International Cricket Thread

[Jukes]

Cooky's tied the record for the most centuries in Asia by an overseas batsman, with Kallis. That's pretty cool.

Averages almost 62 in Asia too (Kallis averaged 55) - he's literally the opposite of an Australian cricketer.

Gotta say though, lots of wickets is far better than lots of runs.

[PowerBug]

Really hope Cook can get a 300 that he so deserves.

[PowerBug]

ENGERRRRRLAAAANDDD

Rashid! :D :D

[PowerBug]

COme on this is gonna be tight :-\ Race vs the light

[PowerBug]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

[Bill Manspeaker]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

yeah it's gonna be awesome watching South Africa demolish the Poms :P

[PowerBug]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

yeah it's gonna be awesome watching South Africa demolish the Poms :P

Regardless of the result it'll be better than Australia and West Indies ;) New Zealand vs Sri Lanka might be close though

[Bill Manspeaker]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

yeah it's gonna be awesome watching South Africa demolish the Poms :P

Regardless of the result it'll be better than Australia and West Indies ;) New Zealand vs Sri Lanka might be close though

neutral wise maybe, but I reckon I'm gonna enjoy the series :P shouldn't have said that, got a feeling that's gonna come back to bite me

[Jay]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

Is it possible the English selectors are just as bad as ours? :o

[PowerBug]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

Is it possible the English selectors are just as bad as ours? :o

Why is dropping Ian Bell a laughable decision? Bloke hasn't scored a run in a while and UNLIKE what the Australian selectors did wtih Watson they dropped him because he's a liability. And because of that there's a chance we might see the best of Ian Bell again as he's not pleased with the decision made.

[Jay]

A Cook (captain, Essex), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), G Ballance (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), J Buttler (Lancashire), N Compton (Middlesex), M Footitt (Surrey), A Hales (Nottinghamshire), C Jordan (Sussex), S Patel (Nottinghamshire), J Root (Yorkshire), B Stokes (Durham), J Taylor (Nottinghamshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire).

Oooooooo yeah he's back 8) Ian Bell dropped too. About time.

This is for the tour of South Africa by the way, the best test series going on this summer :P

Is it possible the English selectors are just as bad as ours? :o

Why is dropping Ian Bell a laughable decision? Bloke hasn't scored a run in a while and UNLIKE what the Australian selectors did wtih Watson they dropped him because he's a liability. And because of that there's a chance we might see the best of Ian Bell again as he's not pleased with the decision made.

Because he's good at batting, and you're up against the best bowling attack in the world on their home turf. A dude who has made 22 test hundreds could come in handy...

[PowerBug]

Just some numbers on Ian Bell. Has batted 24 times this year, against West Indies, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan. Has an average of 25.95, 4 fifties, 1 hundred.

That doesn't seem TOO bad, but when you taken into account his ton, a 143, was his first innings of the year, he's averaging 20.39 since then. He has 3 ducks and has scored 1 on six occasions (A world record).

I guess the selectors ran out of patience and want to win this series (and really, why wouldn't you want to win this series).

Also Jay, bit hypocritical don't you think? You say Australia should be looking towards the next Ashes series in England (4 years away) but England shouldn't be looking at the next Australian tour 2 years away? Bell won't be playing in Australia in 2 years time, so why not look for the future. Unless you are suggesting that England would be a better chance of winning in South Africa with Bell, which would be surprising because you don't seem to hold Australia's upcoming tour of South Africa in very high regard. ;)

[Jay]

Just some numbers on Ian Bell. Has batted 24 times this year, against West Indies, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan. Has an average of 25.95, 4 fifties, 1 hundred.

That doesn't seem TOO bad, but when you taken into account his ton, a 143, was his first innings of the year, he's averaging 20.39 since then. He has 3 ducks and has scored 1 on six occasions (A world record).

I guess the selectors ran out of patience and want to win this series (and really, why wouldn't you want to win this series).

Also Jay, bit hypocritical don't you think? You say Australia should be looking towards the next Ashes series in England (4 years away) but England shouldn't be looking at the next Australian tour 2 years away? Bell won't be playing in Australia in 2 years time, so why not look for the future. Unless you are suggesting that England would be a better chance of winning in South Africa with Bell, which would be surprising because you don't seem to hold Australia's upcoming tour of South Africa in very high regard. ;)

No.

[PowerBug]

I'm stumped with your comeback i got nothing for it, so I guess we'll leave that there. Ian Bell hasn't performed lately, he goes. Simple enough, and I'm happy enough to agree with it.

[Jay]

I'm stumped with your comeback i got nothing for it, so I guess we'll leave that there. Ian Bell hasn't performed lately, he goes. Simple enough, and I'm happy enough to agree with it.

Didn't think it was really necessary for me to point out that Australia and England are different countries, with different players and different goals.

Imagine what a victory it would be if England go into South Africa and pull off a win! And I think Ian Bell gives them a better chance to do that than whoever they pick instead of him. I didn't think that would be too controversial of an opinion since he still has a very good test record and has proven many times that can perform well in a big series. Cook himself had a very lean period for a while there, possibly worse than what Bell has been going through over the last 12 months. No surprise he's turned it around and become one of the best openers in the world again.. Who's to say Bell couldn't do similar?

If I was an England fan and we were 3 or 4 for flower all in South Africa with Steyn steaming in, I know who I'd prefer at the crease out of Ballance and Bell... But each to their own.