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cricketing narratives that aren't true

cnerd123

likes this
MSD being a defensive captain is pretty accurate, but that doesn't make him bad or 'worse'.

Keep in mind he played in the T20 era, his preference for building pressure and squeezing runs worked quite well for a long while. He struggled when the bowlers struggled to give him the same control; and I'm not sure whether or not a more aggressive captain would have gotten more out of the attack in those situations. And yea he had his bad moments - let the game drift now and then, an obsession with the short ball - but no captain is ever perfect.
 

Shri

Mr. Glass
Kumble retired in 2008 and was pretty much a spent force in his last 3-4 series. Zaheer was the lone gun, he was really excellent, but Ishant was underwhelming after a very promising 2008, Bhajji was on a downward slide, and the likes of Ojha, Unadkat and Mukund had to fill in on occasion. Sreesanth would mix in the occasional world-class spell with utter garbage.

Our batting was consistently excellent though.
Ishant did his role well at home for those two years. They maintained the shine on the ball so well and got the ball to reverse early. In the home series against Aus in 09/10(? can't remember. Hayden's last test series here I think) they were talked about highly and were very important in the series win. Check cricinfo articles from that series and you'll see what I mean.
 

vcs

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That series was in 2008.. Kumble's retirement series and MS captained the 2 games that India won, including the infamous Ponting tactic of bowling part-timers to maintain the over-rate. But India actually won that match because Dhoni pulled the Aussies back from a dominant first innings position with his 8-2 field. Ishant did bowl well in that series, he regressed in 2009-2010.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Kumble retired in 2008 and was pretty much a spent force in his last 3-4 series. Zaheer was the lone gun, he was really excellent, but Ishant was underwhelming after a very promising 2008, Bhajji was on a downward slide, and the likes of Ojha, Unadkat and Mukund had to fill in on occasion. Sreesanth would mix in the occasional world-class spell with utter garbage.

Our batting was consistently excellent though.
What are you talking about? Zak was a reverse swinging beast and Ishant Sharma looked genuinely world class for his first two years between 2008-2010. We also had Kumble bowling with Zak and Ish for a short time. Between 2008 to the 2011 WC, all our test players were at their best at the same time, maybe except for Dravid who was going through a lean patch. So, Dhoni was actually defensive with one of India's strongest sides.
Dhoni got the captaincy from Kumble retiring so naming Kumble is odd.
 

listento_me

U19 Captain
The West Indies can't produce another top cricketer even if their lives depended on it...wait scratch that. This one is probably true.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
re. Broad not getting into the Indian side

He's get into their ATG side FFS
 

Shady Slim

International Coach
funnily enough the argument that cricket is a batsman's game seems to be truer in tests and ODIs than T20s because of the spinner renaissance in the shortest format
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
- Handscomb is good at spin (not really but its becoming such a meme in Aus now)
- Alex Ross is good against spin because the sweep shot is literally his only shot
- Boult > Starc
- Channel 9 is bad
- Don't know if it exists now, but there was a narrative during the NZ in Aus tour that Craig was worth persisting with, hopefully that died.
I don't know of anyone who thinks Boult is better than Starc, and I live in NZ. Maybe Howsie. Channel 9 is ****ing horrible, in its coverage of all sports but particularly cricket. And honestly, I don't think that's an opinion.

The false narrative that continually gets me is the one in professional cricketing circles, where discussions around yorkers and their place in the game are a way of people in this environment expressing that they know all and we outside the 'tent' have no idea. Basically that us plebs who aren't involved in the game for a living haven't analysed the data and know that yorkers are a horrendous risk that demands inch perfection or the guarantee of being hit for 12 if you don't execute it correctly. Ignoring the fact, of course, that professional cricketers play the sport for a living and should be able to bowl deliveries somewhat on cue, and that whilst laps and ramps are part of the modern-day vernacular, they actually carry a high degree of risk themselves - far greater than yorkers in my view. My non-elite participant view, of course.
 

AndrewB

International Vice-Captain
Going back to "England in the 90s", one myth I've seen (at least from those English writers/fans who were besotted with Botham - not sure anyone else fell for it) was that England were a good team in the 80s but fell away drastically in the 90s.

In the 1980s, England won 20 Tests and lost 39 (out of a total of 104).
In the 1990s, England won 26 Tests and lost 43 (out of a total of 107).
 

Gnske

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I don't know of anyone who thinks Boult is better than Starc, and I live in NZ. Maybe Howsie. Channel 9 is ****ing horrible, in its coverage of all sports but particularly cricket. And honestly, I don't think that's an opinion.
I wouldn't trust a kiwi to know anything about A-grade production values
 

SteveNZ

Cricketer Of The Year
I wouldn't trust a kiwi to know anything about A-grade production values
Wouldn't trust Brad McNamara either.

What is so unhorrible about CH9s coverage? The polls regarding favourite pizza topping? The nauseating sycophancy? The lack of actual insight from guys who spent years of their lives on cricket fields and in cricket environments? The complete lack of insight and basic knowledge regarding touring sides?

Actually sorry, just give your own answer - ignore my pre-ordained answers. I'm genuinely interested to hear why you think CH9's coverage doesn't suck.
 

Burgey

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I think the two underlying things which are awful about Nine's coverage are the intentional dumbing down of the commentary and the commentators being cheer leaders rather than analysts.

Someone like Michael Slater, when he first started commentary, provided really good insights into the game. He doesn't even try now. The same with Ian Healy. When Mark Nicholas does a domestic LO game, he starts talking technical matters cricket and it's brilliant. Really incisive. But when the international season starts they flick the switch to vaudeville and it's awful. I think the saddest of all is Mark Taylor. Sad not just because he's a Liberal Party supporter and loves John Howard, but tragic because he had such great tactical nous as a captain, and we get little to none of it on the tv. If he was offering the sort of insight he is capable of, I'd be prepared to forgive the upward inflection at the end of every word. It's flat out awful, and just when you think they are all complete idiots, they have a lunch break and Warne/ Taylor/ Healy do a masterclass on their specialised skill and it's beyond wonderful. Taylor and Slater talking one time about opening the batting, rotating the strike, knowing where their off stump was etc was ****ing mind blowing. Warne doing the same thing with leg spin was flat out incredible. Just watching the control he had and how he thought about his bowling - it was like he became a different person. But I think the best of all was Ian Healy doing a spiel on 'keeping. It was ridiculously enlightening. I dead set thought they'd put an Ian Healy mask on a real person for the segment, it was that good.

Most people don't like Ian Chappell, but he speaks his mind and gives decent insights into things. When Channel Nine started commentating, he was probably the weakest link of the fab four (Richie, Tony, Bill and Chappelli). These days imo he is easily the strongest of the Nine commentators.

I miss Bill, Tony and Richie. I like it when Bill comes back for the Boxing Day test, but I wish he was still about all the time. Sure he is parochial and gets excited, but he's prepared to call it as he sees it, and his humour (especially at Greig's expense) is badly missed. I remember when they used to do these postcard pieces from whichever city they were in and they cut away to pics of Bondi beach with Greigy saying "Look at that Bill, just magnificent. Only a short walk down the road from my place, too". "Yeah, why don't you get out in the western suburbs with the real people, Tony Greig?"

Now you've got, as Steve said, polls about pizza, you have that idiot James Brayshaw who is beneath contempt and real boys' club in-"jokes" between a bunch of blokes who mostly played in the same side. Maybe they need to get some blokes from different eras. Someone else from the 70s or 80s (you know who, TOTAB) or sack the lot of them and just bring in the BBL commentary team from channel ten.
 
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smash84

The Tiger King
I think the two underlying things which are awful about Nine's coverage are the intentional dumbing down of the commentary and the commentators being cheer leaders rather than analysts.

Someone like Michael Slater, when he first started commentary, provided really good insights into the game. He doesn't even try now. The same with Ian Healy. When Mark Nicholas does a domestic LO game, he starts talking technical matters cricket and it's brilliant. Really incisive. But when the international season starts they flick the switch to vaudeville and it's awful. I think the saddest of all is Mark Taylor. Sad not just because he's a Liberal Party supporter and loves John Howard, but tragic because he had such great tactical nous as a captain, and we get little to none of it on the tv. If he was offering the sort of insight he is capable of, I'd be prepared to forgive the upward inflection at the end of every word. It's flat out awful, and just when you think they are all complete idiots, they have a lunch break and Warne/ Taylor/ Healy do a masterclass on their specialised skill and it's beyond wonderful. Taylor and Slater talking one time about opening the batting, rotating the strike, knowing where their off stump was etc was ****ing mind blowing. Warne doing the same thing with leg spin was flat out incredible. Just watching the control he had and how he thought about his bowling - it was like he became a different person. But I think the best of all was Ian Healy doing a spiel on 'keeping. It was ridiculously enlightening. I dead set thought they'd put an Ian Healy mask on a real person for the segment, it was that good.

Most people don't like Ian Chappell, but he speaks his mind and gives decent insights into things. When Channel Nine started commentating, he was probably the weakest link of the fab four (Richie, Tony, Bill and Chappelli). These days imo he is easily the strongest of the Nine commentators.

I miss Bill, Tony and Richie. I like it when Bill comes back for the Boxing Day test, but I wish he was still about all the time. Sure he is parochial and gets excited, but he's prepared to call it as he sees it, and his humour (especially at Greig's expense) is badly missed. I remember when they used to do these postcard pieces from whichever city they were in and they cut away to pics of Bondi beach with Greigy saying "Look at that Bill, just magnificent. Only a short walk down the road from my place, too". "Yeah, why don't you get out in the western suburbs with the real people, Tony Greig?"

Now you've got, as Steve said, polls about pizza, you have that idiot James Brayshaw who is beneath contempt and real boys' club in-"jokes" between a bunch of blokes who mostly played in the same side. Maybe they need to get some blokes from different eras. Someone else from the 70s or 80s (you know who, TOTAB) or sack the lot of them and just bring in the BBL commentary team from channel ten.


Quite well put. I love lawry too. And yes, Brayshaw is the absolute worst. Might as well hear a horse bray than to hear Brayshaw.
 

quincywagstaff

International Debutant
- The WACA Test pitch being a fast bowler’s dream full of pace and bounce. They were still talking it up during the Matador Cup last week

- How good a batsman Allan Border was against the West Indies. Yes, had a great tour of the West Indies in 83/84 (and a very good series in 81/82) but the Windies always had his measure after that.
 

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