It's just not cricket

Post by **DRT** » 01:25 Sat 31 May 2014

We need tension in the game. It will build us up nicely for watching England v Italy later in the evening.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 01:44 Sat 31 May 2014

Wait. Lord's is a Test. 3rd Day. Different competition.

Post by **DRT** » 02:04 Sat 31 May 2014

djewesbury wrote:Wait. Lord's is a Test. 3rd Day. Different competition.

Hmmm. That does make a difference. Should we have a contingency plan in case England don't hold out until day 3?

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 21:19 Sat 31 May 2014

Well thank goodness we had the old timers Cook, Anderson and Bell around to steady the ship today. Bell.

Jos Buttler scored some runs, was he any good? I didn't even get to see the highlights.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 22:13 Sat 31 May 2014

Careful what you say about Bell. His best years are clearly ahead of him.

Post by **DRT** » 22:24 Sat 31 May 2014

LGTrotter wrote:Jos Buttler scored some runs, was he any good? I didn't even get to see the highlights.

I watched most of the game. Butler was outstanding by any measure. Some very clever bowling and psychology from the man with the unfathomably wonky shoulder was the difference in the end.

A thoroughly enjoyable game, despite the best efforts of Cook and Bell to send everyone home before the tea and biscuits were served.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 23:24 Tue 03 Jun 2014

Buttler was out. Complaining about the laws of the game is pretty bad form. He was out of his crease, he'd been warned, he was out. Cook should put up and shut up.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 00:25 Wed 04 Jun 2014

djewesbury wrote:Julian will be along shortly to point out the difference between being uninterested and being disinterested.

Watching 'The History Boys' this evening the prefix 'un' was described as being in the state of separation, of being out of the swim of things and never having; unloved, unfulfilled, it seemed to make sense. Disinterested implys a choice, pre knowledge which allows us to pull away.

djewesbury wrote:Buttler was out. Complaining about the laws of the game is pretty bad form. He was out of his crease, he'd been warned, he was out. Cook should put up and shut up.

Cook's captaincy just keeps looking more cranky. I cannot propose an alternative but I wish there was one.

Post by **DRT** » 08:18 Wed 04 Jun 2014

djewesbury wrote:Buttler was out. Complaining about the laws of the game is pretty bad form. He was out of his crease, he'd been warned, he was out. Cook should put up and shut up.

My thoughts exactly.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 23:07 Mon 09 Jun 2014

I had completely forgotten the test starts Thursday. Looks like it will be warm and sunny so we will miss the deep joy of watching players from the sub-continent looking frozen and over swaddled.

I see one Ian Bell won player of the year. I think they are doing it deliberately.

I hope those attending from

have a good day out.

Team suggestions anyone?

Post by **DRT** » 23:16 Mon 09 Jun 2014

LGTrotter wrote:I hope those attending from have a good day out.

Thank you, Sir.

I am very much looking forward to Saturday - 25º according to the BBC

Daniel and I will be washing down our half time low-fat fish and chips with a mini horizontal of La Croix de Beaucaillou and Wine Society Exhibition 2006. For afternoon tea we will be having a half bottle of Chateau Batailley 2004 to accompany the carb-free cucumber sandwiches.

Then we are off to watch the footie.

What could go wrong?

{shut-up Julian, I've been planning this for weeks!}

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 23:23 Mon 09 Jun 2014

DRT wrote:Then we are off to watch the footie.

Is there footie happening somewhere?

DRT wrote:{shut-up Julian, I've been planning this for weeks!}

Everybody deserves a day off now and then.

Post by **DRT** » 23:33 Mon 09 Jun 2014

LGTrotter wrote:
DRT wrote:Then we are off to watch the footie.
Is there footie happening somewhere?

Yes. You need to read the thread. Really, you do.

LGTrotter wrote:
DRT wrote:{shut-up Julian, I've been planning this for weeks!}
Everybody deserves a day off now and then.

Your support is greatly appreciated. I will need it.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 01:38 Tue 10 Jun 2014

We are going to have a very enjoyable day. Derek has been making a special banner for Ian Bell to celebrate his award. (Glad you saw that Owen. I definitely thought of you.)

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 07:28 Thu 12 Jun 2014

It's a green-top!

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 10:24 Thu 12 Jun 2014

djewesbury wrote:It's a green-top!

Lords first day, what else?

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 10:29 Thu 12 Jun 2014

Oh Cook...

Post by **flash_uk** » 15:23 Thu 12 Jun 2014

Oh Ali.

Poor lad - the 50 beckoned, and he fell into the trap.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 16:45 Thu 12 Jun 2014

flash_uk wrote:Oh Ali.

Poor lad - the 50 beckoned, and he fell into the trap.

But didn't he do good, steadied the ship and looked the part too IMHO.

Post by **flash_uk** » 17:05 Thu 12 Jun 2014

LGTrotter wrote:
flash_uk wrote:Oh Ali.

Poor lad - the 50 beckoned, and he fell into the trap.
But didn't he do good, steadied the ship and looked the part too IMHO.

Yep a very positive debut, and great confidence.

Post by **flash_uk** » 17:06 Thu 12 Jun 2014

Now, I wonder if Derek and Daniel have been wearing the suncream today, or are they now a couple of glowing beacons?

Post by **DRT** » 20:02 Thu 12 Jun 2014

We are not there yet.

Another staggeringly rubbish display by the captain. How long can he get away with this?

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 20:07 Thu 12 Jun 2014

I think you are getting the same way about Cook as me about Mr Bell. Who I would add looked great then got himself out without actually making any significant impact on the game.

Post by **DRT** » 20:21 Thu 12 Jun 2014

LGTrotter wrote:I think you are getting the same way about Cook as me about Mr Bell.

We are both correct.

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 22:24 Thu 12 Jun 2014

Gads you are some tough observers of the beautiful game. England have scored around 150 runs more than they have in any of their last 10 test innings and yet you still grumble. Am I surrounded by graduates from the Geoffrey Boycott School of Curmudgeonliness?

(Quite proud of having invented a new word. It's not in the OED,)

Post by **DRT** » 22:36 Thu 12 Jun 2014

AHB wrote:Am I surrounded by graduates from the Geoffrey Boycott School of Curmudgeonliness?

It's typical of the youth of today to invent meaningless new words when we are trying to have a serious conversation.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 22:57 Thu 12 Jun 2014

AHB wrote:Gads

Love it. Old skool.

And the cricket. Flattered by the comparison to the most excruciating batsman England has ever produced, and yes I do include Chris Tavare in my reckoning, I would direct people interested in my views to the TMS podcast where Boycs covers it all. I have a few minor divergences in that he did not advocate the flogging of laggards. grumblehrmphchunterblahblah.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 00:04 Fri 13 Jun 2014

And what about Stokes and Compton?

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 00:15 Fri 13 Jun 2014

AHB wrote:Gads you are some tough observers of the beautiful game. England have scored around 150 runs more than they have in any of their last 10 test innings and yet you still grumble. Am I surrounded by graduates from the Geoffrey Boycott School of Curmudgeonliness?

The other side of this coin is that we have had one day where Cook, Robson, Ballance and even I would argue Bell failed against a fair to middlin county attack. Root, Prior and particularly Moeen showed excellent temperaments (against a fair to middlin county attack). My curmudgeonlyness is matched only by your blind insouciance.

Good day to you sir!

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 05:47 Fri 13 Jun 2014

LGTrotter wrote:And what about Stokes and Compton?

I would never have put Dennis Compton in the same category of batting style as Sir GB.

I once worked with Dennis Compton, years after he retired from cricket he was Marketing Director at a firm where I did a short spell while training to be an accountant.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 08:12 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Wow. My dad saw him score a century at the Oval, I think.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 13:35 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Slightly annoyed to miss Root's thrilling innings. Unless he's still in tomorrow, with Anderson on 17...

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 14:16 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Come on then whingers. Let's hear how badly we underperformed.

Post by **DRT** » 14:55 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Agent DRT reporting from the Mound Stand:

England seem to have built a small lead just before I got here. Sri Lanka 35-0 with a long way to go.

No one has offered me a cucumber sandwich yet.

I have already bumped into one work colleague who was absolutely wasted.

There are no cheerleaders.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 14:56 Fri 13 Jun 2014

djewesbury wrote:Come on then whingers. Let's hear how badly we underperformed.

That would be me then.

I was thinking following my last nights grumble that Alex is right in the sense that yesterday at Lords would have been my idea of heaven. Today too probably, even though I haven't seen the score.

Sorry to let down the miserable side.

Post by **DRT** » 15:07 Fri 13 Jun 2014

If I had any idea what I was talking about I could probably criticise Cook's field set-up. I'm fairly sure it's bad.

Post by **DRT** » 15:30 Fri 13 Jun 2014

SL 54-1. Karunaratne caught and bowled Jordon with his third ball of the match. Impressive.

Post by **DRT** » 15:32 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Correction. Caught by Prior. Not as impressive as I thought.

Should have gone to Specsavers.

Post by **DRT** » 17:15 Fri 13 Jun 2014

SL plodding along at 126/1 after 36 overs. DJ tells me by text they are doing fine.

A lovely evening. The girl in seat 8/118 adding to the aesthetics of the occasion.

Lots of very drunk people being louder than a gentleman ought to be.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 17:22 Fri 13 Jun 2014

After 38 overs Eng were on 154/1. SL are on 130/1. Our run rate was 4.05, SL's is 3.48. They are behind the mark but not by much. There's a long way to go yet.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 17:27 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Forecast sounds humid and close in the morning. Rain overnight, cloudy and warm in the morning. Jimmy could prove his worth with some swing and maybe get a few in the first session…

Post by **jdaw1** » 17:30 Fri 13 Jun 2014

I deeply regret not being with you.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 17:34 Fri 13 Jun 2014

jdaw1 wrote:I deeply regret not being with you.

We will make sure to raise a glass to absent friends. Derek's full report on the couple of hours he sneaked in this afternoon will follow and our ball-by-ball commentary starts at 11.00 am tomorrow on

Sports Xtra FM (in St John's Wood only, edited highlights on

)

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 17:36 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Spontaneous burst of applause for Joe Root from the miserable stand.

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 17:49 Fri 13 Jun 2014

LGTrotter wrote:Spontaneous burst of applause for Joe Root from the miserable stand.

Good. Admirably uncurmudgeonly.

Post by **DRT** » 19:16 Fri 13 Jun 2014

jdaw1 wrote:I deeply regret not being with you.

You are missing out on:

Ch. Batailley 2004 (half)
Wine Society Exhibition Pauillac 2006
La Croix de Beaucaillou 2006
Wiese& Krohn 1982 Colheita (b2013)
Niepoort 2001 Colheita (b2011) (half)

We will miss you.

Post by **DRT** » 19:31 Fri 13 Jun 2014

djewesbury wrote:After 38 overs Eng were on 154/1. SL are on 130/1. Our run rate was 4.05, SL's is 3.48. They are behind the mark but not by much. There's a long way to go yet.

So this bet, laid after close of play yesterday, doesn't look like bad value...

: Screen Shot 2014-06-13 at 20.29.37.png (15.56 KiB) Viewed 5150 times

djewesbury · Post by **djewesbury** » 19:42 Fri 13 Jun 2014

It doesn't look likely though. A draw is much more likely but I would prefer to see odds for (a) England batting again before close tomorrow, (b) Sri Lanka to follow on (they still need 230ish to avoid that, however academic it looks right now).
Bring on the swing!

Post by **DRT** » 20:11 Fri 13 Jun 2014

djewesbury wrote:It doesn't look likely though.

Perhaps that's why it says 9/1.

LGTrotter · Post by **LGTrotter** » 22:23 Fri 13 Jun 2014

Here's my prediction for the close of play tomorrow. Daniel and Derek (there must be one of those compound names in there like Brangelina) will have had a bl**dy good day out.