What to do about tour matches

[TheJediBrah]

I don't fully understand this. Why should Pakistan be obligated to help Australia?

Can stop you here. Not saying anyone is obligated to "help" any touring side. That's not what happened here. They went out of their way to nullify the practice match that was organised by deliberately provided different conditions. This virtually never, ever, happens in international cricket tours. The only other occasion I'm aware of is 2016 Aus in SL.

 

[Dan]

Eh, I still see no issue.

If you prepare properly, the conditions or quality of opposition that turn up for the tour match should have no impact whatsoever.

 

[Dan]

As for this match specifically, I'm not sure that the Pakistan Cricket Board has great sway over the pitch conditions at the ICC Academy.

 

[Adders]

The whole thread would have gone more smoothly if TJB hadn't used "blatant cheating" in the OP.

Harsh gets it. (probably the first time anyone has said that tbf but it's true in this instance)

Ok. The thread is about tour matches and what visiting sides might have to do in the future to get proper preparation. Can you shyte awful anti Australian **** arses elect a representative and post once and screw off instead of walking in one by one like inebriates and hurling up the contents of your sterile minds.

Except 'our' side is not as bad, unfortunately you like like several others have been keen to rush in like fools without really considering the major part of the issue at hand.

Look, you blokes would be much better off taking this stance instead of this victim complex you're adopting.

 

[Burner]

Boohoo the bad man said mean things about australia

 

[Adders]

LOL, they talk tough and make out they're hard but fair and all that bollocks, but as soon as a bit of criticism comes their way.........biggest Waaaaaahhhhs ever. **** off you sooks.

 

[Flem274*]

Are you that stupid you need to be told how to be feeling right now? I’m not accepting any deal on the condition you’ll stop acting like a jackass. Cause that’s what you’re being and you need telling. Just in case you’ve been encouraged by all the fist pumps and woot woots of those who egg you guys on just to see you make more fools of yourselves.

i feel tired tbh did some overtime today. not sure if that's what you were going to say i'm feeling but nah mate i'm good i got this.

i understand you're feeling emotional. countries on the downturn tend to need to exaggerate the greatness of their current state, hence pat cummins and mitch starc are apparently the best fast bowlers in the world right now and during the ashes the glasshouse quartet was being compared to the 80s windies by the various cheap benchmark00 knock offs still on the forum shelves.

but sadly the reality is australia just isn't all that relevant anymore. you've probably had more PMs and palace coups this decade than the average warn torn third world nation and no one is concerned about this. the cricket team can't win anywhere the ball spins anymore, not even bangladesh, and again no one really cares. you'll never see threads about cricket needing a strong australia because a strong australia comes with the asterix that they're only good at non-contact international sports where you can't cop a hiding for mouthing off.

imagine if warner was finally given the spear tackle he deserves? the delicious tears about "the line" being finally crossed would go on for years. not that i think he'd open his yapper if he was in a situation where even someone as seemingly mild as ben from accounts smith could respond in the appropriately manly, non-australian manner.

 

[Starfighter]

Eh, I still see no issue.

If you prepare properly, the conditions or quality of opposition that turn up for the tour match should have no impact whatsoever.

It's trite and useless saying 'prepare properly so tour matches don't matter'. That misses the point that tour matches are part of proper preparation, and have been for as long as teams have been making test tours. A player can't prepare properly for a certain set of conditions if they can't play in them. Pitches are difficult to make to order and even that misses other details like how climactic conditions affect the game and so on. There's reason that teams struggle touring no matter how much 'preparation' they get by playing at home.

 

[Starfighter]

LOL, they talk tough and make out they're hard but fair and all that bollocks, but as soon as a bit of criticism comes their way.........biggest Waaaaaahhhhs ever. **** off you sooks.

You're the one whinging mate. We're just trying to argue facts and keep a sense of perspective rather than purveying exaggerated bull. It really isn't that hard.

 

[Adders]

OK. I beg to differ but OK.

 

[Starfighter]

i feel tired tbh did some overtime today. not sure if that's what you were going to say i'm feeling but nah mate i'm good i got this.

i understand you're feeling emotional. countries on the downturn tend to need to exaggerate the greatness of their current state, hence pat cummins and mitch starc are apparently the best fast bowlers in the world right now and during the ashes the glasshouse quartet was being compared to the 80s windies by the various cheap benchmark00 knock offs still on the forum shelves.

but sadly the reality is australia just isn't all that relevant anymore. you've probably had more PMs and palace coups this decade than the average warn torn third world nation and no one is concerned about this. the cricket team can't win anywhere the ball spins anymore, not even bangladesh, and again no one really cares. you'll never see threads about cricket needing a strong australia because a strong australia comes with the asterix that they're only good at non-contact international sports where you can't cop a hiding for mouthing off.

imagine if warner was finally given the spear tackle he deserves? the delicious tears about "the line" being finally crossed would go on for years. not that i think he'd open his yapper if he was in a situation where even someone as seemingly mild as ben from accounts smith could respond in the appropriately manly, non-australian manner.

I sense an inferiority complex here, and it's not mine.

 

[Burgey]

LOL, they talk tough and make out they're hard but fair and all that bollocks, but as soon as a bit of criticism comes their way.........biggest Waaaaaahhhhs ever. **** off you sooks.

Says the bloke residing in rural Victoria

 

[Burgey]

i feel tired tbh did some overtime today. not sure if that's what you were going to say i'm feeling but nah mate i'm good i got this.

i understand you're feeling emotional. countries on the downturn tend to need to exaggerate the greatness of their current state, hence pat cummins and mitch starc are apparently the best fast bowlers in the world right now and during the ashes the glasshouse quartet was being compared to the 80s windies by the various cheap benchmark00 knock offs still on the forum shelves.

but sadly the reality is australia just isn't all that relevant anymore. you've probably had more PMs and palace coups this decade than the average warn torn third world nation and no one is concerned about this. the cricket team can't win anywhere the ball spins anymore, not even bangladesh, and again no one really cares. you'll never see threads about cricket needing a strong australia because a strong australia comes with the asterix that they're only good at non-contact international sports where you can't cop a hiding for mouthing off.

imagine if warner was finally given the spear tackle he deserves? the delicious tears about "the line" being finally crossed would go on for years. not that i think he'd open his yapper if he was in a situation where even someone as seemingly mild as ben from accounts smith could respond in the appropriately manly, non-australian manner.

4/10

 

[Burgey]

Three of those because they found an iron lung for you.

 

[cnerd123]

God all of you suck. Get over it. Your cricket teams are as awful as your food and your weather and your dental hygiene.

 

[Bijed]

Pakistan just picked their 'A' Team for Australia's only match in UAE, and it does not include a single specialist spin bowler. A blatant tactic to rob the touring side of practice ahead of the Test series where they are expected to be facing a spin-heavy attack. Basically the same thing happened on Australia's last tour to Sri Lanka where the tour match was on a greentop against a team of seamers, leading into the Tests on dustbowls against nothing but spinners.

Personally I think such "tactics" are a disgrace but overall feeds into what has been an issue for some time, which is what to do about tour matches? With international schedules packed, time not being available, understrength sides being named and blatant cheating (IMO) by the likes of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, tour matches are almost becoming a waste of time.

Would touring sides be better off just organising their own intra-squad practices instead? Should host boards be forced to display common human decency and common sense? Discuss.

I agree that's it basically a bad thing for the sport that tour matches do seem to be increasingly seen as an opportunity to mess with the touring team's preparation, rather than give them a chance to acclimatise in order for the upcoming series to be on a more level footing and hence probably better from a cricketing perspective. But I'm enough of a cynic to wonder why I should expect any different - after all, international sport is by nature competetive and realistically you've got to expect a board to do everything in it's power to maximise it's national team's chances of victory (West Indies' and Zimbabwe's boards excepted, obviously).

That's not to say that I in any way like this, but I think that touring teams just need to accept unhelpful preparation from host nations as a fact of the game (and I don't mean that in a 'grow up' way, more like 'take it on the chin and move on') and look more towards sorting out their own prep, like Australia did before their last tour of India (I think it was that tour).

I'd also have no objection whatsoever to the ICC slapping boards with fairly punitive fines for the sort of thing TJB describes, but in practice I can see it dissolving to a mess of accusations, both founded and unfounded, of inconsistent application etc.

 

[Burgey]

God all of you suck. Get over it. Your cricket teams are as awful as your food and your weather and your dental hygiene.

***** plainly referencing the English contingent here. Big effort to sledge the dental hygiene of others from a bloke who supports outfits hailing from places without pottable water.

 

[cnerd123]

***** plainly referencing the English contingent here. Big effort to sledge the dental hygiene of others from a bloke who supports outfits hailing from places without pottable water.

*potable

 

[Burgey]

Sorry, I actually did some work today and it’s made me tired

#flemposts

 

[cnerd123]

Flem's 'i don't give a **** and let me ramble on for 5 paragraphs explaining why' schtick is wearing old. Let's hope he changes it up with BOTM just around the corner