The Cricket Thread

Whiteley is ****ing useless.

 

Oh dear Milne!

 

And now they miss the cut off!

 

That no ball from Milne which cost them missing the cut off could prove costly.

 

Which should cost them the game.

 

Dropped him!!!

 

Brave win!!

 

Phoenix lost the plot at the end there. Thrilling game!

 

What an absolute disaster of a last 5 for Helm!

And well done Chris Jordan!

 

Small margins. Those 2 extra balls Milne had to bowl 100% cost them the match.

 

Yes, otherwise there would have been a fielder at square leg to stop the boundary.

 

Really needed that win. 3 losses out of 3 would have all but knocked us out. Now we're right back in it.

 

Could someone please re-explain this cut off thing and why it is a big deal to miss it? It is a nuance I am not familiar with

 

It's been around in T20 for years. You have a certain amount of time to bowl your overs/balls. You take too long you get penalised. In T20 it's 5 runs added to your opponents score. In The Hundred it's an extra fielder in the 30 yard circle.

 

Taking both games together, that was an excellent, excellent trip to the Bowl.

And I don't just mean the two wins, including the one close finish. The crowd and atmosphere was back like it used to be in t20 years ago. I haven't seen that many kids at the Bowl for years. So refreshing, so nice. If this is representative of the 100, it is here to say.

 

Not something that has happened in any T20 I have watched for some time so passed me by

 

Probably because the umpires have become far too relaxed about the ruling in recent years. County t20 matches have been allowed to drift almost limitlessly. Maybe only once a season does the penalty ever get seen now. If you didn't know the rule was there, it's become very easy to miss.

Need to change a fielder? That's fine, we'll extend the cut off by three minutes. Need a drink? Go ahead, we'll extend the cut off time by five minutes. To be fair to you, you did get hit into the crowd three times in that over - so don't worry, we'll ensure that you're not penalised *wink wink*.

Whereas with the 100, it's quite clear that the ECB have instructed the umpires to be stricter. Hence why we've seen I think five occasions of teams being penalised already.

That said, whilst the umpires are stricter, I still don't think they are strict. There are so many positives about the new competition so far, but for me the huge negative is that barely any match has finished within the 2.5 hour window. That was a major reason for its creation. Such a window includes 65 minutes each per innings (excluding the two minute time out, and about one minute for DRS). And whilst the cut off time is always appropriately set at the start of ball one, it is never still that same time (ignoring the extra time for the above) when it comes down to it. The umpires still manage to find some reasons to extend it. Yesterday's men's match for example took two minutes short of three hours, and yet it was only three overs (across both innings) which officially over run.

 

We are permitted to call up a temporary replacement for Overton. Wondering who it might be. Luke Fletcher? Ben Green? Ed Barnard? Fynn Hudson-Prentice?

Or if we're a little worried about our batting instead, maybe James Bracey? Or Graham Clark? Or Tom Westley? Or Harry Duke?

 

With only the top 3 going through I think The Originals winning is the result that best suits us. Don't want Welsh Fire pulling away as well as Trent Rockets, particularly as they are now minus Bairstow.

 

I don't think Jason Roy likes this pitch at all.