Pages seem to be taking ever longer to load/refresh, and I don’t want to stop people posting music videos (well, most of them), so here’s a new page. It’s a three-way trade-off between people being free to put up what they want against having new pages all the time, which confuses mes, and it taking ages to refresh the page, which I know affects Palf. It affects me too, although I get 14 Mbps here and have a reasonable computer.
So, here’s a new page to celebrate cricket being played in Blackpool.
Stanley Park is where I first watched professional cricket in my little person. It was, I believe, Thursday 19 August 1965, and Lancashire were playing Warwickshire. ‘Help!’ was in the charts, and Joe Frazier had had his first professional bout three days before, on the Monday.
My mother took me and my elder brother to the match, and it was the second day. I saw (and I remember I saw) Harry Pilling bat in Lancashire’s second innings (that’s how I worked out which day it was). MJK Smith, Bob Barber (who was an England opener at the time), Billy Ibadulla (who was always in my fantasy teams of the time when my brother and I played games of ‘Howzat’, with proper scorebooks), a young John Jameson, an even younger Dennis Amiss, Jack Bannister (who ended up on telly as a co-commentator/summariser) and a rather older Tom Cartwright played for Warks, while the Lancashire side had Statham*, Goodwin† (who batted at number eleven), Higgs, a young David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd and Geoff Pullar, as well as the gloriously small Pilling. The umpires were Cec Pepper, an Australian who settled in Lancashire after WW2 and played in the Lancashire leagues, and Tom Spencer; both were top umpires of the day. Here’s the card: http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1965/ENG_LOCAL/CC/LANCS_WARWICKS_CC_18-20AUG1965.html
(I might write more later, but I’m getting emotional remembering all the stuff around this.)
As they say, ‘Enjoy the cricket.’
romeoromeotango 
An oldie but a goodie. And PS if I wasn’t already in the middle of something I’d have to watch all 6 of those M&W clips!!
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This is ‘our song’ – me & Mrs Mes
The first song played at our wedding do.
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Followed by this
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Brilliant!
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Our wedding dinner was a multilingual affair with three mother tongues around the table (English, French and German) and only a few of us with enough knowledge to get by in the three. So Mrs Mes and I produced a book of songs in different languages, ranging from ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’ through to Myfanwy in Welsh (sung by an Aunt, solo, the thought of which still brings a tear to my eye) and La Bamba, which an uncle sang. A splendid time was guaranteed for all.
Uncle’s party piece is to take the English song of your choice, the language of your choice, and to break out into the song, in that language, making it scan, and very often rhyme. I heard him do ‘Greensleaves’ in German. Impressive.
He’s also a bit of an Am Dram fan, and I’ve always wanted him to play this. This is a piece shown every new years eve – in English – on German television. Cult viewing if you don’t know it
with Freddie Frinton.
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I’ve only just now watched this.
Highly recommended.
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Same procedure as every year!
Glad you enjoyed it
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Legside Lizzy has this article in The Times:
England T20s will be live on free-to-air TV
Live international cricket will return to free-to-air television in 2020 for the first time in 15 years.
Two England Twenty20 matches will be shown as part of the ECB’s new broadcasting deal, according to the tender document seen by The Times.
The document, sent to all leading broadcasters, sets out the bidding process for the rights to all international and domestic cricket in England between 2020 and 2024 and reveals that at least 13 leading matches a year will be shown live and free to air. This will include the two T20 men’s internationals, the final of the women’s T20 superleague and ten matches in the new eight-team T20 domestic tournament. It had previously been thought that only eight matches out of the 36 in the new tournament would be shown.
The leaked document also reveals that:
● Fewer Tests are likely to be played. When the Ashes are contested at home, England would only play the five Tests against Australia, rather than also two warm-up Tests against another nation.
● Other seasons would feature six Tests — fewer than the normal seven — six ODIs and six international T20s.
● Any pay TV broadcaster that bids for the rights to the new T20 tournament must also bid for the rights to the package that includes international and county cricket. They cannot bid for just one.
● As well as making bids for each package, broadcasters must show how they would maximise their reach and attract new audiences to the game.
● Within five business days of the deal being signed, 10 per cent of any successful bid must be paid, with the remaining 90 per cent paid in five equal annual instalments.
● The board’s decision on which channels will win the tender will be made at 5pm on June 30 — 48 hours after the deadline for the submission of bids.
But it is the return of England matches to terrestrial television that will most excite cricket fans. The 2005 Ashes series on Channel 4 was the most recent time when international cricket was shown live on a free-to-air channel. It attracted average viewing figures of 2.5 million, peaking at an astonishing 8.4 million, in contrast with viewing figures on Sky peaking at 0.5 million during the 2015 Ashes.
Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, has revealed his concern that keeping cricket behind a paywall is harming its ability to stay relevant. He said this year that he wanted to see some games return to free-to-air, even if that meant forsaking some money from the pay TV companies. “We have no ambition to be the richest, most irrelevant sport in this country,” he said.
The BBC, which has not shown live cricket since 1999, is the firm favourite to win the competition for free-to-air games, although there will be bids from ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery, who would show it on Quest, their non-subscription channel.
The Times revealed in March that Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the director-general, has held talks with ECB executives in an attempt to get cricket back on the BBC and has promised to give the new T20 tournament exposure similar to that of the FA Cup. The ECB is known to believe that the prestige attached to the BBC’s name and its online presence will help to broaden the sport’s audience.
Sky has been the sole broadcaster of English cricket since immediately after the 2005 Ashes and pays about £70 million a year for exclusive rights. However, with a new T20 competition included as part of the deal for 2020 to 2024, an acknowledgement that the international rights were undervalued last time round, and that BT is also competing this time, the ECB is expecting the value of the new deal to double if not treble, which may earn it more than a billion over five years.
A 90-page, glossy, hard-backed tender document with Joe Root and Heather Knight, the men’s and women’s Test captains, on the cover was sent out to all radio and television broadcasters who had expressed an interest. All parties have been required to sign a 12-page non-disclosure agreement.
The document sets out the process for submitting bids and a surprisingly tight timetable for the process. Submissions will need to be made to the ECB “no sooner than 0900 hours and no later than 1000 hours, local time in London, England on Wednesday, June 28, 2017”.
The bids will then be considered by a five-man panel comprising Barry O’Brien, the chairman of Glamorgan, Lord Patel of Bradford, who is an independent director on the ECB board, Sir David Scott, the former Channel 4 boss, Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, and Harrison.
Bidders will be notified at 5pm on June 30 and there will be a press conference to announce the successful channels for each package two hours later.
It is expected that Sky Sports and BT Sport will be the main bidders for the bulk of international and county cricket but there may also be bids from Eurosport, which is owned by Discovery. Free-to-air broadcasters including ITV may bid for these packages too, although they are unlikely to be able to match the sums offered by Sky and BT.
A completely standalone digital clips package has been designed to try to attract bidders from non-traditional broadcasters such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as Sky, BT, ESPN and the BBC.
The possibility of reducing the number of Test matches in most summers is likely to concern some of the counties who already battle it out to host England’s five-day matches.
The document suggests that, in Ashes years, only five Test matches may take place in England. In both 2013 and 2015, the years of Australia’s two most recent tours, there was also a two-Test series against New Zealand.
Other years are expected to feature six Tests, a reduction on the usual pattern. This season will be the 16th year since 1999 in which England have played seven home Tests.
Many county grounds rely on Test income to make a profit and fund their players and staff salaries.
In a summer of only five Tests, at least one of Lord’s, the Oval, Edgbaston, Headingley, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge would miss out. Cardiff and Southampton are also desperate to host more matches.
The seven packages up for grabs
Rights package 1
International and county cricket
● All international matches
● All county matches
Available to pay or free-to-air broadcasters
Rights package 2
New T20 leagues
● All new T20 league matches
● All women’s T20 league matches
Available to pay or free-to-air broadcasters
Rights package 3
Free to view
● 2 men’s international T20 matches
● 1 women’s international T20 match
● 10 new T20 league matches
● 8 women’s T20 league matches
Available to free-to-air broadcasters
Rights package 4
Digital clips for all international and domestic cricket
● Six minutes per hour in-match
● 15 minutes of end-of-day highlights
● 30 minutes of end-of- season highlights
Available to pay or free-to-air broadcasters
Rights package 5
International highlights
● All international highlights
Available to free-to-air broadcasters
Rights package 6A
Radio rights for all international matches and new T20 leagues
● All audio rights
Rights package 6B
Radio rights for all county cricket matches
● All audio rights
The five-man panel
Colin Graves ECB chairman
Tom Harrison ECB chief executive
Barry O’Brien Chairman of Glamorgan and former partner of Freshfields, the City law firm
Lord Patel of Bradford Labour peer and an independent member of the ECB’s board of directors
Sir David Scott Former Channel 4 executive and former chief executive of Digital UK
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Thanks Romeo.
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Yes, thanks romeo. So good news on the free to air, but it looks like the days of anyone but Australia getting a five match test series are now firmly behind us.
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Things can change. In the sixties, West Indies played three-match series in England but it was always five in the seventies and eighties (and into the 1990s) when they were at their peak, and Pakistan and India moved to five-match series as well, a bit later. I reckon India will continue to have five-match series at the moment (unless they take their ball and stumps and go and play with themselves).
What it really forbodes is a reduction in Test cricket generally, in the UK at least, which is a Bad Thing. A Good Thing would be for there to be more Test cricket in other countries, eg Afghanistan, Ireland, Nepal and other places to make up for it, and involving the current Big Boys.
‘Current Big Boys’ means I’m now reminded of Robin Day, to his face on TV, calling John Nott, the Defence Secretary at the time (just after the Malvinas War), a ‘here today, gone tomorrow politician’.
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Fair point, and Squire Marks has welcomed the reduction in tests over at the Big G.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/may/17/cricket-free-air-tv-ecb
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I’ll have a proper read of the different packages later but on the surface anything that includes free to air access has to be welcomed.
I wonder if the ECB’s view is that in order to preserve test cricket the answer is to play less of it? Or is this the beginning of the marginalisation of the 5 day game so that in 10 or 15 years time it will no longer exist.
Another point that isn’t anti Glammy as I would ask the same question were it Notts or Lanky but can you really have a chairman of a county, a test match ground, part of the 5 man panel that oversees the reduction of test cricket? Is that not a conflict of interest there?
I certainly don’t trust Graves and Harrison and I don’t enough about Lord Patel, David Scott to make a judgement as to whether these 5 can do the job adequately.
I’d like to people’s views on whether county and international matches should make up 1 package. Bearing in mind the BBC already have commentators at the grounds for radio commentary and you have things like Glammy cam, how difficult would it be for them to put together rights package 4? Or indeed something more comprehensive were it available as a rights package?
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As it stands, I believe any county can do their own webcam coverage of their home games (and currently can sync the BBC’s commentary). It may be that they can only do this if Sky aren’t broadcasting the match (which they 99.999% never do).
Notts were first to do the webcam, Los Liberados the first to sync the commentary. Also, the BBC radio commentary is subsidised by the EBC.
Obviously there’s a cost, but other counties could, and in my view should, get into this. It seems blindingly obvious.
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Speaking of less Test cricket, it seems (from my not very advantageous lookout point at the weather) that there may be no cricket at all in England today.
It’s much brighter in Scotland.
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I don’t normally bother with this sort of thing but as it is the Lord Admiral himself I might have a look at the calendar to see whats what
http://www.durhamccc.co.uk/news/collingwood-testimonial-events/
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Also…
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So if the weather continues as it is I suppose that Essex merely confirm their top spot and everyone else moves up a point, giving the other tow places to Somerset and Surrey.
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I think you may have nailed it there, Peter.
Is it raining with you?
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Yes, we have had one shower his morning, Romeo – at this very moment bright and sunny, but unlikely to last. Time of year for heaviest rains in Colombia is traditionally October and November, looks like they have come early this year. I have never known it so wet here in April and May, and there are parts of the country which are seriously flooded.
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Blimey, Kent. Pretty much a second eleven, certainly a reserve bowling line-up. Very happy to see Crawley and Qayyum though.
But…only five bowlers, no one else even vaguely capable of chipping in. Risky with Adam bloody Ball as one of the five. And yet, they’ve done ok. So far…
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Uh-oh, Qayyum’s figures are heading south…
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What a wonderful way for the group stage of this tournament to end.
I can’t wait for the play-offs.
When I was out of the fantasy stuff I realised just how little I cared about it.
‘Bad mood’ face.
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I know what you mean, but the tournament has nevertheless yielded some exciting games, and perhaps Mes has a few more grey hairs after the ‘roll-coaster’ ride with Glammy. Can’t see the Yorkshire seconds beating Surrey on June 13th so they will certainly have some interesting selection considerations regarding their young players in the coming county games.
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I’d just like to have hair – grey or otherwise!
Mine started falling out at the age of 13, and I’ve been almost completely bald since the age of 18!
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Sorry Mes, should have therefore said, that if you had hair it would now be greyer.
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Hey, Kent seconds are still playing! Which makes up for everything. Um…
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Evening everyone
And congrats to zimmerboy for winning D2.
Hope everyone else enjoyed the tournament.
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So while I’ve been out at a local fish restaurant with the Mrs. even Canterbury has succumbed to the rain. Not that the result of the game mattered that much. Some people have posted on here about the first limited over match they have seen. Mine was around 1961 or 1962, soon after the inception of the Gillette Cup. Yorkshire v Middlesex, not a very distinguished game from what I recall, apart from the slip catching of Phil Sharpe. He took three good catches, one of which was an absolute stunner off of a late cut by Peter Parfitt. Phil was the only slip standing in a position between first and second slip. As soon as Parfitt played the shot he flung himself full length to his right, sharp wasn’t the word, that ball was travelling but he held on one-handed with the ball no more than an inch from the turf. Sort of dismissal where the batsman lingers a second or two before walking, no disrespect, simply not believing his bad luck. It goes down in my book as one of the greatest catches I have ever seen in professional cricket.
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I’m sure someone can come up the scorecard for that match from the OOP (even if cricket archive now has a paywall)
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Yes, sure it can be found. By the way Mes, hearty congratulations in your 50 over fantasy success. I must try and do a trawl of the county squads before the next round of county games begin, although being in the squads as I have said before, and as I know to my cost, is no guarantee of playing. It also looks as though the wet weather in the UK that messed up the final 50 over matches, is due, sadly, to continue until the next round of county games is over. So that will also make it something of a lottery.
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Morning all
Try again at the dentist this morning – must be on time.
In the meantime can someone please explain why Durham are not playing the round of county fixtures tomorrow? Come Monday there will be teams who will have played 4 (Notts, Packet O’ Fags) 3 (Glocks, TMN) and then daftly you will have Soosix and Durham still on bloody two. Effin ECB eejits.
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Morning chopper, everyone
The vagaries of the Schedule are subject to Harrison’s uncertainty principle. Hence there is a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of logical properties of the schedule, such as matches played and matches to be played, can be known. The more you understand one part – the number of matches played – the less you understand the second part.
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Sussix play Durham starting on Sunday. They can’t start tomorrow because Sussix are playing South Africa tomorrow, a 50-over warm up for SA before next week’s ODIs.
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Those south sixons are a pain in the bum – because it means their squads will not be announced today, fortunately I have only one player affecetd who is more or less a fixture in the Durham side. But it could mean we can’t update our Fantasy teams next week until very late and not before I probably travel to south Colombia for the family wedding which could make the next round a total headache for me.
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This is quite a nice backstory to the new laws on bat sizes
The Hindu is not my usual morning read, I’ll reassure everyone! This popped up in one of my feeds
http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/british-indian-surgeon-leads-cricket-bat-design-research/article18478967.ece
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I see Pujara has been named in the Nottinghamshire squad to play Glammy.
You all know what I’m going to write, even without me having to write it!
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Still waiting for some squads to be declared, but I am glad I am doing this checking because I am certainly one player down, the Somerset player Lewis Gregory, whom I know has a stress fracture, but from what I read they wanted to play him using pain injections to delay the need for an Op. If others are still looking for squads a good source is the Cricketer Div 1 and Div 2 previews, a bit slower than the actual county sites, but with the advantage that you can look at all the squads in one place – there is a very convenient link to this via the Middlesex County Cricket site news features. Don’t say I am not trying to help fellow competitors in a bid to get a team that actually turns out!! And a very good afternoon to everyone.
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Heh, Mes I actually read on the YYC web site today in their preview of their game with Lanky, that they weren’t really playing Lanky but a group of Kolpaks (plus one Lurpak?- Jayardene?)
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YCC named a squad of 14 players, which means all the batsmen will play, including Jack Leaning. The mystery is over the bowlers – they have named Rafiq (certain to play), Bresnan (certain to play), Matt Fisher (Probab ly not) Karl Carver (Probably not), leaving one more to drop out from ‘Sid’, Brooks, Patterson and Coad – if they ditch Coad I will be a bowler down in one of my teams. Should they ditch Coad, absolutely not – surely it has to be either Patterson, or one of ‘Sid’ and Brooks on the basis that to play both has a high risk of one breaking down. It is really another mistake in selection – Jack Leaning instead of Matthew Waite, at least with Waite you could risk ‘Sid’ and Books together because you have a further bowling option.
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Presume that means we have seen the last of Pattinson and he won’t be returning for the 2 county matches after the Champions trophy
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Oh well, HPG, if you will select Kolpaks that keep falling over.
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Read an interview with him, that says he wants to play again after the Champions Trophy.
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He wants to return, Chopper. http://www.trentbridge.co.uk/news/2017/may/pattinson-trent-bridge-is-fantastic.html
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So, Jordan Clark still has back knack and the even better news is that 2.0 fractured his thumb this morning in training, which is just great.
Who do we have next?
Ah.
Oh.
Here’s the 14 man squad
Steven Croft (C), James Anderson, Tom Bailey, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Alex Davies, Haseeb Hameed, Simon Kerrigan, Danny Lamb, Liam Livingstone, Ryan McLaren, Stephen Parry, Luke Procter, Rob Jones, Dane Vilas
I’d play both Killer and Cannonball, go for Rob Jones over Luke Procter, stand Lamb and Bailey down no matter how much I’d like to see the Danny Lamb slower ball bamboozling Yorkists and ponder what on earth Arron Lilley has done. I suspect Procs will play though to stiffen up the bowling.
Only one opening bowler is a problem, though and it’s going to get worse when Jimmy departs on England duty.
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Chuffing ‘eck, I’m up against Chopper’s lot tomorrow and with Pattinson absent and Ben Sanderson on a bye my bowling attack has been devastated. I’m having to pin faith on Mason Crane finally getting a game and a quick emergency transfer (and my apologies to mes and romeo for who has just transferred into my bowling attack and the inevitable effect it will have on their form) but I’m loath to also transfer Patto out as my understanding is he’ll be back after the Champo Trophy (and will I’d assume cost a lot mor to buy again)? I can spot a bit of a landslide victory on the cards for Samit’s boys.
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Evening Gal
I suspect it’s either de Lange or Timm vdG you’ve drafted into your squad, depending on your Financial resources.
I’m playing both somewhere in my various teams, so if jinxing there is, I think it’s more of the homegrown variety. I may reconsider transferring my reducing Glammy players I used at the end of the white-ball knockabout, but I’m only marginally changing my red-ball squads.
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Actually it was Lukas Carey, as I was a bit low on funds. Need to have more of a think about tranferring Patto out to free up some more.
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I’m playing Lukas as well in my 3rd XI, so no worries at all. Homeside jinxing must outweigh away jinxing.
He’s a good prospect is Lukas. Can hold a bat as well
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I don’t feel so bad about it now. I’ve also bitten the bullet and Patto is out, James Harris of Kent is in.
My hopes for this round are not high,
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Might get away with it Gal, because the forecast is still not good until this round of County matches end. See that G-Bal, reported high again in the selector’s thoughts which means YCC wil have to then bring in another home-grown bat – be better if they started to blood now in preparation, on current form has to be Waite, or Rhodes I would have thought.
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Even if he is a Yorkist, the selectors would have to have a really special excuse to ignore Ballance with the form he is in.
Waite seems in better form than Rhodes at the moment. If I were Galey though I might be tempted by putting Jonny Tattersall in. His form for 2s and Lincs is superb and there wouldn’t be a more motivated cricketer in Yorkshire. If Jonny were to make his way back into the county side it would inspire every talented young bat in the Ridings.
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This may not mean that much to many people here, but I want to mark the passing of Rhodri Morgan yesterday.
A lovely man who did a lot of good for Wales. If only there were more like him.
RIP
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Those of us who know, know
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With regards to the fantasy cricket, Kent have Leics tomorrow, which is a long way of saying that if your opponent has Stevo and you haven’t, you’ve basically lost.
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My captain for tomorrow.
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If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone will surely have Stevo as captain, you’ve won then.
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I know I have…
As second nature as fastening a seatbelt when you get in the car. Clunk-click, every round.
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I know and understand why, but it would have been lovely to have seen the team you would have selected.
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I’ve just made the mistake of looking at Chopper’s team from the last round. He’s got Stevo and LL Cool Stone and Sanga. I may have to rename mine to DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED XI.
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You think Livi is going to score runs?
I’d like to think he is, but we both know how the next couple of days goes, don’t we?
Sanga is great, obviously, but the Mexicans have the Middle Saxons at Lords, and I don’t see them getting that huge pile of runs they’d get at Kennington’s most famous A Road.
You might be ok – unless he’s got Jack Leach and you haven’t. Warwickshire are at Ciderabad. I don’t see that ending well for them. Dom Bess might be worth a punt for that matter as he’s in the squad and it wouldn’t surprise me if he played.
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That’s true. Anyone who has a Lanky in the squad for this round has a problem.
*Checks DOOMED XI. Yup, Al Davies is still wicket keeper.*
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It’s his big chance tomorrow, because my first choice keeper broke a finger and I don’t want to trade. (Of course, he was much better last time, too.)
Also, if I wasn’t too tired I’d probably trade someone else in for Karl Brown, because he’s not even in the squad, apparently, but I’ll just hope all my proper batsmen play.
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A Yorkist is relying on Al Davies in a Roses match? We live in strange times indeed.
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Ah, I didn’t think of that. Still, Jeetan Patel won me my first game when they were playing Yorkshire and Warwickshire still horribly lost, so let’s hope for more of that! 😉
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Can’t quite afford Jack Leach. But I’m tempted to trade Mason Crane (who I just don’t think is going to get a game anytime soon) for Luke Fletcher, who is back to full fitness and will get more overs with Patto and Jake Ball absent.
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Although that would leave me with only 20 trades for the rest of the season. Decisions, decisions…
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I’d spend too much time fuming that Colin Ingram and Keith Barker are not considered all-rounders and Ed Barnard and Zak Chappell are.
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Barker is an all rounder, he’s in my team (I think)
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In other news, anyone seen the most recent edition of All Out Cricket? Don’t normally bang on about the mags, but this issue is v good, with a very entertaining interview with Bressie lad in which he, unsurprisingly, comes across as a splendid bloke, and an especially good feature from Felix White, who used to front the Maccabees but who can certainly write an article, interviewing a selection of cricketers about their lives after cricket. A very affecting and insightful read. Kicks off with quite a long section from Kyle Hogg and gives some insight into how long he’d been dealing with such a serious back injury, but also has a number of well-known and not-so-well known cricketing names. Particularly good interviews with James Taylor, Luke Sutton and Jack Russell in there and a very affecting one with Andrew Flintoff. Mark Butcher is admirably honest about some of the things he did as a young man.
The nature and tone of the piece I think is summed up by the final line of the intro to another excellent interview with Brett Lee, in which Lee is very positive about his post-playing life:
“…I tell him of Freddie’s (Flintoff) admission that he dreams of cricket most nights, to which he pauses and responds, ‘So do I mate. I think we all do.’
Well worth a read.
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Glammy squad for tomorrow Rudolph (c), Selman, Bragg, Ingram, Cooke, Donald, Carlson, Lloyd, Salter, De Lange, Hogan, Carey, van der Gugten
So the Liberated XI is
1. Lloyd
2. Selman
3. Ingram
4. Nye (I still think Nye should aspire to be 4)
5. Cooke (wk)
6. Carlson
7. Salter
8. Carey
9. de Lange
10.Timm
11. Hogan (c)
I have a feeling the actual XI will be with Jacques (obv) – I think Nye will be dropped. He has no form whatsoever.
And Bragg could well play, with either Lukas or Timm missing out (more likely Lukas), and Glam using Carlson to bowl more.
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Pipeline news
http://www.glamorgancricket.com/cricket/news/2017/may/glamorgan-sign-young-welsh-duo.html
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I’m sure Nye won’t play. He’s had an awful season.
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He didn’t exactly winter well down in Oz either.
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I didn’t know that. Something isn’t right at the moment. It’s easy (as I do) to criticise Kolpaks but, if the local talent isn’t producing then what do you do?
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Here are his stats for last winter at Midland Guildford (Under the tutelage of Stewie Walters)
http://mycricket.cricket.com.au/common/pages/public/rv/cricket/viewplayer.aspx?clubid=530&entityid=530&playerid=1337728
His average in the first grade was a shade of 24. Top score of 61.
Yes, he hit some big scores. Playing for the colts.
Not exactly wonderful, I’m afraid
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He has the talent. But he has to learn to play long innings. He’s too good just to play 2nd XI cricket in my opinion, but someone has to sit him down. Maybe dropping him will be part of that process.
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In fact, he’s not been right since Michael Vaughan tipped him as a future England captain.
Bloody Yorkist jinxing on the poor dab.
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Hold on – wasn’t Michael Vaughan born in Manchester, but a parent from Yorkshire? I really can’t remember, but have my suspicions.
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We swapped you for Glen Chapple, born in Skipton. One went on to be an England legend who happened to have Yorkist connections, the other went on to be a Lanky legend.
I know who did best out of the deal.
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I have to say, one pleasant side effect of fantasy cricket is that I feel I know a lot more about the championship this year. Unlike HPG, who I suspect when he thinks about cricket sees a series of numbers scrolling down in front of him like Neo in the Matrix, I tend to be very Lanky focused, whereas this season I find myself paying a lot more attention to how other counties’ players are doing, scrutinising twitter feeds etc for squad news, and so forth. A very worthwhile activity.
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I’m waiting to find out what the Sage of the North-East aka chopper is lining up as his prédictions for this round.
I’m also guessing we’ll be back on at The G as well.
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It’s true, Galactus, it’s true.
I’m always after the next yarn. No sport creates stories like cricket does and I just love them, great and small. I love that Shropshire and Worcestershire are captained by the Leach brothers. I love that Danny Lamb’s younger sister Emma has played for England so meaning Jimmy Ormond could use the legendary Mark Waugh sledge against him. I love that Hampshire’s Charles Knott, is, to date, appears to be the only fishmonger to have played first class cricket.
I love them all.
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Please tell me Charles Knott was a spin bowler, and that this is the origin of the expression ‘done like a kipper’.
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You mean he made the batsmen ‘flounder’, Mes?
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‘I love them all.’
Made me think of this.
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Just used my final trade to bring in the DI as skipper. Ollie Rayner is probably more of a late season choice and really a waste as an all rounder.
Nye is guaranteed not to play as he’s still in my team. Have Sam Hain as my emergency though so he should play.
I can’t get over how lucky the ECB have been with the weather for the 50 over stuff. The block of games has worked, but it wouldn’t be a massive shock if the entire group stage had been washed out. I suppose they’d just give the cup to Hampshire.
Not sure how I feel about the BBC getting cricket again. I think their sport coverage on TV isn’t great at all. Clare Balding is about the only good person they have. A Match of the Day style show would be good to watch though.
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The question then is:
What do we do about Nye? Does he go off and play some 2nd XI matches? To ensure he plays some first-class cricket, maybe we could get some lesser county to have him on loan for the rest of the season.
Oh.
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The liberated me would still play Nye, in spite of his form.
I think he needs one bit of luck, and he’ll be up and running again.
He won’t find that luck sitting in the dressing room.
We’re liberated. Play the kids.
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Maybe he’s too liberated. It must be hard to pretty much know you’re going to lose no matter what. I think long innings are a must.
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I’d be happy for him to be a little selfish and play for himself. Just play yourself in son. You earn the right to smash the ball to the boundary, especially in red ball cricket
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Feel for Nye, Mes, because at the end of the day he is still a talented young player, and just going through a horrible patch. I will feel even sorer though if Yorks drop Coad tomorrow – he’s their leading wicket-taker across all competions, what more can you ask of the young fellow!
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Yes, it was no bad thing when BBC lost the F1 coverage to Channel 4. If I never hear a second of Eddie Jordan’s poetry again, it will still be too soon.
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Have an awful lot of Worcester players in my fantasy squads, and can’t even think why. Wonder how may will play tomorrow?
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Morning Peter, and everyone. I also picked up Mitchell and Leach to replace my resting TMNers. Then realised that a wet forecast tends to damage chances of play at New Road more than at most other places. Hope they’re playing away, but my fantasy cricket meddling didn’t stretch to proper research.
Anyway, woke up early and excited this morning. After such a long break from CC, it’s like a second Christmas morning!
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Having said that, I realised this morning that Parry works as a verb, so he’s drafted in to my Verbs team to replace Crane, after checking the Lancs squad. My other late entry, Tongue, only pops in after 10, appropriately enough. But I haven’t lowered the tone too much, because he’s replacing Buck.
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You have Tongue in your Verbs team?
Arf!
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IT’S FRIDAY!
And that means I get to go back to our house!
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Will be in Edinburgh w**king for next couple of days but I am sure Lancs will be fine*.
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Morning all
We are back for a round of proper red ball creekit and so the trades have been made, I think the weather will regularly intervene for this round. Were that not the case I could see the following winners
Essex vs ECB’s Hampshire – ECB I’m afraid
Lanky vs Yorkists – Rain sodden draw
Middle Sax vs Mexicans – Draw
Stingray vs Warks – Stingray
Derby vs Worcs – Worcs
Glam vs Notts – Draw
Leicester vs Kent – Kent
Would appear that I have been incubating a cold/chest infection for the last 10 days and the trip to the dentist yesterday has released it and I feel like the proverbial sack of crap. Plus I’m actually busy at w**K! How did I let that happen?
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“Glam Vs Notes – Draw”
You’re not fooling anyone, Chopper! Jinx early, jinx hard.
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I saw that as well. I’ll have to keep my eye on Young chopper
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And you’re going for Stingray against the Brummies, eh?
Big call that one in what could be a corker of a fixture, especially at Ciderabad.
I’d be a bit more Hofmeisterish.
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Just be having a twitter chat with Will, and the Jinxmaster agrees with me that Glammy are in for a tanking
#reversepolarity
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Every season has a few odd or surprise results and I reckon Glammy are going to take a Notts without Hales, Ball and Pattinson to the cleaners. Strange things are afoot in the shadows of the Welsh dragon.
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This is going to be *fun* for the next few days
BTW everyone, we have gorgeous weather here South of the channel, so I hope some of it reaches oop North
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Had a look at the weather this morning in various parts of the country and precipitation is a recurring theme unfortunately, so fully expect the games to regularly interrupted.
I think it is about time Stingray showed some of last seasons form in the County Championship and whilst the Sledgehammer and Trott are showing some decent form I’m going for the Apple Farmers.
I think a number of Lanyites have been performing the Ormskirk Puddle Dance in expectation of the visit of the white rose. who I suspect have been trying to counter with…
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For some reason the idea of the Ormskirk Puddle Dance led me to this
The dance that Glammy will need to survive against Notts
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Let me stop you there, the Shaman of Welbeck has been playing this in anticipation of the game at Cardiff
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There’s a new page, everyone.
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