Sport Cricket - Summer 2021
- Thread starter SteMerritt
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unification
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I think he's pretty much unlikeable. A real batting talent of course (away from England) but I've not disliked an opposition player this much since Ricky Ponting.
Same. There's a league of ultra narcissists out there in all walks of life and he's cricket's ultra narcissist. Having so many people telling him how wonderful he is and bowing down to him makes him think he's invincible. WG Grace once supposedly said to an umpire who gave him LBW, 'they've come to see me bat, not you umpire'. The way Kohli hangs around after being given out (a lot in England), I'd imagine him saying the same thing to an umpire.
Compare his in-your-face aggression with the cool, steeliness of NZ's likeable Test team led by Kane Williamson and I could not be happier to see his India f**k up the final of the WTC. Schadenfreude keeps me going as far as Kohli is concerned. You don't have to be a bully to be the best cricket side in the world.
As for England, well - we all saw something like this coming, didn't we? Well done to Bumrah and Jadeja but I don't think England ever believed they could do it. They look so fragile and even starts from the openers turned to confusion about what they were going to do. Glad Woakes is back but my word are England missing any form of reliable backbone any more and nor do the CC scores this week suggest there is anything much to pick from. We'll be back seeing Ballance, Jennings and Stoneman* at this rate.
*Century for Middlesex today despite his pair against Derbyshire on debut.
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I'm glad somebody brought that up
Now the only CricInfo tab I have open after closing the Test Match one about 45mins ago...
Canterburyexile
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Really? I quite admire his chippiness. He managed to sabotage us in the second test without even being on the pitch. I like a bit of shithousery, he’s bloody good at it.
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I like a bit of shithousery, no problem with that - think Warne, McGrath, even further back the moustachioed menace Merv the Swerve... But Kohli frequently steps over into childish petulance for me.
ZeroTheHero
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No problem with that in general. But it's the smirking, the un-graciousness in both victory and defeat and the already mentioned childish petulance that make him so unlikeable. Maybe effective, but thoroughly horrible.
Leysboy
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I leave the Kia Oval, absolutely gutted! But at the same time thinking to myself I’ve seen this all too often live and on tv.
I really can’t understand this team at all. That pitch was a batting haven for Day 5. There wasn’t any gremlins in it, and to lose 10 wickets on there is devastating. The openers did there job, and deserve a big pat on the back, but the others with the exception of Root and Woakes were an absolute disgrace. Malan with a bit of a nothing dive to stay in, if he dived normally hed of stayed in. A miss communication between him and Hameed over that single, perhaps the single was never on.
Bairstow dreadful, as was Moeen Ali. Ollie Pope neither of them looked like they wanted to bat today.
Our Batting is all over the place mentally, and it needs addressing. The Aussies will be licking there chops thinking 5-0 and who could blame them.
As for Kohli - Great player, but my god he gets on my tits with his antics.
A terrible day yet again for England, but luckily I’ve seen worse in person, so not as deflated!
I really can’t understand this team at all. That pitch was a batting haven for Day 5. There wasn’t any gremlins in it, and to lose 10 wickets on there is devastating. The openers did there job, and deserve a big pat on the back, but the others with the exception of Root and Woakes were an absolute disgrace. Malan with a bit of a nothing dive to stay in, if he dived normally hed of stayed in. A miss communication between him and Hameed over that single, perhaps the single was never on.
Bairstow dreadful, as was Moeen Ali. Ollie Pope neither of them looked like they wanted to bat today.
Our Batting is all over the place mentally, and it needs addressing. The Aussies will be licking there chops thinking 5-0 and who could blame them.
As for Kohli - Great player, but my god he gets on my tits with his antics.
A terrible day yet again for England, but luckily I’ve seen worse in person, so not as deflated!
Big Ron
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Our lack of options are shown by the addition of Butler and Leach for the Old Trafford test. One player who probably won't tour Australia and another who doesn't really have the confidence of the coach. I like Leach but he hasn't played any cricket, he's a limited bat (albeit one who can hang around) and he doesn't add anything to the fielding.
Big Ron
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Agree with some of this but in all fairness, Bairstow did get a beauty - a fast swinging yorker when he'd just arrived. Doesn't excuse the others lack of application though.
Kohli really doesn't care though does he? It's not just the constant chatter - all teams do that - it's the nature of it, the gamesmanship and the lack of grace. Add to that taking the P**s of out of the England fans with the trumpet gesture.
I read an article after the second test where an Indian journalist wrote something about this being a post-colonial response, standing up to the old 'masters'! To counter that, even a journalist in the Times of India was questioning his behaviour last week and wondered whether he was crossing the line. The Waugh's and Ricky Ponting would be severely impressed!
Sarge
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exactly what Aussies do especially in Ashes test series'
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It would do us some good of it was delayed by a year, might be able to sort out the batting...
Hopefully to save the embarrassment.
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