*Official* Second Test (Lord's, London) 28 June–2 July

[CartyDurham]

I’m off for a cool down, heat’s got to me today.

I’m going to stick my head in a freezer

 

[Socerer 01]

does all of this mean that if England loses the Ashes the boomers in the country will blame the loss on the millenials and zoomers

 

[Spark]

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.

 

[Gob]

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

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

 

[Ashes81]

There's no question that England need a successful test team to encourage more kids to take up the sport. Gallant loses will soon their appeal.

But what people seem to forget is that under Stokes and McCullum we've been very successful.

Yes we've lost 2 close tests recently but that doesn't mean their approach is wrong or unsuccessful.

We've gone from being a bit of a laughing stock in tests, to a team that has won 11 out of 13 tests - if that isn't successful then I don't know what is. On top of that, we've achieved this by playing the sort of cricket that the average man in the street wants to watch.

Yes we lost the test to Australia and if we get beat 5 nil and we outclassed then questions will be asked.

But we're a million miles away from that.

We've narrowly lost 1 test match FFS, against the best team in the world.

 

[Spark]

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

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.

 

[honestbharani]

Its amazingly close and basically a dead heat at the moment as a contest..........








as in who has gotten into their opposition's head more.

 

[SteveNZ]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/b...rites-cummins-bazball-ashes-cricket-australia (paywall)

McCullum's record as a player has also come under the microscope, particularly his poor record against the Aussies

"Meanwhile, let's just remind ourselves of McCullum's playing record against Australia - one win, 13 defeats and a trouncing in a World Cup final," wrote the Guardian's Jonathan Liew.

"Perhaps it is too much of a simplification to say England play cricket as they would like it to be, while Australia play the game that actually exists, but it was certainly true here.

"Now comes the real test. Do England want to wake up or do they want to keep dreaming?"

OUCH.

 

[Ashes81]

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.

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.

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.

 

[chunksafc]

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.

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.

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

 

[social]

Or they could adopt some measures that will actually result in more people watching the game such as ensuring that some cricket is shown on free to air and making game tickets more affordable

The ECB is like many sporting bodies - they’re full of ****

 

[Ashes81]

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

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

 

[Adders]

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.

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.

If we get wickets doing a bit then we have the best bowlers in the world to take advantage of them. Flat wickets then Aus have the stronger attack.

The batsmen on both sides will struggle bar the best (Root, Smith etc) but I think I'd back ours to bludgeon their way to more runs than the Aussies in those conditions.

Would likely be 3 day tests mind.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Robinson clearly looking hard for a scrap by all he has said and done. Think the best course of action there is just to leave that alone, let him make a plonker out of himself if he so desires

 

[Burgey]

Woke up this morning to headlines of a "catastrophic implosion" and thought it was about England's declaration and their tactics in the final session of day 5.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

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

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.

People have been saying the number of teams in England harms English cricket for quite a while now. However, when I watch highlights of the T20 Blast, there always seems to be a healthy turnout of spectators, especially given I'd think each team's audience pool is smaller than that for most Big Bash teams. I don't know, for example, if it would be possible to get Londeners following Surrey and Middlesex with rebranding, nor do I know if Warwickshire's branding is especially successful, but I don't see why trying to use teams with established supporter bases and histories is somehow detrimental.

 

[Anthony Clayden]

Australian government made an anti-siphoning law, covers a range of sporting events to ensure they are free to air. For cricket it includes..
(The PM at the time was a cricket tragic.)

Cricket
– Each Test played in Australia
– Any Ashes Test match
– Cricket World Cup final if in Australia or New Zealand
– Australian matches in the Cricket World Cup
– Final of T20 World Cup
– Australian T20 World Cup matches if played in Australia or New Zealand

You can clearly see high important Ashes matches are to Australia.

 

[Adders]

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.

 

[Son Of Coco]

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.

I nearly did the same thing with Kayo before remembering it was on 9.

 

[Anthony Clayden]

Has been tweaked but still looks current to me...

https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/publications/anti-siphoning

Federal Register of Legislation - Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice 2023

www.legislation.gov.au

7 Cricket

(1) Each test match that:

(a) involves the senior Australian representative team selected by Cricket Australia; and

(b) is played in Australia.

(2) Each test match that:

(a) involves both:

(i) the senior Australian representative team selected by Cricket Australia; and

(ii) the senior English representative team; and

(b) is played in the United Kingdom.

(3) Each one day cricket match that:

(a) involves the senior Australian representative team selected by Cricket Australia; and

(b) is played in Australia.

(4) Each Twenty20 (T20) cricket match that:

(a) involves the senior Australian representative team selected by Cricket Australia; and

(b) is played in Australia.

(5) Each match of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup that:

(a) involves the senior Australian representative team selected by Cricket Australia; and

(b) is played in Australia or New Zealand.

(6) The final of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup if the final is played in Australia or New Zealand.

(7) Each match of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup that:

(a) involves the senior Australian representative team selected by Cricket Australia; and

(b) is played in Australia or New Zealand.

(8) The final of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup if the final is played in Australia or New Zealand.