

That was by a million miles the highest quality and most grippingly entertaining test series I've ever seen. The 2005 Ashes was amazing, but that was at least half due to the aura of the contest. This was two wonderfully talented sides throwing haymakers at each other for 25 days, and finally calling it a draw. A privilege to watch.

[IDM]

I’ll raise you the 1981 ashes..

[tommy toes]

I’m all for bazball as it’s great entertainment, but with victory and a series win in sight maybe they
could have been a bit more careful, especially Brook who had em where he wanted em.
India looked a beaten side til he got himself out.

[i_ateallthepies]

Agreed tommy and suspect Harry Brook will know that himself and learn from the bitter disappointment.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I’ll raise you the 1981 ashes..

That was mostly a one man show. And that Aussie team was far from the best.

This has been shot through with quality throughout both teams.

11 batsmen averaged over 40

There were 21 centuries from 12 different batsmen.

The average stand was 41. The average run rate was 4.8/over.

Despite that, there were 8 5-for's by the bowlers and 6 bowlers averaged 32 or less, taking 90 wickets between them.


1981 by contrast
7 hundreds
3 players averaged over 40
Average stand was 26
Average run rate was 2.8/over.

Plus, pretty much every session of this series has been compelling watching. Some of the 1981 series was turgid (Boycott and Tavare scoring, what was it? 45 in the Saturday morning session at Old Trafford.)

It's an absolutely different game now.

[scawsby steve]

I had the misfortune to be at the 1981 test on the Saturday, when we got slaughtered.

On the Tuesday, when the miracle happened, the bloody ground was nearly empty.

[Monkcaster_Rover]

What a superb 5 tests that was. Gripping stuff.

A crying shame we aren’t treated to a one day & t20 series but instead we’ve got The Hundred.

[BobG]

I bloody hate the hundred.

BobG

[selby]

  I hate batsmen picked to play for England who play all their cricket on loam wickets and don't move their feet when batting.
  And if its legal why don't we teach our bowlers  to throw like Bumrah

[knockers]

Siraj was the best bowler over the series and he doesn’t throw the ball.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bumrah doesn't throw the ball. He has a physical condition that means his elbow joint overextends. It's the 180 degree opposite of an illegal  throwing action.

[ravenrover]

He also seems to have something happen with his wrist or is that  to do with the elbow. Must say when you see his action on TV from behind as he bowls it is very strange

[silent majority]

I bloody hate the hundred.

BobG

I wouldn't say I hate it, but I have no affinity for it. Who am I supposed to support? Which means I have no interest in it and don't watch it.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I bloody hate the hundred.

BobG

I wouldn't say I hate it, but I have no affinity for it. Who am I supposed to support? Which means I have no interest in it and don't watch it.

I watch it a bit but it's super weird seeing the Yorkshire captain walking out at headingley for the away side, really odd.

Why they didn't just make the T20 tournament better I'll never know.

[tommy toes]

As well as hardly missing a Rovers game for about 60 years, the late great John Barker was equally fanatical  about Yorks cricket and travelled all over to support them in the summer.
But he wouldn’t support the Northern Superchargers as they ‘weren’t Yorkshire.’