Silly Point - the Cricket Thread
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Here's your brand new thread for discussion of cricket.
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First topic: who should be starting in the final test of the Ashes?
Given Sydney needs a spinner and the closest we have is Bashir, I'd play him, even though I have no confidence in him. Even a mediocre spinner can take wickets at the SCG.
I would have dropped Jamie Smith and given the gloves to Ollie Pope, but drop him down the order to number 6, giving Bethell another chance at 3. Then that leaves a pace attack of Tongue, Potts, Carse and Stokes.
Crawley
Duckett
Root
Brook
Stokes
Bethell
Smith
Potts
Carse
Tongue
Bashir
N.B. why will Root not go in at #3? It is unfair on newcomers like Bethell and previously Pope who are forced to occupy that spot when they would be better at #6.
There is no point playing a bad spinner just because you feel you ought to have a spinner. (Exhibit A Ian Salisbury). If you really need the best spinner in England then what you have to do is whatever it takes to persuade Adil Rashid to un-retire from Tests. If that is impossible then just play an all-seam attack with Root for occasional variation.
I took the opportunity this evening to stroll across the Parks (nearly got locked in which would have been interesting), and took a couple of pics.
I'm always astounded that a lad from a tiny village with possibly the most inbred team ever (we once put out an 11 with two pairs of brothers, who were cousins to the other pair, and the husband of another cousin), with bowling that put the Village Filth into Village Filth, could somehow end up playing - just once, but once is enough! - on a ground that has been graced by the gods of the game. Me, treading in the footsteps of Grace, Hobbs, Hutton, Verity, Imran Khan.... HTF? So I have a massive soft spot for the place.
https://flic.kr/p/2rPVDKJ
Surprised the Aussies left out Jhye Richardson; he bowled quite nicely at Melbourne.
The weather less of a surprise, though it seems it got brighter before the abandonment. Are the lightning rules too stringent? I certainly wouldn't want to see a game like one I recall on TV where the camera zoomed in on Alan Mullaly's hair all standing on end, and I was shouting at the tele to get them off before somebody got zapped (the heavens opened a minute or two later IIRC) - but is half an hour after the last strike, or the distance criteria too limiting? Bear in mind I have no experience of Australian weather here.
But he was excellent today. I hope it's not a one-off, but the start of things to come. It was just a good innings all round.
I think we're heading for defeat, but unless franchise cricket gets in the way, I expect him to start alongside Josh Tongue at our next match against New Zealand in June.
Australia's future according to Aussie selectors? Cameron Green, can't bat, bowl or catch.
🏏 🇦🇺 🏴
I can't help thinking that Stokes & McCullum's love of batting like Travis Head, destroying the bowling from the off, has missed the point that Head played like that largely on his own, if he fell early the rest of the order would knuckle down and get stuck in rather than keeping the pedal to the metal. The Bazball approach was to keep swinging until you were 50-5, then try to rebuild in the lower middle order. England believed their own hype, and paid the price.
Has Boonie been persuaded to say anything about Noosa? I know he has stopped talking about the legendary flight over, but I can't help thinking that someone must have tried asking him.
As an off-spinner, it is the dream delivery to a right hander.
You're not wrong, that was an absolute seed!
I really think England need to look for a new captain.
India have one very scary batter in their lineup. Brilliant throughout the tournament and in the final, Vaibhav Suryavanshi has just hit 175 off 80 balls, including 15 fours and 15 sixes.
A name to keep an eye on in the coming years.
He's not 15 for another 6 weeks! I'd I were India I would be working out how to keep him keen and fit until he's old enough to make a senior debut. Mind you, he wouldn't be the first subcontinental player to make his Test debut that young.
At the innings break, Pakistan is 190/9 (20.0), having hit ten 6s, fifteen 4s. We'll see how the USA responds.
USA started with matches against India and Pakistan. Not surprisingly, both losses. They have matches left against Netherlands and Namibia. There is potential for wins--but nothing I'd want to bet on!
I'm also liking the ram-it-in format meaning I can listen to cricket all day. In the past some competitions (I'm looking at you, 2007 World Cup) went on for what felt like months.
Nor should they be at this point, as the governance structure for cricket in the US is a complete shambles. "USA Cricket" ("USAC") took over from the old "United States of America Cricket Association" (USACA) in 2017 after USACA was expelled from ICC for governance issues.
And then in September of 2025, USAC was itself suspended by ICC for (among other things) From Wikipedia
The USOPC is the Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USAC needed to meet USOPC requirement to allow cricket to be played in the 2028 Summer Olympics. With the suspension of USAC, ICC has taken over management of the US team to allow it to participate in the 2026 T20 World Cup. ICC will also work with USOPC to ensure that the suspension will not impact the ability to stage cricket at the 2028 Summer Olympics. But it doesn't change the fact that the management structure of cricket in the United States is a shambles.
They are probably not hurting as much right now as Mitchell Marsh, though - from Cricinfo "Marsh suffered a blow to the groin during training earlier this week which has led to testicular bleeding."
*eyes water*
Short leg.