0/T England v West Indies

[Hodgie]

Rain has stopped play which means as it stands the West Indies will go into the semi's unless 5 overs are played.

[Hodgie]

West Indies set a target of 80 to win

game on

[morecambe mick]

Fletcher gone for a duck!!!

[morecambe mick]

Massive wicket of Gayle gone Windies 16 - 2

Game on!!

[outsider]

gayle blown away

[morecambe mick]

16 - 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[morecambe mick]

45 5 This game can still go either way yet.

[Plain Peter]

Tis a load of shite.
Will it rain or won't it?
How long will it rain?
Can they fit in 5 overs-a-piece between the rain?
Given all that who gives a toss?
The Aussies are safe in Leicester.
Who'd buy an Ashes ticket for either Day 4 or Day 5?

[Plain Peter]

Sorry Mick...
Wine stopped play...

[morecambe mick]

That's cricket

[outsider]

Who'd buy an Ashes ticket for either Day 4 or Day 5?

i will if you have a couple

[ockers]

Who'd buy an Ashes ticket for either Day 4 or Day 5?

i will if you have a couple

i would too
lets hope we do blow the away
arrogant so and sos they are
t20 great excitement
superb competition make no mistake
but...... its the ashes where it matters and hopefully watching the aussies squirm...........

[shrimper]

A few bad selections by England (and I said these as they happened and before knowing the result - Sky+).

1. Weather forecast was dodgy, should have put them in - always an advantage on Duckworth/Lewis going second.
2. Should have picked someone like Napier for the middle order swing - if they are out for a duck, you've still got the others. Even if they don't get many, they'll get runs quickly. No problem picking two spinners but they could have left out Sidebottom and let Collingwood have a bowl for a couple.
3. With only a few overs left, Broad should have come in ahead of Foster and Swann who are decent bats but can't swing the fours and sixes like Broad.

Good game though.

[Hodgie]

Who'd buy an Ashes ticket for either Day 4 or Day 5?

i will if you have a couple

i would too
lets hope we do blow the away
arrogant so and sos they are
t20 great excitement
superb competition make no mistake
but...... its the ashes where it matters and hopefully watching the aussies squirm...........

If you go on to the Yorkshire web site,they still have tickets left for day 5
http://www.yorkshireccc.com/tickets_hos ... index.html

[Plain Peter]

The only way for any of the Ashes Tests to go as far as Day 4 is bad weather, or a completely dead wicket.
Apart from Strauss, Cook, Bell and a confident Collingwood no other England batsmen has the patience to dig-in and build up a big score.
I've been known to talk crap before though

Being legally allowed to sell tickets on a 'no refund under any circumstances basis' is a bit tight.

[Heysham_Shrimp]

In 20/20 cricket the Vera Duckworth rule for rain affected teams is very unfair on the team batting first.

I would have fancied England to defend 161 in 20 overs 9 times out of 10 against the Windies.

But to be asked to score 81 with all 10 wickets even in just 9 overs is a much easier task for the batting side.

[simmy]

However unfair and complicated it may be at least the Duckworth Lewis system does attempt to make an allowance for the overall position of the match, although it does seem to favour the team batting, especially when the delay occurs between innings.

In the good old days the system used was totally in favour of the team batting second, although far simpler, and was based on the average scoring rate for the whole of the first innings.

This then begs the question why win the toss and bat when the forecast is for rain delays?

[shrimper]

However unfair and complicated it may be at least the Duckworth Lewis system does attempt to make an allowance for the overall position of the match, although it does seem to favour the team batting, especially when the delay occurs between innings.

In the good old days the system used was totally in favour of the team batting second, although far simpler, and was based on the average scoring rate for the whole of the first innings.

This then begs the question why win the toss and bat when the forecast is for rain delays?

Why indeed? I think D/L has been well thought-out and is about as fair as you can get but I'd always prefer to be chasing and Collingwood (though I like him generally as a one-day skipper) messed up with that. He was asked about it before the off and he just said 'oh the rain will stay in the sky today'

[Plain Peter]

This then begs the question why win the toss and bat when the forecast is for rain delays?

Every bit of minutae should be considered before the toss.
Win the toss and you should win the game.
I wish they'd just change the name of the game.
Make it a biathlon and include 5-a-side.
But cricket, it ain't.

[shrimper]

Yes it is. And it has, at a stroke, totally refreshed the image of cricket to a brand new audience.

I'm sad enough to have (when I had the time) watched every single minute of entire Test series and thoroughly enjoyed the cut and thrust, the 'chess-game' nature of the 5-day events.

But I fully understand when people say I'm a bit strange in that respect. You only have to look at the crowds for county championship games to know that - if that's all there was - ALL our top flight clubs would cease to exist within a couple of years.

Many hundreds of thousands more have been drawn to the game by Twenty20 and that has rekindled interest in cricket in general.

There has then been spin-off interest in day/night games, other one-dayers and the sport in general.

It has also introduced new skills for batters and bowlers and brought certain individual players into the spotlight as they shine in this format.

It is what it is and IMO there's room for this kind of excitement in the sport.

[DTSJim]

Yes it's cricket for the playstation generation, and yes it's a bit of a crapshoot, but there's no doubt that it's a great spectiacle at international level and is the only form of the game that regularly sells out at first class level.

It also gives youngsters a chance to play at international level, not to mention countries like ireland and the netherlands gettin a crack against the big boys.

I think you've got to be a pretty close minded and overly traditionalist if you'd begrudge a new generation of cricket fans being produced by an undoubtedly exciting form of the game. Or you could be Michael Holding.

[Plain Peter]

It didn't worry the Aussies too much getting knocked out early on.
Slogget will turn exceptional players of the traditional game into mere sloggers.
What's the point of learning all the arts and crafts of line, length and the guile that goes with it, if your reward is 3 or 4 overs, and at best a couple of wickets for forty-odd runs?

[outsider]

What i didn't understand was as they were using D/L why there run total needed didn't go up as they lost wickets? I thought this was taken into account, but they just said 80 from 9 overs.

[shrimper]

Sorry, Peter - I just don't follow your logic.

Players adapt to all sorts of different conditions, competitions and formats and learn how to play in whatever competition they're in.

When they're in a five-dayer, they know they need to build an innings - and a bowler knows he can vary his pace and line over the span of a few overs in order to coax a batsman into playing a shot that will get him a wicket.

In the shorter version there's less time and each ball, or each run takes on a greater significance. Batters have to hit the ground running and bowlers have to keep it tight - a dot ball is nearly as good as a wicket.

All of that is part of a cricketer's portfolio in the modern game. And the positive impact Twenty20 has had on the profile of the game is undeniable.

I actually prefer a 40 or 50 over game and see Twenty20 as a bit of a laugh - but it's exciting and I don't see anything wrong with it.

In my opinion, a lot of the detractors are criticising it because they think they should.

[outsider]

All these anti arguments are the same as the ones used when Kerry Packer started the one day game in pj's, there is room for it and the skills needed are the same as in 20/40/50 over or 4 day games to 5 day test matches, good shots get runs, good bowling gets wickets, if it gets kids into cricket then that's a good thing, they start liking 3hr games then want to know more and become interested in the other forms of the game.