Cricket

haha but of course I am not in favour of reducing the Test roster on principle. tier 2 tests - would these count for one's official stats? Darren Bravo'd make a killing

I dont like the idea myself. the other nations are just gonna go fuck it lets concentrate on 20/20

looks like Pakistan are going to chase down 302 in Sharjah

am watching, it's been an amazing effort, abetted by hilariously shit & negative tactics from SL. will these fucks (ever international team except aus & nz) never learn?

pretty dark now is it? Azhar Ali has just gotten out

Misbah's the man, yet again!

all over, umpires took no shit from SL re: bad light due to timewasting. very similar to England chase in Pakistan 13 years ago to win final Test, except the chase was twice as big this time :D

you think south africa arent?

I was thinking more of the crowds who attend test matches, I don't think too many do in SA (I could be wrong though). They certainly don't in NZ.

http://i.imgur.com/Np4BciX.jpg

too small; didn’t read.

tour back on track, it's all looking rosy now!

VICTORY!!!

well i'm glad.

all is well cook must stay etc etc

knighthood for ashley giles

yeah flippancy aside it was a good win, Buttler looks like the real deal. Cook did captain pretty well from what I gathered from TMS.

yeah flippancy aside it was a good win

zing

yeah cook can put away the yellow pages now

Great to get all those warm-up games out of the way just in time for the first proper one.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
NOT ASHLEY NEGATIVE WORST SPINNER EVER FUCKING GILES

who would you have then?

Doesnt matter as the jobs his. He's been trained up for it. Lets hope his coachings better than his bowling.

Im thinking Flowers jumped before being pushed.

Am more amused by the thrashing Glorious India just copped off a semi-pro b-tier Unimportant Nation

xp not sure he's a shoo-in to be honest. I would have Thorpe maybe? I know you've got a thing about the King of Spain but he wasn't a bad bowler.

There was a hilariously one-eyed article in the Age when I was out there for the the Ashes, in which Dean Jones picked his next England coach. His suggestions were: SK Warne, Mike Hussey, Tom Moody, and oh I don't know maybe that Michael Vaughan bloke?

warne would be worth it just to wind up the Aussies I suppose

Moody has been rumoured to be up for coach since before fletcher

Giles has it simply because they have stated they want one coach in charge of all 3 formats

and he was an awful bowler.

i would rather Flower had stayed tbh unless he really did do a back me over KP thing.
It seems its a case of there's nobody to replace Cook so Flower has to go. But there's noone really to replace him. Giles has done a poor job with 1 day and 20/20 too.

But Paul Downton obv wants his own man in charge.

you thought England couldn't become any more of a laughing stock? KP has been told his England career is over. Selvey rejoices.

a shame, but at least we won't have to hear about it ad nauseam any more

whaaat

fuck the ecb

sack the ecb lol xp

sporting administrative body incompetent shockah

we're still left with a shitty captain who lost the ashes 5-0

Brilliant, fantastic decision.

Cook is just ruthless, my type of guy.

yeah like it had anything to do with him

That will cut little ice with the majority of England cricket followers who expressed immediate opinion. Predictably, Piers Morgan was the most voluble, describing Alastair Cook, who as captain was involved in the discussions that led to the decision, as "a repulsive little weasel".

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/04/kevin-pietersen-england-ecb

why is piers morgan shitting all over cricket, can't he stick to talent shows

he's a handy shibboleth. you can divide cricketers and commentators between those who seem somehow to admire him and those who can't abide the fucker.

actually that's a good point. Brett Lee for instance confirmed as fuckwit numero uno of the recent Aussie retirees, ditto Flintoff. might repost that Iain O'Brien tweet

Iain O'Brien @iainobrien
It’d be good if professionals could make the right decision all of the time, @piersmorgan.

Your bad decisions got people killed.

it's strange, some people seem to think him imbued with special moral authority or glamour, such that they crave his good opinion, while he of course goes around grubbing-up whatever avatars of populism he can find to accrue to himself. an acrid little reduction of media-sport symbiosis.

ah yes, good to see that tweet again.

yeah like it had anything to do with him

― ۩, Tuesday, February 4, 2014 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It was the P Morgan tweet as reported but also the piece by Mike Selvey below:

The events of 2012 have been raked over and the truce, particularly with Andy Flower, was never an easy one, although they managed a professional working relationship. The decision of Strauss to retire was crucial to this for, had he stayed, it is unlikely that Pietersen would have been selected again on the back of such disrespect for his team and captain.

Instead Cook, as the new captain, championed his cause and Pietersen was retained. That Cook has undergone such a change of mind since is as telling as anything.

Surely the ECB gave weight to Cook's opinion more than most.

Anyhow, this is some carnage - couldn't have seen both Flower and Pietersen going.

Will be sickening to read an account of this tour once the dust settles. Might be many years for that to happen though.

swann's probably halfway thru publishing his tbf

That full Selvey piece posted above is worth a read.

In the meantime, cricket goes on, Kumar Sangakarra has scored a triple century against the plucky Bangladeshis.

RIP KP, heaven needed a South African dude that looked like a skunk on acid once.