The Cricket Thread

Dammit. Jimmy

Steve Smith has just started his inning against Derbyshire.

I hope he gets a 100. He's due a gooseberry fool score and it would be a massive waste if it came against Derbyshire.

Does prevent them from having the worst tail ever though.

I’d still play Curran over Woakes. Coverton is an interesting choice, not necessarily wrong but I’d have picked TRJ unless he’s broken again.

Fucksake.

TRJ feels like a massive risk but I've no idea how much bowling he's had since the injury. I'd be happy with Curran but it seems like the selectors wouldn't be. I imagine it'll be Woakes, the injury means the selectors get a let off from changing a winning team (even though parts of it have been gooseberry fool).

Smith out to a 23 year old with a first class bowling average of 52. GET HIM IN THE SQUAD.

Rahkeem Cornwall Test debut! For all fans of rotund cricketers this is a splendid day.

Viv Richards has been taken ill at the Ind/WI game and taken away on a stretcher :dread:

Well that’s put a dampener on things.

EDIT: Sounds like he’s okay.

Balladeer wrote:Well that’s put a dampener on things.

EDIT: Sounds like he’s okay.

Yeah? I hope so.

I can't wait to see Cornwall bowl. Absolutely awesome.

England squad for fourth Ashes Test against Australia: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes.

I guess they're giving Roy the series to demonstrate why he can't cut it at test level.

At least swap him and Denly inthe batting line-up.

Read that Denly and Burns to open with Root at 3 and Roy at 4. I've no issue with Denly opening for now but Root needs to be batting at 4.

Somerset have just absolutely thrown it away in the T20. Final group game and need a win to go through. Post 225, then bowl ten overs of 50mph long hops and full tosses at Eoin Morgan who is currently 77* off 28, with 6 needed of 18ish. Absolutely awful from Somerset.

twitter.com/theanalyst/status/1167531117462917121

Sums it up pretty well.

Disgustingly good catch to get rid of ABDV though:

twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/1167525665467437056

In his 92nd test, Ishant just notched his first ever half century :lol:

you love to see it.

Not against the Windies I don’t.

Balladeer wrote:Not against the Windies I don’t.

I'm assuming you haven't enjoyed the Bumrah hat trick then...

130kg Rahkeem Cornwall just came out to bat though. I've watched some Youtube footage of him playing T20 - hoping to somehow see similar here.

In what I first assumed to be nothing more than a wind-up, Australia are allegedly considering dropping Matthew Wade for Mitchell Marsh. :lol:

Drumstick wrote:In what I first assumed to be nothing more than a wind-up, Australia are allegedly considering dropping Matthew Wade for Mitchell Marsh.

The Roar ran some quite nice numbers on this.

https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/09/02/m ... -farcical/

Mitch Marsh averaged 10 with the bat and 59 with the ball in his last six Tests. Yet somehow he is a strong chance to replace batsman Matt Wade for the blockbuster fourth Ashes Test.
The maligned all-rounder was axed last summer, during Australia’s home series loss to India, after scores of 10, 9, 5, 13, 0, 12, 0, 4, 16, 5, 45 and 4 across his previous six matches.

While his bowling probably kept him in the side early in his career, making up for his lack of runs, in recent years Marsh has struggled badly with the ball, too.

Since the start of 2016, he has averaged 63 with the ball, taking a mere 14 wickets from 19 Tests. What’s more, he has neither offered a wicket-taking threat, nor been able to tie down an end, going at 3.5 runs per over.

When playing on a road of a pitch against a strong batting line-up like India, for example, then possessing a fifth bowling option is crucial – even if it had to be Marsh.

Right now, though, Marsh’s potential recall makes so little sense it boggles the mind.irstly, in the last three Tests at Old Trafford, seven times teams have been bowled out for scores between 152 and 243.

Secondly, England have an extremely weak batting line-up with, only Ben Stokes in form.

Thirdly, Australia already have a solid fifth bowling option in Marnus Labuschagne, who has taken 23 wickets at 36 in first-class cricket in the UK this season.

Which means Marsh’s bowling is surplus to requirements, while his leaden-footed batting is particularly unsuited to English conditions.

On flat pitches that offer minimal lateral movement, Marsh’s poor footwork is not fully exposed. Once the ball starts swinging or seaming, though, his technique falls apart like a soggy sandwich.

In England, South Africa and New Zealand, where quicks get decent assistance from the conditions, Marsh has averaged 15 with the bat from nine Tests.

Reportedly, part of the reason he is in contention for a recall is that he is a right-hander. Apparently the selectors believe that having four left-handers in their top seven is excessive, due to how well England’s quicks have bowled at them this series.

That is as flimsy a justification as you could imagine for recalling a player with such a poor recent record with the willow.

It also calls into question Australia’s decision not to pick a larger squad. If Wade is to be dropped – after five failures and a crucial ton in this series – it would have made far more sense to recall Joe Burns or even Kurtis Patterson, who made a wonderful start to his Test career last summer.

Australia have left themselves with unnecessarily limited batting options.

Marsh is not the answer. He wasn’t the answer last time. Or the time before that. Ten years into his first-class career, he’s unlikely to ever be the answer.

Has Alex Carey played much red ball cricket? He looked a tidy batsman in the world cup.

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