The Cricket thread

[deiseach]

Australia four down. Is Ian Bell the only batsman who is able to, you know, bat in this series?

[magpie seanie]

If England get Clarke out before close today they'll be flying.

[deiseach]

[Canalman]

Have to say that I have a wry smile seeing the cricketing Aussies caterwailing about "sportsmanship". Found very few things to dislike about Oz,  but their cricketers by and large over the years have been a dislikeable bunch.

Boorish winners and Poor(ish )losers.

[magpie seanie]

Will England make them follow on (as it now appears likely that will be an option with the Aussies top batsman, Agar, has just being run out)? Probably not I'd imagine with batting conditions still pretty good?

[deiseach]

Will England make them follow on (as it now appears likely that will be an option with the Aussies top batsman, Agar, has just being run out)? Probably not I'd imagine with batting conditions still pretty good?

I'd say they'll want to give the bowlers a break. It's not as if there's any danger of rain, which nearly did for them against New Zealand when they chose not to follow on.

[RealSpiritof98]

Beefy and Bumble talking about London in the Conaught Final, love it they said.

[magpie seanie]

That was some tonking. How will the Aussies recover from this? Will KP be able to play the 3rd Test and if not who will replace him? Morgan? Bopara?

[Main Street]

Ireland v England, one day event at Malahide

Weather looks good. Ireland batting first.  2 walked early as usual.
now Porterfield and N O'Brien are stabilising affairs.

75-2   16.3 overs

[magpie seanie]

13 Irishmen playing this match!

Rankin has 2 wickets on his England debut already but porterfield has us going well.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Great knock from Porterfield.

If they could get up to 265-ish - we should be in for a good one

[Main Street]

Not a bad effort by Ireland. It was looking a bit dodgy around the 45 over mark but Sorensen and Johnston teamed up well and hit a few boundaries.

[Main Street]

Looks doable for Ireland, England are making heavy weather of the chase.

[Main Street]

It wasn't to be in the end as the Irish bowling attack petered out and England won easily.

[seafoid]

Trott withdraws from the Ashes due to stress.



http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/24/ashes-alastair-cook-war-clarke-broken-arm-sledge


When Johnson was asked afterwards whether he had seen fear in Trott's eyes, there was confirmation that England's No3 has now become a target in Australia. "Do you want me to answer that?" Clarke said as Johnson hesitated. When the man of the match finally answered, he said: "I dunno. There were a couple of nice ones that were zinging past his nose where there might have been a little bit of fear there."
Asked again whether he had seen fear in Trott's eyes, Johnson smiled and said nothing. "Good answer, Mitchy, good boy," added Clarke, to general hilarity. For Trott, this is deadly serious.


http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/25/jonathan-trott-leaves-england-ashes-tour

Jonathan Trott has sensationally left England's Ashes tour after only one Test - but England insist his departure is down to a long-term stress related illness, and that he is not running away from the technical problems that have been exposed by Mitchell Johnson, and mocked by David Warner.
"I don't feel it is right that I'm playing knowing that I'm not 100% and I cannot currently operate at the level I have done in the past," said Trott.
"My priority now is to take a break from cricket so that I can focus on my recovery. I want to wish my team-mates all the very best for the remainder of the tour."
England's team director Andy Flower said: "Trotty has been suffering from a stress-related condition for quite a while.