Cricket, lovely cricket

[Monty]

Monty:

Chilling? Hardly.

It's no coincidence that the dramatic decline in popularity of test cricket has coincided with the rise in the rankings of England - their brand of boring, one-pace cricket is ruining our beloved game. The sooner we rise back to #1 the better it will be for everybody.

Cheers,
Adam.

Worse case of verbal diarrhea Ive ever seen.

You obviously havent seen the current standard we have hit. Did you see the amount of runs we blitzed again India? You've forgotten how we blew you away?

Having endured your innings against Sri Lanka, mundane is giving it too much credit.

Awful, woeful and utterly to blame for the lack of interest in your country. Whereas in my country, your Motherland, basically the Lords of your manor, its thriving.

Wonder why?

Oh yeah, our team is sh*t hot....yours simply is not. Not even tepid.

Monty

[Adam Went]

Monty:

I haven't been watching your series against India, but i'm surprised that you have, given that it's ODI cricket and that's for kids, is it not?
Besides, aren't India without some of their better players including Sachin and Zaheer Khan?

Which innings against SL are you talking about? The current one, where Philip Hughes has just scored a ton? Or the previous one where Mike Hussey scored a ton?

Face it, Monty, cricket is only popular in Pomgolia at the moment because your team have managed to string together a few wins. As soon as they start losing again everybody will be off the bandwagon and back to whinging.

As I said, no coincidence that the plummet in popularity of Test cricket has coincided with our fall from the top and your rise to the top. The boringess of your team is bringing everybody down.

So since Steven can't give me a straight answer, i'll ask you: Which Pommy player/s deserve to be in that list of the best ever team?

Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

Boycott
Gooch
Grace
Jessup
Barrington
Barnes
Knott
Underwood
Laker
Tyson
Larwood
Hammond
Hutton
Cook
Trott
Trueman
Rhodes
Hirst
Bedser (A)
Hobbs
Sutcliffe
Swann
Verity
Edrich (J)
Snow
Ames
Freeman
Evans
Atherton
Hussain
Stewart
Hendren
Gower


etc. etc. One or two of those might make it I think.

Best wishes,
Steve.

PS No doubt there are many I have missed and I look forward to having my list added to.

[Phil Carter]

1. John Berry Hobbs (batsman and medium pace swing bowler, specialist cover point fieldsman)
2. Herbert Sutcliffe (batsman)
3. Patsy Hendren (batsman)
4. Wally Hammond (batsman and occasional bowler, slip fielder) (captain)
5. Gilbert Jessop (all rounder, batsman and fast medium bowler, specialist hitter and mid wicket fielder,, specialist throw from the boundary too, record sprint runner.. the list goes on and on with this man...)
6. Ian Terrance Botham (all rounder, batsman and fast bowler, specilaist slip and gully fielder)
7. Alan P.Knott (batsman and wicketkeeper)
8. Wilfred Rhodes (all rounder, specialist spin bowler, slip fielder)
9. Hedley Verity (Specialist spin bowler, batsman)
10.Sidney F.Barnes (Specialist Fast Bowler)
11.Harold Larwood (Specialist Fast Bowler)

Thats three specialist fast bowlers, two specialist spinners, 8 specialist batsmen, 2 cover bowlers, one specialist wicket keeper batsman, one batsmen with the most first class centuries ever, the top three batsmen with the highest batting averages ever, Jessop, the greatest hitter of a cricket ball ever, Hobbs and Rhodes reknowned for being the greatest partnership on a sticky wicket ever, Rhodes being reknowned for being the man who bowled the most overs and took the most wickets ever, Verity being a medium spinner of in-matched accuracy ever, The fastest Bowler ever, according to many in Larwood, and the most unplayable fast bowler ever, in Barnes. Botham, England's best all rounder ever. Specialist close fielders, cover point fielder, mid wicket fielder.

I make one possible exception. Tom Richardson instead of Botham on a flat track. He would bowl forever without tiring.


kindly


Phil

[Adam Went]

Steven & Phil:

You've both nominated Alan Knott. Great player, but nothing on any of Rod Marsh, Ian Healy or Adam Gilchrist. It's not just about being great occasionally, it's about being great all of the time and standing up when your team needs you to stand up - Botham had flashes of brilliance but had long periods when he was fairly average as well.

I'm not going to attempt to go through the complete list you've both drawn up there, but i'll abbreviate it by saying that the only two who I would give any consideration to for the all time team would be Ken Barrington and W.G. Grace.

It's not about listing a few good players, it's about listing players who deserve to be in there and deserve to replace ones who are already in there. What about the others who missed out?

Let's not forget, aside from the few I named before, there's no Dennis Lillee.....no Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards.....no Aravinda de Silva....no Ricky Ponting.....

Any of those, and many others, could easily fit into that team. Anyway, at the end of the day, it's nothing to lose sleep over.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

Phil: Jardine, in In Quest of the Ashes, regards Larwood as an all-rounder and he did score 98 in that series (32-33). Not bad for your no. 11!

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Adam Went]

Glenn McGrath made 63 once against New Zealand too.....great to watch if you're a supporter (I remember he had a couple of huge partnerships with Mike Hussey near the end of his career too, by which time had improved his batting average to a highly respectable 7) but there's not muuch worse for the opposition than a tail ender who clearly can't bat but yet still somehow manages to make runs and stick around.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Zodiac]

RIP Graham Dilley.

Hi all,

I'm sad to report that the former England fast bowler Graham Dilley has died aged 52, after a short illness. I'm sure that I speak for everyone here on the cricket thread in offering our deepest condolences to Graham's family and friends.

Best Wishes,
Zodiac.

[Monty]

Graham Roy Dilley - RIP

Whilst I never actually met him, I saw him a few times at the ECB nets is Loughborough.

His greatest achievement wasn't with the ball ironically, it was his partnership with Ian Botham in THAT test match at Headingley. Dilley stated he was merely holding up an end....he got 56.

Speaking of Larwood, I'm friends with his Daughter and Grandaughter. Lovely people, and very proud of Lol not as a cricketer but also as a father and Grandfather.

A true legend, and great of the game. He wouldn't get into an all time world XI......he'd get into a universe one.

Monty

[Adam Went]

Steve Jobs and Graham Dilley gone at the same time, both of them from completely different paths and both died far too young.... R.I.P.


Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

Hi all,

I'm sad to report that the former England fast bowler Graham Dilley has died aged 52, after a short illness. I'm sure that I speak for everyone here on the cricket thread in offering our deepest condolences to Graham's family and friends.

Best Wishes,
Zodiac.

Absolutely.

[Adam Went]

I take apologies in the form of $50 notes, gents.

A while ago I stated that Patrick Cummins would be the next bright star in the Australian cricket team, and so it shall be - he is making his national debut tomorrow in a T20 match against South Africa.

Behold, my Pommy friends, the bloke who will be giving you and your batsmen nightmares for the next 15 years:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/489889.html

Cheers,
Adam.

[Adam Went]

And just like that, 3/25 on debut at a foreign venue....

Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

Pakistani players jailed.

Custodial sentences for Butt, Asif, and Amir. Wow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15573463

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Adam Went]

Massive statement.

Tough on Mohammed Aamer I think, he's just a kid who probably got roped into it by more senior players and the money and didn't think past that, but the others certainly should have known better.

Cheers,
Adam.