| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread 13:39 - Apr 9 with 107759 views | Superhoops2808 |
With the football season coming to a close in a months time, some here will turn their attention to the smell of freshly mown grass and long days sat in the hot sunny weather watching the great game of cricket.
As a member of Kent Cricket Club, I got to enjoy my first match of the season against Somerset at Canterbury over the last few days. Unfortunately, as is always the way starting the season this early, the first day was lost to rain. In fact nearly all the games were affected by rain, some without a ball even being bowled.
But I did manage to get to see 2 centurions at Canterbury yesterday and a very enjoyable day of cricket (even if I did get sun burned head - Yes I know should have taken a cap).
Did anyone else get to see cricket over the last few days? I know we have several Middlesex supporters who no doubt enjoyed the 'runfest' at Lords (over 1300 runs I believe) [Post edited 4 Apr 13:14]
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 14:46 - Jul 4 with 2093 views | numptydumpty |
Pope and Crawley both had averages in the mid 30s for their batting is not quite good enough.
Crawley survives because Ducketts form makes Crawley look better. Pope.chokes sometimes when he is most needed.
And as a number six, Stokes has one too.many failings for me.
Dom Sibley has been in impressive.form.in all forms.of the game. Jacob Bethell.is also waiting in the wings.
Both Pope and Crawley will bat this entire series but if their form remains inconsistent, can see others getting future opportunities in near future. [Post edited 4 Jul 14:46]
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 16:14 - Jul 4 with 2036 views | TheChef |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 14:46 - Jul 4 by numptydumpty |
Pope and Crawley both had averages in the mid 30s for their batting is not quite good enough.
Crawley survives because Ducketts form makes Crawley look better. Pope.chokes sometimes when he is most needed.
And as a number six, Stokes has one too.many failings for me.
Dom Sibley has been in impressive.form.in all forms.of the game. Jacob Bethell.is also waiting in the wings.
Both Pope and Crawley will bat this entire series but if their form remains inconsistent, can see others getting future opportunities in near future. [Post edited 4 Jul 14:46]
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To be fair to Stokes today it was an excellent ball that got him; and it was his first ever golden duck in Tests. |  |
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 20:09 - Jul 4 with 1917 views | Loyalitat |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 14:46 - Jul 4 by numptydumpty |
Pope and Crawley both had averages in the mid 30s for their batting is not quite good enough.
Crawley survives because Ducketts form makes Crawley look better. Pope.chokes sometimes when he is most needed.
And as a number six, Stokes has one too.many failings for me.
Dom Sibley has been in impressive.form.in all forms.of the game. Jacob Bethell.is also waiting in the wings.
Both Pope and Crawley will bat this entire series but if their form remains inconsistent, can see others getting future opportunities in near future. [Post edited 4 Jul 14:46]
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Did you not state in one of your previous posts that you weren't suggesting Crawley wasn't good enough to remain in the England test team. Forgive me for perhaps misrepresenting you, but your latest post would appear to contradict your previous assertion. Most notably: "Duckett's form makes Crawley look better"!
For reference: Crawley's test average 31.42 (56 test matches) is higher than the person you are proposing as his replacement, Sibley: 28.9 (22 test matches) and that's after factoring the stark change in the manner in which England now aim to bat in test cricket, which wasn't the case when Sibley opened for England.
As much as I like Sibley, he will never be considered as Crawley's replacement whilst the current selectors remain in place. Same goes for Hameed, who is also scoring runs for fun in the 4-day county game.
The unique nature of batting means that you are out more frequently than you accumulate high scores. There are notable exceptions of course, but even the very best batsmen in world cricket get out for low/lowish scores too, but on fewer occasions. That's amplified even more when opening in test cricket which is the toughest gig out there. [Post edited 4 Jul 20:16]
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 22:05 - Jul 4 with 1850 views | BlackCrowe |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 20:09 - Jul 4 by Loyalitat |
Did you not state in one of your previous posts that you weren't suggesting Crawley wasn't good enough to remain in the England test team. Forgive me for perhaps misrepresenting you, but your latest post would appear to contradict your previous assertion. Most notably: "Duckett's form makes Crawley look better"!
For reference: Crawley's test average 31.42 (56 test matches) is higher than the person you are proposing as his replacement, Sibley: 28.9 (22 test matches) and that's after factoring the stark change in the manner in which England now aim to bat in test cricket, which wasn't the case when Sibley opened for England.
As much as I like Sibley, he will never be considered as Crawley's replacement whilst the current selectors remain in place. Same goes for Hameed, who is also scoring runs for fun in the 4-day county game.
The unique nature of batting means that you are out more frequently than you accumulate high scores. There are notable exceptions of course, but even the very best batsmen in world cricket get out for low/lowish scores too, but on fewer occasions. That's amplified even more when opening in test cricket which is the toughest gig out there. [Post edited 4 Jul 20:16]
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Crawley is undroppable for this series at the very least. It would be madness. |  |
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 17:36 - Jul 5 with 1653 views | numptydumpty |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 22:05 - Jul 4 by BlackCrowe |
Crawley is undroppable for this series at the very least. It would be madness. |
Why ??? | |
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 19:20 - Jul 5 with 1537 views | jeffranger50 |
Our bowling attack needs changing as very poor at present & conceding over 1000 runs in 2innings is not acceptable | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:02 - Jul 7 with 1271 views | JamesB1979 |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 19:20 - Jul 5 by jeffranger50 |
Our bowling attack needs changing as very poor at present & conceding over 1000 runs in 2innings is not acceptable |
Yet we’re moaning about Crawley….. | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:21 - Jul 7 with 1245 views | Superhoops2808 |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 09:32 - Jul 7 by TheChef |
Even though Sibley plays for Surrey  I still think he deserves another chance. Crawley will of course get another go at Lord's but if he fails there then the calls will get louder for him to be dropped. Same for Pope. Also with Bashir it just feels like they're investing in him and he will play come what may - I'm still not convinced by him but let's see.
Main issue at Edgbaston was really the bowling as the India bowlers got a lot more out of the pitch. Most likely Atkinson and possibly Archer will come back in at Lord's and hopefully add more fire to the attack. But the India trio of Deep, Siraj and Bumrah in their current form will be very tough.
I was there on Saturday and while not a great day as an England fan, Pant was entertaining as ever and props to Shubman Gill - a young man taking on the captaincy and then batting like that. Amazing. |
Said my piece on Sibley so not going to repeat all that.
As James and yourself have already said, the bowling is the area that we have the problem. We have the attack but we just need fit bowlers. For me, Atkinson is a must. I really rate him and think he is a class act. Wood is good but he just cant stay fit. Stokes is not looking like he used to with the ball either. We don't have a spin bowler at the moment that can do a job. I too am not convinced by Bashir, but then there is quality spin bowler available for England currently either.
Archer will break down again before we go to Australia - he is not the answer for our attack. Someone in our fan base suggested recalling Sam Curran, and in truth I am not averse to that. He can swing the ball and left handed adds a little extra.
Interesting this morning McCullum said we made a mistake at the toss. Good to see the coach taking responsibility, something that has been lacking in the past. But in truth, apart from Smith (2nd innings final shot apart) no one really came out of that test covered in glory.
Glad you had an 'entertaining' time Saturday. Edgbaston is a fab ground to watch cricket - my mate from work was in the Hollies on day one and sent me a video of the atmosphere, it was great. | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:32 - Jul 7 with 1221 views | ozexile |
The Crawley debate is interesting cause he's a great batsman but I'm still convinced he's a number 3. Maybe it's just me. | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:44 - Jul 7 with 1177 views | GaryBannister86 |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:32 - Jul 7 by ozexile |
The Crawley debate is interesting cause he's a great batsman but I'm still convinced he's a number 3. Maybe it's just me. |
I too have always thought he would be a fantastic no.5 or 6. I guess with Smith, Stokes, Bethell...we don't need it. And for me, anything that stops the Surrey Bores trying to get Sibley and Burns in the England team again is good. For all the criticism they throw at Zak, neither of them can lay claim to the number of match-defining innings Crawley has made for England, even if he never plays another. I am sure if / when the Surrey Globetrotters sign Crawley he will make millions of runs under zero scoreboard pressure for them every other week at the Oval and they can then bore on about that.
It is the bowling that concerns me. Crawley and Pope debates will carry on till the day they are ditched - having two feast or famine merchants in the top 3 is really causing us problems.
I like the Sam Curran thought. Never let the test side down, for me, and is just the sort of scrappy cricketer we need.
The bowling is bordering on disastrous if / when Archer and Wood break down again. Pop gun attack yet again in Australia even after all the planning to avoid just that. [Post edited 7 Jul 11:45]
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:52 - Jul 7 with 1159 views | RBlock |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:21 - Jul 7 by Superhoops2808 |
Said my piece on Sibley so not going to repeat all that.
As James and yourself have already said, the bowling is the area that we have the problem. We have the attack but we just need fit bowlers. For me, Atkinson is a must. I really rate him and think he is a class act. Wood is good but he just cant stay fit. Stokes is not looking like he used to with the ball either. We don't have a spin bowler at the moment that can do a job. I too am not convinced by Bashir, but then there is quality spin bowler available for England currently either.
Archer will break down again before we go to Australia - he is not the answer for our attack. Someone in our fan base suggested recalling Sam Curran, and in truth I am not averse to that. He can swing the ball and left handed adds a little extra.
Interesting this morning McCullum said we made a mistake at the toss. Good to see the coach taking responsibility, something that has been lacking in the past. But in truth, apart from Smith (2nd innings final shot apart) no one really came out of that test covered in glory.
Glad you had an 'entertaining' time Saturday. Edgbaston is a fab ground to watch cricket - my mate from work was in the Hollies on day one and sent me a video of the atmosphere, it was great. |
Crawley and Duckett start in Perth - there's no getting around that. This team and set-up have invested too much time on him to volte-face now.
On Stokes, his bowling against Zimbabwe was sharp and he was the pick of the bowlers in Leeds. I think he's still hampered by the fitness issues - he said himself he was a shadow of a man after Headingley and he bowled far fewer overs this time around.
I like the suggestion not to bother with a frontline spinner in Oz and slip Jacob Bethell in there. Him and Root can throw a few down to give the seamers a rest, and you get another quality batter in there. Would have him in at 6 and shift Stokes back to 8. |  | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:55 - Jul 7 with 1154 views | ozexile |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:44 - Jul 7 by GaryBannister86 |
I too have always thought he would be a fantastic no.5 or 6. I guess with Smith, Stokes, Bethell...we don't need it. And for me, anything that stops the Surrey Bores trying to get Sibley and Burns in the England team again is good. For all the criticism they throw at Zak, neither of them can lay claim to the number of match-defining innings Crawley has made for England, even if he never plays another. I am sure if / when the Surrey Globetrotters sign Crawley he will make millions of runs under zero scoreboard pressure for them every other week at the Oval and they can then bore on about that.
It is the bowling that concerns me. Crawley and Pope debates will carry on till the day they are ditched - having two feast or famine merchants in the top 3 is really causing us problems.
I like the Sam Curran thought. Never let the test side down, for me, and is just the sort of scrappy cricketer we need.
The bowling is bordering on disastrous if / when Archer and Wood break down again. Pop gun attack yet again in Australia even after all the planning to avoid just that. [Post edited 7 Jul 11:45]
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I totally agree mate.pace, pace, pace is needed here as you know. Wood can't play 2 tests in a row and I don't think Archers heart is in the test team. We can't come here with medium pacers cause they'll get murdered. I haven't idea what they're gonna do. I'm not up to date with the county game. Is there a young bolter who can come in? | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 12:04 - Jul 7 with 1142 views | GaryBannister86 |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:52 - Jul 7 by RBlock |
Crawley and Duckett start in Perth - there's no getting around that. This team and set-up have invested too much time on him to volte-face now.
On Stokes, his bowling against Zimbabwe was sharp and he was the pick of the bowlers in Leeds. I think he's still hampered by the fitness issues - he said himself he was a shadow of a man after Headingley and he bowled far fewer overs this time around.
I like the suggestion not to bother with a frontline spinner in Oz and slip Jacob Bethell in there. Him and Root can throw a few down to give the seamers a rest, and you get another quality batter in there. Would have him in at 6 and shift Stokes back to 8. |
Totally agree, whatever anyone thinks of Crawley and Pope it would be absurd to not start them in Australia after the last 3 years. I don't think Bashir has shown that he will be of much use out there, although he has done OK. Pack the batting, have Stokes at 8 if need be, and pray that the quicks are fit and firing.
Crawley
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bethell
Smith
Stokes
Atkinson
Wood
Archer | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 12:26 - Jul 7 with 1078 views | ozexile |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 12:04 - Jul 7 by GaryBannister86 |
Totally agree, whatever anyone thinks of Crawley and Pope it would be absurd to not start them in Australia after the last 3 years. I don't think Bashir has shown that he will be of much use out there, although he has done OK. Pack the batting, have Stokes at 8 if need be, and pray that the quicks are fit and firing.
Crawley
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bethell
Smith
Stokes
Atkinson
Wood
Archer |
I read Archer has made himself available for the big bash here. Doesn't want to play Tests which makes me wonder why he's on a central contract? | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 12:29 - Jul 7 with 1067 views | Superhoops2808 |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:44 - Jul 7 by GaryBannister86 |
I too have always thought he would be a fantastic no.5 or 6. I guess with Smith, Stokes, Bethell...we don't need it. And for me, anything that stops the Surrey Bores trying to get Sibley and Burns in the England team again is good. For all the criticism they throw at Zak, neither of them can lay claim to the number of match-defining innings Crawley has made for England, even if he never plays another. I am sure if / when the Surrey Globetrotters sign Crawley he will make millions of runs under zero scoreboard pressure for them every other week at the Oval and they can then bore on about that.
It is the bowling that concerns me. Crawley and Pope debates will carry on till the day they are ditched - having two feast or famine merchants in the top 3 is really causing us problems.
I like the Sam Curran thought. Never let the test side down, for me, and is just the sort of scrappy cricketer we need.
The bowling is bordering on disastrous if / when Archer and Wood break down again. Pop gun attack yet again in Australia even after all the planning to avoid just that. [Post edited 7 Jul 11:45]
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When Crawley started out at Kent as a youngster he often came in at 6 or 7 and sadly it didn't work. When they moved him to open alongside Deebs it worked very well and that's ultimately what got him the nod for England. Something I suspect that may come Muyeye's way one day too once he matures. | | | |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 13:19 - Jul 7 with 1013 views | TheChef |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 11:21 - Jul 7 by Superhoops2808 |
Said my piece on Sibley so not going to repeat all that.
As James and yourself have already said, the bowling is the area that we have the problem. We have the attack but we just need fit bowlers. For me, Atkinson is a must. I really rate him and think he is a class act. Wood is good but he just cant stay fit. Stokes is not looking like he used to with the ball either. We don't have a spin bowler at the moment that can do a job. I too am not convinced by Bashir, but then there is quality spin bowler available for England currently either.
Archer will break down again before we go to Australia - he is not the answer for our attack. Someone in our fan base suggested recalling Sam Curran, and in truth I am not averse to that. He can swing the ball and left handed adds a little extra.
Interesting this morning McCullum said we made a mistake at the toss. Good to see the coach taking responsibility, something that has been lacking in the past. But in truth, apart from Smith (2nd innings final shot apart) no one really came out of that test covered in glory.
Glad you had an 'entertaining' time Saturday. Edgbaston is a fab ground to watch cricket - my mate from work was in the Hollies on day one and sent me a video of the atmosphere, it was great. |
Cheers. Although I was in the Hollies stand (a mate booked the tickets) and I've realised I'm too old and grumpy for it these days Fine though if you're starting on the beers at 10am.
Plus we had a couple of tw8tish Fulham fans sat behind us (not the Rupert kind) who got more annoying as they got more p1ssed. | |
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 15:42 - Jul 7 with 915 views | numptydumpty |
Crawley has had so many chances
56 tests and if you say his average is 31 - that is still very poor.
Appreciate he looks like a class batsman and he is, but the problem is he never scores consistently enough or in any kind of decent numbers. Others deserve a chance again or for the first time. I would advocate Pope needs a rest too. Again, he is a class batsman but again his numbers are average at best.
Crawley and Pope - never said they weren't class batsmen, but inconsistent always - a la Ramprakesh and Hick - who themselves were failures at international levels. And no, I wasn't waiting to post about a Crawley duck, I want England to win and if Crawley can up his game, no one would be happier than me, but a poor test record over 56 tests, which is shedloads of time to prove your worth.
I cannot see him being anything other than a test player with a 30 run average !!! Why would he improve in his career after reaching 60 test matches.
But yes our bowling attack has more serious issues to resolve. Our bowling attack was always going to struggle to the huge gap we have, since Broad and Anderson went to the sunset bowling heaven in the sky.
We seem to have several decent options but many are constantly crocked and we seriously need to improve in this area, if we are to ever compete again at the very highest level in test cricket. | |
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| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 16:08 - Jul 7 with 855 views | GaryBannister86 |
| Cricket 2025 County/International Thread on 15:42 - Jul 7 by numptydumpty |
Crawley has had so many chances
56 tests and if you say his average is 31 - that is still very poor.
Appreciate he looks like a class batsman and he is, but the problem is he never scores consistently enough or in any kind of decent numbers. Others deserve a chance again or for the first time. I would advocate Pope needs a rest too. Again, he is a class batsman but again his numbers are average at best.
Crawley and Pope - never said they weren't class batsmen, but inconsistent always - a la Ramprakesh and Hick - who themselves were failures at international levels. And no, I wasn't waiting to post about a Crawley duck, I want England to win and if Crawley can up his game, no one would be happier than me, but a poor test record over 56 tests, which is shedloads of time to prove your worth.
I cannot see him being anything other than a test player with a 30 run average !!! Why would he improve in his career after reaching 60 test matches.
But yes our bowling attack has more serious issues to resolve. Our bowling attack was always going to struggle to the huge gap we have, since Broad and Anderson went to the sunset bowling heaven in the sky.
We seem to have several decent options but many are constantly crocked and we seriously need to improve in this area, if we are to ever compete again at the very highest level in test cricket. |
Crawley averaged 53 in the last ashes series. He was our top run scorer and second only to Khawaja for top batter on either side. No-one seems to remember that, or the numerous match-defining innings he has made. McCullum has made it quite clear - he expects him to have runs of low scores, but if he wins some tests for us, isn't that better than a Sibley type averaging 35 but never winning us a test?
Crawley's won us more tests with his style than Ramprakash and Hick managed combined, and then some.
Sure, he needs to find more consistent form. But who's to say he won't? The fact remains Starc would much rather have Sibley or some other poke around merchant in his sights at the top of his mark in November. Then he can relax and know if he loses his radar they will just leave it. Whereas if he offers up a half-volley to Crawley it will be racing to the fence.
Or in the hands of gulley...but you know what I mean :-) [Post edited 7 Jul 16:09]
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