Cricket What-Ifs

[RossTaylorsBox]

What if the Dinosaurs survived to this day? Would they have evolved to play cricket with human babies as balls and adults as bats?

MCG still too big for Brontosaurus.

 

[nick-o]

What if Marcus Trescothick hadn't suffered from depression? Would he have taken over after Strauss retired and still be captain today, easily ensconced as England's top run-scorer ever; would Captain Tresco have been able to deal with KP and keep him in the team; would Cook, free from the burden of captaincy, have remained in beast mode for a few more years...?

 

[OverratedSanity]

What happens to England if Shane Warne catches Pietersen in 2005?

You know, this is actually really interesting, not just from an England team perspective but for KP's career. The series definitely gets drawn 2-2 imo, and still goes down as the best Ashes ever.

But, if KP is caught, his series scores read: 57, 64*,71,20,21,0,45,23,14,15 (the score he was dropped on). 330 @36.6 (instead of 468@52) doesn't look very impressive for a member of the losing team. Reckon Thorpe might've been called back for a bit?

 

[morgieb]

You know, this is actually really interesting, not just from an England team perspective for that perspective but for KP's career. The series definitely gets drawn 2-2 imo, and still goes down as the best Ashes ever.

But, if KP is caught, his series scores read: 57, 64*,71,20,21,0,45,23,14,15 (the score he was dropped on). 330 @36.6 (instead of 468@52) doesn't look very impressive for a member of the losing team. Reckon Thorpe might've been called back for a bit?

Fairly certain Thorpe had already retired. Bell's career may have been interesting though.

 

[Jono]

You know, this is actually really interesting, not just from an England team perspective but for KP's career. The series definitely gets drawn 2-2 imo, and still goes down as the best Ashes ever.

But, if KP is caught, his series scores read: 57, 64*,71,20,21,0,45,23,14,15 (the score he was dropped on). 330 @36.6 (instead of 468@52) doesn't look very impressive for a member of the losing team. Reckon Thorpe might've been called back for a bit?

KP was already annointed at Lord's. And Thorpe was retired.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Whoops didn't realise Thorpe was gone. I reckon KP would've had to prove his worth all over again, and he probably would've done it soon enough, but it could've been a big stumbling block imo. Getting those runs in his debut series against probably the best team ever completely sealed everyone's opinion that he was quality.

 

[GIMH]

To assume that drop = Australia win is a little off I think. They'd have been favourites at that point, but we could easily still have scraped a target together. Given there wouldn't have been a whole heap of time, and the quality of our bowling all series, would have made for a nice tasty chase.

Though I accept this is very much a minority view

 

[Lillian Thomson]

There's not a turban in beeswax chance that KP would have been dropped if Warne had held that catch. Even though he only managed a handful of moderately decent scores, he was already obviously a very high class batsman and even the England selectors aren't that stupid (at least not since Ted Dexter gave up).

 

[harsh.ag]

There's not a turban in beeswax chance that KP would have been dropped if Warne had held that catch. Even though he only managed a handful of moderately decent scores, he was already obviously a very high class batsman and even the England selectors aren't that stupid (at least not since Ted Dexter gave up).

Interesting parallels between Gower and KP's career, yeah.

Pietersen did offer a few chances during that innings. Some top edges which landed safe. Was a very attacking innings, and a very luck one too.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Pietersen did offer a few chances during that innings. Some top edges which landed safe. Was a very attacking innings, and a very luck one too.

He could have been out first ball and there's still no chance he would have been dropped from the side.

 

[harsh.ag]

He could have been out first ball and there's still no chance he would have been dropped from the side.

Yup agreed. Was just commenting on the quality of that innings. A bit overrated in a way.

 

[wpdavid]

What if Marcus Trescothick hadn't suffered from depression? Would he have taken over after Strauss retired and still be captain today, easily ensconced as England's top run-scorer ever; would Captain Tresco have been able to deal with KP and keep him in the team; would Cook, free from the burden of captaincy, have remained in beast mode for a few more years...?

He'd have replaced Vaughan as captain wouldn't he? IIRC he captained the first test in Pakistan in 2005 in Vaughan's absence, and the depression hit home soon afterwards.

The immediate consequence is that Cook wouldn't have debuted for years, unless he came in at number 3.

Beyond that, would Tresco's captaincy been as successful as Strauss' tenure from 2009 to 2011?

 

[Furball]

Yeah Trescothick was vice captain.

 

[GIMH]

Doesn't automatically mean he'd have got the long term gig mind you.

Think Cook would have played sooner rather than later anyway. We used him at 3 in the summer of 06.

 

[Gob]

What if Shane Watson and Usman Khawaja did their home work before Mohali?

 

[Shady Slim]

okay what if brendan taylor didn't kolpak and played against india?

 

[Hurricane]

What if - the 3rd umpire had reviewed the footage longer and given Ross taylor not out in the final.

With one frame the catch looked questionable.

 

[wpdavid]

What if the England vs Pakistan group game in the 1992 hadn't been rained off after Pak were dismissed for 70?

Apart from England or NZ winning the WC, which would have been nice ....

Any political implications for Imran Khan not being able to use the WC win to further his personal ambitions?