Cricket......

[GLuvsMtb]

RIP Richie Benaud

http://news.sky.com/story/1461998/voice-of-cricket-richie-benaud-dies

[Oxter]

RIP Richie Benaud

http://news.sky.com/story/1461998/voice-of-cricket-richie-benaud-dies

Saw it this morning as well, sad news.  RIP

[paul_ct]

RIP Richie Benaud

http://news.sky.com/story/1461998/voice-of-cricket-richie-benaud-dies

R.I.P.

[Shebeen]

Does any give a flying f@#$ about the IPL? I don't really bother till the end.

 

in other news test cricket has started again, boring boring England in the Windies. Trott is back, and he got a duck first up.

 

but ramdin put england in to bat, whoops, 340/5 at stumps on day 1.

 

 

 

 

9am: Hello and welcome. After the thrills of the World Cup and ongoing T20 catnip in India, us purists will be pulling up a deckchair and turning our attention to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Life's a beach for Test cricket fans - although hopefully the pitch won't be, as when the teams turned up here six years ago. For both sides, there are weighty issues to ponder: West Indies have an inexperienced and depleted team with which to defend one of the worst Test records among the top eight nations (not to mention a sizeable bill from the BCCI pinned to their door); England are nursing a huge World Cup hangover and a KP-shaped shadow looms, worsening the headache. It's not surprising George Dobell has characterised them as "two former prizefighters" billed on a far-away undercard. However, sometimes such situations can produce a scrap to remember - so, channelling Michael Buffer: "Let's get ready to rumble!" I'm Alan Gardner and I'll be joined by Alex Winter and Andrew McGlashan to see if either side can land a few punches over the coming days.

[GLuvsMtb]

I see Alan Donald decided to call it quits with the Proteas. It will be interesting to see who will take over from him. 

[Face Plant]

my money is on makhaya ntini

[GLuvsMtb]

my money is on makhaya ntini

Ntini was way too one dimensional in his bowling, but that does not mean that he cannot coach. Has he done any first class coaching or consulting? The perfect bowling coach would be Jacques Kallis as he can also assist the bowlers to think on what the batsmen wants least in a good spell of bowling coming from the other end. Someone with good franchise experience like Paul Adams may also do quite well in the national setup. 

[Shebeen]

my money is on makhaya ntini

um. I've heard him commentate on radio....either he tries to be really funny, or doesn't have much of a cricket brain required for international coaching. He'll hopefully stick to academy work and talent spotting structures which he will be excellent at.

[dev null]

I see Alan Donald decided to call it quits with the Proteas. It will be interesting to see who will take over from him. 

 

I see the IPL team he is coaching for is doing quite badly in the bowling department. RCB this year.  Last year I think he coached for Sunrisers.  In fact, all the IPL teams with heavy SA representation is doing poorly.  Makes one think.  Just look at DD.  Maybe we are really not as good as we think we are.

[Oxter]

I see the IPL team he is coaching for is doing quite badly in the bowling department. RCB this year.  Last year I think he coached for Sunrisers.  In fact, all the IPL teams with heavy SA representation is doing poorly.  Makes one think.  Just look at DD.  Maybe we are really not as good as we think we are.

Its sad to see yes. RCB has our batters, but their bowling attack is very very bad and with a bowling attack that bad you need to produce a match winning performance every single game, which is not realistic. 

[Face Plant]

There is no doubt more to Donald's departure than what we are hearing, I will put good money on it that the next bowling coach will have a darker complexion. I have no idea about Ntini's coaching skills but in the big scheme of things i think it may very well be him or Charl Langeveld that will be the next bowling coach. Donald was on a very good wicket (no pun intended) so for him to just walk away does not make sense! i guess we going to have to wait for the book to find out the real reason for him leaving.

[Oxter]

 ....Charl Langeveld that will be the next bowling coach. Donald was on a very good wicket (no pun intended) so for him to just walk away does not make sense! i guess we going to have to wait for the book to find out the real reason for him leaving.

 

Charl Langeveld would not take the job if it was based on his skin colour alone.  Lets just wait and see, i think lance klusener or paul adams would be good choices

[Shebeen]

I was never REALLY convinced that AD was the best bowling coach, he was a natural athlete fast bowler - I think someone like klusener who really had to work for his wickets would be a better type of coach.

 

but here he is with hudders anyway, great servant to the national team

 

 

 

Charl Langeveld would not take the job if it was based on his skin colour alone.  Lets just wait and see, i think lance klusener or paul adams would be good choices

he's already in the setup as a consultant...is that a colour based appointment? Vincent barnes was bowling coach for a while.

[GLuvsMtb]

I see the IPL team he is coaching for is doing quite badly in the bowling department. RCB this year. Last year I think he coached for Sunrisers. In fact, all the IPL teams with heavy SA representation is doing poorly. Makes one think. Just look at DD. Maybe we are really not as good as we think we are.

IPL cricket has many intricacies. You may for instance only play 4 foreigners, meaning that the star Indian players are valuable commodities. Imagine if an IPL side ends up with 5 international Indian players and then can pick and chose their International players to fill the gaps that they have. It is a lot different than having 2 Indian Internationals a couple of haz-beens and a whole bunch of young Indians. Often an IPL side's success depends on how well the Indian youngsters do, not just the International senior pro's.

 

The coaches are also not typically involved with the purchasing decisions and are often contracted on more or less the same basis as the players are. 3 weeks after a world cup is also not nearly enough time to work on any of your players' techniques.

 

It does seem that the teams with strong Aussie representation show some good early form. One would expect this after a very successful Aussie WC.

[Joeboy69]

Langers should get it, isn't that why he joined the WC mgt team?

 

Adams has surprised me and has done very well as a coach so maybe bring him in and then he is in the system to become coach in a few years

[dev null]

I am of the opinion that it is not always past great players that make great coaches.  A great coach should be able to think outside the box, and I don't know if an ex player will be able to do that.  They bring too many preconceived ideas with them.  By all means, use them as consultants. 

 

But that is just me.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Moridin