Cricket

I'm not a hater and it would be a shame if KP was lost to England, but if I were him would I be thinking continuing England dressing room politics, or a series of $1m paydays with the IPL, Stanford &c &c?

He wouldn't be able to leave England for the neverending moneybags circus now, not after all he's pledged. He'd have no friends remaining in the game.

More pertinently, he can do all that shit anyway and still be an England player

He may have bunt his bridges with England already though.

burnt!

kp resigned it says now. Press conference by the ECB at 6.

My feelings on this are roughly equivalent to Marcello Carlin's feelings on the treatment of Russell Brand

Anyway, now for some quality cover-our-asses BS from everyone's favourite cricket board!

KP says he will still play, but will he get picked?

Fuck "team unity", we want a LEADER

And KP was that leader.

well he resigned

He resigned because he had no choice!

The most important thing is, did Strauss go to the proper school/university that will allow him to be a successful captain that knows how cricket works?

No, he's a Radley/Durham boy. Ugh.

haha david gower just said Strauss is pretty posh but he cant criticise that! He also says being posh isnt compulsory in england cricket today.

Anyway, these are professional men representing their country, I cannot believe it's come to this. Ridiculously petty. Not saying that the ECB should have kow-towed to his every demand but I don't think they handled his strong will very well at all. Appointing Peter Moores was in hindsight an error, as was Pietersen's ultimatum, but as England's only world-class player I think he was more in the right than many others involved.

wonder who the rats in the team are that fell out with KP. Shah as he wasnt getting picked? Cant be Strauss/Harmy/Monty/Freddie as they're his closest allies.

Bell is his mate too i think

I like strauss fine, but i would rather KP had stayed captain. But if he lost some support in the dressing room as is rumoured then he did the right thing putting england before his captaincy. Makes him ok in my book.
Give it 2 years and he will be backjust like with beefy and gower.

I mean, the England team couldn't be at its full strength without Pietersen. But it could without Moores. This should have been the thinking.

If KP's guilty of anything it's of adhering to the clique, and this may well have brought about his downfall: the fact that he may have had strong allegiances to certain players. It's meant to be professional and fair. In this regard perhaps he needed a slap, but certainly not one of this magnitude.

Bell's lady and KP's popstar WAG were watching the final SA Test together right in front of where I was sitting. A good view from there.

He made an ultimatum and they didn't like that. Clearly he doesn't know how cricket works.

Now KP is gone harmy and vaughan might be finished.

Well if this means better and fairer team selection then maybe silver linings etc, but it really won't.

Monty and Bell might get sent back to county cricket too

Strauss a good unity pick for the captaincy I would think.

He has respect for the way he fought to retain his place in the side and becoming the form batsmen. Also he did a good job before. He should have been captain instead of fred for the ashes.
But he wont be captain for 5 years.

Is Strauss ODI captain too? He's not even in the team.

IPL teams are now going to try tempt KP to turn his back on England with massive money offers :(

Now KP is gone harmy and vaughan might be finished.

Read that as "Now KP is gone barmy and vaughan might be finished." Fair comment. In any case, LOLz all round.

KP has asserted his wish to continue playing for England, FWIW.

Laughable.

KP wasn't showing anything much as captain, so its not a huge loss: look at the failure in a winning position in India and the desperation to recruit Vaughan. I do think if KP's test career is ended now (or given a year's ban) I'd say there are probably enough solid performers to make it competitive, as Australia are also in flux...the coach is probably THE crucial appointment now. That and whether Shah performs.

England need KP, for psychological value as well as playing ability.

and watchability. He's the 1st English batsmen I've got excited by the sight of him walking to the crease since Gower/Botham.

He better not be dropped/sacked or bugger off to the IPL.
I wasn't sure he should be captain but to not have him in the team would be awful.

If he hadn't lost the support of the dressing room he still would've been captain.

wtf that is absolute sacrilege against marcus trescothick

Strauss ODI skipper too. Didn't really have much choice but I'm not sure Strauss should be in the ODI team. I admire the way he's changed his style that wasn't working into a test run machine but that style wont work in one day games. I expect he will only be ODI captain for the WI tour (unless england shock everyone and become good at it)

KP will be getting the ODI captaincy back at some point. Strauss is definitely place-holding in that form of the game.

ECB would need to change before that happens.

I'm pretty damn certain that KP will at least be given an opportunity to prove himself once again in the shorter form. He's too valuable an asset (as a leader) for them not to bother. He just needs to jump through a few hoops now and sit tight.

What is "absolute sacrilege against marcus trescothick" Louis? He hasn't been mentioned at all on this thread!

He's the 1st English batsmen I've got excited by the sight of him walking to the crease since Gower/Botham.

Ah, ok, bit harsh against Flintoff as well then

With Flintoff there wasn't the same confidence that he'd fire. An exciting player, but not a batsman I'd watch purely for his interpretation and expression of batsmanship, merely a big-hitter with a decent technique. Speaking merely of the period around 2004/5 I'd possibly see your point, but Flintoff doesn't force superlatives out of me quite like the other two. Trescothick oozed class and security however he played, and even when defensive, bat met ball thrillingly. He had a positive and destructive style all his own, and a cover-drive of kings; that ball stayed smitten. My favourite England batsman, of all the ones I've seen. His 180 in the Hoggard Test (Jo'burg) is possibly the best Test innings I've seen from an Englishman.

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/2359541.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19390335F8FA9CA92A63329CD19335F6D429930FDCFC4C15FBB
Can't argue with that assessment, but still I'll always love Flintoff best as I saw him do this. Part of a quickfire 143 if I remember correctly.

To be honest, though (and these have been good years for England), these are fairly slim pickings against what a few Aussies can boast over the same period, and nothing at all compared to Lara - his run against Australia in (I think) 99/00 is pretty much the finest sport I ever expect to see

Trescothick deserved a hundred against Australia in Tests. It is the only thing his career lacked. He came close on several occasions but bafflingly never quite cracked it. In 2005 he frequently set the tone for England's innings, though, and for that it cannot be said that he completely failed against the Australians.

Further to this, he's the greatest England one-day batsman ever. It's not even close. Well, Goochie might have a qualm, but no it's not even close.

Lara vs. Australia 99/00 and SL in I think 2001 = utter, unremitting brilliance. Getting bowled round his legs first ball by Craig White in 2000, however = all-time loooooooool

Big ups to Martin Guptill. Great knock, and he turned from Mark Richardson into Chris Cairns at the end, too

Australia batsman Matthew Hayden is set to retire from international cricket, according to reports.

ya good on him
repostig:
youtube.com/watch?v=pLFdUquAfWs

Hayden is expected to receive a rousing farewell during a lap of honour at tonight's second Twenty20 match between Australia and South Africa at the Gabba.

Such is the state of world cricket that a batsmen of this stature is to be farewelled at what amounts to a glorified game of tip-and-run.

batsman

shit is that tonight. I'll be driving past the gabba in baot 2 hours. I should probably think about going to it..