The Ashes & Hampshire Cricket Summer Thread

FFS .

IMHO he thinks he is better than everyone , and does not try 100% when playing every game . Training hard and putting yourself out for 5 days are IMHO
two totally different things .

 

But surely spending hours netting and training hard almost every day of the year involves "putting yourself out" far more than playing does?

Does he try and play over-ambitious shots sometimes? Yes, but so do many players. That doesn't mean he isn't trying.

 

Enough . We will have to agree to disagree . I don't like his attitude , never have , never will ok ?

And on the subject of shots , that's one of my biggest problems . As a cricketer he is brilliant , so why try and be so bloody clever all the time ?

Bit like MS in F1 , infuriated me , he was THAT good he didn't need to be dirty , but he was ..............

 

Bresnan out .

 

Shame. Thought he was heading for a 50. Good knock though.

 

What should we declare on if it comes to that? Don't want to give them a sniff, so not before a 500 lead surely and that could take a while. Depends how confident England are...Cooke isn't a risk taker though, is he?

 

That's pretty shocking, that's carried.

 

That carried for me. But the moment you go upstairs, nine times out of ten those ones are given not out. Infuriates me. Onfield umpires need to take more responsibility with catches like that. We (Hants) nearly lost the t20 final last year because of exactly that.

 

This has happened before. When a catch is close, it can be very hard to judge from camera shots. I thought it looked as if it hit the ground from one angle, but I know that can be distortion.

 

I'm more concerned with the responsibilities of the third umpire, first viewing you can see he's got his fingers under it and it carried, just absolutely piss poor that was.

 

You can tell on twitter which people follow cricket and know the game, and which people are watching basically just because its the Ashes and it's a Saturday. The former agree with Gower, Warne and Smith (and Mikey and myself), including current and former professional cricketers. Some of the latter are saying not out.

 

Okay, I think I'm getting you. The point about attitude I can understand, although I disagree somewhat.

Shot selection is certainly a fair area to criticise Pietersen and he's admitted himself that he's got out to some stupid shots. Personally I'd say that's a different thing to not trying but I see what you mean.



On a more general note I'd say this is one of the oldest dilemmas in cricket. Gower used to look terrible wafting at wide balls and edging them to the slips and someone like Boycott would undoubtedly have left those balls well alone. On the other hand, Gower looked divine when he middled those shots and they flew to the boundary. I'm sure Viv Richards also got out early to some silly shots but people don't remember that now. Instead they remember the swaggering, gum-chewing colossus smashing bowling attacks all over the place.

Pietersen is the same sort of player as those two. He tries things that others don't and he can look silly when he gets out. At the same time, when those shots come off (and they often do) he scores quicker than most batsmen. I think he has a place in this England team because you need a mix of flair and grit. We already have grinders like Cook and Trott but you need players who can score big runs quickly. We won those Tests in Colombo and Mumbai because Pietersen played shots that others wouldn't and scored his runs quickly. He can play grittier innings, as he showed in the second innings at Trent Bridge, but that's certainly an area of his game that he can improve.

 

That's what they are saying on TMS , the Camera pictures distort the reality .

ALL of TMS are saying that was out .

 

Agreed in this instance. But as I say, the moment you go upstairs it is almost always not out. So simply the act of asking for the third umpire, is the onfield umpires basically giving it not out. Look at Neil McKenzie's reaction in last year's t20 final when he sees that the umpires have gone upstairs to check his 'catch'. He instantly knows its going to be given, wrongly in my view, not out.

They need to make the decision themselves. Sky etc have proved before that the camera so often tricks you in these circumstances, making it look like the ball has hit the ground.

 

Haven't seen the catch. It may have carried but, as st_brendy says, once those go to the third umpire they're normally given not out.

 

Fair Comment .

We sort of agree on something

 

The only thing I would say is that people are starting to blame technology, but in the grand old days, some on-field Umpires would have given it and some wouldn't have. Without the power of replays, Umpires made mistakes as well. They are also beginning to lack confidence (as they don't want to look daft). The big difference is that this series there have been more strange decisions from the off-field Umpire. The catch close to the ground has caused problems before. You will never get all decisions correct...some go for you and some against you.

 

I haven't seen the catch, but I have seen this:

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Doesn't look caught to me?

 

Indeed, you see it happen a lot but it was so clear-cut in this instance it has rustled my jimmies somewhat, even though it happened to the opposing team. Problem for me is that it can be genuinely hard for the standing umps to see it live, whereas even with the difficulties with foreshortening the third umpire has much more information with which to make the decision, and they just need to stand up and make it. I understand if the ump goes upstairs saying "I think that's bounced", if in doubt go with that, but if he's just sent it up asking the third umpire to make a decision, then do your job and have some stones and make a bloody decision.

Oh goodness the pixels.