Author Topic: Fifth Test  (Read 5290 times)

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #90 on: Sep 15, 2019, 06:53:26 PM »
And so the Summer ends and I've enjoyed (almost) every minute of every match. To finish as a draw, to my mind, is prob'ly fair enough given the series of Curate's eggs we've seen with such an incredible mixture of brilliance and dross.
So true
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #91 on: Sep 16, 2019, 12:21:09 AM »
Very predictable England victory. Batting for six sessions was always a hard one, where survival barring the weather was almost a possibility and scoring nearly 400 to win very unlikely. Once Smith had gone they’d had it, despite Wade's obdurate and defiant innings. Broad bowled the best I’ve seen him this summer and had Warner again, 7 times out of 10 this series! I think he’ll be glad to have a rest from him! Archer seemed strangely remote, almost like his reset button needed pressing? As I thought, Jack Leach got a few and Root, who as I’ve said here before, is a much better bowler than he imagines, looked threatening. What a bad stumping miss by Bairstow, but this is the time of the batsman/keeper instead of the other way round.

A shared series and Australia retaining the Ashes with one of the weakest batting sides to ever tour here was a bit of a let off. Smith was the difference, averaging 65 in all test cricket he’s second only to the Don in all time records. I was privileged to be able to say I saw him.

His average of 110 in this series and he missed one innings and a match at Headingley! means his trawl of 775 runs is all the more significant.
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #92 on: Sep 16, 2019, 12:33:51 AM »
Wonder if young Curran felt he needed to prove himself with the bat?
I don’t still have last year’s highlights on record, but from memory, I think he seemed more composed
Mike
Good point Mike, they will soon have to rely on him as Broad and Weekes pass over. He always reminds me of the fresh faced young men on the cigarette cards from the 20's and 30's I inherited from my father somehow?

Yes again Root's inability to set fields amazes me too, almost child like in their lack of understanding.
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

zoony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 63553
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #93 on: Sep 16, 2019, 12:52:36 AM »
Nicely summed up as always Cass. I envy you the experience but I know it's better implanted in your brain than mine.  Just glad to see a reasonably good team performance at last. Emotionally, I think it's been a hard summer for England as a whole and for some players more so. The Tie was well-earned.
 Apropos of nothing other than Stephen Smith and a very few others; I remember a, long-forgotten now, tv popular science programme of the mid-70s which explored why Jimmy Connors was so fluid and accurate in his striking of the ball. It boiled down to a fractional difference between his eye's ability to predict the path of an oncoming ball and the normal eye's response time.
 We've seen evidence of this in many sports but I've never heard it discussed as a genetic or developmental thing..Smith seems to have it but he be a savant I suppose..  ;D
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #94 on: Sep 16, 2019, 05:45:27 AM »
Once again, only getting the highlights is so frustrating. Listening to TMS, ball after ball after ball from Archer was too short to be a problem, other than making sure it didn’t hit you! Seeing the highlights made him look really threatening.
On the highlights Mark Nicholas said Curran bowled very well, yet the number of his deliveries shown could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

I will never forgive the ECB for selling our birthright for a mess of pottage!
Mike





Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #95 on: Sep 16, 2019, 08:01:12 AM »
Oh, and I was fascinated to see - well, no, actually only to hear - that at one stage a long stop was in place! Last time I came across that position was when, aged I think 13, I tried for the one and only time to keep wicket - I was even worse behind the stumps than in front of them with a bat in my hand!
Actually, it made some sense - there had been a number of very fine deflections, some going down off, some going down leg, so a 'half way house position' could have a chance of cutting them off. Didn't last long, though - another example of what one misses on highlights as the experiment never featured. It also indicates, to my mind, bowlers not keeping a consistent line.
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #96 on: Sep 16, 2019, 02:07:07 PM »
Nicely summed up as always Cass. I envy you the experience but I know it's better implanted in your brain than mine.  Just glad to see a reasonably good team performance at last. Emotionally, I think it's been a hard summer for England as a whole and for some players more so. The Tie was well-earned.
 Apropos of nothing other than Stephen Smith and a very few others; I remember a, long-forgotten now, tv popular science programme of the mid-70s which explored why Jimmy Connors was so fluid and accurate in his striking of the ball. It boiled down to a fractional difference between his eye's ability to predict the path of an oncoming ball and the normal eye's response time.
 We've seen evidence of this in many sports but I've never heard it discussed as a genetic or developmental thing..Smith seems to have it but he be a savant I suppose..  ;D

Thank you Zoon, The result of a lifetimes fascination with this incredible game and the knowledge gained from some of it’s great exponents and then applying same both to playing, administrating and writing upon it. I believe we are very much the mirrors of those who influenced us?

I've loved music all my life and have Classic FM on the background system continuously at home, with Pink Floyd or one of 5,816 other MP3's on when I'm driving! My father, as I've recollected here before was a brilliant natural stringed instrument player, something we didn't have in common! We had a 'Pianola' when I was a child, peddle the bellows along, to a fluted board banging the strings via a syncopatedly perforated paper roll. The keys used to tremble as each note was struck and by closing my eyes and having my fingers rest gently on the keyboard, I could eventually play the tune. I started with 'Three coins in a Fountain' but graduated to Chaminade's 'Autumn' Storm sequence and Sinden's 'Rustle of Spring'. One afternoon some clients of Dad's came to visit at home. Their son who accompanied was a musical savant, aged I suppose about 10 or so. My mother suggested I showed him the Pianola. I peddled very cheerfully through the entirety of Autumn, which was a very long fat roll, I remember! My fascinated listener became highly excited and insisted on having a go. He played through with great zeal. (over tightening the roll in his exuberance). I left him and joined my mother in the conservatory.

A beautiful rendition of this splendid piece rung through the house, slightly slower and meticulous in it's delivery. "Clive's enjoying the Pianola", I heard mum say. But knowing that roll so intimately, I knew somehow it was very different? Returning to the music room we witnessed Clive playing Mum's boudoir grand in the bay window. After she'd played him Bach's suite no1, on her cello, he repeated same, it sounded just like her playing, every individual idiosyncrasy repeated. I do remember him getting very excited and screaming and shouting. I can see mum discreetly closing the window to this day?

The call to our home was about a case for the Trust they'd set up being contested by a family member I recall and eventually Father with Clive's parents joined us from the study. Dad was amazed and accompanied him on the viola. Of course he could play that instantly too. Suddenly he just went over to the sofa and almost collapsed into a deep sleep! They carried him to the car in this comitose state

I never saw him again, but coalesce with your expressed feelings about Steve Smith. At times his strange crease cavorts and facial expressions in particular indicate that perhaps an autistic syndrome may be verging in the background. One shot in his last innings, (to one who played menially by comparison) was extraodinary. From Weekes the ball was just outside off. Smith went over in front of this stump and then 'lapped' the ball through midwicket for four. It was barely short of a length! Normal human beings just can't do that and especially when the balls travelling at 85mph. Wonderfully gifted and marvellous to watch, I'll have with-drawl symptoms now he's gone home!
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #97 on: Sep 16, 2019, 02:13:35 PM »
Once again, only getting the highlights is so frustrating. Listening to TMS, ball after ball after ball from Archer was too short to be a problem, other than making sure it didn’t hit you! Seeing the highlights made him look really threatening.
On the highlights Mark Nicholas said Curran bowled very well, yet the number of his deliveries shown could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

I will never forgive the ECB for selling our birthright for a mess of pottage!
Mike
As I said Mike, he looked like he'd turned off. West Indian founded players can be like that sometimes they seem to lose interest somehow?
How I agree it was quite hot Saturday and I preferred watching it on the big screen inside the box for a while neath the air con unit where the waiter could prevent the tide going out to often on my iced Pimms no 1.! :)
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #98 on: Sep 16, 2019, 02:18:48 PM »
Oh, and I was fascinated to see - well, no, actually only to hear - that at one stage a long stop was in place! Last time I came across that position was when, aged I think 13, I tried for the one and only time to keep wicket - I was even worse behind the stumps than in front of them with a bat in my hand!
Actually, it made some sense - there had been a number of very fine deflections, some going down off, some going down leg, so a 'half way house position' could have a chance of cutting them off. Didn't last long, though - another example of what one misses on highlights as the experiment never featured. It also indicates, to my mind, bowlers not keeping a consistent line.
Mike
Yes it is a disappointing trend to witness these days. Brian Statham would have got a lot of wickets in today's game. He rarely deviated in both line and length. As he used to say "If they miss, I hit". Gordon Barker and my father would add Alec Bedser too I know, so on their behalves I include him too.
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #99 on: Sep 16, 2019, 03:44:55 PM »
Absolutely.
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #100 on: Sep 16, 2019, 10:08:03 PM »
Just looked at the highlights again to check my memory - it showed just one Curran delivery - which went for four.
The more I think about it - why on earth was Starc not picked? The fact that Siddle was below par is just one of those things, but even at the top of his game, I would have preferred Starc - just as well I wasn't involved in picking the Aussie side!
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

zoony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 63553
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #101 on: Sep 16, 2019, 10:20:56 PM »
  The trouble with 'highlights' packages is they are, by their nature, pretty uninformative other than for the shots, balls, catches and balls-ups which led to the end of play. You get what (SKY?) is giving you for free so it's minimal. You'll just have to fork out for the subscription if you enjoy the analysis side of things. ;D
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #102 on: Sep 16, 2019, 11:02:51 PM »
When I checked, a Sky subscription would cost me £54 a month. OK, I could afford it, but I am damned if I am going to and accept the ECB’s money grubbing (not a typo) attitude
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

zoony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 63553
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #103 on: Sep 16, 2019, 11:08:17 PM »
  And that was my thinking too. I'm happy with TMS which one can listen to with eyes closed on a gently humming and buzzing summer's day in the garden with something cool to sip.
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: Fifth Test
« Reply #104 on: Sep 17, 2019, 05:24:45 AM »
In the good old days, I used to watch the TV with the sound muted and TMS on the radio. Henry’s comments during breaks in play regarding pigeons and double decker buses were prize, but the comment I remember most of was by Brian Johnson. The crowd was very small - can’t remember why - and Brian commented that there seemed to be more cars than people!
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!