International cricket thread

10 fer for Leach.

Hard to legislate for freaks like Rishabh Pant. India in trouble away from home, he is the man. Jadeja invaluable again too.

I know it's worked so far for him but I'm not sure how Stokes squares ultra positivity with bowling first on good pitches. Let's see how this one pans out but there's a reason teams always wanted to bat first.

West Indies absolutely hammered by Bangladesh who go 2-0 up in a 3 match series, in the West Indies no less..

West Indies bowled out for 108, Bangladesh too chasing it down in a fraction over 20 overs and only loosing two wickets in the process.

never thought I’d be reading about Bangladesh playing The West Indies let alone taking a 2-0 lead against them in and beating them in the series in their own back yard.

Much prefer a big nation to have that honour rather than the likes of the Scots, as much as I want to see it. I was happy Holland avoided it against England a few weeks back too.

The 500 that got away was the Trent Bridge game against Australia. Tim Paine captain and all.

England score 234 from their 20.

the SA bowling was pathetic . Three dropped catches and some fumbling in the field too.

Bairstow with 90 from 43…8 maximums.

Ali with 52 from 18.

33 runs were scored off the 17th over.

can’t see the English bowlers being that ill-disciplined..

sad news from South Africa..

given the glowing tributes emanating from all around, he was a very popular guy and respected by colleagues, players and the cricket loving public..

What was Elgar thinking in batting at the toss....SA have really paid a price today for that poor decision.

Can safely say Zimbabwe won’t be laying a glove on Australia in tonight’s ODI… Aussie bowlers on top completely. 9 overs in and its 24/3.. Starc 3/15 after 5 overs….

Zimbabwe bowled out for 96 in the 28th over… hmmmm

After day 1 and 75 overs, England are 506/4.

Run rate of 6.74 runs an over. A shade under double what has been the test average that last 5 or so years. They were going well when I drifted off to sleep, in complete one day mode but astounded to wake to this scoreboard, after just 75 overs of cricket 😳🫣

hopefully they just aim for 580 and get into Pakistan before lunch. I don’t think Stokes will be as conservative as some of his predecessors with the the decision to declare..

This game is going nowhere fast. Half chances are at a premium and all the chat is the pitch to remain very good for batting.

God knows. It pretty much guarantees at least 50 overs being lost. Combined with a rubbish pitch, it’s not doing much for the game.

Despite all that, we could still have a good finish on our hands. Especially if Stokes is extra generous declaring.

End of day 3 and England have an 158 run lead. Pakistan have 3 wickets left.

Ramiz Raja, head of the Pakistani cricket board has come out and lambasted the pitch..

always liked Ramiz and fair fûcks to him for speaking out… advocating or certainty looking at drop in pitches to try solve this situation.

1156 runs scored and not two innings completed ffs.…

as for the cricket….the draw is the likely result, but Pakistani lads get skittled out which is possible being now 7 down… England put the foot down they’ll win… weather won’t intervene.

the early start is a no brainer

True, I don’t believe other sports use that ground, I can’t find any records of other sports but if the ground staff for whatever reason are just incapable of preparing a suitable pitch… because of their performance, the ground / soil or any reason the other options require examination…

Most of the Australian cricket stadia have drop in pitches nowadays.. as they are multipurpose / multi sport facilities.

this is an interesting short video..about the MCG pitch… that piece of equipment isn’t coming cheap.

another good video…

Couldn’t believe they declared during lunch. Only for Babar being out I’d have Pakistan big favourites. Very generous by Stokes

England need a single wicket for victory.

Pakistan need 75 runs. As I type Pope leaves a catch from an edge off the bowling off Stokes to his first slip… it’s Pope’s catch all day. Maybe inexperience from the 24 year old there. Stokes can’t believe it…..

England are looking nervous. Only needing a wicket, bowlers well on top, but light fading.

after drinks break, the Pakistani batsman Ali, disappears for a bathroom break. He only arrived at the crease… more skulduggery from Pakistani players. Floodlights are switched on, again, skulduggery, why wait till it’s almost dark ? Pakistani batsman off to mid on, fumbling with the velcro on his gloves now.