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***Official*** England in Sri Lanka 2012

CWB304

U19 Cricketer
Pollyanna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You're being called a children's book character basically.
What is it with you? Even when posting a link to a reference - I know it's usually not the most reliable of sources, but in this case Wikipedia seems almost serviceable - which explains my use of the word in its very first sentence, you seemingly can't stop yourself from dishonestly distorting my meaning as usual.

The relevant part of the first sentence, for those who can't be bothered to click through, is:

"....with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook".

I could equally well have used "Panglossians" to convey the uber-optimistic outlook of those who think that all is hunky dory now that the under-performer Morgan has been given his marching orders, and that the WORLD CLASS Bell and KP can be relied upon to cart Ajmal, Rehman and other good spinners to all parts the very next time they get to face them in the SC, but I figured that people like you are likelier to be familiar with popular children's stories than with the writings of Voltaire - hence "Pollyannaists".

You might reckon that as another instance of my being condescending, but to me it's just tailoring one's material to the target audience.
 

Jacknife

International Captain
Yes I'd love to hear these 3 or 4 better batsmen and what makes you think each of their individual batting styles & techniques would be a success against quality spin in the sub continent.

On to this match England will have to restrict SL to 120/30 for any chance, can't see them being able to get anything over 250.
 
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four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Right, that's enough with all the pollyanna stuff. Can we please keep on topic from now on, which is the SriLanka - England match and teams etc... without anyone insulting each other.
 

CWB304

U19 Cricketer
Yes I'd love to hear these 3 or 4 better batsmen and what makes you think each of their individual batting styles would be a success against quality spin in the sub continent from what you've seen of them in County Cricket.
The way you write about it is telling. I bet KP and Bell are only keeping their places because there are decision makers who think that there's some sort of special voodoo to batting in these conditions, and that rather than just picking debutants on talent and on what they have shown in county cricket and for the Lions and suchlike, we should be assessing the "individual batting styles" of these youngsters against some mythical coefficient that measures their efficacy against "quality spin in the sub continent". We should not.

The truth is that there is no special secret and that batting in the SC is not rocket science. Good England batmen of former times and up to very recently went out there and scored runs and if you check the statistics you'll note that many had even higher averages out there than they did overall.

Bell and KP have scored heavily against most of the bowlers currently plaguing them - in English conditions. The reason they are failing now is partly because they have failed to make the small adjustments needed to play them in their home conditions and partly because they have now developed a mental block against them with this DRS thing.

Unlike some, I don't particularly think that SC conditions are harder. In fact, if pushed, I would express the opinion that it's on balance a little easier to get runs in SC conditions. The fact that KP and Bell have been so awful in the SC of late tells me (a) that they're simply not all that good and (b) that they're not as adaptable or versatile as top batsmen need to be. Simple.

There are no demons in this pitch and there were none in the UAE, yet Bell and KP have been failing repeatedly. No doubt they've now developed some mental scar tissue as a result of these repeated failures. So to my mind it is in a way doing them a favour to pull them out of the line of fire and blood some youngsters who've yet to develop the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder which these two batsmen - one of whom was pretty decent in his day - are presently showing.
 

Jacknife

International Captain
The way you write about it is telling. I bet KP and Bell are only keeping their places because there are decision makers who think that there's some sort of special voodoo to batting in these conditions, and that rather than just picking debutants on talent and on what they have shown in county cricket and for the Lions and suchlike, we should be assessing the "individual batting styles" of these youngsters against some mythical coefficient that measures their efficacy against "quality spin in the sub continent". We should not.

The truth is that there is no special secret and that batting in the SC is not rocket science. Good England batmen of former times and up to very recently went out there and scored runs and if you check the statistics you'll note that many had even higher averages out there than they did overall.

Bell and KP have scored heavily against most of the bowlers currently plaguing them - in English conditions. The reason they are failing now is partly because they have failed to make the small adjustments needed to play them in their home conditions and partly because they have now developed a mental block against them with this DRS thing.

Unlike some, I don't particularly think that SC conditions are harder. In fact, if pushed, I would express the opinion that it's on balance a little easier to get runs in SC conditions. The fact that KP and Bell have been so awful in the SC of late tells me (a) that they're simply not all that good and (b) that they're not as adaptable or versatile as top batsmen need to be. Simple.

There are no demons in this pitch and there were none in the UAE, yet Bell and KP have been failing repeatedly. No doubt they've now developed some mental scar tissue as a result of these repeated failures. So to my mind it is in a way doing them a favour to pull them out of the line of fire and blood some youngsters who've yet to develop the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder which these two batsmen - one of whom was pretty decent in his day - are presently showing.
The way you answer is telling as well.
 

CWB304

U19 Cricketer
The way you answer is telling as well.
A simple Google search will show you the posts in which I mentioned the batsmen I think could come in for Bell and KP. I can't remember everything I posted at the time and would rather the names be read in the context of the other comments I made than to just list them.

Incidentally - and this is a friendly request - what makes you think I am obliged to produce the names for you on demand? I would have thought the protocol would be for you to find the comments I have made, otherwise one could on sites like this find oneself doing nothing other than reposting stuff one has already posted for malicious or lazy people - of whom I'm sure you're not one.

If you don't believe I actually have set out the names, then come right out and say so. Otherwise, I believe it's for you to search this thread and the one for the previous England series for my previous comments on the matter.
 

Jacknife

International Captain
Yes I know what he's said earlier, I wanted him to expand and say what it was about those 2 and the other 1 or 2 players he said he could mention. Why would they be a success above the 2 who he wants rid of, especially taking into consideration that Taylor's just been in SL and failed and Hildreth has dropped right off the radar after averaging 30 odd in county cricket last year and isn't the best against spin anyway.
 

CWB304

U19 Cricketer
Yes I know what he's said earlier, I wanted him to expand and say what it was about those 2 and the other 1 or 2 players he said he could mention. Why would they be a success above the 2 who he wants rid of, especially taking into consideration that Taylor's just been in SL and failed and Hildreth has dropped right off the radar after averaging 30 odd in county cricket last year and isn't the best against spin anyway.
Ahh, so you wanted me to EXPAND upon my comments all along? Why didn't you just say so?
 

weldone

Hall of Fame Member
Greg Chappell would be very happy with the way this CWB guy thinks. When Ganguly failed he was adamant to believe that Ganguly was the best possible no. 6 in India at the time. So he replaced Ganguly with Yuvraj. Then Yuvraj failed. He replaced Yuvraj by Raina. Raina failed. He replaced Raina by Venugopal Rao (?). So the spiral kept on going downwards.

Modern motivational books and lectures will never tell you to accept defeat. They will never tell you that your best team mightn't be good enough to win.They'll never teach you to accept that your best isn't good enough. It'll tell you to 'change' something when you are failing, regardless of anything. Greg Chappell comes from that school of thought.

Similarly when KP and Bell fail, CWB won't accept that they're the best no. 4 and 5 England has. He'll want them replaced by 2 other guys. What if those 2 fail more miserably? Replace them with 2 more new guys...Keep on doing it...until you reach to Venugopal Rao...
 

Jacknife

International Captain
A simple Google search will show you the posts in which I mentioned the batsmen I think could come in for Bell and KP. I can't remember everything I posted at the time and would rather the names be read in the context of the other comments I made than to just list them.

Incidentally - and this is a friendly request - what makes you think I am obliged to produce the names for you on demand? I would have thought the protocol would be for you to find the comments I have made, otherwise one could on sites like this find oneself doing nothing other than reposting stuff one has already posted for malicious or lazy people - of whom I'm sure you're not one.

If you don't believe I actually have set out the names, then come right out and say so. Otherwise, I believe it's for you to search this thread and the one for the previous England series for my previous comments on the matter.
Your not obliged bud, just wanted you to back up your posts, it's not as if you have to remember what you've posted before at all, you said a few posts ago this
there are probably three or four batsmen that I would play ahead of him
No need to get all shirty is there mate, it's you that's constantly banging the same the drum since you've arrived here, so I don't see the problem in asking you to back up your comments further.
 

Jacknife

International Captain
Ahh, so you wanted me to EXPAND upon my comments all along? Why didn't you just say so?
I think when I asked you to say why each of their relative techniques and styles would be a success, that's exactly what I did, hmm.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
So it's one of those days that makes you think you lost it yesterday.

~~

Hey CWB, have you seen The Big Lebowski?
 

Migara

International Coach
The great thing about Test Cricket is that each team gets 2 chances; lets see England perform in the second dig before calling out for mass changes.

I seem to remember Australia vs Sri Lanka (not this last tour, the one before) where Oz were behind SL after the first innings was completed in all 3 matches, yet we won the series 3 - 0.
Not to mention that **** captaincy from Tillekaratne. Series was there for 2-1 taking by SL. I still get annoyed thinking how pathetic was his captaincy. He had Murali in his absolute best, but still couldn't win it.
 

Cabinet96

Hall of Fame Member
Dear Galle,

Please start raining.

That is all.


To be fair, as **** as that was, the only thing separating the two teams is Bell getting out to a beauty on 52 and Jayawardene getting dropped at a similar score.

The fact that most of our top order got themselves out is very frustrating.

FTR, England will still remain number 1 with a 1-1 draw in the series; they'll be level on points with South Africa.


England's successes were solely because of a **** Aus and Ind. Now SA are going to go over and humiliate them some more, only with pace this time. Serves their giddy school girl fans right.
Puts your teams performance into perspective nicely doesn't it.

This awesome-bowlers dire-batsmen thing England have going on is making for some seriously good tests.
Not to mention the angry batting that the bowlers produce whenever they have to bat.
 

CWB304

U19 Cricketer
So it's one of those days that makes you think you lost it yesterday.

~~

Hey CWB, have you seen The Big Lebowski?
Yeah, great film which I've watched a few times. Big fan of Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, Supporting cast is superb too.
 

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