A plea to the the powers that be!

Thanks to the announcement by Gordon Brown that the UK election will take place on May 6th, the decision to evaluate the “crown jewel” sports has been put on the shelf. This means that the announcement as to whether the home cricket internationals are to be shown on terrestrial TV have also been put back.

The last test on Channel 4 (terrestrial TV) was the famous England ashes victory in 2005. It has been too long since you could watch the cricket in any pub, whether they have sky or not, and this deadline extension is rubbing salt into the wounds for me!

So this is a plea to whoever wins the upcoming election, please hurry up make the decision so we can potentially go back to enjoying cricket on television, anywhere and everywhere!

Yours Sincerely

Paul Wilkinson

PS – Please Hurry!!

T20 Squad Time!

So the past few days have been a story of ups and downs for English cricket players. Ravi Bopara was handed the news that he will be going to the World T20 at the end of April (don’t quote me on the exact date), but at the same time he managed to field appallingly in his last outing in the IPL. It’s also worth noting that his form has slumped rather significantly as of late after making back to back fifties in his first two appearances for the Kings Punjab XI this year.

This is classic England selection policy:

Step 1 - Wait till a player gets into good/great/amazing form.
Step 2 – Wait a tad more.
Step 3 – Form going slightly pear shaped/confidence waning.
Step 4 – Really out of form = selection made!

On a similar note, Craig Kieswetter has been chosen as the sole Keeper in the T20 part, which gives him a chance to flaunt his entire game to the selectors, and start banging on Matt Priors test and One day door’s. This is a brave move on the selectors part, bearing in mind that his international experience consists of a few appearances against Bangladesh, the worst team in the top flight of the game in all formats. On a downer, one of England’s best players as of late, and ranked 3rd best bowler in the world, Graeme Swann, has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after his 31st birthday.........MUPPET!

Michael’s Yardy and Lumb have been recalled/selected for the T20 too on the back of solid form which is great news as I have always been a fan of the south coast duo, and I fully expect them both to shine! All in all an interesting squad and one that could make any diehard test cricket purist slightly interested.

Paul

PS - please feel free to comment and follow guys! (I don’t bite!)

For more information please go to:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/8595614.stm

Cricket Hurts!

Great video to demonstrate the risks of the game!



Paul

Andy Flower singles out Bresnan as stand out seamer

Bresnan Bowled Beautifully!

As you may have read the other day when I blogged (had a rant!) about the lack of depth to England’s seam bowling attack and stand out performance from Tim Bresnan, England cricket coach Andy Flower has come out and said that he agrees (with me – get in!!).


"Tim Bresnan wasn't originally selected in the Test party but with the opportunity given to him by the injury to Ryan Sidebottom, and after his performances in the one-day series, he sort of leapfrogged his way into the side," Flower told reporters before the team left Dhaka.


"He reverse swung the ball both ways, he was controlled and accurate, bowled a heavy bouncer and was strong enough to keep going for long periods of time," Flower said. "I thought our players held strong in some trying conditions weather-wise and on some very flat pitches.”


The 91 in the second test is surely a sign that Bresnan can bat at 7 ahead of Stewart Broad should England wish to play 5 bowlers. Very important given that the Ashes in Australia are only 8 or 9 months away!


Paul

 
Read the full article - cricinfo.com

2nd Test vs Bangladesh (day five)

Captain Cook!

So England managed to go on tour to Bangladesh and come out as expected with a white was in every format. Their ability to beat their opponents in both tests, despite the ridiculously flat wickets, was a credit to their bowlers. The two main players for me have been Swann and Bresnan, most notably the latter who had very little to assist his brand of seam bowling, but ran in and took 6 hard earned wickets at a cost of just over 30 a piece. That being said, Swann did manage to take the most out of both sides (as expected), bagging 16 scalps at 25.25.


Tredwell managed to take more wickets that Swann in the final innings of the tour, which was an unexpected surprise, taking his tally to six in the one solitary game that he played.

The thing that is nagging at me though, being the cricketing guru that I am (NOT) is that there seems to be a lack of seam bowling depth. Finn and Broad really were pretty average on the whole and they both lacked variety and imagination, as far as getting batsmen out rather than waiting for them to make a mistake. They really needed Onions as he is the gravy (sorry about that one)!

The lack of inspiration and seam depth is rather alarming as it’s only eight or nine months until the ashes down under, against an Australian team that love revenge and have a wealth of talented and nasty fast bowlers. A lot of whom have the wool over a fair few of the English batsmen!

On the subject of batsmen and captain supreme at the same time, Alistair Cooks first proper run out as captain must be very very satisfying indeed. With two hundreds in the test series (one of them a big one) and some very solid one day inning to boot, Cook may have deservedly nudged his way into the selectors minds in terms of one day selection. Not to mention becoming the future captain. I hope Andrew Strauss has had a nice rest!!

Paul

Borat Learns Cricket

An old classic:

Sledges and Quotes

Like every good sport, cricket has its amazing and memorable quotes, and i’d like to share a few classics with you now:

Cricket civilizes people and creates good gentlemen I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen - Robert Mugabe.

The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey - Brian Johnston - referring to Michael Holding and Peter Willey

Statistics are like miniskirts, they reveal more than what they hide – Unknown.

I smiled at Ricky Ponting. He didn't smile back. He was in a terrible temper for some reason. Quite why he was blaming me when his partner, Damien Martyn, had called him for a suicidal single to cover, I don't know. You know what's more? All the palaver caused me to burn my toast! - Duncan Fletcher on the fallout from the infamous Gary Pratt run out.

Mark Waugh: F**k me, look who it is. Mate, what are you doing out here, there's no way you're good enough to play for England.
James Ormond: Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my family!

Don't bother shutting it, son, you won't be there long enough - Fred Truman to incoming Aussie batsman as he opened the gate on his way out to the middle at Lord's.

The aim of English cricket is, in fact, mainly to beat Australia - Jim Laker.

Aussies are big and empty, just like their country - Ian Botham.

Merv is a funny guy, though he would sledge his own mother if he thought it would help the cause - Gladstone Small.

Shane Warne is thicker than a complete set of Wisden yearbooks - Matt Price.

That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it – Sidhu.

The gap between bat and pad is so wide you could have driven a car through – Sidhu.

I bowl my best when I am fittest and the best way to get fit is to bowl. That's how you get your rhythm. You cannot really find a rhythm by bowling in the nets - Brett Lee.

Aussie fan to Phil Tuffnell - Oi Tuffers, lend us your brain, I'm trying to build an idiot!

GREG THOMAS (GLAMORGAN) v VIV RICHARDS (SOMERSET, WINDIES)
During a county championship match Thomas beat Richards' outside edge a couple of times. He called out to the legend: "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces in case you were wondering." The very next ball the master smashed Thomas out of the ground, into a river, and replied: "Greg, you know what it looks like. Now go and find it."

Biggest 6 ever!

Trust me, you'll like this!

Craig Kieswetter (wicket keeper batsman)

Another Huge 6 At Taunton

Since this is the first time that I’ve posted on here I thought I’d keep it close to home. Being born and bred in the west-country it seems only natural that my first post is about the magnificence that is Somerset County Cricket Club, more specifically the sensation of Craig Kieswetter.

In the past few years they have had a meteoric return to their rightful place at the top of the county championship, largely thanks to the opening partnership that is Marcus Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter. These two propel Somerset at an incredible rate in the one day game and have taken this aggression out on the county scene as well.

Like a number of players before him Craig Kieswetter, a hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman, chose England ahead of South Africa. He joined Somerset when he was 18 and made his international debut four years later, little more than a week after completing qualification. Playing against Bangladesh in his first 2 ODIs Kieswetter made scores of 19 and 4, and he looked rather out of his depth. In the third however, he repaid the decision of the selectors with and extremely mature innings of 107 (from 123 balls). He is the first wicket keeper since Alec Stewart to score a hundred in limited overs internationals, and this surely must be worrying the current holder of the gloves, Matt Prior.

This wonderful start to an international career must be the signs of things to come from such a promising young talent. It is my belief that Craig Kieswetter will be the full England keeper, in all forms of the game within the next year and a half, which will bring a much needed sense of youthful exuberance to the team. Anyone care to bet against me???

Paul



Follow Craig Kieswetter here at cricinfo.com:

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/230855.html