CartyDurham
International Captain
I’m off for a cool down, heat’s got to me today.
I’m going to stick my head in a freezer
I’m going to stick my head in a freezer
Can someone transplant a brain to this idiot.Ollie Robinson: We were surprised by how unwilling Australia were to go toe-to-toe with us
Ollie Robinson, in his first Wisden.com column, shares his views on the Edgbaston Test, Australia’s approach, becoming public enemy number one Down Under and tells us about England’s mindset going into Lord’s.You can bet on the 2023 Ashes with our Match Centre partners, bet365.wisden.com
No I actually agree with him on that. I think England have a much better shot on pitches where they can bulldoze their way to a winning score in a single session, shock and awe style, than one where 450 is par and the likes of Khawaja and Smith will happily bat for days. It brings their attack much more into the game too.Can someone transplant a brain to this idiot.
How the **** a helpful wicket helps a team that try to bat like its a t20? Surely you need a good defence to survive on such a wicket against Cummins etc and none of the England batsmen bar root and to a lesser extent bairstow have that
A key part of what the ECB is trying to achieve is to increase participation at grass roots level. There's a genuine concern about where the next generation of fans is coming from.I just don't think the idea that this is some mandate to boost participation numbers is at all true. This entire philosophy wasn't dreamed up in a corporate boardroom by Rob Key and the ECB board, the key pieces of it have been floating around for years.
Wouldn't an idea be to abandon the mess that is the 100 and put the same effort, time and money into T20, one day and test formats, even the county championship has been forgetting by the ECBA key part of what the ECB is trying to achieve is to increase participation at grass roots level. There's a genuine concern about where the next generation of fans is coming from.
That's what the 100 is all about - it's being played during the school holidays with many matches on free to air TV.
The hope is kids will go with their families, enjoy the game and as they get older start watching the longer form of the game.
I don't think the 'great and the good' of English cricket got together and said we need to play very positive test cricket to get more people interested in the game.
However, once they found out MuCullum fancied the test job, they fully embraced the way he wanted the team to play.
FWIW, I think all test teams will end up playing this way in the coming years as it's what people want to see. Maybe not cricket aficionados like us, but the average punter.
Every major change that's happened on the game since the 1960s has had the same aim - get more people watching the game. To achieve this, the game has been shortened and quickened up to produce more action.
One day cricket was ridiculed when it was introduced in the 1960s. The same with the Packer revolution of day night cricket, coloured clothing and white balls. Fielding restrictions, power plays, T20, franchise cricket, Impact players etc etc. Now we even have 10 over games FFS.
All frowned upon by cricketing traditionalists - all designed to speed the game up and put bums on seats.
Bazball is partly just an extention of that. Score quickly, take risks and entertain the crowd. Yes we want to win but its nit just about the winning, its also about how you play.
After we got beat in the last test, one of the 1st things Stokes said was something like 'if that doesn't get people interested in cricket, nothing will.'
The message for me is pretty clear.
Yeah it probably would - I'm no fan of the 100 but I can see what they're trying to do.Wouldn't an idea be to abandon the mess that is the 100 and put the same effort, time and money into T20, one day and test formats, even the county championship has been forgetting by the ECB
100% agree with this. We all said from the moment Stokes talked about flat dry wickets that it was giving up a huge advantage we have playing at home.No I actually agree with him on that. I think England have a much better shot on pitches where they can bulldoze their way to a winning score in a single session, shock and awe style, than one where 450 is par and the likes of Khawaja and Smith will happily bat for days. It brings their attack much more into the game too.
England really ought to be looking for seaming pitches that are nevertheless true and allow value for shots.
What the ECB is trying to do with the Hundred is square the circle of saying you're trying to increase the exposure of cricket to the wider audience that free-to-air allows whilst still trying to preserve the money from those pay-TV contracts with Sky. This is because, like the BCCI with respect to ICC funding, the ECB are unwilling to forgo the short five to ten year advantages in return for building a larger market over the period of, say, thirty years that would produce a more secure return in the long run.Yeah it probably would - I'm no fan of the 100 but I can see what they're trying to do.
The trouble with English cricket, well one of the main issues, is the competing interests.
The ECB don't work in harmony with counties because they have different aims.
There are too many counties, there isn’t enough space in the calendar for 2 T20 comps, County championship games, England matches etc - it's a mess but we'd need a whole other series of threads to debate that little lot
I nearly did the same thing with Kayo before remembering it was on 9.Thats been thrown in the bin now mate and not the case anymore. This Ashes series is on free to air but plenty of test matches are behind a pay wall now.....even some home ones I think.
Dumbass me resubscribed to Foxtel for the series not realising its on fta.....fml.