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Cricket 2023

Spraggons Den

Spraggons Den

pfm Member
With the first England men’s test of the year having just started in NZ, I thought now is a good time to start the thread for 2023.

My first post of 2022 was:

Spraggons Den said:
Woke up on this morning of my 57th birthday to the bestest of presents - Smash me Giles sacked following the Ashes debacle and replaced, albeit only temporarily, with Andrew Strauss
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I have just watched the highlights for todays play and the contrast in the feeling around supporting England and the style of play could not be greater.
 
I hadn't even kept up they were even in NZ, so was thrilled to read the summary of day 1. Declared on 325? Unusual I thought.. then saw 37-3, & remembered we're in this spellbinding new era.. & the penny dropped. Another enthralling test to play out, probably.

Lord I wish I could watch it. I used to get it cheekily via an indian site, on my old laptop.. but n/a via my iPad. I must get prepared for the ashes, talking of which:

Tbh I had more of an eye on how the crims were faring in india. These two series being huge simultaneous rivals in different continents. And saw the ruddy crims were summarily thrashed, by an innings, within 3 days, by them crafty injuns. Woohoo!! ( All out for 97 or summink abysmal!! Yippee).

Bring on the ashes.
 
Sadly, it's on BT Sport so I won't see this series. As long as I have a hole in my a*s BT won't get a penny from me.

I got an email this morning inviting me to apply for tickets to the World Test Final at The Oval. As England are not there I probably won't buy but decided to check on prices. An hour's wait to even get on the ticketing website. Must be Ticketmaster :)
 
World test final? Eh? Wtf is that already. Sounds like a load of bllx to me. "BT sport" my ass too.

The day-night tests still haven't been decided as to whether a good idea yet. No-one really knows I think.

Anyway as long as the crims are losing- Im happy.
 
Just heard that Anderson/Broad have just become the world's leading wicket taking partnership above Warne/McGrath. That is some tribute to their outstanding ability and longevity with another Ashes series to come.
 
Fantastic stuff.. this team continues to amaze me. The relentless standard, each test since 'the new era' has been excellent sport, & a win at the end for us, as this seems likely to be. Amazing.

Cherry on the cake will be the crims losing the 2nd test in India too.
 
Bangladesh v England ODI. I see that the Mirpur stadium has a 'Mr White Detergent Powder' end......
 
The test team has been transformed. 10 wins from 12 tests say as much, and against good opposition, too.

The 50 over team is stuttering, but partly because they cannot yet play their strongest batting line up. Wood and Archer need to stay fit. Both will be essential if we are to have any chance in India. Pace is pace.
 
I was pleased we lost the last test to NZ as I thought enforcing the follow on was a little arrogant and a bit insulting to the Black Caps. It also reminds us that the current England team maybe transformed but is still far from perfect. Certainly whetted the appetite for the summer Ashes.
 
England were again trying to be too aggressive and too clever for their own good enforcing the follow on , NZ have a lot of good batsmen and it proved a risk too far .However the crunch point was probably Root running out Brook !
 
peter bj said:
England were again trying to be too aggressive and too clever for their own good enforcing the follow on , NZ have a lot of good batsmen and it proved a risk too far .However the crunch point was probably Root running out Brook !
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It was only a run! Without both the run out and some loss of focus bowling to NZ's second innings they would have got there.

I'm reluctant to blame the follow on because it is better to keep the opposition interested, rather than just bat them out of it - if winning matches is the aim. A decent plan that should have been match winning with the lead they had. On this occasion, it was not quite executed with the effectiveness of recent performances and NZ showed real resilience.
 
Lords emailed to say they were releasing the final batch of Ashes tickets at 10 am today.

I logged on at literally less than 10 secs past 10am, only to be told there were over 3300 ahead of me and the queue was over an hour!!!
 
canonman said:
Lords emailed to say they were releasing the final batch of Ashes tickets at 10 am today.

I logged on at literally less than 10 secs past 10am, only to be told there were over 3300 ahead of me and the queue was over an hour!!!
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Did you persevere and manage to get some? The last Lords Ashes test was the Archer - Smith battle. I didn't bother with the Lords ballot that year but realised the weather forecast was for a lot of rain so I gambled on day 5 tickets at £20 each for the Grandstand. Stokes and Bairstow batted us into a winning position but the Aussies hung on with a memorable debut for Labushagne. It was a brilliant days cricket with loads of banter and I swear it was nearly completely dark by the time the umpires took them off. So hope you got some tickets.
 
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