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New Zealand robbed
By Will 4 months ago, Comments
You have to feel some degree of sympathy towards New Zealand. Their tour reminds me of most that England went on in the 1990s. Not only was there discontent with management and selection, but injuries would occur at the worst possible moment, and any luck they had was all bad.
Yesterday’s match was as close to a farce as one-day cricket can produce. The kiwis only needed seven runs from the 20th over (which constitutes a match) to beat England, but the match was called off after 19 overs owing to the lashing rain. And the fact it was nearly pitch black. It was a fair decision by the umpires to take them off when they did, but New Zealand should never have been in that situation - and they wouldn’t have, had the regulations not stipulated on a 30-minute interval between innings.
How impossibly pathetic it was. We had all waited until 3pm for the start as the rain poured down, and worse was forecast for 7pm. The emphasis was to get the game done and dusted as quickly as possible, yet this ridiculous, anal regulation held up play for 30 precious minutes, and all the while the clouds lifted and light remained good.
More at Cricinfo if you’re interested, but it’s probably best we ignore this game and never think about it again.
CommentsI hate treadmills. I hate one-day cricket
By Will last year, at the end of September, Comments
This is wrong, so wrong. A fascinating summer of cricket has barely finished and yet already England are playing their first match of the winter, with a friendly today against a Sri Lankan XI ahead of a series of five ODIs.
Writes Patrick. It’s a huge bugbear of mine that so much cricket is being played, and so little is being done about it. The season hasn’t had time to catch its breath, yet off England traipse for another bloody one-dayer on Monday. This treadmill just doesn’t stop.
Contrast this with the Ashes summer of 1993. Six Test matches were served up, drizzled with a light sprinkling of three one-dayers (Texaco Trophy!). The Championship finished on September 20 and England’s next international was on February 16, 1994 against West Indies, a gap of 4 months and 27 days. I was approaching 12-years-old at the time, and must admit that the hiatus for someone of that age was too much to bear. Fast forward 13 years and cricket is now a constant in our lives. It’s not so much “when” the cricket is on as “who’s playing?” or “where?” Someone, somewhere, will be playing a meaningless one-dayer, earning lots of money for it, and/or forming the beginning of a career-threatening injury which will cut short the number of Test matches he plays.
Some more figures for you. Between January 1 2006 and January 1 2007, England played 14 Tests and 20 one-dayers - a total of 170 days of cricket. In the same time period, India played 30 one-dayers and Australia 29.
We want less cricket. We want fewer one-dayers, and a greater focus on Tests; the less cricket - the less the physical and mental strain on the players - the greater the quality they will produce. Cricket (and sports in general, for that matter) must start to look after itself better and not wring itself dry. We’ll survive with less, honestly. TV companies will too. Yes, the executives might not be able to afford their great-grandson’s private education, or a shiny new Porsche 911, but who is this bloody game for?
Ranting now. Join in below.
CommentsWoah - 353 in 50 overs
By Will 3 years ago, mid-May, Comments
Wow. Hampshire have scored 353-8 in their 50 overs against my team (Middlesex). Katich got 85 from 63 (good); Pietersen got 80 from 50 (excellent) but then Mascarenhas got 50 from just 26! (amazing)
Maybe Shah and Joyce can do the business again for us…
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