Idle cricket musing

[El Pibe]

A miserable series ends.

A brief interlude to pick through the corpse of the tour, then on the bright-side things can pretty much only improve.

Morgan has yet to convince at this level and will be lucky to retain his place, Bell had rum old time too. As for KP.....

But there have been hiccups in the past few years when overall it's still a golden age I guess.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

But it's good to have Monty back in favour.

[El Pibe]

aye, that it is

[maxxi]

Yes but time for Morgan to go.

[Loz]

Only when you can find someone to replace him with. The bench looks pretty empty.

[maxxi]

I think Bopara is a better option atm and before anyone shoots the idea to pieces it's worth remembering that he had a good summer last year with bat AND ball (top run getter in ODIs v India and bowling figures of 4 for 10 in a T20 v W.I.) and deserves another run in the test side.

[Loz]

He's passable in the short games (though they don't let him bowl enough). Not good enough for a test berth, though.

[maxxi]

If England continue to bat like they have there will only BE short games...

[maxxi]

ODI - England 260/7 (Cook 137), Pakistan currently 20/2 (both Finn) off 5. live info.

[Atticus]

Finn making this into a decent game

[maxxi]

Finn 5-0-18-4

Pk 40/4.

Pakistan will go looking for it now - expect some slogging and/or quick wickets.

[Atticus]

Boom Boom innings might be interesting!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Does anyone else have a little jig to Booker T when it's over?

[maxxi]

exciting finish to this one - Pk. now need 44 off 33 balls to win.

[maxxi]

Fine work by Finn - a no ball giving Rehman a free hit - Finn takes out middle stump to nullify free hit - then bowls him again next ball.

Pk. need 34 off 18.

1st ball of next over Misbah slogged, caught Kieswetter.

now need 34 off 17 with 2 wickets remaining

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Sachin Tendulkar de man!

[Atticus]

Yep...Asian cup v Bangladesh, in a losing cause... not what he'd have dreamt of...

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Somebody remind me what the point of cricket is pls.

[Loz]

It's to provide welcome relief from the boorishness of football.

[Brendan]

I've always thought that it has something to do with pies.

[Loz]

That was back when Matthew Hoggard was bowling. Or Botham was having lunch.

[maxxi]

I know it's not everyone's cup of Darjeeling but the IPL starts again tomorrow and - after having to follow England's stuttering progress on the radio - there are 72 live matches on ITV4!

First up Chennai Super Kings (Muralitharan, Bravo, Morkel...) v Mumbai Indians (Tendulkar, Symonds, Singh...)

Bring on the big hitting madness and let's hope we see the return of the Mongoose.

[Loz]

The coverage is good, but the pundits were absolutely atrocious last year. So toe-curlingly bad you just had to watch them.

[maxxi]

True - Matt Smith and Shonali Nagrani made Ortis Deley look like a genius but Alec Stewart, Simon Hughes and Clive Lloyd will be fine.

[maxxi]

Got no work done this afternoon watching KP's fantastic knock of 103 off 64 balls including nine 6s to bring Delhi Daredevils back from the brink (ending on 162 for 5 after they were 27 for 3) to win against the Deccan Chargers - and he won it with a 6 straight down the ground. Really wonderful batting.