Cricket

[Gav]

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Difference being at OT there is an enormous temporary stand without the infrastructure to support it, ergo half an hour plus wait for blokes to go for a pee, I’ve never seen that apart from at a festival, certainly not at football grounds.

I’ve been in that stand a few times, never had to wait for a pee that I recall, also been in the same stand for a concert, same experience. 

A general point, when sitting in that stand, if your overwhelming experience is the toilets queue, I’d move elsewhere.

8000 fans singing Jerusalem or classics like Living on a prayer are surely more memorable moments. 

[Mattyblue]

I’m telling you what was happening at this Test, I was there, as was the other Matt. 

A lack of portable toilets obviously wasn’t the ‘overwhelming experience’ I took from watching a cracking Test match, but 30 minute plus queues for the bogs was a poor look for such a marquee occasion.

It’s called constructive criticism of a club you support, just like it is if there’s some issue at Ewood.
 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Gav]

Match abandoned, Aussies retain the ashes, well done to them.

 

[simongarnerisgod]

bunch of cheating aussie *****,ashes cricket has always been hard but fair,what carey did was despicable

[den]

Well done to them?

Theyve just suffered a hammering that wasn’t completed only because of virtually two full days of cricket washed out. That would have made it 2-2 with the momentum in Englands favour. 

[AllRoverAsia]

13 minutes ago, Gav said:

Match abandoned, Aussies retain the ashes, well done to them.

 

Bollocks to the convicts.

We blew it and then the weather turned.

The drongos* got lucky.

Edited July 23, 2023 by AllRoverAsia

[jim mk2]

No one says "well done" to the convicts unless they're a "Blackburn" supporter on a wind-up. 

Can you imagine them saying the same to us? They "proper hate us", as James Anderson said. 

This should hurt all England cricket fans because it should not have happened. 

 

[Ewood Ace]

5 minutes ago, den said:

Well done to them?

Theyve just suffered a hammering that wasn’t completed only because of virtually two full days of cricket washed out. That would have made it 2-2 with the momentum in Englands favour. 

They deservedly got themselves ahead 2-0 up early and that has made sure that they retained the urn. If you go 2-0 down as England did then you are always going to be a hostage to circumstances.

[Gav]

18 minutes ago, den said:

Well done to them?

Theyve just suffered a hammering that wasn’t completed only because of virtually two full days of cricket washed out. That would have made it 2-2 with the momentum in Englands favour. 

They won this in Australia den, we have to win them back and whilst I also believe they’re lucky, this is why we love cricket as much as we do, the many variables. 

We have closed that gap, our future is bright, but well done to Aussies, that 2-0 lead was too much to pull back sadly. 

[Ewood Ace]

A tale of two declarations from Stokes (or rather lack of in one case). At Edgbaston he declared far too early and gave Australia the initiative in the early on in the series. Then in this test he batted on too long for Bairstow to get his hundred and allow them to justify his selection but in the end his selection has not been justified as his performance behind the stumps has had a huge bearing on this series..

[Ewood Ace]

5 minutes ago, Gav said:

They won this in Australia den, we have to win them back and whilst I also believe they’re lucky, this is why we love cricket as much as we do, the many variables. 

We have closed that gap, our future is bright, but well done to Aussies, that 2-0 lead was too much to pull back sadly. 

I'm not sure there's much future in the bowling attack that played in this test.

[47er]

1 minute ago, Ewood Ace said:

I'm not sure there's much future in the bowling attack that played in this test.

True, need to find some speedsters quickly to have any chance in Australia.

Batting won't change as much ,though Stokes will probably have gone.

[jim mk2]

The Stokes declaration at Edgbaston did not make sense to anyone at the time and let them back in the game when they should have been shut out. Rule No 1 against the convicts is you don't give them a glimmer of hope because they'll usually take it

Bairstow's nightmare at Lords with the gloves and the bat including the Carey controversy cost us the match there and England had 30 overs at them yesterday evening and only took 1 wicket - another opportunity missed when the forecast for today was a likely washout

HMP will be loving this and the frustrating thing is they were there for the taking. This is not one of their strongest teams and England were capable of winning the series by playing sensible mistake-free cricket

 

 

 

 

[Exiled_Rover]

13 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

A tale of two declarations from Stokes (or rather lack of in one case). At Edgbaston he declared far too early and gave Australia the initiative in the early on in the series. Then in this test he batted on too long for Bairstow to get his hundred and allow them to justify his selection but in the end his selection has not been justified as his performance behind the stumps has had a huge bearing on this series..

Bairstow scored another 60+ runs at a rapid rate - no problem with the lack of declaration in this match.

We've lost 2 days due to rain - you're never getting a result in a proper Test. 

[Gav]

11 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

I'm not sure there's much future in the bowling attack that played in this test.

Well I am sure, although Anderson and Broad seem content right now to carry on.

Can you imagine the impact Archer would have made had he been fit, he’s the future, but can he regain his fitness. 

[Ewood Ace]

5 minutes ago, Gav said:

Well I am sure, although Anderson and Broad seem content right now to carry on.

Can you imagine the impact Archer would have made had he been fit, he’s the future, but can he regain his fitness. 

This series has shown that Anderson's time is up I only hope he sees that and get's given the appropriate send of at The Oval.

I can't even imagine Jofra Archer being fit let alone what he may have done in this series. I personally don't see him having much of a test career. He seems more interested in being a white ball mercenary.

[chaddyrovers]

 

A defiant Ben Stokes has claimed that anyone who questioned England's decision to declare in the first Ashes Test "probably doesn't understand the game" as well as he and his side do.

Ben Stokes snaps back at declaration question as England have Ashes dream ended by rain (msn.com)

Well done Stokes for keep backing himself and his decisions. 

[jim mk2]

The Ashes have gone owing in part to poor decisions and Stokes says he didn’t make any mistakes. Better cricket brains than him say otherwise. He’s a poor captain and should resign. 

Well done Stokes on backing his decisions. The wrong ones. 

[Ewood Ace]

26 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

A defiant Ben Stokes has claimed that anyone who questioned England's decision to declare in the first Ashes Test "probably doesn't understand the game" as well as he and his side do.

Ben Stokes snaps back at declaration question as England have Ashes dream ended by rain (msn.com)

Well done Stokes for keep backing himself and his decisions. 

Defiant or deluded?

[chaddyrovers]

7 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

The Ashes have gone owing in part to poor decisions and Stokes says he didn’t make any mistakes. Better cricket brains than him say otherwise. He’s a poor captain and should resign. 

Well done Stokes on backing his decisions. The wrong ones. 

who are these better cricket brains then? 

 

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

Defiant or deluded?

defiant as always. He will always backed himself. Good on him. He will live and die on his decisions and won't use hindsight to justify them

Stokes, McCullum and Key are all on the same wavelength. We played the better cricket in all 4 test matches for me and please let us keep playing the same way where Stokes and McCullum will keep backing the players to play in the way they want to and have absolute clarity on that. 

[Gav]

Bazball is most definitely here to stay, this has been a phenomenal series, the most exciting English test team ever and we’ll make it 2-2 at The Oval.

New Zealand up next, then the World Cup and a tour of West Indies, we are hoping to be in Grenada 🤞

Edited July 23, 2023 by Gav

[den]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

I’m telling you what was happening at this Test, I was there, as was the other Matt. 

A lack of portable toilets obviously wasn’t the ‘overwhelming experience’ I took from watching a cracking Test match, but 30 minute plus queues for the bogs was a poor look for such a marquee occasion.

It’s called constructive criticism of a club you support, just like it is if there’s some issue at Ewood.
 

I was there on Friday. As a member I’ve been on OT plenty of times in the last couple of seasons.

for me the ground and stands have no flow to them. It’s just comprised of stand alone units. The point and the two hotels, while bringing in a shed load of dosh all year round,  just look like they could be part of a business complex. They’re very nice inside I’ve no doubt at all but they look a bit lost to me.

The money talks again with the temporary party stand. It allows for concerts and 8500 fans at test matches but it’s an ugly abomination of a thing when it’s up and leaves a huge gap of nothingness when it’s not.

The building opposite the pavilion where the players and press are situated. What a soulless place that is. 

As for the  Portaloos - well they’re disgusting places wherever they are. My mate used one at the end of play on Friday and said it was disgusting. You can imagine what it was like after around ten hours of use can’t you. 
 

So for me, I get completely why they have gone big on the corporate side of things. The overall design of the ground really could have been much better in my view. It looks more like a business park than an international sports stadium.
 

[Ewood Ace]

Stokes on the BBC saying that 'there are bigger things for us than winning the Ashes'. I can only assume that is the New Zealander in him coming out as there is nothing bigger for the England cricket team than winning the Ashes and come the first ball in Brisbane in 2025 it will be over 10 years since England last won an Ashes series,

13 minutes ago, den said:

I was there on Friday. As a member I’ve been on OT plenty of times in the last couple of seasons.

for me the ground and stands have no flow to them. It’s just comprised of stand alone units. The point and the two hotels, while bringing in a shed load of dosh all year round,  just look like they could be part of a business complex. They’re very nice inside I’ve no doubt at all but they look a bit lost to me.

The money talks again with the temporary party stand. It allows for concerts and 8500 fans at test matches but it’s an ugly abomination of a thing when it’s up and leaves a huge gap of nothingness when it’s not.

The building opposite the pavilion where the players and press are situated. What a soulless place that is. 

As for the  Portaloos - well they’re disgusting places wherever they are. My mate used one at the end of play on Friday and said it was disgusting. You can imagine what it was like after around ten hours of use can’t you. 
 

So for me, I get completely why they have gone big on the corporate side of things. The overall design of the ground really could have been much better in my view. It looks more like a business park than an international sports stadium.
 

Is that looking awful new hotel at least going to be painted red? At the very least they could make it blend in with other awful looking hotel and the point.

Ground's like The Oval, Lords, Edgbaston have modernised but still look and feel like cricket grounds. Old Trafford when you visit feels more like a corporate hospitality venue where they also just happen to play cricket.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Ewood Ace

[RoverDom]

Again as an occasional cricket fan - test cricket will struggle to attract new fans if a test series, the apparent pinnacle of test series, can be decided by the weather. In no other sport would such a thrilling contest be allowed to fizzle out. This series should be 2-2 and set for the ultimate decider. Instead it fizzled out and England now playing for a draw. 

More flexibility needs ro be built into the timing. This time of year its light from 7am - 9pm yet we can only play 11-630 ( latest 730). When there was such heavy rain forecast for day 4 and 5 why are they not making them play the full 90 overs on the good days. Why are we wandering off for tea after two hours in the only weather window of the day. Why is there a pitch inspection  at 12:15 and lunch taken at 12:20. In any other sport, if an event had been rained off it would be rescheduled. In any other sport every effort would have been made to get players on the pitch but cricket seems to be male every effort to keep them off it. 

It's a shame, the format of 5 day cricket is fantastic. The different strategies and scenarios that play out is griping. Letting it be decided by the weather is a compete disservice to the game