The world in the eyes of an imp
my appologies, not getting round to blooging is turning out to be a bad habit, rather like smoking.
hmm, not sure where that came from, oh well its early.
well what can I say about super chris read, we all knew banger could bat, and hes going to get alot of runs this winter btw, but a good innings by read helped save the day against bangladesh A side. Batty played well as well, bowling and batting. Collingwood batted for nothing getting out for a duck, but I reckon we need him to strenthern the batting line up, so here is my line up in comparrison to the selectors XI
C.I.s Line UP*********Real line up
Banger*********** Yup
Vaughan(c)********Him as well
Butcher***********Ditto
Nass*************Ditto
Thorpe ***********Ditto
Collingwood *******Clarke, I admit, is probably the *****************better choice after warm up games
Read(7!)**********and I got the other four as well
Batty
Giles
Harmisson
Hoggard
TBH they are probably right with clarke, and you have to remember that this is the team I would of picked ot the team I thought they yould pick. I just thought that after collingwoods injuries it would be nice to give him a go in the test side, but rikki clarke out perfomed him, which wanst really that hard was it? and so therefore was probably the fiarest choice
Oh yeah, the actuall game, I remember that one, and guess what, its raining, its probaly drier back home here, but only just I guess.
I did get up for the start, which after a few 6:30 starts weren't easy but I managed it. Hoggard and harmisson both looking like causing trouble, hoggard going close to the off stump in the third over, and harmisson had one drop just short in the second, but he did concede a run(shock horror!) in the 4th b4 it started to rain.
Finnally I will leave ou with what I view to be our first choices for the windies tour next spring.
Banger
Vaughan(c)
Butcher
Hussain
Thorpe
Freddie
Read
Giles/Batty
Jones
Hoggard
Anderson
I think the spinners spot could well be decided by this winters action both in bangladesh and sri lanka
thats all now, should be able to post again tommorow
happy birthday to you....
the website updated, nass is out, I think it would be more live coverage if it updated every wicket, at least then I am garenteed updayes every 15 minutes or so. what i happening? we are being thrashed by bangladesh A side, reckon their first team might get a debut test win. well we are three down and collingwood batting n butchers place it means clarke next in at 6(or so I reckon) and then read at 7, batty 8 giles 9 harmison 10 hoggard 11, but then again johnson might get a bat, but I doubt it, i reckon he is playing saggers role from the other game if you get what I mean
well I have been up since a quarter to five and TBH I am bored.
I have been floating around TMS message boards for a while now and still the beeb are refusing to offer anyexplanantion on why they couldnt be arsed(lets face it, thats the only reason) to go to bangladesh, and they still havent been bothered to confirm that no one can be bothered with the tour to sri lanka. gits. It appears that talksport only have rights to the windies series, and no one at all could be bothered with the tours to bangladesh or sri lanka, what a complete screw up. and lets face it talksport aint gonna be that good, no blowers&co to listen to, but then again cricket without them aint that good :( Talksport will just use it to pass the time I would imagine
Cant be arsed to keep up with the aussie zimbabwe game either, just seems like a farce really. And I say that with no disrepect to zimbabwe(the cricket team that is) as the ahses tour was a farce last year, I imagine it would of been quite boring for the neutral to watch a random selection of 11 semi fit over weight sun burnt english men throw a ball around the park for 7 or so hours a day and then get bowled out in unspectacular fasion.
talking of boring to the neutral, the kiwis have began the 2nd day against india, fun and games there, 1 wicket and about 3 runs, oh no, less than that, an over, I am sure it is pleasant viewing for your average new zealand supported, but t doesnt do anything for me.
Oh and arent we strutting our stuff against bangladesh A, having been hit around the ground by someone who has probably had to get a note from his mum to be alowed time off school to play, vaughan got 1 and collingwood got bugger all, and we were at one point 3-2, I have heard of footy match scores looking like cricket scores, but the other way around is just silly. Collingwoods decision to not bother scoring any will have thrown the selectors, cause I reckon that if we dont play collingwood our batting line up will have about 3 (4 if harmison doesnt play) no8's and no 6 or 7. If that is the case, what happens when banger prods the bat forward edging to slip, vaughan gets out now bugger all again and butch lobs one to point, we are about 10-3, nass and thorpe in, you look to the balacony, and who do you see padded up, but chris read. I am not having ago at read, but he simply aint good enough to bat at 6, especially if a situation like that come about.
Anyway, final but of cricket action at the moment, is SA vs. pakistan, IMHO that is the best thing for me to watch at the moment. With no live coverage of england bangladesh a(the closest I can find is a scorecard on the beeb, which updates about as often as I have a birthday) and wih no radio anywhere to be found(the aussie radio link is as dead as a dodo for me) then this is certainly the best way to spend the early hours of a friday morning after an enthralling ODI series in which SA came back from the dead I am looking forward to a good test series.
Got to go now, I think the bbc site may be ready for an update, just tiem to get the birthday candles...
well I am still trapped by this custom known as work, but I am slowly escaping from it, should be back to normal blogging frequency by the weekend.
Anyway, just quickly here to share my views on englands probale line up in the first test. I reckon that there is 9 players who are garenteed a place in the starting line up, being: vaughan, banger, butch, nass, thorpe, read, giles, harmisson and hoggard. Then you have four or five players competing for the other two places, those being collingwood, saggers, clarke, johnson(not sure abou him, but as he is playing today he cant be far away) and batty.
I reckon the two will be batty, as on the final day against bangladesh presidents xi(or xii depending on how you look at it) would suggest the dhaka pitch is ok for 2 spinners. The second I reckon should be collingwood, but that will rely on a good performence over the next few days against bangladesh's A side, he has been given his chance to proove he is a better pick than saggers(who i reckon is his main rival for a place) or even rikki clarke(who is probably 3rd in line) so I hope he takes it.
So here is my probably line up for the first test:
Trescothick
Vaughan(c)
Butcher
Hussain
Thorpe
Collingwood
Read(wkt)
Giles
Batty
Harmisson
Hoggard
I now people have said that he aint good enough for number 7, but I reckon with freddie out then he is the obvious player to bat at 7, afterall would you want saggers or giles there. The only other option would be clarke to bat there, but then you would probably loose a bowler, and with only 3 bowlers(giles, hoggard and harmisson) plus the likes of collingwood and clarke(vaughan and butcher also) then I reckon we would struggle.
Against bangladesh he maybe ok at 7, but once freddie is back and for the games in sri lanka(and then next year in the west indies) then he should bat at 8, freddie at 7, giles at 9 and then probably harmisson and anderson(tough call to leave hoggard out, maybe we could survive without harmissons pace, I just don't know, but I do know that jimmy has a big future and we need him in the side).
Anyway have to go now, maybe a post tonight? Don't know
well, firstly my appologies, I have been very neglectful of my duties recently, but I have a reason, I stupidly agreed to be introduced to a strange custom around here known as "work" and now they wont let me stop doing it, oh well :(
well what an innings by hayden it was, I know people are going to say that well he did it against zimbabwe and they're crap, but two things,
one: they are better than bangladesh :p
two: I have been wisely informed that when lara hit his 375 it was against a poor england bowling line up from the early 90's. I was informed as it was a bit before my memory kicked in and realised just hwat its purpose was. Well I say informed, I mean rammed into my brain repeatadly by those who really have a problem witht aht england bowling line up, maybe they have good reason, I dont know, was too young to remember back then, perhaps some comments would be good?
erm what else, oh yes nearly forgot, australia actually were playing in a match, not just an extended nets sesion, and they won, by an innings plus runs as it always looked like they would.
Kiwis batted well to save the test against india, and there I was thinking they would loose by over an innings, I was wrong I underestimated the power of the kiwi lower order. Fair play to them.
Oh I have just found something that may intrest you ppl out there, englands barmy army are going to the rugby world cup! wohoo, our message is spreadig to other sports.
Talking of my beloved england (thats the cricket team, not the queen country or government as they are all screwed up) looks like we are having fun in bangladesh, despite everyone apart from banger forgetting how to bat, as shreck(hoggard) has done us pround, getting six wickets, well played squire. thorpe and clarke have opened, selctors obviously want alook at their batting before we face the might of bangladesh A side.
On a final note, wish me luck today, have to do my french coursework, wanted to talk about the barmy army, but I am not sure I could explain properly what that is in english, and deffinatly not in french, oh well, will have to think of omething respectable to say in french pretty soon.
merde
oh one more thing, in tribute to hoggards bowling performence today:
(all together now)
Oohh Oohh Oohh I wanna bowl like you-ou-ou
Don't wanna bat like you, just bowl like you do-o-o
Oh yeah it's true-ue-ue
I wanna bowl like you-ou-ou
Don't wanna bat like you, just bowl like you-ou-ou.
very well done to hayden on his 380, an historical day.
will give you all a proper post when I am fully awake and back from work
*cries and bangs head against table*
noooo link to aussi radio is not working, I just get that it cant open the file, have tried many time but it looks like I a buggered, and he problem may well be at my end :(
another bad side, I have drank a whole mug of tar and I am now waiting for my insides to start rejecting this mixture
a good point though I was right about harbhajan coming on, and he has slowed the run rate down, blalaji's looks to be moving the ball in a bit every now and again as well.
well overall another improved performence, woke again at four(although unfortunatly with the aid of a loud beeping in my right ear from my alarm clock), but put the good old live coverage of ausie zimbabwe on only to find that once again steve waugh has been denied his first 100 at the waca, shame that as I am ot convinced the aussies will bat twice.
snoozing was of a reduced rate, and a quick dose of crackers and fanta soon had me down here ready for the start of the third days play in ahmedabad.
Yesterday there dravid finally got out for 222, a magnificent innings in my view, a classic one from him. ganguly made 100, which I have to confess that I know nothing about, but khan then but it what looked to have been a briliant spell taking 3-16 off 7 overs and the other new boy, balaji didnt do too badly didnt take a wicket but only went for 9 off his first five overs in test cricket, but as I speak astle has been whacking him around last over for about 12 i think.
matty hayden sounds to be having fun in perth 250+ looks to be a good bet for the biggest score of the winter(oct-march inclusve in my view) unless ( and that was a hopeful unless) banger or vaughan wallop some past bangladesh but that isnt looking too likely judging by bangladesh's last performence against pakistan, but we can hope. looks like there might be a couple of innings defeats in the first few tests of the winter, but then again astle looks to be getting his arse in geer for the kiwis and styris aint looking too bad either, think harbhajan will come on soon there.
oh and is it me or do they like day nighters in pakistan? apparently theres one today which means that 3 out of 4 games so far have been day nighters. bugger i will be at school. On the plus note "super" mohammad sami is in the squad.
Finally an update of imps performence enhancing drugs, have moved on to very strong coffee today, it might taste like tar freshly scraped from the road outside, but it dont half keep you awake.
*dances round the room*
hehe guess what I have found,
live audio/radio coverage of australia zimbabwe I am most pleased am listening now.
Just thought I would share that with you
morning
well overall this mornings performence has been inconsitant but there have been good points as well as bad ones.
It started well, I awoke(although not fully) without the aid of my alarm which is a first for the four aclock time, so I was pleased there. But I then made my mistake I swithced on the live updates on the zimbabwe australia game on teletext(it was much too cold to come down here) but I failed to drink my much needed fanta and open up the ritz crackers, and the lack of nourishment and the incredibly dead "live" updates caused me to snooze (on and off) all the way till five to five, but I was downstairs at five and only missed the first over of the india new zealand game as my computer booted up(yup its that slow). So that was a plus point
overall not too bad I suppose
an update on sami, I've asked around, and learnt bugger all, I can only assume he is being rested for a potentially series winning game tommorow.
Dravid batted superbly yesterday, the first session when he and chopra were at the crease was superb, the kiwi bowlers were bowling brilliantly on what is apparently a good batting pitch, but the batsmen kept their patience and held in there. Admittadly a war of patience is not what I needed when suffering from sleep deprivation (it ends to make me a bit dopey) but it was very well played and when dravid got a bad ball it rarely escaped being perfectly hit over the boundary ropes, which is what he appeared to do when I was forced away from my "portal to the world of cricket" and had to go to the not so pleasant world of school, so well played to him
A final note on one of the indian debutants, chopra, batted with good temprement, and appeared to have a lot of skill locked away in the locker, but he never looked confident against the spin of vettori, always looking to block, on a pitch which was giving little turn and dravid was playing alot of shots, and to be honest I wasn't supprised it was vettori who got him in the end, but 42 on test debut is a nice score, so well played to him.
He joins the likes of dravid, sami and samit patel as being in a group of players who are favourite players of the cricketing imp.
Thank you and good morning
