Cricket Banter

The MCC played a Rest Of The World XI at Lord's to celebrate 200 years of matches being staged at this current venue. Former Australian player Shane Warne had his hand broken by a beamer from his former national colleague Brett Lee.

I bet he now knows hoe we Poms felt facing him!!

With the increasing occurrence of 5 day test matches ended within that time period - albeit notably exceptions - there are proposals afoot to reduce test matches from 5 days down to 4 days. It may make logistical sense but those who finance the international game will be wincing at this because they can create greater revenue from the traditional longer format.

To date, this English Test Season has seen 3 Test Matches go to the final day .The 2 Tests against Sri Lanka went down to the last two balls of the matches .Both of which produced highly exciting finishes (apart from the results).
England nearly pulled off the "great escape" in the Lords Test v. India on the final day .Only to throw it away with a sequence of suicidal dismissals after lunch .
A reduction in playing days will only result in lots of draws ,particularly in England ,due to weather interruptions .
Bad idea imo .

(29-07-2014 00:32 )mickster Wrote:  A reduction in playing days will only result in lots of draws ,particularly in England ,due to weather interruptions .
Bad idea imo .

I agree with you. However, if test match groundsmen keep on producing batting friendly pitches (which happens frequently on the Indian sub-continent) then it will make no difference in the long term as bowlers will continually struggle whether the match lasts four or five days.

England will be very busy in 2015. Their itinerary has been released and it is certainly a congested year.

7 January-1 February: ODI tri-series v Australia & India (in Australia)

14 February-29 March: ICC Cricket World Cup (in Australia & NZ)

6 April-5 May: v West Indies (away) - three Tests

21 May-23 June: v New Zealand (home) - two Tests, five ODIs, one T20

8 July-13 September: v Australia (home) - five Tests, five ODIs, one T20

October/November: v Pakistan (away) - tour details TBC

December-February 2016: v South Africa (away) - tour details TBC

Bearing in mind they pick 3 squads for 3 different formats ,very few if any players will take part in the majority of these series .Also don't forget a lot of the players spend half the respective matches sat with their feet up in the pavilion ! (generally the bowlers).

The ECB are looking for England to play 13 test matches per year for at least the next seven years. England currently play more test matches than any other country.

The ICC future tours programme is going to be published in October. This will cover all international matches for the next seven years. Let's just see how many times England, India and Australia play against each other?

It's sad to see that Jim Troughton has had to retire from cricket due to persistent back problem. The 35 year old had played for Warwickshire from 2003 to present and had been involved in 6 one day internationals for England
He is the grandson of the second Dr Who Patrick Troughton.