*Official* India Tour of England 2018

[flibbertyjibber]

Perfect time for a trolling 30 by Broad. Probably be out for 12 though.

 

[wpdavid]

Yes but you can see Kane Williamson, Abbot, Morkel, Azhar Ali, Elgar, Ross Taylor play in the championship. The Shield is just built to be a feeder for Australia. Nobody is going to want to support teams that exist merely as subservient feeder clubs. In England we care about our counties. Some people I know love county cricket and are uninterested in test cricket.

Regarding your second point, yes, and they are absolutely entitled to. I suspect that's due to a variety of reasons that go beyond how good the cricket is, but that's their prerogative as paying customers.

Going back to your first point, even allowing for a handful of good overseas players, I'd still argue that the better English players are spread too thinly to produce a high standard of teams.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Regarding your second point, yes, and they are absolutely entitled to. I suspect that's due to a variety of reasons that go beyond how good the cricket is, but that's their prerogative as paying customers.

Going back to your first point, even allowing for a handful of good overseas players, I'd still argue that the better English players are spread too thinly to produce a high standard of teams.

I can't agree with that. You look at the spending power of Surrey for instance who are beginning to resemble a ''first-class all-stars''. I'd imagine they would steamroll all Shield sides except a New South Wales with their full internationals present (including the sandpaper twosome).

 

[Daemon]

The crowds are irrelevant.

The CC has too many poo players that are easy to beat up on. The good players are in abundance but there's a plethora of noobs for most quality players to feast on.

The 'can't have it both ways' lower bowling averages = harder to bat argument also doesn't always hold. In diluted comps like the CC and Ranji, you have both low bowling averages and high batting averages.

I should add that I think the difference between Shield and D1 CC is far smaller than it used to be.

 

[Groundking]

Regarding your second point, yes, and they are absolutely entitled to. I suspect that's due to a variety of reasons that go beyond how good the cricket is, but that's their prerogative as paying customers.

Going back to your first point, even allowing for a handful of good overseas players, I'd still argue that the better English players are spread too thinly to produce a high standard of teams.

I also think with how thinly the English quality is spread is part of the reason we struggle so much to produce test quality players, there's not enough cut throat competition for places imo.

 

[Bolo]

Going back to your first point, even allowing for a handful of good overseas players, I'd still argue that the better English players are spread too thinly to produce a high standard of teams.

True for every 1st class competition, not just the English one. The internationals swing things a bit though.

The number of top class RSA players in county might be comparable to the number in RSA domestic between kolpac and internationals barely playing 1st class at home due to scheduling.

 

[Daemon]

How do the quicks look today? Been a long series and we don't have a 5th bowler. Hopefully they stay fit.

 

[fredfertang]

I don't think this one is Shami's match

 

[S.Kennedy]

And yet ''eighteen counties (in two divisions from 2000)'' produced Cook, Strauss, Bell, Root, Collingwood, Flintoff, Jones and Broad? Every player I listed there played for a different county, and were inherently products of those counties.

Whenever the test team are garbage the championship gets the blame, yet it wasn't praised when the national team performed under the 2003-05 and 2009-13 sides.

Heck, there were 17 counties in the mid-late '20s (Percy Chapman era), 17 counties during the '50s Hutton/May era, 17 counties during the late-60s early '70s Illingworth era - all great periods for English test cricket.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Poor Shami

 

[vcs]

Buttler's technique may not be ideally suited to Test cricket but the fact that he's always looking to score makes him quite useful in these low-scoring, bowling friendly type conditions. He doesn't waste loose balls.

 

[fredfertang]

And yet ''eighteen counties (in two divisions from 2000)'' produced Cook, Strauss, Bell, Root, Collingwood, Flintoff, Jones and Broad? Every player I listed there played for a different county, and were inherently products of those counties.

Whenever the test team are garbage the championship gets the blame, yet it wasn't praised when the national team performed under the 2003-05 and 2009-13 sides.

Heck, there were 17 counties in the mid-late '20s (Percy Chapman era), 17 counties during the '50s Hutton/May era, 17 counties during the late-60s early '70s Illingworth era - all great periods for English test cricket.

Yes, but there was no professional infrastructure in any other country in those days and the model is outmoded - England's Test team would do much better if the domestic structure were completely overhauled, but I sincerely hope it never happens even if we do have to put up with occasional defeat from these colonial upstarts

 

[Groundking]

Poor Shami

I'd feel more sympathy for him this test if he was actually pitching it up, but he's not.

 

[Groundking]

Yes, but there was no professional infrastructure in any other country in those days and the model is outmoded - England's Test team would do much better if the domestic structure were completely overhauled, but I sincerely hope it never happens even if we do have to put up with occasional defeat from these colonial upstarts

I just wished the championship wasn't pushed to the tail ends of the season and was played all thought the summer instead of all the short form stuff.

 

[Daemon]

England is just the worst. Get them 6 or 7 down for not much and then they bounce right back.

 

[artvandalay]

This field is too defensive for my liking. Giving a lot of easy singles. Again england have crept up to a respectable score when the ball is beginning to move around.

 

[Groundking]

Have the commentators not watched any English cricket at home in recent years? The tail wagging has been happening to everybody.

 

[Jarquis]

I remember Top Cat's repeated posts questioning the value of picking Buttler (after he was pretty great against Pak). They've aged well.

 

[Groundking]

How long are we giving it until we move Jos up the order and his form disappears?

 

[wpdavid]

Good knock by Buttler. I gather that's now 311 runs in the series so far; 7 completed innings plus this one. Not bad given how often the top order have failed.