Robbored

9 hours ago, Maesknoll Red said:

The pink ball is different than the red Duke.  It has to have a coating on it, so it won't shine on one side like a red ball, which is just dyed.  Not being able to shine one side was giving speculation that the ball wouldn't swing, but I think Anderson could make Mary Whitehouse swing........

Interesting.........but begs the question as why the leather isn't dyed pink rather than being coated.

10 hours ago, Red Right Hand said:

Poor old Curtly was on TMS earlier and he was nearly in tears despairing at it all.

So was Andy Roberts.

8 minutes ago, Tomarse said:

There is no logic to how a ball swings anyway. Scientists say it should swing most when cloudless and sunny - yet we all know that it's cloudy and a touch humid or damp that tends to get it going all over the shop!   I presume all balls have to be a certain weight so no idea why a duke is different to a kookaburra etc. 

So Windies lost 19 wickets today and in total only scored 62 more runs than Cook. 

I appreciate that there are no definite explanations to how/why a ball will swing or not but surely the colour shouldn't make the slightest difference and yet we saw the pink ball doing all sorts as the lights kicked it.

The Sky commentators were as amazed by its antics saying  that it must be because it's pink.....

At Edgbaston  under lights the pink ball is behaving differently to a red or white ball would in the same conditions.

My question is - why if only the colour is different do they vary so much? 

Surely any cricket ball of the same make should react the same regardless the colour? 

16 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Well it's as expected end of Day 1.

West Indies are a shambles in all honesty, have been for some time. I believe varied Test players from them have retired for the greater riches of 20/20. They are nothing, absolutely nothing like WI sides of old.

No they're not and seemingly unable to offer any serious challenge to England. Leaderless as well.

Its a sorry state of affairs.

Well they don't seem to know what they're doing. New ball available, lights on and they don't take it but continue with their fourth seamer who gets injured after three deliveries to be replaced by spin............

Windies are a bit of a shambles.

Broad was saying on Sky Sports how much he's looking forward to playing with a pink ball but says that it goes soft quicker than a red one.

This might be a dumb thought but if it's only the colour of the ball that's different why should it go softer more quickly?

And.........why do we need day/night test matches in England?  We have a long dusk compared to other countries. Our test matches are very well supported so attracting crowds isn't so important as other test match countries.

50 minutes ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

Given Englands frailty with the bat, Woakes is a non starter for me. Ali on spin, Broad, Anderson, TRJ and Stokes the other bowlers. That is more than enough in attack and we need more batsmen. I'd go with the team in the last test but put Stoneman in for Jennings

England have struggled to find an opening partner for Cook so why not give Stoneman a chance?

The Windies arent the  force they once were and England should beat them despite the introduction of the pink ball under lights.

1 hour ago, phantom said:

@Robbored, assuming it is the same guy / group I was told about, he got a polite slap on the way out of the ground for his troubles 

Lets hope so. He was a half pissed and mouthy git and blocking people's view which led to him getting the shotgun verbals from the women behind me.

Fair play to her.

A 3-1 series win. Where are the England critics now?   

Moeen bags another 5 for.......25 wickets in the series. 

Well done England!   

Great innings from Bairstow shame about him not reaching his hundred...........

1 minute ago, Tomarse said:

Jimmy behave lad. Just hold your end! 

Michael holding said earlier about Jimmy hitting a six from his own end...............

Just arrived home from Neville Rd. Somerset at least 25 runs short of a competitive score. Glos got there easily.

We unfortunately had a bunch of pissed up gasheads sat a bit further down and one of them, a big fat guy was a bloody nuisance by standing up and showing off to his mates. Eventually some women behind me gave him both barrels of verbal.

That shut him up.

5 minutes ago, phantom said:

It is, but mainly because Glos haven't got any of the usual temporary stands up tonight

I didn't know that. My buddy got the tickets and I was expecting to be in a temporary stand.

I'm wondering where we'll be now........there's five us so I hope we can all be in same area.

32 minutes ago, freezer said:

Already done

There was me thinking I'd come up with an original...............

34 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Gotta be worth its own thread.....

Why was my thread merged? The title was the funny bit! 

Gotta be worth its own thread.....

Maybe it's just the Somerset media that are speculating............

Ive certainly not seen anything on local tv or in the Post.

Very impressive win by England especially after the second test defeat. They bounced back tremendously.

Cook first  innings of 88 set the game up perfectly and Roland-Jones five for created the massive first inngs lead.

The Moeen Ali hatrick on the 100th Oval test match to win the game was magical. The first hat trick  for a spinner in a test since 1938. Truly remarkable.

SA 117-4 at the close. Good performance from England after losing the las test.. Elgar the crucial wicket tomorrow. Get him early and it could be over by lunch.

Shortage of negative remarks during this test.........

7 minutes ago, Super said:

He's a walking wicket.

He did get out to a top, low catch. That said he should have left the delivery.

9 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Our 'TestTeam' has a number of excellent 'one day players', but is sadly lacking in the 'boring' necessities of Test Match cricket.

Cook was left out of the one day side because it was felt he lacked the instincts to play aggressive shots. He took umbrage at that decision. No doubt that he's a top opening batsman tho but unfortunately he's the only one currently that can open.

Trying to find someone to open with him is a real issue for England. From memory - Compton, Trott, Ballance and Jennings have all struggled in one way or another. There maybe others that I've forgotten as well.

Any team will struggle if they find themselves 2 or 3 down before lunch.

1 minute ago, Super said:

Deary me would be looking to drop quite a few after this. Pathetic.

Just said on Sky Sports that England have lost 7 of their last 10 test matches..........

I didn't realise it was that grim.

25 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

180 all out by teatime tomorrow. Our lot have neither the attitude or the technique to bat for 2 days in a situation like this, with the exception of Cook and Root.

Credit to South Africa for how they batted today. Isn't it amazing what happens when a side applies themselves properly and isn't thinking that they have to score at 4 an over?

Add to that a deterioration of the wicket and you have a SA levelling the series.

If England can scrape a draw I'll be amazed,