***Official*** West Indies in England

[oitoitoi]

It's a bad time to have test cricket IMO, still in the midst of school exams which will hurt ticket sales badly. Also no one really wants to see a match where one team clearly doesn't want to be there.

 

[Langeveldt]

Half-empty ground for tomorrow. No surprise considering the cheapest ticket is around 30 quid.

Not really buying into that being the only cause.. I mean they charge an unlimited amount for the ashes, and that always sells out, for some reason..

Food for thought though, I can watch a test match here against the Aussies, for fewer Rands (25) than it costs in Pounds to watch them in England.. There is something like 13 Rand to the pound

 

[shivfan]

Half-empty ground for tomorrow. No surprise considering the cheapest ticket is around 30 quid.

Makes you understand why Gayle says he wouldn't mourn the demise of Test cricket in favour of 20/20 cricket....

 

[pskov]

Not really buying into that being the only cause.. I mean they charge an unlimited amount for the ashes, and that always sells out, for some reason..

Food for thought though, I can watch a test match here against the Aussies, for fewer Rands (25) than it costs in Pounds to watch them in England.. There is something like 13 Rand to the pound

Pure supply and demand. If the SACB could charge R1000 for a day's play and still sell 10,000 tickets they'd be onto it like a shot.

 

[Scaly piscine]

£30 for the cheapest seat is a complete joke. ECB are getting what they deserve for being money grabbing tossers. On Thursday and Friday people are at work, so who exactly is going to fork out that much to see yet another low quality one-sided match when we should have had an Ashes Test?

 

[Goughy]

£30 for the cheapest seat is a complete joke. ECB are getting what they deserve for being money grabbing tossers. On Thursday and Friday people are at work, so who exactly is going to fork out that much to see yet another low quality one-sided match when we should have had an Ashes Test?

Given there was not even County cricket in Durham barely 15 years ago, it is hard to stomach turning your nose up at the WI.

It is a new-ish ground in a new-ish cricketing county. Earn an Ashes test by selling out the WI (which should happen). You cant just demand or expect. There are plenty of other more established Counties that have paid their dues.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Given there was not even County cricket in Durham barely 15 years ago, it is hard to stomach turning your nose up at the WI.

It is a new-ish ground in a new-ish cricketing county. Earn an Ashes test by selling out the WI (which should happen). You cant just demand or expect. There are plenty of other more established Counties that have paid their dues.

They gave an Ashes Test to a ground which spends 364 days a year being rained on, a ground where most of the so-called facilities and stands were on paper only, that completely ****ed up staging an ODI last year with terrible drainage and pathetic ground staff, that hadn't hosted a single so-called Test let alone 3 of them against the worst teams on the planet. And even after Sophia Gardens is completed it STILL only holds 15,500 - less than any other venue and doesn't even have good wickets and a beautiful backdrop to compensate. Along with all that Durham supplies England players - two who will play on their home ground. Glamorgan merely supplies Division 2 with ****fest draws and an armada of mediocrity.

Want to have another try without talking complete bollocks?

 

[Scaly piscine]

Quote removed by James, against forum rules.

Is that the best you can come up with?

Sophia Gardens is inferior in every single regard to Chester-le-Street. We've had the 3 worst possible Test matches you could possibly get, it was our turn to get a good 'un.

 

[Goughy]

Is that the best you can come up with?

Best you deserve after your childish and petulant demand for an Ashes Test and turning your nose up at a West Indies Test. (EDIT- TBH, the previous comment of mine was more tongue in cheek and was not meant to be offensive).

I have no love of cricket in Wales but your attacks are beyond petty.

Glamorgan has been the most put upon County for generations. Players have been ignored and the County looked down on. Your claim that Durham has 'only' had 3 Tests against he Worlds worst. Well thats a hell of a lot more respect than Glamorgan has ever got. Durham is young and is getting far better treatment as a County than Glamorgan ever has. Glamorgan has paid its dues and suffered unfairly.

Sophia Gardens may only hold 15 000 after development but Riverside holds 5 000 before the awkward temporary stuff goes up to increase it to 17 000 for a couple of days a year. Capacity is hardly a strong point.

Glam out bid and made a better presentation than Durham. There is a pretty fair and defined logic and there is little room for romanticising about nice views.

There is more rain in Cardiff during the summer than Durham but it is also warmer. TBH, if we were worried about the possibility of rain then we wouldnt play cricket in England.

A Test match starts tomorrow that Durham cant sell tickets for. Its a bit rich to demand the high profile games when the 'lesser' but important games cant sell.

Cardiff as a city has a history of hosting large international sporting events and has a proven capacity for hotels and entertainment within the city.

The final point being is that if Glamorgan didnt get a Test, Durham may not even have been next on the list.

In all honesty, Im with you on a lot of things but your petulant demand for an Ashes test on the eve of a Test in front of a half empty stadium made me cringe.

 

[Uppercut]

They gave an Ashes Test to a ground which spends 364 days a year being rained on, a ground where most of the so-called facilities and stands were on paper only, that completely ****ed up staging an ODI last year with terrible drainage and pathetic ground staff, that hadn't hosted a single so-called Test let alone 3 of them against the worst teams on the planet. And even after Sophia Gardens is completed it STILL only holds 15,500 - less than any other venue and doesn't even have good wickets and a beautiful backdrop to compensate. Along with all that Durham supplies England players - two who will play on their home ground. Glamorgan merely supplies Division 2 with ****fest draws and an armada of mediocrity.

Want to have another try without talking complete bollocks?

Cardiff does not deserve an Ashes test, let alone the first one, and practically the entire forum would back you up in that. But it doesn't follow that Durham does.

 

[Goughy]

Cardiff does not deserve an Ashes test, let alone the first one, and practically the entire forum would back you up in that.

I can think of lots of good reasons why Cardiff should have a Test match. The one valid reason, IMO, to question and worry is that it is a huge risk not to have played a Test match in advance of the 'big one'.

There should have been a rehersal but I think there were many admirable qualities to the Cardiff presentation and Id like to see Test cricket finally in Wales.

 

[zaremba]

I'm quite enjoying the fur flying in this thread. Much more entertaining reading this than it will be watching the sleet lashing across 15 miserably huddled spectators at Chester-le-Street tomorrow.

 

[stumpski]

Just going back to this for a moment, the thought occurs to me that had the West Indies agreed to replace Sri Lanka on the condition that the Wisden Trophy would not be at stake (bearing in mind that the decision was made before the series in the Caribbean), I think the ECB would have agreed, they were that desperate for someone to fill the gap left by Zimbabwe and then Sri Lanka. And the Windies would have been able to refer to a precedent - England's short series in Australia in 1979-80, another tour arranged at short notice.

 

[oitoitoi]

They gave an Ashes Test to a ground which spends 364 days a year being rained on, a ground where most of the so-called facilities and stands were on paper only, that completely ****ed up staging an ODI last year with terrible drainage and pathetic ground staff, that hadn't hosted a single so-called Test let alone 3 of them against the worst teams on the planet. And even after Sophia Gardens is completed it STILL only holds 15,500 - less than any other venue and doesn't even have good wickets and a beautiful backdrop to compensate. Along with all that Durham supplies England players - two who will play on their home ground. Glamorgan merely supplies Division 2 with ****fest draws and an armada of mediocrity.

Want to have another try without talking complete bollocks?

Completely agree, Glamorgan and Sophia Gardens have done **** all to deserve any international match never mind an ashes test. Durham have won competitions, succesfully stage international cricket including 3 tests, produced more England players than any other county over the last 3 years or so (Harmison, Plunkett, Collingwood, Mustard, Onions, they're all actually English too and are products of the Durham system). Chester-le-street led the way in making cricket grounds financially viable in England with it's country club style facilities. It has a great academy too, has Glamorgan done ANY of these things? Hell even Simon Jones (the one England player they've produced in years) left. Complete farce, more rank incompetence and greed from the ECB. Any argument about crowds is a joke, any ashes test in england will be sold out these days.


I bloody well hope the Wisden Trophy isn't up for grabs, this series is a joke which has done nothing so far but damage the reputation of test cricket. The Wisden Trophy is one of the few trophies around in cricket with any kind of proper history (IMO along with The Ashes and the Border Gavaskar Trophy).

 

[GIMH]

51 all out...

Anyway, seriously, think Rose has a point here tbh. The Wisden Trophy's not the Ashes, admittedly, but the boards should at least try to have a proper competition for it. With the 2010 series potentially being replaced with a more lucrative opponent, England could end up holding the Wisden Trophy for four years comparing to WI's one month, after roughly similar achievements.

Nobody forced the Windies to come.

 

[Woodster]

Two-Test series should abolished full stop, regardless of what trophy is at stake.

 

[roseboy64]

Nobody forced the Windies to come.

Money and the WICB.

 

[GIMH]

Two-Test series should abolished full stop, regardless of what trophy is at stake.

agree with that. Should just have a 7-test Ashes IMO

 

[BoyBrumby]

What's the forecast for the morrow? Hoping for full day's play as I have bit of time to kill...

Expecting an unchanged XI? Bell for Brezza only conceivable change if the insurance of the extra batter is needed but wouldn't personally.

 

[GIMH]

i took Bell & Sidey being allowed to play for their counties in the FP as a sign that they wouldn't be playing tomorrow tbh