Both gun cricketers for England in the white ball game. Both have the power and/or technique to smash the ball for six. But in Test cricket when the game can turn on moments when you’re tired, under pressure, on the back foot because the conditions suit the opposition etc, neither are consistent enough and prove to be flaky when it matters.
Against my better judgment I checked the cricket score as I had my breakfast.......ffs wickets falling faster than I can eat my porridge, our batting really is a shambles, Buttler is not a test keeper and Ben Foakes needs to take over the gloves, as the saying goes catches win matches and Buttler has let too many go so far this tour
David "Bumble" Lloyd has retired from Sky sports Cricket , I will make a note on this day in my diary , it will simply say" Bugger" Bumble knew the game inside out but always looked for the lighter side of the game , the commentary box will miss him
Was he pushed? There was recent controversy over some comments he made, which he apologised for. Great broadcaster - able to be incisive and knowledgeable as a pundit whilst perfectly playing the clown at the same time. I think in these woke times where a light hearted jape can be easily taken if of context and be deemed offensive, an old boy from a different era might be seen as too much of a loose cannon.
Woke times? Firstly there is no suggestion he has been pushed, and if he has it will be for Sky to justify, rather than tarnish a movement that seeks to prevent the victimisation of groups down to nothing more than prejudice. Sorry, but I hate, hate, hate woke being used in a pejorative sense, when it simply looks to stay aware of hateful speech.
it wasn't used in a perjorative sense. However, there were racist claims levelled at Bumble because of comments he made. I think Sky will be aware that criticism of them might come from some quarters if they are seen to support him. Retiring him seems to be the convenient option. It's happened on the back of those comments; he hasn't appeared on Sky since. I wholly support the prevention of discrimination and prejudice on whatever grounds. But equally there has to be some acknowledgement that sensitivity to some issues can result in decent people getting caught in the crossfire and being treated unfairly. Once upon a time if you were accused of being a witch, the outcome was never going to be good whether or not you were a witch. Either way, if there was a witch, there wasn't going to be one afterwards. And that was the judstification. Better to be safe than sorry.
He made some comments in a private conversation on social media pandering to racial stereotypes - for example, about Asian players not being seen in the clubhouse. Nothing overtly racist, but not very PC. Even though they just seemed to be his experiences. Sky have previous for retiring people when in this kind of situation.
What a dreadful test series this has been. There have been many one sided test Ashes series in Australia but few as bad as this one. Root, Anderson aside the cupboard is pretty bear in terms of what we must now call 'red ball cricketers' - Stokes maybe if he can get his head right, but until we can bat for 2 days we won't win tests outside of England.
Lost the Ashes before we had even reached the halfway point of the series! How is that possible? Abysmal.
It comes as no surprise, the red ball game is now 3rd ranked to T20 and the Hundred , players are encouraged to smash the stitching off of every ball , to ramp rather than the perfect forward defensive I felt for Crawley in this test , sent out to face the Aussie attack with their tail up and the crowd baying for blood with next to no batting since early summer , no wonder he failed Stokes has had no minutes in the crease , Buttler's confidence shot to pieces with the gloves and bat Root is the only one with any technique but his captaincy must be questioned, the bowlers constantly to short but not able to correct it Got to say in all my years of watching test cricket this has to be a new low
