Cricket- the sport not the insect

[Spider1964]

I know, hence I used the word grade cricket. Qadir, Hooper and Collingwood were top internationals while Cross is an average county 'keeper.

Edit: You played grade cricket? Wow. Any other bowler (of note) who you faced?

Was def no star But played against some that were. Andy Bichel was an adversary that was far above my calling, but had some luck against him in a state (country) game. Quick & a seriously nice guy.. Go figure. Merv Hughes, Mark Wridgeway, Ian Wrigglesworth were some others. Not sure if you know Wrigglesworth but a district legend.

 

[ramjambunath]

Was def no star But played against some that were. Andy Bichel was an adversary that was far above my calling, but had some luck against him in a state (country) game. Quick & a seriously nice guy.. Go figure. Merv Hughes, Mark Wridgeway, Ian Wrigglesworth were some others. Not sure if you know Wrigglesworth but a district legend.

Doesn't matter, you're nigh on a legend already. Haven't heard of Wrigglesworth. If a player didn't make it to FC level, you don't get to see or read much about him in India. The others are some pretty flash names, I remember one guy on Cricinfo saying how scary Jacob Oram was as a bowler, I can only expect how hard Bichel must be.

I'm just a local clubbie, bowl a bit of chinaman googly and can block but that's all.

 

[ramjambunath]

Zimbabwe fought like mad yesterday. New Zealand 8/250 dec and with 360 as target replied with 2/60, thanks to Masakadza stupidly losing his wicket on the last ball of the day.

ICC anti-corruption unit is 'toothless tiger' - Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss has dubbed the anti-corruption unit of the International Cricket Council as a "toothless tiger".

"The unit hasn't got the resources," said the England Test captain at a charity dinner after three ****stan players were jailed for spot-fixing.

"They can't do sting operations like the News of the World, they can't infiltrate these betting networks.

"I'm hopeful only a minor percentage of cricketers are involved in it but the truth is we really don't know."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/15593229.stm

Nielsen has just said that MacGill's retirement threw Australia's spin bowling plans off track.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

McGrath, Gillespie and Lee/Kasper in the run up to the Ashes 2005 were not half bad.

Same for Donald, Pollock and Fanie De Villiers with McMillan and Kallis (in the end).

Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar backed up by Azhar Mahmood

Ashes 2005 England but the current attack overall (compared to 2005 England) is better because of the spinner.

The point about having a spinner is what makes the England 2005 side and the great Windies sides better in terms of a pace attack than anything else I've seen. There was only a plan A, no plan B.

Any team with Warne (best bowler ever IMO) in it cannot be acclaimed for the quality of its quickies.

 

[ramjambunath]

To be fair, I wouldn't mind having a pace trio with an aggregate of more than 1000 wickets even with Warne.

As a pace attack England 2005 (the only time they were all fit) was one of the best around. Makes you wonder- what if Gabba wasn't such an abrasive outfield (Jones ruptured his knee there).

 

[craig1985]

To be fair, I wouldn't mind having a pace trio with an aggregate of more than 1000 wickets even with Warne.

As a pace attack England 2005 (the only time they were all fit) was one of the best around. Makes you wonder- what if Gabba wasn't such an abrasive outfield (Jones ruptured his knee there).

I still get nightmares from that.

 

[craig1985]

New Zealand so need the wicket of Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe need another 167 runs with 7 wickets left, and Taibu is in there as well.

 

[ramjambunath]

New Zealand so need the wicket of Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe need another 167 runs with 7 wickets left, and Taibu is in there as well.

Don't jinx it. Taibu has also just started to score runs. Kyle Jarvis' wickets were brilliant, all 5 bowled or lbw. Taylor batting beautifully.

 

[craig1985]

I may or may not be hoping for a Zimbabwe victory...

 

[ramjambunath]

Join the club. I've loved every moment of Zimbabwe's comeback to Test cricket.
43 overs 159 runs, tough task. They need to get it around 100 for the last session. Only 2 batsmen remaining though but Waller's in top form.

Edit: 100 Taylor. COME ON!!

 

[ramjambunath]

Not Out! Yes, go Taylor. Zimbabwe need 107 with 32.2 overs remaining. That seemed out (catch).

Edit: 102 runs needed off the last session.

 

[Ferminal]

All three results very possible here.

 

[ramjambunath]

No. Taibu gone. Chakabva in. Go Regis, but even more importantly go Malcolm. 80 runs in 19 overs. It's possible, just possible.

Edit: Wicket off a no ball. Regis Chakabva is a lucky man

 

[Ferminal]

NZ have got it.

 

[ramjambunath]

Zimbabwe not winning this. A number 10 and 3 number 11s now. All up to Malcolm Waller now.

 

[ramjambunath]

That's it, end of Malcolm Waller. New Zealand will win this, great test though. Unless Mpofu and Jarvis smack 37 in a few overs.

 

[ramjambunath]

Cruel, very cruel. New Zealand win by 34 runs, but the fact that they are so close to New Zealand is a positive. Jarvis and Bracewell seem good prospects. Well played Zimbabwe, congratulations New Zealand.

Kepler Wessels was barracking for Zimbabwe as was most of the commentary. He almost lost his voice towards the end.

 

[craig1985]

rmjam, what did you think of Doug Bracewell? What sort of speeds was he getting?

 

[ramjambunath]

Can't really say with any accuracy about the speeds as there was no speed gun in Bulawayo but I think he seemed to be good fast medium. He did get two gifted wickets early on but he bowled straight for most of the innings and didn't need the fancy short stuff for the tail.

Jarvis was the one who really proved himself though and his second innings spell was sensational. He's definitely faster than Doug Bracewell, he bowls very full and straight. Looking at his talent, he's definitely a prospect to be number 2 all time for Zim behind Streak and could maybe even better him.

 

[craig1985]

Mitchell Marsh is so good right now. He's keeping WA in their OD game against Queensland. He has 4-40 with QLD needing 13 off two overs and three wickets in hand.

 

[Ferminal]

Couldn't do it on his own though. WA have like 4-5 bowlers injured.

 

[ramjambunath]

Good knock from Dunk, I really didn't want WA to lose in Rimmington's over (ex Queensland quick).

Chanderpaul scores a hundred against India.

 

[craig1985]

Good knock from Dunk, I really didn't want WA to lose in Rimmington's over (ex Queensland quick).

Chanderpaul scores a hundred against India.

And in an un-Chanderpaul manner as well. It shows what he can do when he starts to dictate terms to the opposition bowlers. What sort of speed was Yadav getting?

 

[ramjambunath]

Yadav bowls at aroung 140, not much beyond that but still easily the fastest Indian test bowler. It was a treat watching Shiv bat today, Brathwaite played the Chanderpaul role today.

 

[Ferminal]

Interesting start to India's innings, plenty of runs but also a bit going on for the bowlers - a few staying low. Gambhir dropped at 3rd slip