The Cricket Thread

I'm back in Tring this weekend for lashings of bitter beer and a top of the table clash between Tring and High Wycombe, in the Home Counties Premier League.

Will you be Umpiring?

2nd Test

England currently 58-2. Pietersen has just taken one in the nuts and Kumar has had to be dragged away from the umpire.

117-7

England need to bat really well in the second dig to have a chance in this one.Trott injured,Cook already out,need at least to get 300 at least to have a sniff.Broad hat trick,Harbajhan out to a blatant inside edge for the second dismissal,but hey,who's fault is it that it couldn't be reviewed? No sympathy,i'm sfarid.Great test match again though,IMHO one day cricket of any description can't match the stuff we've seen so far.

I don't know how anyone can trust the result of any test match these days given the revelations of the past few years.
And let's not forget, cricket was invented as a spread betting opportunity for the leisured gentlemen of England.
Great sport to watch though at it's highest level, no doubt about that.... but I won't pay for Sky.

penzancepirate wrote:

I don't know how anyone can trust the result of any test match these days given the revelations of the past few years.
And let's not forget, cricket was invented as a spread betting opportunity for the leisured gentlemen of England.
Great sport to watch though at it's highest level, no doubt about that.... but I won't pay for Sky.

'Tis a problem,people like Cronje,Salim,Azharuddin etc certainly have a lot to answer for [and indeed,have answered and paid for] in creating doubt about the authenticity of results.It crossed my mind during the Sri Lanka collapse in the first test earlier this summer,very sad that thoughts like this should ever be in your head.I guess it would have been the same for football fans back in the early sixties,when Swann,Kaye,Layne and a few others were found to have assisted in fixing matches [helped on the way by our own Jimmy Gauld].Bad news and beyond my comprehension that anybody could ever go out and deliberately try to lose.

Jimmy Gauld ... there's a name GS... and funnily enough played for Argyle at the same time as as a good old friend of mine who saw me through my early football days ... Alex Govan. He had stories of professional dodgy stuff that would make your hair stand on end. There's a lot of wide boys out there in any field, especially when there's monmey to be made.... don't even talk to me about snooker.
And then of course we have another connection with our dear old Brucey Bonus Grobelaar. I loved his antics for the time he was here, what a showman, loved him to bits, but that tip into the top corner of the net just had to be a joke, and as for being caught on camera .... well, what can I say.

I think if there was corruption in football, FIFA would sort it out.

penzancepirate wrote:

Jimmy Gauld ... there's a name GS... and funnily enough played for Argyle at the same time as as a good old friend of mine who saw me through my early football days ... Alex Govan. He had stories of professional dodgy stuff that would make your hair stand on end. There's a lot of wide boys out there in any field, especially when there's monmey to be made.... don't even talk to me about snooker.
And then of course we have another connection with our dear old Brucey Bonus Grobelaar. I loved his antics for the time he was here, what a showman, loved him to bits, but that tip into the top corner of the net just had to be a joke, and as for being caught on camera .... well, what can I say.

The chap who taught me to drive [Drive-in at Plympton,he worked for] was called Mark Gabbert.He was the son of Mike Gabbert,who was the Sunday People journo who exposed the fixing scandal in the 1960's.I think there was a play or a series on tv awhile back called "The Fix",in which Mike Gabbert [played by an actor,of course] featured as a main participant.Small world ,eh,still can't understand how anyone could throw a match though,especially in this day and age,when there's plenty of cash about,no excuse for it.

Did you ever come across a guy called Frank Arundel in your football days,PP? "Chick" was his nickname,played a few first team games for Argyle in the 1950's,then played good local football for many years,mostly for Tavvy.I played a few games alongside him in the 1980's,he was still a helluva player,must have seriously good in his prime.Good snooker player,too,saw him knock in a quick 66 break down our local club one night.He did a lot of coaching with Andy Hicks,who reached the world semi finals in the 1990's.

I did indeed Frank ... a smallish guy, light coloured hair, possibly wing or midfiled He knew his gamesmanship and was a hard player to play against... very experienced indeed... he dominated one game I seem to remember and even Alex was impressed... but turned the tables on the return.
I played for Truro City in the early 70s when Alec Govan managed us. As a youngster I remember having a bit of a rumble with Chic at Tavistock. Our Truro side were top of the South Western league at the time and there was a bit of friction between us and Tavistock because of the Williams brothers .... Johnny, the great Argyle player, played for Tavistock and his brother Dave partnered me for Truro.
Happy days. I think Ian Calvert may have had the odd game for Tavistock in those days ... Plymouth Sound FMs answer to sparksy .... oh how we laughed when he turned up with his car with LPs for wheel hubs ... how embarrassing is that.

penzancepirate wrote:

I did indeed Frank ... a smallish guy, light coloured hair, possibly wing or midfiled He knew his gamesmanship and was a hard player to play against... very experienced indeed... he dominated one game I seem to remember and even Alex was impressed... but turned the tables on the return.
I played for Truro City in the early 70s when Alec Govan managed us. As a youngster I remember having a bit of a rumble with Chic at Tavistock. Our Truro side were top of the South Western league at the time and there was a bit of friction between us and Tavistock because of the Williams brothers .... Johnny, the great Argyle player, played for Tavistock and his brother Dave partnered me for Truro.
Happy days. I think Ian Calvert may have had the odd game for Tavistock in those days ... Plymouth Sound FMs answer to sparksy .... oh how we laughed when he turned up with his car with LPs for wheel hubs ... how embarrassing is that.

Chick was indeed a winger and matches your description exactly,he was on Spurs books as a very young lad,but got homesck and gave it up to come back to the Westcountry.He died rather tragically in the early 1990's-he came home from work,sat down for his meal and collapsed there and then,sadly he didn't recover.Very sad loss,he still had a lot to offer.As you say,he knew the wiles of football and if you were on the same team,he didn't hesitate to let you know when you had messed up.Can still feel my ears ringing now!

Remember seeing him on the wing for Argyle, never made it at league level.

Stunning win for England. India had us on the ropes twice at 124-8 in the first innings and when they were 267 -4 in reply. Yet we win by 319 runs. Superb.

Stunning indeed.England's depth of batting is,i think,the key to their recent success,backed up by an attack which can extract help from most conditions one way or the other.Must say i'm surprised at the lack of Indian resistance,they have a demoralised look about them,pretty much as England used to when they were getting battered by the West Indies,then Australia.If England keep up the ruthless approach,a 4-0 outcome can be seen,funny old game though.I can't really see Sehwag making that much difference even if fit,Zaheer is their real miss but momentum totally with England at the moment,and Cook and Strauss have yet to make an impact with the bat-i think that will change by the end of the series.

A brilliant result, the "run out" was a funny business, but all was well at the end. The trouble with playing India is you always wonder how much the result is affected by the bookies back home.

Stunning win for Tring too ! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Drank my body weight in bitter................... bleddyansum !

Tringreen wrote:

Stunning win for Tring too ! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Drank my body weight in bitter................... bleddyansum !

By the look of the clubs in that league and size of town they represent,that would seem to be a very high standard of club cricket.I looked through the clubs section on the website-i see Keith Dutch is captain-presume he's the very same who used to play for Zummerset? Saw him play many times,spinner and hard hitting middle order bat,who i seem to recall played some crucial innings,especially in one day cricket.Is your lad still playing and among the runs?

Greenskin wrote:

Tringreen wrote:

Stunning win for Tring too ! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Drank my body weight in bitter................... bleddyansum !

By the look of the clubs in that league and size of town they represent,that would seem to be a very high standard of club cricket.I looked through the clubs section on the website-i see Keith Dutch is captain-presume he's the very same who used to play for Zummerset? Saw him play many times,spinner and hard hitting middle order bat,who i seem to recall played some crucial innings,especially in one day cricket.Is your lad still playing and among the runs?

It is that Keith Dutch and he is captain. My lad Tom was going to be skipper this year before he moved to Dubai for work. The first team for the previous three seasons had all been minor county regulars, county 2nds or ex pro. It has come at a cost, as it's very hard for local lads to break into the side. This will happen before too long and we will probably fluctuate between the top 2 divisions.

Tring has a lovely ground and it used to host Sunday League County cricket for Northants. I spent a lot of the last 25 years at the club, on the pitch and in the bar. All my kids grew up there ! A few of us visionaries took hold of the place about a decade ago when we were ticking over in the third tier. Step by step we have become a major force. It won't last forever because as soon as the thinkers and movers depart, the decline begins, unless they are succeeded by the next generation of visionaries and not the small minded ones, who are more concerned about their own position than anything else.
Sound familiar ?

457-3.What a score.In all truth,the cricket was so uncompetitive in the session after tea as to be a bit boring,the only interest was a sort of ghoulish fascination re how many records England could break. All credit to them though,they are certainly doing a steam roller job on the Injuns and merit,i think,the position of top dogs,probably only South Africa realistic challengers ATM. Should be 4-0 unless the Indians can summon up a bit of the resolve that has been lacking,Dravid aside,throughout the series.

India's bowling attack is really limp. They're probably scared of getting the middle order out in case they have to face Prior, Broad and Bresnan.

Well,that was a towsing,good an' proper.Who'd have thought 4-0,certainly expected more from the Indians,injuries notwithstanding.Dravid and Kumar were their only players to enhance their reputations,England had several,still got doubts about Bopara and Morgan in the middle order,although the top and lower order made so many runs that it didn't really matter.Sri Lanka and Pakistan this winter,followed by two three match home series against WI and SA.Only 3 tests against SA,which is farcical-it should always be a 5 test series,home or away.Then a 4 test series in India-if England beat SA and win that one,it will nail down their position as numero uno.Can't get used to England being top of the tree,feels a bit uncomfortable-bring back the days of Lord Ted,Illy and Bumble-we all had something to moan about in those days.

Cook's start as captain of the ODIs has been quite impressive. Will be at Cardiff on Friday to heckle the Injuns for giving me such a dismally uncompetitive summer of cricket.

It was a good game.

Lots of Indians in the crowd, probably a 50/50 split but they were much more vocal/colourful than the English. Was nice that we chased the revised total down so well, particularly as it didn't really favour us. Not convinced by Dernbach but Finn bowled well. Bresnan bowled as poorly as I've seen him this summer and it was a surprise not to see Swann bowl his full ten overs (9-0-34-3). Patel is not international class. Kohli batted really well, Dravid was excellent and given a decent send off.

Cook & Kieswetter got England off to a decent start which Trott and Bell continued but England looked to be struggling, needing 75 from 50. In came Bopara and the impressive Bairstow, bish bash bosh, game won with ten balls to spare.

Best part of the game was the "are you indian in disguise" song towards Bopara from an Indian supporters sporting full Indian head-dress...and Baggies shirts.

Nice to send them home with 0 wins.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

It was a good game.

Lots of Indians in the crowd, probably a 50/50 split but they were much more vocal/colourful than the English. Was nice that we chased the revised total down so well, particularly as it didn't really favour us. Not convinced by Dernbach but Finn bowled well. Bresnan bowled as poorly as I've seen him this summer and it was a surprise not to see Swann bowl his full ten overs (9-0-34-3). Patel is not international class. Kohli batted really well, Dravid was excellent and given a decent send off.

Cook & Kieswetter got England off to a decent start which Trott and Bell continued but England looked to be struggling, needing 75 from 50. In came Bopara and the impressive Bairstow, bish bash bosh, game won with ten balls to spare.

Best part of the game was the "are you indian in disguise" song towards Bopara from an Indian supporters sporting full Indian head-dress...and Baggies shirts.

Nice to send them home with 0 wins.

I'm pretty sure that i saw Johnny Bairstow's dad,David,play for Bradford City at Home Park,probably in the early seventies.He gave up football to concentrate on cricket and played quite a few tests for England in the late 70's/early 80's,stalwart Yorkshire WK/batsman for many years.Poor chap took his own life many years ago,couldn't cope with retirement from cricket,apparently.Johnny looks to be a very good player,i notice he's been prolific this season,very composed and powerful,looks a good prospect.