Surly Cricket Thread

[satyanash 14,474]

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Well, nothing going on in the greatest game until mid June at the earliest.  Might as well relive some history.

I'll start with a video on the West Indies teams from their glory days.  These were my all time favorites.

 

I watched this entire WC Tournament from a roadside Indian restaurant outside my condo in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.  Me and the Indian fellows were in pure awe of Ponting's performance in the finals.

 

Carlos Brathwaite, remember the name!!!

 

Ball of the century:

 

I'm purposely leaving England out of this post because they are pure cunts.  So let's go with some South Africa heartbreak.  Lord knows there is plenty to choose from.

 

Sri Lanka hey day

 

New Zealand has never won fuck all, but a great finish here...

Ahhhh... let's give the Saffers a little love.  CSB, friend of mine from South Africa has a wife that worked in the hotel that the SA team stayed in night before.  She swears Gibbs was still in the bar pounding drinks at 3:00 in the morning the day of this match.

 

And finally, some of the absolute best test cricket ever played.  This single innings by Laxman and Dravid made teams scared as hell to enforce a follow-on.  Also note, that Australia team was freaking stacked.

 

What have you?

Edited March 21, 2020 by Fudge Nuggets

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

How can you not appreciate this batting display from one of my all time favorite cricketers?

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Got a notification from Willow that cricket is slated to resume in July with the Windies tour of England.

[APMP 688]

Eeeeeexcellent.

And it's a tour of England, won't really be able to tell the difference with people not in the stands, given how quiet British summer crowds often are.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

I watched the AUS / NZ ODI right before the Rona shut everything down with no fans in attendance.  I didn’t mind it at all, but it was pretty funny watching the players search the stands for the ball when someone hit a six.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

After a four month delay, international cricket resumes today with the first WI vs England test.  Of course being played in England it means the toss is delayed due to rain.  Fuck England, what a shitty country.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

They got in a whopping 17.4 overs of play.  After a three hour delay of the start, they played about 10 minutes then 15 minute delay.  Played another 15 minutes another delay.  I gave up after that.

I hope the test winds up a draw due to rain and England misses the Test World Cup finals because of those points.  They are not likely to make it any way since Aus, India and NZ are likely to finish ahead of them; but England seems to lead a charmed life and the ECB stacks the deck in their favor them at every chance.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Nice session by the Windies this morning as they take four wickets before the lunch break.

At lunch on day two England is 106/5 with Stokes and Buttler batting.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Lunch on day three and Windies are 159/3 and trail by 45 runs.  Holder took six wickets and Gabriel grabbed the other four in England’s first innings.  

In those same innings, Windies challenged six umpire decisions and FIVE were overturned.  The umpiring has been just shit so far in favor of the Poms, but what else is new?

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Stumps at day three and Windies lead by 99 runs.  I was hoping Windies could have broken up the opening partnership in England's first ten overs of the second innings but they couldn't quite pull it off.  England batsmen had some pretty good leaves that just barely missed the stumps.

Hell of a first innings with the gloves and in the crease for Shane Dowrich.  Holder and Gabriel deserve the credit for keeping England in check, but Dowrich was also a key contributor for the Windies' having this lead.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

I hope my main man Rahkeem "Tons of Fun" Corwall gets to play in one of the next two tests.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Sweatergawd I could listen to Michael Holding do commentary for two weeks straight with no sleep and enjoy every damn second.  Best in the biz by far.

[APMP 688]

Man would love to see some Windies fire in the bowling after lunch so they can set up a victory.

[APMP 688]

Jofra not giving up just yet...

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Windies have pissed away all the good work from days two and three.  What a choke job this is shaping up to be.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Windies pull off the win after a brilliant 95 from Blackwood.  Shannon Gabriel is MOTM.

Absolutely wonderful test match with a perfect result.

[APMP 688]

test match with a result.

All you need are those five glorious words.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

With Root back, Denly gets dropped from the England side.  Yeah, no big shock there.

I would love to see the Windies smash Crawley's wicket for something like 2 - 5 to put some trepidation in his mind.  He was cocky AF after his "amazing" 76.

F England.  Go Windies!!!!!

 

"When I run up to the crease, that batsman, he wasn't a human... he was a target." - Michael Holding "The Whispering Death"

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Welp, since the victory in the first test match the Windies have been thoroughly shit stomped. Bowling has been shit, batting is shit, fielding is shit. Other than that I guess it’s been ok. Looks like the team that won the toss is going to lose all three tests. 
 

My man Cornwall got to play the third test so that’s cool. 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Fudge Nuggets

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Today was the fourth day of the second PAK / ENG test.  We have completed a whopping 96 overs in four days. 

Fuck England’s weather. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Caribbean Premiere League started up today.  It’s definitely a different experience without their maniacal fans in the stadium.  The St Kitts & Nevis v Barbados match is turning out to be a pretty good one.

[APMP 688]

End of an era with Dhoni retiring from international cricket. What a legend.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

MSD definitely had more of the “it” factor than Kohli ever will.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Dream 11 IPL 2020 starts next Saturday.  It looks like the Willow app will be streaming it and since they are playing in UAE all the matches start around 9:00 Houston time instead of the God awful hours they normally start.

I'm pulling for the Delhi Capitals.  No idea why, other than last year they seemed to have a lot of young talent that was starting to come on.  Tired of the same old CSK and MI every fucking year.

But overall, as long as the cheat ass bastards from Chennai don't win it (and they look to probably finish near the bottom of the table); I really don't care.  Mainly I just want to see who from the young group of unknowns might start to rise up.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Fudge Nuggets

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Anyone else watching this CPL semi-final between Guyana and St Lucia?  Guyana all out for 55 runs, they had five PARTNERSHIPS go for 0.  Zouk fielders were totally selling out for every ball and my main man Raheem Cornwall made a nice diving catch for the last wicket.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Hell of an ODI yesterday in the final match of the series between ENG and AUS.  Starc took wickets in the first two balls of the match but ENG behind a Bairstow century and some absolute shit death bowling by AUS bounce back to put up 302.

AUS looked like they were mailing it in when Labuschagne got run out to make it 5/75 especially with the woes of AUS middle order. 
 

Carey sitting on 9 gets caught at third man by Rashid on an absolutely stupid shot for the sixth wicket but wait, Archer was over the line for a NB so Carey survived. He goes on to put up a century and Maxwell does too with some absolute moonshots put in for good measure. 
 

Going into the last over AUS need 10 to win with Starc on strike and Cummins at the other end. In what has to be one of the most stupid decisions in captaincy history, Morgan brings in Rashid to bowl the last over even though both T Curran and Wood are available. 
 

Starc promptly knocks the first ball for six then clinches the win with a four.  AUS take the series 2-1 and give ENG their first ODI home series loss in five years.
 

ENG are lucky to avoid the white wash as AUS dominated Game 2 until their middle order went something stupid like 6/5 over a 7 over stretch. In all AUS probably outplayed ENG for the entire tour ever so slightly and they aren’t that great compared to some of their past teams. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Apparently to watch the IPL on Willow you have to have a TV Everywhere subscription, whatever that is.  I caught the MI vs CSK match on a pirate website and the quality of play was atrocious.  I get it, these guys haven't played cricket in a long while but it looked like over half the players did nothing but sit on their asses and eat during the lockdown.  Bunch of fatties out there giving very little effort and fielding in particular was complete shit.

Maybe the quality will pick up when they start to knock off the rust or there is a match between two teams that half the players don't belong in an old folks home.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Well today's match was much better despite more rubbish fielding.  KXIP needed just one off the last three balls and couldn't get it done losing wickets on each of the last two balls.

Rabada takes two wickets in the super over and DC wins it needing only three runs to cross the line.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Hell of a match today at the Sharjah Driving Range Cricket Ground.  KXIP behind Mayank Agarwal's 106 off 50 and KL Rahul's 69 off 54 cruised to set a target of 224 to win for RR.  RR started off nicely with a nice knock from Steve Smith (50 off 27) and Sanju Samson went off with 85 off 42.  Still, when Samson got out they were still down 62 runs after the first ball of the 17th over.  At one point they needed 78 off 28 balls.

Until then Rahul Tewatia had been absolute ass with the bat.  At one point he was something like 7 off 18.  It was so bad Samson started to refuse singles just so he could stay on strike.  Never mind that bullshit, Tewatia went bezerker after Samson departed including five 6's against Cottrell in the 17th over.  RR chase it down and win it with three balls to spare in what is now the highest run chase in the history of the IPL.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by Fudge Nuggets

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

The caption that went along with this screen cap, "boys, we rolled em for 31 so we better get a 1400 lead just to be safe. U never know what they might knock up in the second innings."

 

[Microwave Master Chef 2]

On 10/29/2020 at 4:06 PM, Fudge Nuggets said:

The caption that went along with this screen cap, "boys, we rolled em for 31 so we better get a 1400 lead just to be safe. U never know what they might knock up in the second innings."

 

At least Salunke picked up his run rate in the second innings...if your looking for positives.  

[Microwave Master Chef 2]

Kohli will only play in the first test in Australia because he wants to be back home for the birth of his child.  Because of the COVID quarantine restrictions he won't be able to make it back for the last three tests.  He is playing in the limited over matches before the tests.  

 

The tour is 4 tests and 3 ODIs and 3 T20s.  That's a long time to be in a COVID bubble.   

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

The IPL just finished up a two month bio bubble. English players that play all formats were pretty much in a bubble since mid-July.  That has to suck. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

The Kohli haters are going to be out for blood when India fails to qualify for the WTC finals.

[UDontKnow 10,439]

On 11/16/2020 at 7:57 AM, Fudge Nuggets said:

The Kohli haters are going to be out for blood when India fails to qualify for the WTC finals.

Why would that happen? India are #2 in the table behind Australia right now.

[APMP 688]

I think it is possible due to how the ICC decided to deal with pandemic-caused cancellations. Last I read, instead of assuming draws and awarding equal points, they are going to decide the standings based on a percentage of possible points won. India could easily drop out of the top 2 in terms of percentage of points won if they get hammered against Australia.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

IND should make the finals but you never know until everything is done and dusted.  If AUS whitewash IND then ENG can sneak in if they win 3 / draw 2 or win 4 lose 1 in the five test series in India.  Odds of all that happening are very low but not impossible.

Or my math could be all fucked up, that's not out of the realm of possibility.

 

[UDontKnow 10,439]

One of my favorite non-Indian cricketers:

 

[UDontKnow 10,439]

10 hours ago, APMP said:

I think it is possible due to how the ICC decided to deal with pandemic-caused cancellations. Last I read, instead of assuming draws and awarding equal points, they are going to decide the standings based on a percentage of possible points won. India could easily drop out of the top 2 in terms of percentage of points won if they get hammered against Australia.
 

 

5 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

IND should make the finals but you never know until everything is done and dusted.  If AUS whitewash IND then ENG can sneak in if they win 3 / draw 2 or win 4 lose 1 in the five test series in India.  Odds of all that happening are very low but not impossible.

Or my math could be all fucked up, that's not out of the realm of possibility.

 

I guess I forgot that the top two in the table play for the World Cup Test format. The good news is that Wriddiman Saha should be good to go, but will Ajinyka Rahane actually be able to step in and do a good job as acting captain when Kohli is on paternity leave? The good thing is that Rohit Sharma should be able to help out, although Rohit should focus more on his fitness and getting rid of his dad bod.

Edited November 18, 2020 by UDontKnow

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

International cricket season gets started again this week and I can't freaking wait.

From Thursday night to Friday morning we have India vs Australia ODI, West Indies vs New Zealand T20i and England vs South Africa T20i all starting up. Those tours plus a Pakistan tour of New Zealand get us to mid January then a month break before AUS and Bangladesh tour New Zealand that runs through end of March.

It's also starting to sound like the England / India tests are going to be moved to UAE due to COVID-19.  That probably helps England but not enough to take 4/5 tests - I hope.

[UDontKnow 10,439]

David Warner looks like an ignoramus with a mustache.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30370448/david-warner-says-australia-trying-not-engage-verbal-volleys

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

On 11/17/2020 at 11:06 PM, UDontKnow said:

The good thing is that Rohit Sharma should be able to help out, although Rohit should focus more on his fitness and getting rid of his dad bod.

Rohit ruled out for the first two tests.  Funny how he can be full strength in the IPL finals and now is unavailable again.  Last year he couldn’t go for the ODIs and Tests against NZ but was going to be available for the IPL before it was postponed.  This guy cares more about Mumbai Indians than team India.  I’m tired of his shit.

[UDontKnow 10,439]

9 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Rohit ruled out for the first two tests.  Funny how he can be full strength in the IPL finals and now is unavailable again.  Last year he couldn’t go for the ODIs and Tests against NZ but was going to be available for the IPL before it was postponed.  This guy cares more about Mumbai Indians than team India.  I’m tired of his shit.

Seems like Rohit is not available for the 1st ODI (tonight at 9:40 PM). 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/19846/preview/1223955/australia-vs-india-1st-odi-india-in-australia-2020-21

Quote

India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur/Navdeep Saini, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal/Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

No love for Manish Pandey? I would send Rahul ahead of Shreyas and drop Hardik because I'm tired of his shit. The 5 bowlers I would go with would be Jadeja, Chahal, Kuldeep, Shami, and Bumrah. I like the spin twins over Shardul and Navdeep (who I think are interchangeable). One could make the argument to sit Kuldeep though. Also, will Rahul be good enough behind the stumps against this Aussie batting attack. If given the option, India should chase.

Quote

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Eyes will be on Marnus. But this lineup scares me as it is stout. 

[UDontKnow 10,439]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Rohit ruled out for the first two tests.  Funny how he can be full strength in the IPL finals and now is unavailable again.  Last year he couldn’t go for the ODIs and Tests against NZ but was going to be available for the IPL before it was postponed.  This guy cares more about Mumbai Indians than team India.  I’m tired of his shit.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

8 hours ago, UDontKnow said:

If given the option, India should chase.

Not so sure about that.  In the last 10 years when AUS win the toss on home ground they have elected to bat 33 times and field 10 times.  Only twice have they elected to field at the SCG so it seems they prefer making the other team chase.

When visitors win the toss its pretty even at 22 times putting AUS in to bat and 23 times for the visitors to bat first.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

I'm going to throw an HEB chicken vindaloo frozen dinner into the microwave to get this shit started right.

[APMP 688]

Food coma. Gonna lay on couch and let the cricket wash over me.

[APMP 688]

India in the navy blue uniforms like it's 1992.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,189]

Typical Aussie road pitch, but spinners are doing well so far.

Until that, Finch takes Chahal into the stands as I’m typing this out.

Edited November 27, 2020 by Fudge Nuggets