I played for Hassra north east through work about 2 months back we got beat by a team from Portsmouth, we got fucking hammered they had two players who played for Hampshires youth teams and we only had 4 people who'd ever bowled a ball in our lives. The knocked something like 380 for 5 from 50 overs we were all out for 150 haha Was the first form of any cricket i'd played since i was 17. Last time i played was a college game Liam Plunkett was playing for our college as he was on the same course as me in the year below i thought was ok but nothing amazing then 3 years later he was in the England side.
what a shot to take prior out yesterday!!! really gutted aswell because he was doing everything right, he had the match in his gooch pad. cant wait for todays play
i often get the Pollock crack, i didnt know the aussies had a ginge as well... i feel sorry for the cunt growing up in the australian sunshine with that barnett and skin pigment
We had a replacement science teacher at school called mr onions. He used to check if the bunson burners were on by running his hand over them. We had his life, proper thick as fuck. We knew more about newtons laws of motion than him and we haven't even been taught it yet.
another piece of gateshead fell cc trivia... marcus north played for gateshead fell from 2000 until 2003, when he signed for durham!
Pieterson out for the summer as he's having surgery on his achillies. Guess that means Bopara is safe for now and Bell will come back in. Could be seen as a major loss but Bells been in great form at county level and Pieterson hasn't exactly set the ashes alight. Only time will tell.
Bell's record against Australia is fucking shocking, but he is the only middle order batsman that stands out enough to put into the side. i think he will bat at 3 and Bopara will move up to 4. our middle order has struggled for consistency so far so maybe a change of personell/ order will do it some good, hope so anyway. i think Harmison should come into the side now aswell for either onions or broad.
Onions only managed 20 overs because of his Elbow so he may well miss out. I doub't they will drop broad now with him being handy at the bat. Bell record is shocking against them but he's the obvious candidate to come in and he deserves the chance due to form. I think they'll keep Ravi at 3 as to make it a straight swap. I like Bell he's a great batsman with all the shots he just needed time out the team to get some runs which he's got. The only other real option and i can see him taking Bells place as back up is Rob Key at number 3 but he won't jump over Bell who captained the Lions to victory over the Aussies in a warmup game.
scoring 0 and 20 and they drew the match, but il not dwell on that Not all that keen on having Bell back in the side. Loads of ability. Total flake under any pressure. But then you think, who else? Key - needs to lose 2-3 stone before id consider him. Shah - seemed far too nervy when he got his chance. Other young untried player from the Lions side - risky. Ideal scenario, persuade Trescothick to come back for 3 tests (scored another century today) and move Cook or Strauss to no.3 and Bopara 4. Never gonna happen though. Therefore, Bell it is. Hope he does the business, but i will be worrying if he comes in with England 20/2.
Denly and Moore both had decent knocks against Australia for the Lions so they should really be in the frame as well, but i think the selectors will go with Bell, and i think Shah will be drafted in as cover
glad you mentioned shah vin. i don't like bell, i don't really think he's that good, and i don't think he's deserving of a place in the test squad. i'm a massive admirer of owais shah in one dayers and i rambled on for ages that he should get a chance in a test, but when he did earlier this year he didn't do very well at all. ravi is a great batsman but he wasn't a 3 when we put him there, he was middle-order. he's done well against the west indies and i think he will become a great 3, but having him try to learn to become such a top order batsman during an ashes series is a bit risky. bell is a 3, so i think he could go there and drop ravi to 4. the positive thing to take from bell's inclusion is that he has something to prove. i do think harmison might be good but i wouldn't change our bowling attack after lord's, unless onions or freddie are injured. i think graham onions needs to be involved if he's fit, he really is great at taking wickets, especially down the order. harmison is great against the aussies though. hopefully we can build on that second test win. edgbaston is a great ground and can be like a 'twelfth man', so it'd be nice to get another win. as for pietersen by the way, i don't think we'll miss him at all. he's been shocking for months, especially during this series. a fit batsman who can run will be a much better inclusion.
Bell frustrates me, not aggressive enough - he admitted so in a recent interview. Thankfully the Aussie bowling attack are currently a bunch of lightweights - if he had to face McGrath, Warne and Lee back in their hayday or a bunch of fired up South Africans he'd defend himself to getting out caught behind as always.
Bell deserves another chance. He was left out because he wasn't getting any runs. He was told to go back to Warwickshire get some runs and take it from there. He's done that so deserves another crack at it. Denley & Moore are good shouts but it's the Ashes you can't just throw them in at the deep end. I wouldnt bring back Trescothick either. What's the point of it for 3 tests? I'd sooner bring in someone who will play 3 tests then go back out the side and have a chance to come in again in the future. Shah is a cracking player but he froze when given the opportunity, I know that's the same for Bell against the Aussies when he's played them but if he's froze against the Windies what's he going to do in an Ashes test? He needs confidence going into an innings and he's not going to have much of that. It's quite obvious there is only one candidate and thats the Sherminator. Not to bat at 3 though.
