Cricket
 

Congratulations England, you gave us a bloody nose and something to think about with the upcoming championship. Heard Hashim Amla in an interview say they were the best, well balanced side he had come up against. Looking forward to the upcoming matches.:big_tongue:

Don't worry woodend, that 'well balanced' side is unlikely to last!
Should be an interesting series. :eek:

Oh ye of little faith! I am just getting my breath back! Well done!

I am stunned - but, to be fair, it was an exciting match. :bounce:

Our two strike bowlers had a field day!! Then the atmosphere must have changed somehow as it didn't swing as much for the rest of the match. However those first six wickets to fall were fantastic to watch. Now for the competition!:big_tongue:

I for one was glad to see the match played on a tricky wicket under overcast skies, despite the low score and an England loss. South Africa bowled superbly up front and used the conditions well.
Matches like this one at Lord's only serve to spice up ODI cricket, rather than the boring flat wickets that yield a combined total of 700 plus runs for the loss of 6 wickets ...
Mind you, the second ODI was a belter too ... Wood bowled a fantastic final over to win it by 2 runs!

Good match and South Africa were deserved winners. :applause::applause::applause:

Well done England you are now sitting comfotable till the semi's. We have yo face Pakistan today who can be very unpredictable. I feel for the Aussies with two rain affected.

Now we are making life very difrficult for ourselves!

Where did the England team go yesterday? They were way below par unfort5unately and looked as if they didn't want to score runs hitting the ball to the fielders. Ah well! back to bthe drawi8ng boards.

As usual, when the pressure's on England's brains go walkabout!
Both with bat and with ball.
Clueless and inept ... they bottled the biggest match they've been involved in for years.
Flattered to please ... then hit the skids!
Sad fact of life ... and to think I nearly made the trek to Cardiff ... I'm just glad I stayed at home.

It was wrong of Morgan to "mention" the worn wicket ... after all, Pakistan wiped off the winning score with 13 overs to spare!!

However, India to stroll the Final on Saturday.

Now we have a feast of Women's Cricket. We play England on Friday I think and after watching a few 'bits', these ladies don't hold back

What a dull, conservative and highly unenlightening team Root has chosen for his first test against South Africa. Five quicks with Liam Dawson (rated 9th best spinner in England) as the only spinner to link with Moeen ... and to cap it all, the third coming of that grossly over rated No 3 or is it No 4 or maybe No 5 batsman Gary the Ballancing-act! Morkel and Rabada must be salivating at trapping him LBW before he passes 10 in each innings.

Poor uninspiring team Joseph Root, old son.
Wish you luck, I think you might just need it!

It is a bit early to condemn Roots team. Liam Dawson is an all-rounder, so not picked for his bowling alone. My only gripe is that he is not playing for Hampshire when on England duty. I agree about Balance, but he could prove us all wrong :shock:

So here we go again! After a very solid match by the English ladies yesterday it is in to the mote traditional format. Well done to the ladies, we couldn't get to that formidable total.






1

Top man is Joe Root.
Captain's innings leading from the front, ably supported by Stoksey and Mo.

PS - Hate to say this ... but ... told you so.
Ballance predictably LBW after poking and prodding away for 50 minutes.
Will he now be granted a fourth coming ....

Witnessed an unbelievable day's cricket at Lord's today from the Lower Tier in the new Warner Stand. Excellent seats for viewing the action.
Bizarre day's play!
19 wickets fell for around 230 runs scored in the day.
South Africa's hurried demise was a mixture of England's good fortune and some very poor shot selection. It was as though they had lost the will to survive ...

Still, I'm sure Root will take his first resounding win as captain ... so onwards to Trent Bridge.
Well done Moeen Ali for taking a 10 fer to have his name etched on the Honours Board.

To cap it all, the England Ladies beat the Aussie Ladies for the first time since 1993.

A great day for both teams!

Yup well done England

Yup very well done England! I was waiting to see if we could master that playing surface after it gave your team trouble from the start of day 4. We couldn't!!!!!!

Yeah, it was turning a foot at both ends, with steep bounce from the Pavilion end to keeping low at times from the Nursery end.
Most strange for a Lord's wicket. Very tricky.
Have to stress, England did have a lot of fortune though ... de Kock was most unlucky to be out bowled off bat,
pad AND boot ... excellent player who needs to bat up the order.

S Africa have their problems for Trent Bridge bowling wise with Rabada and (subject to a doctor's report) Philander out of action.
Small mercy though as the excellent skipper Faf du Plessis is back.

Commentators here calling it an early declarartion! With only one spinner left to bat I reckon it vwas a very good decision. The two bowlers gave it a go for the few overs they had before the close of play without success but put England on notice that they are in for a torrid couple of days.

It will all be over just after tea today - England losing by some 200 ish runs.

Get rid of Jennings (Stoneman) Ballance (Buttler) and 'Bollywood' Dawson (Rashid).
A shame Woakes's season is over with the side strain ... Wood had better start looking over his shoulder ... Plunkett's waiting in the wings.

Almost prophetic Islay!

Day/Night cricket .... pah, I'd rather watch "Game of Thrones" or even paint dry!
And I'm not colour blind ...

Cricket with a pink ball, dew soaked outfield, ball swinging around like a bullocks gonads, spotlights blinding the eyes and, worse still, a paradox of what was expected, viz. hordes of spectators flooding through the turnstiles - heading OUT, yes OUT of the stadium around 8PM.

I'm all for innovation and new ideas to spike the game, but frankly, day-night cricket is both a wannabe trend and a downright farce.

Fancy telling the missus -
"I'll be home around 10.30 luv, just leaving work to go watch some day-night cricket" ...
Rolling pin time!!

Can't say I'm that fond of it, but that might be grumpy old man mode ! Years ago I suggested taking Kerry Packer outside and adjusting him with a .44 Magnum, but I was met with howls of derision. He started this shit.