Cricket......

['Dale]

England nearly had their "Allan Donald" moment

 

 

BTW Klusener is part of the support staff heading to India with the Protea Men.

['Dale]

England nearly had their "Allan Donald" moment

 

 

The missed run-out and running out of reviews (all in the dying minutes)

[Mntboy]

The missed run-out and running out of reviews (all in the dying minutes)

Yeah had Australia not wasted their final review it would be them celebrating a retained Urn instead of England celebrating that they are still in the running to regain it.

[Vetplant]

The beauty and unpredictability of sport on display today! That was signed, sealed and delivered for Aus.

['Dale]

Aussies to go 2-0 up if the weather gods approve

 

This post did not age well 

 

It did take a cricketing miracle 

[babse]

Wow what a come back...

Massive credit to the pom dudes!

 

Gotta love test cricket business ey

[Vetseun]

Flip this is exciting

[Vetseun]

Ben Stokes. What a player.

Enormous Respect.

To No11 Leach too.

And that shows . NEVER EVER GIVE UP

Edited August 25, 2019 by Vetseun

['Dale]

Stokes was 2* off 50 balls at some point

['Dale]

Enjoy

 

Check the switch hit for 6 at 3:16

⚠️

 

[Stretch]

It has been enthralling Test Cricket hasn't it! What an incredible recovery by England and what an innings by Stokes. Root will be ecstatic with the outcome especially seeing how well short they were when Leach came out to bat.

 

Stokes is one helluva cricketer!

Partnership of 75 odd with Leach only contributing 1 and only facing 17 balls... Masterful strike rotation

[gemmerbal]

it has to be said the Aussie bowling was average, specially with the second new ball. They tried to bomb the tail out in stead of sticking to the game plan that got them the 10 wickets for 67 runs in the first dig.

 

I find it hard to like Stokes, but he scored the runs and held the innings together superbly.

 

The English pundits certainly know how to do a 180. On Saturday their team was horse sh_t, on Monday morning they are THE sh_t.

 

The other interesting point is how well the Klerksdorp Aussie is doing. He looks like a class act, which irritates me that we have to see another Saffa playing not for us.

 

Ashes Cricket has never been boring and like some of the posts above, I much prefer the red ball version. I wonder what the odds were on a tied match? hahaha...

Partnership of 75 odd with Leach only contributing 1 and only facing 17 balls... Masterful strike rotation

[Mntboy]

Some stats/numbers from the Headingley Test.

 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27460615/ben-stokes-epic-innings-leads-england-record-breaking-run-chase

[Stretch]

 

 

The other interesting point is how well the Klerksdorp Aussie is doing. He looks like a class act, which irritates me that we have to see another Saffa playing not for us.

...

At some point I guess we have to come to the realisation that South Africans have been emigrating in force for the last 20 odd years. It stands to reason that their kids have grown up as Nationals of those respective countries. It's the ones that have grown up in South Africa and no longer play for our national side because of some stupid rules that get my goat

[Mntboy]

 

 

I find it hard to like Stokes, but he scored the runs and held the innings together superbly.

 

The other interesting point is how well the Klerksdorp Aussie is doing. He looks like a class act, which irritates me that we have to see another Saffa playing not for us.

 

Ben Stokes the cricketer I like but then I have always loved wholehearted cricketers who give everything to the cause. Also he really does seemed to have matured since the Bristol incident and hopefully it's made him a better man off the pitch too. I really liked how he backed out of the New Zealander of the year award and instead publicly supported Kane Williamson highlighting his many good qualities as a sportsman and a person. Not too sure if he would've done that prior to Bristol though.

 

As for Labuschagne I really do get where you are coming from and respect your view point. That said he isn't SA qualified (other than by birth) and appears to have had no desire to play for us at all. In fact he seems rather annoyed at being refered to as a South African. He is Australian as far as he is concerned and that should be respected. Being irritated because he isn't playing for us is like being irritated that Andrew Strauss (born in Johannesburg) didn't play for us, which is really neither here nor there as they never grew up in SA and wasn't a part of our age group teams. I do hope though that he has a solid career because as you said he does seem to be a class act.

[gemmerbal]

@stretch and @mntboy, ja i know, what you are saying about Labooshane is true to a degree, but keep in mind that Labooshane's parents left for Queensland when he was 10, so technically he isnt a born Ozzie.

 

I played club cricket alongside Jonathan Trott and I tell you, that guy was class from the first time I played against him at u/15 trials and seeing him play for England really saddened me. It has to be said Trotty would never push King Kallis out of the side back then and finding a space for him in THAT Protea side was probably going to be difficult. (Just to give some perspective on why I feel the way I do)

 

Andrew Strauss, now theres someone who irritates me. but not as much as KP... anyone seen that series of interviews on SS2 "KP the Genius" or whatever it's called? OMG he is a proper box!

 

To conclude, its not so much the kids that are schooled/born/raised outside of our beloved country and play for their adopted country that irks me, its the vast number of cricketers that we see leaving every year and are lost to our flawed domestic/national structure. But we are not unique, other sporting codes in other countries do experience the same.

 

Cricket IS the beautiful game!

Edited August 26, 2019 by gemmerbal