Best game of cricket ever?

[jonny777]

5 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Shades of my old PE teacher in the 60's, anything like a tentative shot played at hittable ball brought forth the riposte"open your shoulders boy" at full Sergeant Major volume!

 

Mike.

 

One of the most memorable events in world cricket was when I (Mr Useless and last to be picked even for the reserves) bowled the Head Sports Master in a school charity cricket match. I think he almost refused to walk because of the sheer embarrassment of the incident. 

[south_tyne]

3 hours ago, DLT said:

 

It was Trent Boult, almost repeating his match-Winning catch off Carlos Brathwaite in the game against the West Indies.

He threw the ball to Guptil, but it was too late.

 

Thanks for the correction Dave.

 

3 hours ago, DLT said:

 

Not just in the Sunday League.  When David Gower was twelfth man for England he would bring a tray out at the drinks interval.  There would be a ring of glasses of orange squash surrounding the gin & tonics in the middle.

 

In the North East we are always regaled with tales of Colin Milburn, or 'The Burnopfield Basher'. A larger than life man, both on and off the pitch, who in is prime is said to have drunk 5 pints a night. Different times. His story ended up being very sad though, cut down at his peak when he lost an eye in a car crash, and never realising his potetial with England. Maverick player and a maverick man. Somehow I don't think he would be able to get away with it nowadays though! 

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 hours ago, south_tyne said:

 

In the North East we are always regaled with tales of Colin Milburn, or 'The Burnopfield Basher'. A larger than life man, both on and off the pitch, who in is prime is said to have drunk 5 pints a night. Different times. His story ended up being very sad though, cut down at his peak when he lost an eye in a car crash, and never realising his potetial with England. Maverick player and a maverick man. Somehow I don't think he would be able to get away with it nowadays though! 

 

Not just in the North East. Colin Milburn was quite a cult figure in the game anywhere in the country. He would surely have thrived in the one-day game of today.

 

Above all he is known as one of the best short leg fielders ever. Amazing reflexes for such a large bloke!

[melmoth]

25 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Not just in the North East. Colin Milburn was quite a cult figure in the game anywhere in the country. He would surely have thrived in the one-day game of today.

 

Above all he is known as one of the best short leg fielders ever. Amazing reflexes for such a large bloke!

 

He was slightly before my time, but I was told that his record at short leg was partly due to him being able to absorb the ball in his beer gut...

[south_tyne]

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Not just in the North East. Colin Milburn was quite a cult figure in the game anywhere in the country. He would surely have thrived in the one-day game of today.

 

Above all he is known as one of the best short leg fielders ever. Amazing reflexes for such a large bloke!

 

He would have been a superstar in the one-day game of today. Imagine how far he would have hit the thing with modern bats!?! 

 

Obviously he played for Northamptonshire in the days when we weren't a first-class county but he's still 'one of our own'. There was a strong tradition of players from the North East playing for Northants, it was a well-trodden path before Durham stepped-up to play in the County Championship.

 

44 minutes ago, melmoth said:

 

He was slightly before my time, but I was told that his record at short leg was partly due to him being able to absorb the ball in his beer gut...

 

Well he cannot have been any less mobile than Chris Gayle is nowadays!! 

[t-b-g]

I remember Colin Milburn on the telly towards the end of his career when he made a brief comeback and played with one dodgy eye for a short while. A big bloke holding a matchstick instead of a bat. If he made contact, the ball went a very long way. My dad had seen him at his best and encouraged me to watch although he was a shadow of his former self in skill if not in physical size.

 

In the modern game, where everybody needs to be a highly honed athlete, he may have struggled but I can't help but think that the game is a bit poorer for not having such characters.

 

Honestly, he made Chris Gayle look very rapid between he wickets.

 

[melmoth]

A couple of posts have suggested that modern bats are heavier than those used previously, but since the laws of the game define the length, width, depth of edge, and overall depth of a bat, and apart from a clarification in 1979 that all bats must be made of wood (after Dennis Lillee's Aluminium Escapade), I'm not sure that anything has changed particularly over the last 30/40 years. A Stuart Surridge short handle Jumbo (circa 1984) is still the heaviest thing I've ever used in anger at the crease.

[griffgriff]

22 minutes ago, melmoth said:

A couple of posts have suggested that modern bats are heavier than those used previously, but since the laws of the game define the length, width, depth of edge, and overall depth of a bat, and apart from a clarification in 1979 that all bats must be made of wood (after Dennis Lillee's Aluminium Escapade), I'm not sure that anything has changed particularly over the last 30/40 years. A Stuart Surridge short handle Jumbo (circa 1984) is still the heaviest thing I've ever used in anger at the crease.

SS Jumbo.... They were beasts. IT Botham heaved one of them back in his Somerset days.... as did IVA Richards (for a time). Taunton must have suffered a few broken roof tiles back then

 

Griff

[brack]

Bat design has changed significantly - the size and position of the sweet spot is very different, making modern batting more forgiving of poor technique. The laws define weight and maximum dimensions, but it's what wood, the shape and where the mass is that makes the difference.

There have been a number of studies done which suggested the sweet spot on a modern bat might be 3 times the size of that of a 60s/70s bat due to increased understanding of materials and design. Similar to what Sondheim did in golf with the perimeter weighted clubs.

A good batsman would still be a good batsman regardless, but the increases in scoring rate and boundaries aren't just from more attacking cricket and the influence of shorter forms of the game. I'm not suggesting that there haven't been improvements that benefit the bowler, but the batsman's tool has got vastly better.

[south_tyne]

11 hours ago, melmoth said:

A couple of posts have suggested that modern bats are heavier than those used previously, but since the laws of the game define the length, width, depth of edge, and overall depth of a bat, and apart from a clarification in 1979 that all bats must be made of wood (after Dennis Lillee's Aluminium Escapade), I'm not sure that anything has changed particularly over the last 30/40 years. A Stuart Surridge short handle Jumbo (circa 1984) is still the heaviest thing I've ever used in anger at the crease.

 

Sorry maybe my post was misleading. It probably should have said changing bat design rather than heavier. Ah I had forgotten about DK's aluminium bat controversy at the WACA! The footage of when he hurls it away is rather entertaining! 

 

10 hours ago, brack said:

A good batsman would still be a good batsman regardless, but the increases in scoring rate and boundaries aren't just from more attacking cricket and the influence of shorter forms of the game. I'm not suggesting that there haven't been improvements that benefit the bowler, but the batsman's tool has got vastly better.

 

That's really interesting, thanks for the explanation. I suppose there have been improvements for the bowlers but nowhere near as significant as for batsmen. The game, especially shorter forms, have become heavily weighted towards batsmen. 

 

12 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

In the modern game, where everybody needs to be a highly honed athlete, he may have struggled but I can't help but think that the game is a bit poorer for not having such characters.

 

Totally agree with that. It is the same in football - there is no room for the characters, the mavericks and the personalities who could change a game through sheer raw talent. Sadly I think the George Bests and Robin Fridays (one for the kids!! ) of this world would not get a chance nowadays before being cast aside. Sport is poorer for it. Whilst a great professional and smashing bloke, the world would be a very boring place if all players were like James Milner (no offence to James and other 'steady eddy' footballers are available).  

 

I suppose the counter is that someone like Milburn would still have been spotted and brought through the system with his prodigious talent. Whilst he would still not have been a sculpted adonis, the benefits of modern fitness, diet and nutrition would have had an impact. Well maybe he would have just stuck to 4 pints a night!  There have still been a few 'big lads' playing at the top level in recent times - Flintoff would be the obvious one but Robert Key also springs to mind. 

 

[melmoth]

"Robert Key" and "springs" have probably not often appeared together in a sentence. He was quite handy at short leg as well.

 

[south_tyne]

Looking forward to listening to the test match today. Historic day for Ireland and I'm really chuffed that they are getting this opportunity and importantly that it is at Lords. Given their rapid progress recently, Ireland more than deserve this. Playing better teams, on a regular basis, in all forms of the games, will only improve the standard and grow the game in the country. Ireland have produced some fantastic players over the last couple of decades and hopefully more opportunities to play at a decent level will mean that players stick with playing for Ireland and also stop England from stealing the best players. The ultimate goal must be to be granted full status by the ICC and to grow the infrastructure of the game and widen the playing base in the country. 

 

Sounds like the weather is going to be cracking too! More like Perth or Kingston than rainy old London!  

[south_tyne]

Ireland! Ireland!! Ireland!!! 

[irishmail]

Currently  43 for 7 (as at 12:22hrs) .  what's  happened to England?

[south_tyne]

17 minutes ago, irishmail said:

Currently  43 for 7 (as at 12:22hrs) .  what's  happened to England?

 

Ireland are bowling beautifully. Murtagh has just been totally on the money all morning. Cracking start! 

[south_tyne]

...... and it gets even better!!! 68-9 

[caradoc]

39 minutes ago, irishmail said:

Currently  43 for 7 (as at 12:22hrs) .  what's  happened to England?

 

Presumably some of them are still hungover after the World Cup party. Or are they just lulling Australia into a false sense of superiority ?

[irishmail]

1 minute ago, caradoc said:

 

Presumably some of them are still hungover after the World Cup party. Or are they just lulling Australia into a false sense of superiority ?

 

That's what I was thinking.

[irishmail]

85 all out! 

Fair play to Ireland

[melmoth]

Well, that escalated.

[caradoc]

11 minutes ago, caradoc said:

 

Presumably some of them are still hungover after the World Cup party. Or are they just lulling Australia into a false sense of superiority ?

 

If the latter was indeed the plan England have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams ! However that is being very unfair to Ireland, who have bowled superbly. 

 

[south_tyne]

Magical morning!! 

[melmoth]

England will be very disappointed not to have batted out their full 50 overs...

[Ross34]

On 18/07/2019 at 20:42, brack said:

A good batsman would still be a good batsman regardless, but the increases in scoring rate and boundaries aren't just from more attacking cricket and the influence of shorter forms of the game. I'm not suggesting that there haven't been improvements that benefit the bowler, but the batsman's tool has got vastly better.

I would suggest the same could be said of tennis. (or any raquet sport I guess)

 

I know of a former international table tennis player - (now in his eighties) - who often said bat technology has changed the game massively.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Irish Test Match degenerated into farce. What a shame for all concerned as it spoiled the occasion.

 

Who is the groundsman at Lord's these days? The number of LBWs and inside edges indicates a pitch that was totally substandard for any form of first class cricket, let alone a match advertised as a "Test Match". If it as been the County Championship, I would expect the pitch inspector to be making a visit.