Re: Cricket
 

He is whinging, but he has a valid point, or he would have if Dennis Lillee amongst others had not gone off for a towel down on numerous occasions towards the end of his career. At one time the opposition captain could object to the placing of a substitute fielder, but the rule was changed years ago, Engand are bending, but not breaking the rules, which I suppose you could construe as ungentlemanly conduct, but then so is sledging, and we all know who are the masters at that.:)

Re: Cricket
 

Quite - mouthing off at the balcony like that isn't particularly gentlemanly, if the lipreading I've seen is accurate.

England were in a pretty good position in that the sub who ran him out was on for someone with a genuine injury, and I'd like to see the Whinging Pont try and argue that Simon Jones should have been hobbling around the outfield instead of going for a scan (after the morning's session he should have been damn glad to see the back of him, I'd have thought).

Anyway, Clarke was absent for most of the last Test and I don't recall England complaining.

They call us Whinging Poms, but it's yet another sport we invented where for the real professionals you have to tip your hat to the Aussies.

Re: Cricket
 

quite funny tho...

for our replacement s.jones at the last test we called in the fielding coach!!!! lol

It was quite a laugh seeing all our quick bowlers going off on a rotation lol..

Re: Cricket
 

See reprot from Cricinfo;

Crickinfo

Ponting admits: "It's within the rules of the game" then goes on to say: "but it's just not within the spirit of the game, which is what we're all trying to uphold."

So he agrees it's within the rules, but it's nor in the spirit of the game; "Glenn McGrath, who had to sit out the match with an elbow injury, backed his captain. "The only time you should go off during a Test match is obviously if you need to go off for an injury or pop off for a quick toilet break. That's it. Test cricket to us is played by the guys who are in the team. If you are not fit enough or you are looking at ways to keep your players fresh, I think that's not quite in the spirit of the game. As a player myself, I'd keep playing. You would have to drag me off the field."

Ponting claims that as the Tests are in England, Vaughan can pull in the best talent from anywhere in he country he sees that as not in the spirit of the game.

He is a whinger for sure, he himself was reported to have abused the members on leaving the field he always complains, but maybe he has a point in regard to the spirit of the game and if that is so when it's Australia's turn in the years to come maybe they can do the same thing, maybe they have in the past?

In the end it's the umpires who have to monitor changes in the field via the team captains and it is they who need to interpret events.

Re: Cricket
 

good article here

on the subject.

This passage in particular.

'Ponting believes the game should be played by the men selected for the match. If one side uses home advantage to call up slick substitutes, that tilts the playing field in their favour. But home advantage has always been a factor in cricket, as in any sport. As former captain Steve Waugh said at the weekend, Australia have not been averse to using the odd supersub in their own back yard.'

Re: Cricket
 

Good find !!

The key paragraph in that report has to be this one for me..

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So thats why he stayed there ;)

Good Ol' Geoff

Link

Re: Cricket
 

Well spotted, a very helpful article.



;)

Re: Cricket
 

Apparently, two tickets for the Oval have been sold on E Bay for over £1200 :Yikes:

A few people are doing a 'Wimbledon' one developer who has a recently finished block of eight apartments is renting them out for the week of the 5th test. The one with the best view was offered at £20,000 for a week and has already attracted a bid of £23,000 .

Re: Cricket
 

sounds like that lager advert :)

Re: Cricket
 

To be honest, rather than pay £1.200 for tickets for one day, £20,000 over the full five days is a bargain, apparently the balcony can fit 20 people in comfort, split 20 ways over 5 days, £200 per person per day, well worth it.:D

Re: Cricket
 

I think he's thinking "damn, why didn't *we* do that...?!"

The 12th man isn't just a dogsbody for bringing on drinks or new gloves and bats etc, he has to be able to step in for virtually any fielding position and do that job as well as whoever's off the field.
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Except that I don't think we *do* have the better team and the Aussies can bat virtually all the way down the order, not to mention fielding one of (if not the) greatest spinners of all time and several other highly competant bowlers.

Re: Cricket
 

I think you are correct to counsel caution, Graham, given decent weather, whoever gets to bat first on a traditionally flat and hard wicket, will have a distinct advantage, for a start.

- but later when it starts to wear, Warne may be able to work his magic...

- and we still don't know if McGrath will be fit.....

Re: Cricket
 

Well we know who the presures on and it's not Vaughan. :D

Re: Cricket
 

thats true, Roy, but we are in danger of underestimating them - they can still retain the Ashes with a win. No-one wants them to go away without that jar, more than me, believe me - but they won't give it away without a fight ;)

Re: Cricket
 

They can't bat at the top of it, though, which is one thing. If Brett Lee and Shane Warne are regularly among your top scorers you are in trouble.

The team is more than just the members of it (and several of those are among the best ever, when on form). It's the spirit of the Australian team that looks a lot weaker than ours - Ponting's whinges are, IMHO, the public tip of a bit of internecine warfare - apparently him and Warne aren't getting on, amongst others.

It's certainly not in the bag yet, but the Australian batting has got to be about 100% better if they're going to get scores in the 400s as England now do regularly. All those guys with batting averages in the 40s-50s who are going for 20-30 at the moment need to start scoring if they're to have a chance. And if it all goes titsup we bring Hoggard on to block everything and get the crowd to do a rain dance :)