Macca

Yeah, you give him a track with a modicum of assistance and he is in his element Top class seam bowler I reckon one of the reasons that England prepared so many flat decks in the Ashes was that they were very worried about Hazlewood I've been watching Ashes series from England since the mid 70's and usually, we get at least 3 or 4 seaming decks per series None in 2023

If I recall correctly, 'Cowboy from Hell' started a thread here in 2013 with the now infamous catch-cry of 'Relax, we've got this' The team? The Eagles. The venue? MCG We lost by 15 goals!! haha But I'm quietly confident as South Africa have to keep wickets intact which should curtail their scoring rate somewhat

Aussies could get to double figures against Bangladesh! (5 - 0 up just 5 minutes into the 2nd half)

Ha ha! How? We've got 'em on the ropes Deevs - you worry too much!

2 days to get a result means that any number of combinations of re-jigging of the match is possible ... even down to a 20 over match But it's advantage Australia with the South Africans being 4/44 off 14 overs ... even with the D/L method. They don't get to start again Right now, we hold the upper hand and play is possible until about 4am today (and then all day tomorrow)

Agreed but we did go through a decent period where we produced road after road ... the last 2 seasons back to sporting wickets

Aa good as the batting has been, the bowlers are generally treated like cannon fodder. Much like t20 cricket, 50 over cricket is a battle between bat & bat with the bowlers playing a minor role The tracks are like blocks of concrete The solution is to leave a reasonable amount of grass on the decks so as to help the bowlers. Sporting wickets instead of roads. A high score of about 260 - 280 would see more of a proper contest

Thanks for the heads up RL

@Gorgoroth @JV7 @YearOfTheDees @Go the Biff @Dee Zephyr @Biffen @Clintosaurus @Mr Steve @Redleg And it's not over yet! Caulfield Saturday and it will be an interesting experiment by the MRC with regards to moving the Thousand Guineas from mid October So there's 3 good betting races (2 at G1 level) to round out the Spring carnival (although the Perth summer carnival at Ascot does provide some keen and competitive racing) Anyway, here are the 3 races and odds

Is there a sporting body that isn't corrupt Lex? Haha FIFA is top of the list probably and then there's the IOC Any sporting body in the USA is questionable as well especially in relation to performance enhancing drugs (super soft approach) The ICC has no teeth

I see India have ordered (and received?) a slow wicket tonight with the turf shaved almost completely off. Sure to be a turner if so I'm not sure any sort of request of this nature (by any nation) should be allowed especially in an international tournament and a World cup Stokes ordered flat roads in England for the last Ashes series and that's wrong as well Spirit of cricket? Apparently only Australia transgresses If the ICC had any sort gumption they'd knock this sort of thing on the head, quick smart ... big fines and suspensions would do the trick Read the full Story here

No, you've got a partner in crime On the brightside, if you're the only winner this week, you'll shoot to the lead!

There's thousands of cricket stories JJC, many of them quite fascinating The timeless tests are intriguing ... the last one was played in 1938/1939 between England & South Africa which was abandoned after the actual game went for 9 days spread over 12 days (2 rest days and a washed out days) 680 overs Abandoned because the England team would have missed the boat home!! They only just fell short too (30 odd runs) 1939 South Africa vs England 5th Test

Apparently 8 teams qualify for the World Cup out of Asia (up from 4.5) Of course, the WC in North America will now have 48 participating teams with a round of 32 being the next stage after the group stages (12 groups) Think I'm right in saying that the top 2 from each group advance as well as the 8 next best performed teams

@DeeSpencer @Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @JV7 BDA & JV7 have left the gates (at last) ... and all participants are within 1 successful tipping week of leading the comp! We've got the close one! 2 points on offer this week (the bonus point on offer as well) Leaderboard Tipping Comp 3 - Dr. Gonzo, Clintosaurus, DeeSpencer*, Macca* 2 - DemonDave, Go the Biff, layzie 1 - Gorgoroth, BDA, JV7 0 - Everyone else 🤔 * Denotes 1 bonus point awarded Another tough week! ... surely Dallas is the banker But all 3 of the evening games look interesting

Thursday 7.30pm World Cup qualifier Mens Ch10 Australia vs Bangladesh Bookies have us at 1.01 and Bangladesh 34.00!!

Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick!!

Falcons Lions Saints

Spurs lose after seemingly looking like winning with just a few minutes to play Wolves snare the win late The sport is a great leveller... Tottenham now could end up 4th after the weekend's games

As for the make-up of the team, I'd play Smith & Marnus as SF's & Finals often require a bit of resolute batting Besides which, all the other 5 batsmen are hitters ... Stoinis to miss out (unfortunately) A batting order of Head, Warner, Marsh, Smith, Marnus, Maxie & Inglis looks good enough to me Inglis, Maxie & Marnus can float about in the order too ... either up or down. I just feel we need a couple of steadying influences (Smith & Marnus) As for Wednesday ... Go the Kiwi's!!

A couple more interesting facts Glenn McGrath was dropped from the Test team 5 times before he played his 10th Test And Ricky Ponting played his first 20 tests primarily as a no.6 batsmen (apart from a couple of his early tests)

Before Michael Hussey made his debut for Australia he was in 2 Ashes squads that toured England - carried a lot of drinks apparently

We were in England in '05 so it might have been the summer of '05/'06 (Lex got it - above) Anyway, Hodgey should have played a bit more Test cricket but we had a very good team back then According to folklore, it's often harder to go out of the test team than get into the team! From memory I reckon Michael Clarke was preferred and that was the only spot available ... Langer, Hayden, Ponting, Martyn, Hussey & Katich being the mainstays. And then Clarke Hodge was in the 2005 Ashes squad but he never played a Test in England

Yes well done to Slartibart, Civ & Lex Gillespie & Hodge was the correct answer. Not sure how many Tests Hodgey played after his double hundred but he only played 6 Tests in total Averaged 55 as well

Well who is it then, Civ?