Cricket Corner

[Royal Oak]

Yes, he bowled 10 overs in the entire second innings, and I think six of those were after tea. I guess he didn't fancy it, the privilege of being captain I suppose. He is due to play in the Derbyshire game starting Sunday. I have a day off work on Tuesday, so will have a drive over to Chesterfield if the weather is good.

[JSngry]

As the MLC tournament rolls on, there have been a LOT of super-tight matches going down to the wire. I've yet to miss a match. Compelling sports!!!

[JSngry]

An excellent MLC season concluded tonight, but I hate it when a team barely makes the playoffs and then wins it all. Especially MINY.

[Royal Oak]

6 hours ago, JSngry said:

An excellent MLC season concluded tonight, but I hate it when a team barely makes the playoffs and then wins it all. Especially MINY.

I just saw on Cricinfo that MI had lost 7 of their 10 group games, mad. Taking the art of not peaking too soon to a new level.

Derbyshire vs Lancashire a couple of weeks ago. Played at Chesterfield, a club (amateur) ground, in the middle of a municipal park

I tried to get a pic of Chesterfield's famous crooked spire, this is the best I could do from inside the ground

[Royal Oak]

I went to the final day of the Old Trafford test last Sunday. First test match for 40 years, and the forecast rain never arrived. Not sure I'd do it again - very busy, huge queues for refreshments, and we had to shoot off a few overs early to avoid an hour waiting to be able to get on the tram to head home. The India fans (probably more than half of the crowd) had a ball, with three centurions to cheer, and a very good performance to bat out the draw. I saw this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudhir_Kumar_Chaudhary

I'd never heard of him - it was an Indian chap sat next to me who told me all about him.

Edited August 1 by Royal Oak

[Royal Oak]

Manchester Originals vs the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred. These teams have new owners, and next year will probably have new names. Originals won both women's and men's games on the day, the latter by some distance. Beautiful weather and a large crowd. 

[adh1907]

Looks well attended. I can’t get into this format of the game at all, perhaps you need to be there. Also, I can’t believe it’s August and there are no test matches and little or no county cricket. As an aside, was in Manchester last Wednesday and Thursday and could not believe the heat! Reminded me of NYC in the summer!

[Royal Oak]

10 minutes ago, adh1907 said:

Looks well attended. I can’t get into this format of the game at all, perhaps you need to be there. Also, I can’t believe it’s August and there are no test matches and little or no county cricket. As an aside, was in Manchester last Wednesday and Thursday and could not believe the heat! Reminded me of NYC in the summer!

You may not have much longer to get into the format, as there is a lot of talk of it becoming a T20 game in the next year or two, apparently driven by the new owners. I'm sure it will end being an offshoot of the IPL.  I hear that Manchester Originals will become Manchester Super Kings and Oval Invincibles are to become "Mumbai Indians London"

Something much more low-key. Lancashire vs Durham in the One Day Cup, at Liverpool a couple of days ago.

In August, all the Counties' best players are picked for the Hundred, which means that the One Day Cup is now a de facto Second XI competition. Lancashire have lost ten players to the Hundred this year, so are unsurprisingly being battered every game. 

[Royal Oak]

Lancashire vs Kent in the Blast (T20) quarter final at OT today. A marked difference between this game and the Hundred games I saw last month.

Today's was a much more partisan crowd, of Lancashire fans, invested in the team and the result. As such, the atmosphere was miles better, the excitement was real

Lancashire won, thanks to Liam Livingstone, probably the most frustrating batsman in world cricket. He comes off for about one innings in eight, but they are worth seeing.