ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate (AM) XI v England. January 7-9, 2012

[Howe_zat]

Shahzad certainly has the sort of record that says he's too good for associate cricket, by all means. Coming up for 1000 FC runs in his 10th match at a 70+ average.

 

[Howe_zat]

Broad seems to be bizarrely good on dry-ish pitches which are supposed to be rubbish for pace bowling. This is another example, apparently.

EDIT: Either that or he still thinks he's bowling against India.

He'll probably be terrible in the upcoming series because his place isn't under threat.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Swann flying all over the park. 11 conceded from his first over.

EDIT: Just noticed Davies in the line up. Why would he travel to the UAE? According to Wikipedia,

Ummmm yeah, no homosexual person has ever set foot in the UAE!

Dire.

 

[benchmark00]

West Indies players not considered for selection??

 

[Kylez]

West Indies players not considered for selection??

!

 

[Athlai]

Any other streams out there?

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Gotta think that any of the associates that do well here will put themselves in the shop window somwhat for a county deal.

 

[Athlai]

Really hope Hamid Hassan and Boyd Rankin run through them.

 

[Athlai]

Shahzad 50! Double it mate.

ICC to combine Bangers and Afghanistan Hamid Hassan and Shahzad would do them a lot of good.

gone

 

[Howe_zat]

I actually saw a wicket for the first time today!

Still no quality/commentary/replays, but I saw one! We're getting there!

 

[Athlai]

I blame you for that wicket. Stop watching.

 

[Daemon]

Guys who're watching, please record Hamid's bowling later on and put it up on youtube

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Think cricinfo must be watching the same feed as Howe. They've now got commentary going, but they didn't have any at the start of the match - until the 14th over (after the drinks break)

 

[BoyBrumby]

Gotta think that any of the associates that do well here will put themselves in the shop window somwhat for a county deal.

Unless they're an EU passport holder (& I think all the Scots and Irish lads already have contracts except Majid Haq) I'd be a bit sceptical as to whether a county would be prepared to gamble an overseas bearth on them.

 

[Spark]

Cricinfo almost never does actual commentary from the ground, they commentate on streams/TV. Only exception I can think of is a Aus v SA WC warmup game where there was no stream but they had commentary. Possibly.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Decent start to the tour by the bowlers. We wait to see how good it is until we bat and find out if it a dreadful pitch or good bowling.

 

[Furball]

Decent start to the tour by the bowlers. We wait to see how good it is until we bat and find out if it a dreadful pitch or good bowling.

Or Test class bowlers vs club standard batsmen.

 

[Howe_zat]

Unless they're an EU passport holder (& I think all the Scots and Irish lads already have contracts except Majid Haq) I'd be a bit sceptical as to whether a county would be prepared to gamble an overseas bearth on them.

There are plenty of counties that didn't bother with an overseas player for most or all of last season though. And I daresay someone like Hassan, who iirc wrecked Notts playing for the MCC last year, would be paid a fair bit less than your typical Kolpak or old county pro.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Or Test class bowlers vs club standard batsmen.

Maybe true, as I said, find out more when we bat. Will give the bowlers some confidence today anyway.

 

[Howe_zat]

Maybe true, as I said, find out more when we bat. Will give the bowlers some confidence today anyway.

From the hour or two I've seen today, there doesn't look like anything wrong with the pitch, if anything it looks flat and slow, and taking wickets looks like hard work. England have been disciplined - a lot of the boundaries have come from edges - and batsmen who won't have faced much Test standard bowling have gotten out to rash shots.

Shahzad for example was striking it well, but it was only a matter of time before he got out like that and when he tried to drive one hard in the air past mid on, Broad took a nice catch.

I don't think England have really done anything special but they've been good. That said, I didn't see Broad's new ball spell, where he did the real damage.