England Tour Of Bangladesh 2010

[pcfan123]

Owzat, what I gather from your post, you want to see more Test nations?

I would love to see the Test arena expanded and tiered as well. However then the stats fans would go nuts with "he scored his runs in DIV II" etc

 

[McLOVIN]

Partnership: 94 runs, 18.1 overs, RR: 5.17

we are playing test cricket :doh

 

[Owzat]

FOUR wickets down now, could be 5wi apiece for Broad and Swann at this rate. The only two England bowlers who have places on merit and they're maybe going to have to bowl 2/3 of the overs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Cook turn to Collingwood or even KP or Trott next, what often happens when a captain has no faith in some members of the bowling attack. That's why maybe Harmison's career may as well be over, he too often is overlooked after only a few overs

 

[McLOVIN]

Two games of cricket ... which is more compelling I wonder? by @miller_cricket - TwitVid
:laugh ohh Miller!

 

[Owzat]

Owzat, what I gather from your post, you want to see more Test nations?

Perhaps the word "Test" needs to be revised in my plans, but don't you agree that it is a shame only some countries are deemed good enough and there are too many mismatches, most only playing Bangladesh when they have to and every 3-4 years.

I would love to see the Test arena expanded and tiered as well. However then the stats fans would go nuts with "he scored his runs in DIV II" etc

I'm sure they would, like they do in county cricket/championship. But then that made the inevitable move towards two tiers, shame the minor counties aren't in that structure. They don't even play in the domestic cup anymore, I assume that old knockout competition got knocked on the head to make way for T20. The problem with county cricket is it restructured in such a way that the counties play the same number of games more or less. Is county cricket the worse for the handful that make a big deal about Div1 and Div2 achievements? One up, one down would mean minimal movement of teams.

The other alternative is parallel groups on a cycle. Two groups of five (as it stands) in a structure, or maybe even a Champions League knockout structure with qualifiers and two-legged series with a draw for who to play and a final. At least then we'd have a proper Championship and not just a meaningless ranking

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Partnership: 94 runs, 18.1 overs, RR: 5.17

we are playing test cricket :doh

...against Finn and Bresnan.

but shakib's gone now. He's not quite on top of things with the bat recently, BD are going to struggle to make this last much over 3 days now.

 

[Themer]

Looks out from behind but not from the side or front so good decision.

Swanns done well today as had Broad but the Bangladesh batsment barring Tamim haven't looked anywhere near good enough.

 

[McLOVIN]

Eng went with 1 spinner, and he already picked up more wickets than 8 bangladeshi spinners all together. And our main strength is spin? its fine if your plan is to go with SLA, (guessing for 1 man, and they let him score 99) but doesnt mean you overload with spin. 2 was good enough. go with extra bat, you know your batsmen cant hold a bat for too long..

last 10 overs they played watchfully and they still lose a wicket.

 

[Iridium]

Shakib's been quite poor with the bat of late. Pressure getting to him maybe?

Swann on the other hand is as good as ever. Expected nothing less from him.

 

[Themer]

I must say that I do like the look of Finn has decent pace, has alot of height and has been quite accurate in this second spell.

He looked extrememly nervous in his first spell but has settled down somewhat.

 

[McLOVIN]

lol, oh come on you guys! Shakib just scored 85(*) and 100 on the last test v NZ

Phew Tamim survived the last over. Shahdat some dumb nightwatchman you are! let the guy face the whole over, and you just faced 1 ball. why are you there for? lets not even talk about your bowling...

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

he was looking iffy in the ODIs as well.

I wouldn't worry about it though, he's a better bowler (well not on this tests evidence, but usually) Riyad looks like a better batsman.

 

[McLOVIN]

He is too busy being cocky now days. Which is a good thing. Cockyness is good, but, not when you make dumb calls

 

[khalek]

Even if Shakib scores a 100 when BD's following on, he will still be a cock. I just hate to see his face now, he makes Ashraful look like a legend.

I hope Tamim gets a massive score and help us get to 350 at least.

 

[War]

All this Test epitomises is the gulf still standing between the weakest nations and even the middle of the road teams like England. What is the point? England could score 600 or maybe even 700 but what would it prove?!?! More likely they will score a big score, possibly have to bat again and win with ease.

Come on ICC, wake up. Too much cricket, Test cricket needs a revamp and not because of T20. Bring in three tiers, promotion and relegation and aim to add a new tier every 2-3 years. Make cricket a GLOBAL sport, if people in non-Test countries can follow their country in cricket then the popularity will spread. It retains the elitist approach and "invites only" image which is too true.

NEW TEST CHAMPIONSHIP

Tier One - Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, England, Pakistan
Tier Two - New Zealand, West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Kenya
Tier Three - Scotland, Holland, Afghanistan, Canada, Namibia, UAE
Tier Four - Bermuda, Uganda, Oman, Denmark, Papua NG, Hong Kong

Anyone thinking those are random would be incorrect, that is using rankings up to the top 24. USA may be no surprise in Tier Five if it were extended that far, but maybe Argentina and Italy might be. Football extends World Cups to teams outside the top 10-16, when will cricket wake up and realise that we will only have half a dozen or so strong sides while (Test) cricket is kept to an elite few? How will popularity in a sport improve in a country who is ranked say 27th like Italy are and yet wouldn't get close to a World Cup because there are too few spaces?

Maybe Italy would get beat out of sight in a World Cup, but extending the structure of Tests and ODIs to include lesser countries means they have aims, like in Davis Cup tennis, and also teams like Bangladesh play teams of their own level rather than pointless Tests like at the moment.

World Cricket League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would have picked Key because i think he has improved from the last time he played tests based on watching him a few times over the years on county cricket & he is better than Carberry. Plus looking ahead to the Ashes, he would be a better back-up opener option down under.

On you point about revamping test cricket. I dont think it really needs changing all that much. We have 8 strong & traditional nations, they alone should play test cricket (no way should Windies & New Zealand be relegated from Tier 1 status). The problem is Bangladesh, they should never have had test status. But i think the current "Intercontinental Cup" does sort of have first-class games between the minnows/associate members.


What is affecting test cricket & god forbin could actually kill it, is the overpopularising of Twenty20. Twenty20 is what willl globalize cricket lets not fool ourselves, but it needs to be controlled.

This is where the structure of the ICC comes into question. Since as you should be aware of the ICC really isn't a strong authocratic governing body like FIFA or the IOC. It is run by reprsentatives of the various cricket boards around the world & right now India (BCCI) basically have the biggest influence which is distgusting.

So basically unless the ICC is revamped really improvements in test cricket structurally or administratively can't be done.