Filed under: Cricket | Tags: 20/20, 20/20 World cup, 20/20 World cup 2009, Adil Rashid, Cricket With Balls, Darron Reekers, De Nederlanders, De Nederlands, Dirk Nannes, Dirty Dirk, England, fucktrog, Holland, Johann Cruyff, Jrod, Last of The Summer Whine, Len The Yorkshire Kitman, Luke Wright, Pakistan, Q, Ravi Bopara, ricky schroder, Rob Key, Ryan Ten Doeschate, stuart broad, Stuart MacGill, T20i, The England, The Netherlands, Tom De Grooth, Well Pitched, west indies
De Nederlanders celebrate a famous victory over The England.
What the fuck happened there?!
Destiny, my friends, that’s what.
After mastering total football in the 70′s under Johan Cruyff, de Nederlanders have now decided to do the same in 20/20 cricket.
Watch out boys and girls, they were unstoppable (except by Ze Germans) at football during that time, and are bound to do the same to all and sundry in this 20/20 World Cup (luckily Ze Germans are not here). Never before has there been such a sublime display of a cricket, from a side wearing oranje.
Dirty Dirk bowled well, without any real penetration.
It was left to a couple of old blacksmiths to cause the damage. Darron Reekers who started off in big bludgeoning style, followed up by Tom De Grooth, who smashed The England all over Lords. Jrod loved it so much he almost threw up!
My man Ryan Ten Doeschate even got in on the act, a cracking allround display, with a red inker and taking the wickets of Ravi Bopara & Luke Wright.
The England have two young stars at the top of their order, and the rest are a bunch of cunts. Even Rob Key, the fat knacker.
The bowling, beyond the opening pair was shithouse. Rashid looked good against the West Indies, but was goes for too many runs. He reminds me of Stuart MacGill, long hops, full tosses and the odd unplayable delivery. No fucking good at 20/20, I’m afraid (and surely the fact that he doesn’t get in Yorkshire’s side, should have given them some idea, no?).
Stuart Broad couldn’t hit six stumps, the useless Ricky Schroder lookalike fucktrog.
I’m happy to lose to the Dutch though, because it might make this bunch of fuckfaced De Engelsen players actually learn to play proper 20/20 cricket. Hardly any of them actually play it, they’re learning the game in T20i’s.
Here’s to getting spanked by Pakistan on Sunday, and being out of the competition within 3 days! Good times, my friends!
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Amjad Khan, Andrew Strauss, Cameron White, Cricket, Ian Bell, india, james anderson, jimmy anderson, Kevin Pietersen, King Cricket, Line and length, Monty Panesar, Owais Shah, Patrick Kidd, paul collingwood, Sachin tendulkar, Sherminator, Steve Harmison
Don't tell anyone, but I'm shit in the subcontinent!
Can’t bat in the subcontinent, and plays with a fractured rib.
Surely that would restrict your movement somewhat, I know it did when I broke my ribs. I couldn’t move at anywhere near full capacity for months!
So what is the stupid saffer halfwit doing playing? Did no-one think that it might be a bad thing? Fuck off you stupid grinned cockmunch.
I do despair sometimes, and at other times I feel like hulk smashing.
Today is one of those days.
Patrick Kidd over at Line & Length calls for the replacement of one of the useless fucking knobend opening bowlers. He reckons we should replace Jimmy “I’m a wet fucking Blanket” Anderson or Stephen “I’m a weak in the head wanker” Harmison, with Amjad Khan. Obviously Patrick was much nicer in his words, but the sentiment was the same I’m sure.. Back to the Danish wunderkind Amjad, the boy is pretty quick, he can reverse swing the ole nut, and he can’t be any fucking worse than them other two shitforbrains (I say that without ever seeing bowl a first class delivery)!
He also called for Panesar to go. Too fucking right I say. That bucket handed bambi twat needs to disappear for a long time.
Why not send the idiot to Australia for club cricket for the rest of their summer?
There he’ll have to learn some guile, or he’ll be smashed into oblivion. Either way we win. If he gets smashed into oblivion, he quits and takes up some IT job in Brum. If he learns his craft, we have a world class spinner back in the ranks.
They’ve got to replace him with my young buck, Adil Rashid. Give him a go, he’ll at least get Tendulkar’s wicket. He loves to give a debutant spinner his wicket. Basically Tendulkar is a Cricket Shark. Give the fella an easy first wicket, they raise their hopes, think that they’ve just got the best batsman in the world out, so they must be a great bowler, then get smashed about for the rest of their career by him, (see Monty Panesar and Cameron White) The sneaky fucker..
Talking of Tendulkar, visit Dear Kingy for his take on Tendulkar. It’s FUCKING GENIUS.
One day I intend to have Alex’s babies (just don’t tell him yet, it’ll be a surprise!).
Lastly, let the Sherminator get Sherminated, so that we can bring back Ace. He’s fucking good in the subcontinent, he’s wristy and the lad can manipulate the strike. At least get three blokes who can do that in the side. Strauss, Shah & Colly are the only proper batsmen who seem to be able to rotate, although Rashid is no mug with the bat either, and as he’s of Asian descent, he must be wristy too.
Here endeth the rant. Carry on, nothing to see..
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Ashley Giles, Cricket, Cricket With Balls, England, Geoff Miller, Graeme Swann, india, James Foster, Matt Prior, Michael Vaughan, Monty Panesar, Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Selection Cocks, The England, Tim Ambrose, Tony Frost
The touring squad for India has just been picked, and there are no major surprises anywhere. Which is all a bit tedious if you ask me.
The three main areas of contention were..
The replacement for Mickey V, him of the central contract and the straight ball issue.
The choices.
Owais Shah
Ravi Bopara
The place has gone to Ace, as he’s an exceptional player of spin, and had a handy performance in India back in the winter of 2005, I’ve no problem with this one, as he’s shown class for The England whenever he’s played of late, and Rav The Chav has been smashing mediocre Division Two bowlers around all season. I mean fucking hell, Tony Frost, some brummy landscape gardener, with myopia, averaged 80 in division two this year.
Second we had the wanky wicky conundrum.
Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose had increment contracts, which is like a temp version of a central contract, so were the obvious choices for the selectors.
Prior Deserved it, Ambrose didn’t. The man is shit. Can’t catch and can’t bat at international level. IT should have gone to Essex Wonder Wicky, James Foster. He’s the best wicket keeper in the country by a long shot, and his batting is reliable, and solid. And to rub salt in to the wounds he doesn’t even get a shout with the development squad. If I was James Foster, I’d be talking to a few geezers in dark corners of Essex boozers about where the selection panel live. Know what I mean son? A nod is as good as a wink to a blind man.
Then we get two them troublesome spinners.
The choices were Monty Panesar, Greame Swann and Adil Rashid.
They’ve picked The Sikh of Tweak, and gobby bloke.
Young Buck don’t even get a sniff, which is shit.
He’s the highest wicket taker out of any spinner in the country. He’s taken 62 wickets at 30, and is a better batsman the Swanny, and has proven runs for The England Hedgehogs out in India too.
Jrod over at the peerless Cricket with Balls, had this to say…
He seems to have been chosen under the Ashley Giles selection policy.
“Sure he doesn’t take many wickets, but he can bat a bit, and everyone likes him, so lets take him along. “
The fact that Ashley Giles is on the selection committee probably had a lot to do with that!
Arsebiscuits to the lot of em..
Rashid is a better option, and he needs to be tested against quality opposition, to see where he really is. Being sent on The Hedgehog tour again, is like sending him back to do the same year at school, like the big retarded kid with the sideburns who smashes kids up for their lunch money.
They sent him away to improve his bowling last winter and he took more wickets than any other spinner in English cricket. What more do they need?
Some will say he’s too young, but he’s the same age as Murali was when he made his debut, and he was nowt special til he developed his doosra.
And off spinners are shit heads, FACT.
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, Cricket, England, Ian Bell, jimmy anderson, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan, Monty Panesar, paul collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Ryan Sidebottom, South Africa, Steve Harmison, stuart broad, The Broken Family Band, The England, Tim Ambrose
After a pretty abject summer, barely beating New Zealand and losing to South Africa, here is my summer test review.
In it, I decide through Suave’s hulk smash phenomonen, who survives and who feels the pain.
Alastair Cook
Eyeliner escapes a two handed hulk smash, as he actually scored a decent amount of runs. The one handed hulk smash comes about because the Little shithead has forgotten how to get past 60.
Andrew Strauss
full on hulk smash for Wing Commander. Scored nothing until he was under scrutiny again, and to be honest looks shit against all world class attacks. Should be sent to the local boozer to regale young fellows with stories of his heroics in The War. Fucking posh twat.
Michael Vaughan
Nothing to add really, as the straight ball missing, weird mulleted former skipper, seems to have hulk smashed himself. Lucky boy cos he was gonna get it big time!
Kevin Pietersen
New Skipper, top run-scorer, all-round talented fucker. He gets a little David Banner type hug. Keep it up big man.
Ian Bell
Semi smashing again, as the 199 at Lords was a cracking knock. Only two of his test centuries have come in a winning side, and he never scores one without someone above him doing it too, which when you look at our opening pair, is proof enough that he’s no number 3. Not mentally tough enough, ginger, weird snarl thing when concentrating. Fuck it, he’ s convinced me to proper hulk smash him!
Paul Collingwood
Partially redeemed himself with his last two knocks, but gets the full HULK SMASH with extra cheese. Send him to the glue factory. Not good enough, and we need to bed in a young buck. I reckon Adil Rashid or Ravi Bopara should get the nod. Both are excellent fielders, both are decent bowlers and they ain’t too shabby with the bat either.
Andrew Flintoff
I will never hulk smash big lad. I love him, his passion, his lovely wife, his pace, even his woeful foot movement. He can do no wrong.
Tim Ambrose
Fucking hell, I’ve got a family sized can of whupass just for this little shit for brains. This is the worst hulksmashing you’ve ever seen, cars being tossed, huge holes in the ground, and little wanky wicky dying a slow, painful death! Fuck off now. Read and Foster are far superior with the gloves and a bit better with the bat, and Prior is miles better with the bat.
Stuart Broad
He’s big, he’s bad, he’s better than his dad. Or at least we hope he is. Bats lovely, bowls OK. Got better as the summer went on, but is no Simon Jones. First change bowlers need to take wickets, and constantly apply pressure, and he’s not doing that yet… I have resisted hulk smashing, but reserve the right to do so at a later date!
Ryan Sidebottom
Not good enough, but still miles better than most of our bowlers. Back problems meant he was farily innocuous towards the end of summer. Should have been dropped earlier for health reasons.
Stephen J Harmison
Still gets the hulk smash I’m afraid. As Duncan Fletcher said, you’ve got to take wickets in your first spell (he was unlucky, with eyeliners drop but…). His strike-rate was over 60, which when compared to Dale Steyn, South Africa’s premier quick, is nearly twice as bad. Hulk Smashed until his brain works properly and he can continuously hulk smash batsmen himself!
James Anderson
The wee man has done me proud this summer. Good consistent bowling, excellent fielding, and some decent lower order batting to boot. This is the first time in years that I actually don’t want to hurt him, which is nice. Cuddles all round.
Monty Panesar
SMASH! Fuck off Monty until you learn to bowl an arm ball or a doosra. Not good enough and India will dismantle him again this winter, followed by ‘Straya spanking his arse all next summer. I will be a little easy on him, in that The England don’t have a specialist spin bowling coach, so he pretty much has to do it on his own. All I want from you is some effort, as The Broken Family Band once sang. Learn to bowl another delivery, keep trying to learn to bat, and get a little confidence man, you’re a Sikh Warrior, recall your ancestors triumphs, bring forth the rage your fellow Sikhs felt after Operation Blue Star. Something, anything, you fucking boring twat!
Check back soon for a six word review of both sides!
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Andrew Flintoff, county cricket, Cricket, England, England Lions, james anderson, Justin Langer, Matthew Hoggard, Michael Vaughan, Peter Moores, Ryan Sidebottom, Somerset, The England
I don’t fucking care if this man can’t bat for shit any more.
Put him at anywhere in the last four if needs be, but he should play for The England.
I’ll tell you why.
He’s the best fast bowler in the country.
Justin Langer in his latest BBC column had this to say about the fella.
Only last week I padded up against Lancashire in the County Championship for Somerset and I can say first hand that Flintoff is absolutely ready to be picked for the first Test against New Zealand.
One of the joys of retiring from international cricket was knowing that I wouldn’t be peppered by the world’s best fast bowlers ever again.
This in mind, I was shocked at the ferocity of the Flintoff onslaught at Old Trafford.
As I kept saying to him, I could have understood if I was batting with Matthew Hayden and wearing a green Australia helmet with a kangaroo and emu embroidered on the front.
Instead, I was in a red Somerset helmet with Marcus Trescothick partnering me, so if I was ever in for a reprieve from England’s best fast bowler then surely that would have been the time.
History will suggest this couldn’t have been further from the truth.
For about an hour I could have been in the boxing ring with Joe Calzaghe and by the end of it I had literally copped a hammering.
My ribs, elbow and chest were so bruised I could have been confused for Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas!
Both Marcus and I agreed his spell was one of the great ones either of us had ever faced and while it was ugly – and at times intimidating – it is what we miss about playing international cricket on its toughest days.
This is one seriously good bowler.
Given the choice between Anderson & Flintoff, who would you pick? Between Hoggard & Flintoff, or Broad & Flintoff?
My bowling attack would look like this.
Flintoff, Rashid, Broad, Sidebottom. Or maybe Panesar for Rashid (we’ll see how he does against the Lions).
That’s a lot of batting. Flintoff and Rashid are excellent all-rounders, and Broad & Sidebottom can be relied upon to hold a bat.
Come on Mooresy, you know you want it.
Filed under: Cricket, fantasy cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, county cricket, Cricket, Cricket With Balls, Dirk Nannes, durham, England, Essex, fantasy cricket, Ian Bell, James Foster, James Harris, Jason Gallian, King Cricket, Mark Ramprakash, Michael Di Venuto, Mushtaq Ahmed, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Saqlain Mushtaq, Simon Jones, Surrey, third umpire, warwickshire, Will Jefferson, worcestershire, yorkshire
Suave’s Republique has a side in place for this years fantasy cricket..
I’ve also signed up to Third Umpire’s Superleague. Third Umpire is another The English blog, which is written by nice chaps, not like the sweary fucker who writes this old pony..
My team and the reasons behind the selection, should you care, is as follows.
Michael Di Venuto. Scored a gazillion runs last year, just as most Aussies seem to in county cricket
Will Jefferson. Cos he’s a freak, and he used to play for Essex. King Cricket also loves him a lot.
Mark Ramprakash. Scored over 2000 runs in two seasons, and was my best performer by miles.
Ian Bell. If he continues in the form he showed last summer, should score eleventythousand runs this year.
Jason Gallian. He plays for Essex now, and averages about 40, which is OK. He was cheap too.
Adil Rashid. It was a tough choice between the young buck and Ryan Ten Doeschate, but I ended up picking Rashid. He’s had a great winter touring with the hedgehogs, and should get better as he gets fitter. Also, I was looking a little heavy on the Essex side, and we’re going to be shit this year.
James Foster. Plays for Essex, averages over 40, good hands. Scored his first double century last year.
Saqlain Mushtaq. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of spinners in my side, that’s cos they always take the most wickets in county cricket. Saqlain should do well at the Oval.
Dirk Nannes. I’ve picked him on the back of the man love shown by Jrod @ Cricket With Balls.
If he can carry on the form shown for Victoria, during the winter, he’ll rip county sides apart.
Mushtaq Ahmed. Took 90 wickets last year. Might take a few less this season, but still far and away the best spinner in county cricket
James Harris. Young (17) Glamorgan quick, bats quite well too. took 33 wickets at 24 in his first season, with best match figures of 12/118, highest score of 87no.
Filed under: Cricket, Photography | Tags: Adil Rashid, chris adams, Cricket, ICL, matt mason, MCC, Mushtaq Ahmed, Phil Mustard, Rob Key, Sussex
The opening fixture to the county championship starts on Thursday, with last seasons champions Sussex facing an MCC XI.
I’m going to have a sneaky half day on Friday, to join the masses down at Lords. By masses, I mean saddos, statisticians and MCC members out for a few days on the booze.
Hopefully I’ll be able to see my favourite young buck Adil Rashid in action. If Mushy is back from the Evil ICL, he would do well to pick the brains of the little master, while he has the chance.
I will try to update from the ground, IF my new battery arrives for my phone.
Really, the only reason I wrote this post, was so that I could post the picture of the cup winners from last year.
It’s got Rob Key in it. He’s lovely.
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Cricket, England Lions, Graham Onions, Michael Carberry, Monty Panesar
Young Buck, Adil Rashid performed rather nicely again, out in India, for The Hedgehogs..
Scoring 40 runs, and then a very tight four over spell of leg-spin, for 6 runs.
During the recent Duleep Trophy, he averaged 56 with the bat (2 not outs), and 18 with the ball!
For the whole hedgehog tour, it’s 57 with the bat, and 25.22 with the ball.
That’s proper fucking mental all-rounder material..
I’m starting to have sexytime dreams about this fella. I feel the urge to take him to Savile Row, and get him all suaved up!
Now this brings me to a bit of a quandary…
The Sikh Of Tweak, is out there at the moment too, and has bowled excellently, averaging 23.2 with ball.
His batting average is 2.5
Rashid has a better strike rate, worse economy rate, and worse overall bowling average.
However, he averages a kazillion more with the bat, and he can field (a very good fielder).
I love Monty, but I’d be picking rashid against the Kiwis this summer, in his place.
Michael Carberry, is starting to look like a proper cricketer, after scoring a ton in his last game, and adding 67 (top-scoring) today.
Another top performer, with an average of 56.5, at the top of the order.
During the 2007 domestic season, he also averaged over 50 scoring more than a 1000 runs.
Graham Onions
Onion’s bowled nicely today for his career best figures of 7/39. He’s got a long way to go before he’s The England class, but he’s moving in the right direction.
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Duleep Trophy, England Lions, New Zealand, Stephen Fleming
Had my first winter net of the season last night, so am aching in all sorts of strange places.. Every year, I forget how much it hurts to bowl for an hour and a half, and bat for twenty minutes.
It was the first time I’d picked up my bat in six months, and it felt like a railway sleeper. I was surprised at how easy it came back, and I was middling most balls. The sports hall we were playing in, had no bounce whatsoever, so it was quick and low, which is not something we have to face very often in the real world.
My bowling was OK. I’ll call them slow darts, as there was no spin from me at all. I seem to have lost my run up, which is strange, but I’m sure it will come back soon.
We now have a sports journalist from The Observer who’s joined The Midd. Kevin Mitchell is their Chief Sports Writer and boxing correspondent. He is a wily left arm orthodox spinner, with the odd chinaman thrown in.. Luckily for me, I was in first, and he hadn’t found his length, so I welcomed him with a battering.
I still can’t play off my legs.
Which is poor.
Enough of my shit.
What’s new in world cricket today!
Stephen Fleming has retired
Fleming was a solid opening/no3 batsman, who always seemed as if his mind was elsewhere.
His average of almost 40, belies a real talent, and it really could, and should have been higher. This is a man who scored 43 fifties, but only ever went on to a hundred nine times. Admittedly three of those were double centuries, which make it all the more frustrating.
I remember a few years ago, watching him against Sri Lanka in Colombo, he was absolutely immense. It ended a draw, but I haven’t seen many better displays with the bat.
Fleming scored 274 in the first innings, and 69no in the second. It was a phenomenal effort, especially considering he was later to become Vaas’ bunny. (Vaas had him for a duck, four innings in a row)
The other strange thing about Fleming vs Sri Lanka, was that he averaged over 100 in Sri Lanka, but 33 at home, which is quite bewildering.
Stephen Fleming also proved to be an influential captain, with intelligence and grit. As captain, New Zealand won over a third of their matches. In winning tests, Fleming averaged over 50. Draws was just under 50, and in losing tests, he averaged 28. If Fleming fired, they didn’t lose.
Here’s to you Mr Fleming!
England Lions (Hedgehogs)
England Lions have lost their match with West Zone, in the Duleep Trophy.
By lost, I mean spanked viciously, like some S&M lusting freak.
Young Buck, Adil Rashid had a decent match, taking three wickets in the first innings, and his batting looked very good again. Ended 9no in the first innings, and scored 39 in the second (second highest scored).
I really do hope that he gets a good run with Yorkshire this year, as this fella, is looking more and more, like a proper leg-spinning all-rounder. Not your Cameron White, I can smash the ball around, and take the odd wicket, sort.
The Richie Benaud sort. Dangerous with both bat and ball at all times, whilst wearing a lego mans hair, and wearing bone sports jackets.
Filed under: Cricket | Tags: Adil Rashid, Duleep Trophy, Ed Joyce, England, india, Michael Carberry, Michael Yardy, Yorkshire CCC
This young buck is Adil Rashid.
He has been touted as the next legspinning giant of world cricket. (He’ll obviously have to wait until Cricket With Balls Very Own Nice Bryce McGain retires)
I think that’s pushing it a little.
He’s more likely to be the next Nasser Hussain (Nasser was a very tidy legspinner who could bat, til he got the yips).
England Lions (our second XI, better known as “The England Hedgehogs”), are playing in India’s domestic competetion “The Duleep Trophy”.
Young Adil is performing rather swimmingly.
In his first warm up game, against Mumbai Cricket Association XI, he scored 54 & 0.
His bowling however is a little worse, taking 1-64 in 14overs.
The first game proper in the Duleep Trophy, he really came in to his own.
Top scored with 40 in the first innings, and took 1-17 from 10 overs, which is pretty f*cking handy, if you ask me.
In the second innings, he took 2-3, from 1.5 overs to leave “The England Hedgehogs” a score of 297 to win.
Michael Carberry of Hampshire, took up the mantle and scored a cracking 112, whilst ably supported by Michael Yardy of Sussex, and Ed Joyce of Middlesex, each with 50′s.
Then came the “next big thing”, to finish things off, with 24* from 20 balls.
A little information for the stattos of the world
Rashid, was the first (UPDATED) local born Asian player to ever represent Yorkshire CC.
He averages just shy of 40 with the bat in first class cricket, with a highest score of 108. (he now bats at no6)
And just over 35 with the ball, with best figures of 7/75. On his first class debut, he took 6-67.
He fields at backward point.
He’s not 20 until next week.
If he can develop his legspinning skills in India, during this tournament, we could drop the Sikh Of Tweak, and have a fella that averages four times as much with the bat, and is almost as good with the ball, and who can field when required.
He could be the first proper legspinning all-rounder, since Mr Off White, himself, Richie Benaud.
Exciting times, ahead..
