The Curtly Ambrose Cricket Thread

Post by **Londoner** » 21 Dec 2013, 23:48

Graeme Swann's just announced his retirement from cricket with "immediate effect".

Don't quite know how to respond to this.

watka · Post by **watka** » 22 Dec 2013, 22:54

East Londoner wrote:Graeme Swann's just announced his retirement from cricket with "immediate effect".

Don't quite know how to respond to this.

He's been saying that he doesn't think he's good enough when it comes down to the 4th or 5th day of a test match and should therefore move aside. In which case he must have incredibly high standards for himself as he is the best English spin bowler by miles.

watka · Post by **watka** » 29 Dec 2013, 15:55

England fans will be beating themselves over the head with cricket bats after waking up to a 4th consecutive test defeat to Australia. To be fair to the Aussies, they have made England pay for pretty much every mistake.

The Baggy Greens have surely got to go for the whitewash now, they are not ones for taking their foot off of the gas.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 29 Dec 2013, 17:32

Why do England have to be shite at every team ball sport we invent? WHY!!!

AxelP800 · Post by **AxelP800** » 29 Dec 2013, 17:41

roblomas52 wrote:Why do England have to be shite at every team ball sport we invent? WHY!!!

Because over-confident since England is the inventor? Like thinking because England invent it they believe only they knew the best tactics?

Post by **Londoner** » 29 Dec 2013, 17:45

roblomas52 wrote:Why do England have to be shite at every team ball sport we invent? WHY!!!

Because we're England/Britain. We're not supposed to be good at sports, that's why the Olympics last year was such a surprise for us. :lol:

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 29 Dec 2013, 18:02

roblomas52 wrote:Why do England have to be shite at every team ball sport we invent? WHY!!!

We all know how crap the English football team are.

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 30 Dec 2013, 02:20

watka wrote:England fans will be beating themselves over the head with cricket bats after waking up to a 4th consecutive test defeat to Australia. To be fair to the Aussies, they have made England pay for pretty much every mistake.

The Baggy Greens have surely got to go for the whitewash now, they are not ones for taking their foot off of the gas.

I couldn't believe how England had given themselves a pretty decent chance at winning and managed to let it all fall apart. As soon as Carberry succumbed to the pressure in the second innings, it basically all started to go downhill from there. Almost like the manner in which his innings had played out, had made mostly everyone else feel like they ought to just hit at anything, instead of only risking making 12 from 81 balls like Carberry had, as if they hadn't paid attention to how Cook played. It may have only been 51, but the manner in which he scored it was something they ought to have taken example from, instead of seemingly being collectively unsettled by how Carberry's innings went.

As for the fielding, well, all I can say is that when Graham Gooch said in 1993 that the England side that lost the Ashes that year was the worst fielding sides he'd ever been in, I'm inclined to think that any England player might say to him that they've just played in a worse side, 20 years later.

in summary, England really just need to get this series over with, so they can undergo whatever refocusing(especially for the ones who will be called up to the ODI/T20 sides) and restructuring to fix what's not going right. In the meantime, they need to not listen to me or anyone else who thinks the preceding statement, because there's still one Test left, it may be the biggest one yet for this side and they need to mentally refocus completely to even have the slightest chance of avoiding the seemingly inevitable whitewash.

watka · Post by **watka** » 30 Dec 2013, 12:32

tzerof1 wrote:
watka wrote:England fans will be beating themselves over the head with cricket bats after waking up to a 4th consecutive test defeat to Australia. To be fair to the Aussies, they have made England pay for pretty much every mistake.

The Baggy Greens have surely got to go for the whitewash now, they are not ones for taking their foot off of the gas.

I couldn't believe how England had given themselves a pretty decent chance at winning and managed to let it all fall apart. As soon as Carberry succumbed to the pressure in the second innings, it basically all started to go downhill from there. Almost like the manner in which his innings had played out, had made mostly everyone else feel like they ought to just hit at anything, instead of only risking making 12 from 81 balls like Carberry had, as if they hadn't paid attention to how Cook played. It may have only been 51, but the manner in which he scored it was something they ought to have taken example from, instead of seemingly being collectively unsettled by how Carberry's innings went.

Yep, the Melbourne test completely disproved my theory that if England got the chance to bat first, they might win a game. It was the same old kamikaze batting (and I agree about the fielding too, although with good fielding they'd still not have won any of the tests). What is shocking to contrast is the approaches by both sides to spin bowling. Australia targeted Swann, one of the best spinners in the world, from the outset and reaped huge rewards. England tried to respond by doing the same to Lyon, who whilst competent is not the greatest threat, and ended up giving him a five-for in Melbourne. It really is shocking to see how poor the England batting is and retrospectively now I think we can say that the English bowling in the series in England papered over a lot of cracks that have been brutally exposed now.

watka · Post by **watka** » 06 Jan 2014, 01:10

Where do we start with the post-mortem for England?:

England lost the psychological game - The lack of belief running through the team, especially regarding batting, was astonishing. The fear in the team in just about every innings was as much a part of England's downfall as reckless pulls and hooks. Some of Carberry's innings were a perfect example of this, facing ball after ball and getting nowhere near it, so worried about protecting his wicket that he forgot his God-given ability to bat. It ended up coming down to the likes of Stokes and Broad to actually show any courage.

England can only bat on home soil - And even then we're not great. The signs were there in the series in England, with England not posting a total over 400 and only Bell and Root making centuries. Compare that to this series and Australia had 6 different centurions and in all honesty didn't even need to bat that well to win the series. There is no one in the top order to build an innings from, although I've no doubt that Cook and Root have supreme talent in them to carry the team into the future. It would perhaps by useful to encourage as many players as possible to play in the IPL or Big Bash to get an experience of different conditions as the team always seems a little out of sorts away from English wickets whereas top teams like South Africa can go anywhere and get runs.

England lack a genuine fast bowler - Mitchell Johnson is renowned for being quick scatter-gun with his bowling, but that didn't seem to matter in this series as his sheer pace intimidated England into playing poor shots. Hitting over 90mph is difficult for anyone to handle and once he got hold of himself in the Brisbane test and started to take wickets, his job just got easier and easier as the series went on. England didn't bowl badly, but they lacked that kind of threat. Broad was England's best bowler in the series and was probably the closest England have to an intimidating fast bowler. Anderson makes get use of the conditions to get swing etc, but Bailey smacking him for 28 off an over shows that he lacks some cutting edge. England just need to train someone up to be able to chuck some scorchers down whilst the guy at the other end does the line, length and swing business.

England have no clue what to do about replacing Swann - Trott was a big loss to England, but everyone was batting so poorly it didn't matter. England's approach for replacing Swann though has been clueless. Panesar, who was reprimanded for his behaviour and is widely considered to be a little past it these days (as well as being a hilariously awful batsman and fielder) was second choice spinner. An uninspired choice. Then the decision to play Borthwick in the final test was just as laughable. Australia have gone after spinners all series long, so why put in a new guy who's confidence could be shot in exactly the same way as Kerrigan's was back in England (fortunately he got a few wickets, but he was expensive). Surely Tredwell was the right man; some experience at international level and wouldn't be affected if he played poorly.

England should have given Bairstow a chance as wicketkeeper earlier - By earlier, I mean in the test series against New Zealand. That would have perhaps given Prior the kick up the back side he needed instead of him assuming his spot in the team was safe in terms of his batting. It would also have given Bairstow some time with gloves which he has been out of for far too long considering he was wicketkeeper for his county. I think England should also be looking at giving Kieswetter and Buttler more attention as they bat high up in the order at county level and can cut it at international level on the ODI stage.

England should make more decisions off the field to relieve the pressure on Cook - Cook is still quite young and quite new to the role of captain. He comes across as a nice guy, but perhaps too much. He seems the sort of player who leads by example rather than barking out orders or being super-competitive. The problem with that is when you fail as badly as he did with his own contribution with the bat, the team are then a bit directionless. In my opinion, Cook doesn't need the pressures of captaincy. As there is no obvious better candidate (Broad has the right passion, but is still a bit immature to be guiding a test match), Flower and the coaching staff really need to be giving more guidance and ideas to the team to help them strategise. That is why Lehmann has been such a success for Australia; we know Michael Clarke is a great player and leader but Lehmann has really helped him get the team together, working as a unit with a clear plan.

The next 2 test series are at home to Sri Lanka and India, which hopefully should be kind enough (at least the Sri Lanka tests) to allow England to begin rebuilding.

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 06 Jan 2014, 02:23

Couldn't agree more. It's easy for people to say that Bairstow was a bad choice for keeper, but it's impossible for him to keep his skills up and improve them, if he wasn't given the opportunity to keep for either country or county, and as a result when he finally was called on he wasn't anywhere near his best, though he did take some good catches.

watka · Post by **watka** » 09 Jan 2014, 01:07

Stuart Broad and Matt Prior coaxed down a guy who was going to jump off of a bridge in Sydney yesterday. Well done to the guys.

It turns out that the bloke was from England which might explain why he was up there in the first place...

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 09 Jan 2014, 11:55

So, those of us in Pom-land who might want a bit of respite from Mitchell "He doesn't bowl to the left or right anymore" Johnson: the England women's cricket team are due to start their match against their Aussie counterparts tomorrow. "Baker's Ashes" in the English summer saw the Test drawn, then Australia went 1-0 up after the first ODI, only to take a pasting after that, with the final score for the series 5-1 to England.

Message to Charlotte Edwards and the rest: show the boys how it's done.

OsellaFA1L · Post by **OsellaFA1L** » 10 Jan 2014, 07:16

I still think the best moment in Cricket was Kenya making it to the 2003 World Cup semifinals. Talk about a giant killing performance

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 13 Jan 2014, 19:58

England women win Test by 61 runs, and are well on the way to winning the battle to retain the Ashes and show up the men. Great job ladies!

England's men lose first ODI by 6 wickets, not entirely surprising considering the Aussies were showing great ODI form posting several 300+ scores against India. Though they lost that series, 270 was always going to be an easy target if they could retain the form. Which, so far they have.

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Feb 2014, 13:32

I know there aren't that many cricket fans here, but I'm going to go on a rant anyway.

I will say that a) Kevin Pietersen should not have been forced into international retirement (not a controversial opinion), but also b) that he should have been given a chance to open the batting for England.

Firstly, he's far too good a player for England to ignore. I understand that England's focus is on developing new blood, especially for the test team, and this is the right approach, but Pietersen deserves his place in the side. He was leading run scorer in tough conditions in Australia and is England's highest run scorer of all time across all formats of the game. The stats don't lie. Sure, he gets out to silly shots sometimes (more on that later) but equally he can take the game away from the opposition when he's in the right mindset.

Regarding his team spirit, I think the England dressing room just needs to grow up a bit. It is clear that the ECB is 100% behind the golden boy Alastair Cook and that Pietersen is considered as a threat to Cook's authority. They know that Pietersen is a bit of an individual, and in cricket that is OK as one person's performance does not directly effect the performance of a team mate in the same way as say a midfield playmaker and a striker rely on each other on the football pitch. Cook and the ECB needed to have just dealt with this and thought about the best way to use him.

Now, to explain why I think he should open. Number one is that England have struggled for a suitable opener recently as it is. Nick Compton, Joe Root and Michael Carberry have all by and large failed to make the spot their own. To play as an opener requires skill but also a great deal of self-confidence, which Pietersen has in abundance. Number two, Pietersen is less effective when shackled with the role of holding an innings together after a bad start. The top order has failed miserably so often recently and Pietersen has had to play a different kind of game, which he has done admirably well. However, stick him in at two and he can have a right go at playing his natural game from the off, hopefully breaking the spirit of the bowlers. If it does all go pear shaped then hey, you've still got 9 wickets in hand.

He'd have to play alongside Cook, which would basically be a fire and ice combination, but as said Cook needs to be mature enough to focus on his own game (which he certainly needs to do right now) and leave Pietersen to get on with his.

Alas, an England great will be seen no more.

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 14 Feb 2014, 15:12

I couldn't agree more with you. It was quite shocking when the news broke, it was basically like "Oh, hey, Kevin, thanks for scoring the most runs on one of our most disastrous tours ever, now get the f*ck out of here." Which certainly is not a just reward.

Whilst on the point of railing against the ECB having it's head up it's arse lately, another thing I strongly disagree with is the power grab that the ECB, CA, and BCCI managed to pull off, it's incredibly short-sighted, and really does nothing but jeopardise international cricket as a whole, just for the sake of more money, and also may very well serve as a detriment to countries(i.e. Ireland) who are seeking to attain Test status, because who wants to play in a relegation Test setup where England and India are immune to relegation? More on this can be found here http://cricketwithballs.com/2014/01/18/show-the-administrators-you-care/ on which I wholeheartedly agree with every point made. Giles Clarke saying that "everyone will benefit" is a load of bollocks, in my view.

In positive news though, the ECB finally did something right this week and made the women's cricket team the first full-time professional women's cricket team in the world, and they will now finally get paid what they deserve.

Still doesn't stop Giles Clarke from being a James Allen though, because one can only wonder if the ECB only did this because of the tons of money they'll now be getting under the power grab agreement, rather than purely on the merit of the excellent performances of the women's side in the 2013-14 year.

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Feb 2014, 20:05

tzerof1 wrote:Whilst on the point of railing against the ECB having it's head up it's arse lately, another thing I strongly disagree with is the power grab that the ECB, CA, and BCCI managed to pull off, it's incredibly short-sighted, and really does nothing but jeopardise international cricket as a whole, just for the sake of more money, and also may very well serve as a detriment to countries(i.e. Ireland) who are seeking to attain Test status, because who wants to play in a relegation Test setup where England and India are immune to relegation? More on this can be found here http://cricketwithballs.com/2014/01/18/show-the-administrators-you-care/ on which I wholeheartedly agree with every point made. Giles Clarke saying that "everyone will benefit" is a load of bollocks, in my view.

I thought bending of the rules like that was reserved for Italian and South American football.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 14 Feb 2014, 22:59

I should just quickly add that the trend of the Ashes has continued in South Africa, because the Australian bowlers (especially Mitchell Johnson) have scared (and scarred) the South African batsmen into disintegration, and different Australian batsmen are scoring big runs. The first test at Centurion ought to be a foregone conclusion.

Having said that, it shouldn't be such a surprise that essentially this is a continuation of the Ashes, given that half the English team were South Africans anyway ... :lol:

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 15 Feb 2014, 23:00

So there you go, Australia have obliterated South Africa in the first test by the same margin that they beat England in the last Ashes test - 281 runs. There's an omen right there. The Proteas have a mountain to climb - psychologically if nothing else - if they are to rebound in the remaining two tests.

There's a lesson here for F1 as well. On paper, according to all the statistics, this South Africa team is better than the Australian one. Just as arguably the English team was better on paper than Australia before the start of the Australian Ashes series.

What happened? The Australians were encouraged by coach Darren Lehmann to enjoy their sport as a means of tapping into their best - as opposed to applying a hundred different coach-imposed formulae. Almost all of the top-performing Australian players have overcome some kind of recent adversity. Haddin overcame his age and his absence from the team for a period due to his young daughter's serious illness. Johnson overcame his previous psychological frailty and inconsistency, the barbs from fans and media alike, and used a settled home life and parenthood to ground himself. Warner overcame the boozing excesses a mere six months ago. Harris overcame a series of injuries that meant he could rarely play two tests on the trot. I could go on.

In turn they also exposed wounds and blindspots in firstly the English team, and now potentially the South Africans as well. Wounds and blindspots that have as much - if not more - to do with psychology, teamwork, momentum, fear and confidence as it does with mere technique and ability.

Do you see the thread? The Australian team is not winning purely on the basis of technical ability. It is winning on the basis of very human factors, like will, determination, confidence, enjoyment, teamwork.

Compelling sport is when the theory and the statistics go out the window. When you can't simply plug the numbers into a computer program and work out strategy and tactics and find a winner. When human factors combine with ability to create not just a result, or a victory, but the unpredictable, and a narrative, and a story.

Formula One, are you listening?

Indeed virtually all professional sport, are you listening?

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 16 Feb 2014, 12:32

eytl wrote:I should just quickly add that the trend of the Ashes has continued in South Africa, because the Australian bowlers (especially Mitchell Johnson) have scared (and scarred) the South African batsmen into disintegration, and different Australian batsmen are scoring big runs. The first test at Centurion ought to be a foregone conclusion.

Having said that, it shouldn't be such a surprise that essentially this is a continuation of the Ashes, given that half the English team were South Africans anyway ...

Well, in Englands defense, James Anderson did play 3 tests with a broken rib!

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 16 Feb 2014, 17:16

Well, if Mitchell Johnson does it again to the Proteas in the the second Test, I think it'll be pretty safe to say that he may very well be in the form of his life, and the Aussies could become something of(to make an F1 related analogy) Ferrari 2004, a juggernaut with a man at the peak of his powers, that annihilate all that oppose them, destroy their opponents psyches with clinical precision and dominance, remain drunk upon the nectar of victory, and become the number one side in the world in at least Test/ODI's as a reward.

tzerof1 · Post by **tzerof1** » 20 Mar 2014, 15:45

With the retirements of Graeme Smith and Arran Brindle, South Africa getting beat by the Aussies, and England winning some, then losing some more, it's now time for the World T20 Championships and the Women's T20 Championships.

So far it's only been the group A/B matches so far, the leaders being Bangladesh and Ireland respectively, with 2 wins from 2 matches each.

England lose their warm-up match against India by 20 runs, not helped by Root being out with injury, and Stokes also being out with injury, daftly hurting himself by punching a locker in the dressing room in the West Indies series and West Indies also beat England in a warm-up before that.

The other warm-up matches have also been hard to gauge form from as the results have been scattershot(very much win one, lose one etc.) though of the teams that have played 2 warm-up matches, England are the only Super 10 side to lose both, which doesn't necessarily bode well for their chances.

Other than that, nothing else big happening yet, but that will change once the Super 10 groups start playing.

Womens: England win their warm-up match against Pakistan, Australia beat Sri Lanka(warm-up), New Zealand beat India(warm-up), Windies beat South Africa(warm-up). No group matches played yet.

Make your predictions if you dare.

watka · Post by **watka** » 21 Mar 2014, 13:34

Netherlands (somewhat surprisingly making a huge run chase vs Ireland) and Bangladesh made it through the second stage of the tournament. Unfortunately means we won't see any more of the likes of Afghanistan, Nepal and Hong Kong.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 27 Nov 2014, 10:42

It's making headlines worldwide that sadly Phillip Hughes has died after suffering a head injury after he was hit by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match a couple of days ago.

Total tragedy, RIP.

This year has given me a new-found respect for head injuries.

#ForzaJules
#KeepFightingMichael

watka · Post by **watka** » 27 Nov 2014, 13:16

AustralianStig wrote:It's making headlines worldwide that sadly Phillip Hughes has died after suffering a head injury after he was hit by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match a couple of days ago.

Total tragedy, RIP.

This year has given me a new-found respect for head injuries.

#ForzaJules
#KeepFightingMichael

It's been a bad year for sporting incidents. RIP Phillip Hughes

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 27 Nov 2014, 13:22

watka wrote:
AustralianStig wrote:It's making headlines worldwide that sadly Phillip Hughes has died after suffering a head injury after he was hit by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match a couple of days ago.

Total tragedy, RIP.

This year has given me a new-found respect for head injuries.

#ForzaJules
#KeepFightingMichael

It's been a bad year for sporting incidents. RIP Phillip Hughes

Agreed.
RIP Phillip Hughes.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 27 Nov 2014, 15:58

It seems quite terrifyingly similar to one of the nastiest incidents I remember in 23 years of watching cricket.

I live just over the road from the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham. Nick Knight spent the night here on 12th August 1995. This was during the 5th Test at Trent Bridge against the West Indies; it was their first innings and he was fielding at short leg - without a helmet! - presumably hoping that Kenny Benjamin, the Windies' no.10, would clip an easy catch to him. Benjamin, every bit the unsophisticated slogger than no.10s were in those days, swung his bat, connected with the ball and sent it straight at Knight's head. Not too surprisingly, he hit the deck like a sack of spuds and was in an ambulance in a matter of minutes.

Knight was lucky. He was back at Trent Bridge the next day as England went out to bat. He'd had to drop to no.7 and was pretty much ineffective, still dazed from the sudden bash on the head the previous day.

It could have all been so different that day, and now we've just had a painful reminder why.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 27 Nov 2014, 21:33

Rest in peace Phil Hughes, a talented cricketer taken well before his time

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 20 Dec 2014, 06:25

That match was... just weird. The first match was exciting because it was exciting, but this one was fun from all the unusual things that happened.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 01 Feb 2015, 21:25

And you british still are useless against Mitchell Johnson

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 01 Feb 2015, 23:26

RonDenisDeletraz wrote:And you british still are useless against Mitchell Johnson

I wouldn't be surprised if England go out of the World Cup in the group stage at this rate. If England don't win the trophy but actually go out of the tournament with some dignity, that would be nice. Then again, this is England… so we might not.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 28 Feb 2015, 13:53

Well the result of the NZ game was disappointing, but at least we bowled well. With Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins, and Pattinson and Richardson who have been out with injuries a bit recently, we have a solid pace attack for the future

Post by **Londoner** » 01 Mar 2015, 22:19

Watched the first seven overs of the England-Sri Lanka match last night, as England quickly rattled off 50 runs for no wicket. Thought "we're in for a chance", and went to bed feeling confident. Woke up to the news that we'd been thrashed overnight. That's us surely out of the Cup then.

watka · Post by **watka** » 02 Mar 2015, 00:17

East Londoner wrote:Watched the first seven overs of the England-Sri Lanka match last night, as England quickly rattled off 50 runs for no wicket. Thought "we're in for a chance", and went to bed feeling confident. Woke up to the news that we'd been thrashed overnight. That's us surely out of the Cup then.

Nope. We'll beat Bangladesh unconvincingly and then Afghanistan by a score that will have Boycott claiming the top scoring batsman "is a replica of Viv Richards in full flow" before coming crashing back down to earth in a comprehensive 10-wicket defeat to India in the quarter finals.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 02 Mar 2015, 08:58

watka wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Watched the first seven overs of the England-Sri Lanka match last night, as England quickly rattled off 50 runs for no wicket. Thought "we're in for a chance", and went to bed feeling confident. Woke up to the news that we'd been thrashed overnight. That's us surely out of the Cup then.

Nope. We'll beat Bangladesh unconvincingly and then Afghanistan by a score that will have Boycott claiming the top scoring batsman "is a replica of Viv Richards in full flow" before coming crashing back down to earth in a comprehensive 10-wicket defeat to India in the quarter finals.

Knowing England, we will probably lose to Bangladesh and barely scrape a win against Afghanistan.
EDIT: I was proved correct on Bangladesh and we are now out of the World Cup.

Post by **Londoner** » 09 Mar 2015, 16:22

There is one upside to England being knocked out before the quarter finals, and that is being spared the embarrassing drubbing we'd likely receive at the hands of India or South Africa. Although, given that later this year we host the Ashes, it will be a short-lived upside for sure.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 09 Mar 2015, 17:06

East Londoner wrote:There is one upside to England being knocked out before the quarter finals, and that is being spared the embarrassing drubbing we'd likely receive at the hands of India or South Africa. Although, given that later this year we host the Ashes, it will be a short-lived upside for sure.

Also, it's one of the expected eight out. Go rejects!

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 09 Mar 2015, 17:25

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
East Londoner wrote:There is one upside to England being knocked out before the quarter finals, and that is being spared the embarrassing drubbing we'd likely receive at the hands of India or South Africa. Although, given that later this year we host the Ashes, it will be a short-lived upside for sure.

Also, it's one of the expected eight out. Go rejects!

Umm, expected eight. As an England fan this is what I expected from the team. It was a very tough group and the way we were humiliated in the opening matches, firstly to Australia by 111 runs and then losing again, this time by 8 wickets to New Zealand. They sum up the farce which is England's Cricket Team, especially in ODI format.

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 09 Mar 2015, 21:02

If I was Alastair Cook, I'd be laughing like a hyena at an Eddie Izzard gig right now...