Mop-up of the day – who cares wins

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Or, more accurately, in the eyes of many: who wins cares and who loses doesn’t.

We touched on this a couple of days ago. India’s batting at Old Trafford warrants scrutiny, but we’re still wary of drawing conclusions about the players’ motives and feelings based on what happened. After all, when has a loss ever looked good?

Dileep Premachandran knows the Indian cricketers better than most and he’s written a piece about accusations of indifference for Wisden India which is worth a read.

Mo’ Kemar, mo’ problems

Meanwhile, our latest Cricinfo Twitter round-up takes us a step closer to understanding Kemar Roach’s world view. It seems to revolve around making money, attracting women and moaning about women who he feels are only attracted by money.

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We’ve also got a thing in this month’s issue of The Cricketer – XI phrases we’d like to see the back of. We can’t link to that. We can point at it, because we can see it on the coffee table, but that’s not really any good to you, is it?

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Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

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51 comments

    1. Cricinfo’s recent Match Point episode is full of the stuff. Let’s be honest here: which sport isn’t at its best when compared to a fat person rolling down a hill?

  1. The ladies’ Test has, at this point, lost 15 wickets out of 23 to LBWs. Something to work on at females’ cricketing academies, it would seem.

  2. Kemar Roach seem predictable, but then throw leg spinner. Cricket player is very consistent in play and better than Magnus Carlsen. Kemar Roach is not cricket player?!?

  3. Dileep’s article is disputable on many counts. Mostly because most of these people are not really in a slump.

    It occurs to me that you can pick up the magazine from the coffee table, record yourself reading it, and upload it on youtube. The things you won’t do for us readers is staggering, really.

    1. And we suppose we’d be obliged to adopt a 1950s received pronunciation accent for this task as well?

  4. Extraordinary cricket batting hittings at headquarters today. Can our ODI top four just be Lumb, Hales, Taylor and Patel?

    1. NO. Alastair Cook must continue to bat in the ODIs. For Cooky, England and St. George.

    2. I suspect that the players are building an ark currently. It is pitch dark and absolutely heaving it down. This will test even the Lord’s drainage unless it stops quite soon.

    3. Shahid Afridi could not be more inconsistent than some pitches. So Alastair Cook must bat in ODIs.

  5. My very last set of transfers for the series are complete. (They probably continue into the LO games, but I couldn’t give a toss about those.) Come on, music makers. Give them a tune to march off to.

    1. Mine are too … Ever the romantic .. Have retained Pujara and Kohli throughout the series. Brought Ishant and Dhoni back in too.

    2. It’s easy for an England fan to retain Kohli in their fantasy team. If he fails, that’s good. If he scores, at least you get some points out of it.

    3. You’re right below me in the King’s league, aren’t you Skid? And with a completely different line-up too, it seems (I’ve gone pragmatist after four tests of Pujara and Kohli failures). May the best team win!

      Oh, and England. May that team win as well, even if they aren’t the best team.

  6. A late transfer – Binny for Jadeja on the advice of Twitter. Which means it’s almost certainly the wrong call. Couldn’t find room for Ishant.

  7. I’m feeling quietly confident that my mid table mediocrity can be sustained, with a big push for this one final match.

    I have chosen to ignore your late transfer advice, Sam, which means you’ve probably made the right call.

    1. BMF swapped out Jaddu for Ashwin yesterday evening on Cricinfo’s advice. I choose to take this as a good omen.

      Poor old Jonathan Agnew. He’ll be so devastated at the lack of Pankaj.

    2. Told ya!

      The irony of it all – Jimmy Anderson plays all five matches, while Jadeja falls away and gets the drop.

      The curse of that Trent Bridge Corridor of Uncertainty (copyright The Other Ed, early August 2014)

  8. Cricinfo comment say: “There is more to Jimmy Anderson than wicket, he is from another planet.”

  9. How did England even lose a match against India?? They really do seem to have become rubbish. Even woakes is looking decent.

  10. Without wishing to oversimplify – I think India made a fundamental mistake trying to mess with the heads of the England players with that Jadeja/Anderson business – the Indians ended up seriously messing with their own heads instead. Not even Wile E Coyote could have hoist himself with his own petard more effectively.

    Moreover, a cricket test series is sporting endurance like nothing else. When it goes wrong, especially for the touring side, it can go horribly wrong. Think Ashes 2006/7 and Ashes 2013/14. Post Lord’s, it’s gone that sort of horribly wrong for India.

    1. As a Leicestershire fan, I’d have to agree with Bracewell.

      I guess it’s good for England to concentrate the best players in a few teams, but when your side is going to go two full seasons without winning a game because your best players keep (understandably) pissing off, it royally sucks.

      Also, Sarwan, you’re a jerk.

    1. From TMS Live Text Commentary: “can anyone else think of a Test cricketer whose first name and surname rhyme?” Ged (I think) beat them to it.

  11. Well,dropping Dhoni for Rahane last test has turned out well.

    My team full of Indian bowlers and English batsmen is having a fabulous day.

  12. At this point, I just feel terribly bad for Dhoni. Which is weird, because a few weeks ago, I was feeling terribly bad for Cook.

  13. I would like to know whether anyone has ever contributed 100 individual runs to a team total of less than 200 in a Test match.

    1. The answer to sam’s question therefore being, “quite a few times, almost always against England.”

  14. I’ve contemplated unfollowing Kemar Roach as he’s become too much of a parody of Kemar Roach. Why I do not consider unfollowing Chris Gayle for the same reason, I do not know.

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