International cricket thread

Plenty of time wasting from both sides at times as they are both unable to make up their mind whether they want to win.

New Zealand now the favourites with that new ball. Can't see too many overs left with the light fading.

Thing is Pakistan can't win here as all New Zealand have to do is bring on a pace bowler and the umpires will automatically go off for bad light.

And in the end it finishes in a draw after all the drama. That's everything you want from a test match with all results possible right until the end but can't help but feel a bit disappointed that one side didn't get the win.

Elsewhere the rain in Sydney seems to have ruined that Australia-South Africa test match. Sydney is notorious for unpredictable weather. Still almost 200 overs possible for the last two days if the rain stays away and from what we have seen from South Africa in this series, that's still plenty of time for Australia to win.

So frustrated by all of that. The time wasting by each team and the umpires, the lack of intent in going for the win by both sides and then going off for light.

There’s no more offering the light, it’s the umpire’s decision entirely.

Fair result the draw, both sides spent long periods of today trying not to lose it so should be happy. Second session by Pakistan in particular and Ajaz bowling so negatively

New South African T20 league starts today. Can’t say I know much about the teams but Archer and Curran are bowling at Buttler and Roy. Eoin Morgan is also in that team. Marco Jansen has an identical twin brother. Beautiful bright day in Cape Town, good crowd in, worse ways of spending your evening.

Joe Root is going to the UAE one I believe. Stats of which won’t go towards the player’s list A T20 record, read into that what you will.

political grandstanding, but you couldn’t expect any different from the current leadership there.

the Afghan cricketers, Afghan management and coaching team, Afghan cricket supporters have zero to do with these decisions…. If anything this will serve to entrench such miserable ideas and ideals.

the matches were due to be held in the UAE…

you can flog and stone criminals in the UAE for petty offences.

both Freedom House and Amnesty International absolutely rate the UAE as one of the worse off countries as regards human rights, but …..Australia signed up to go there, again. So playing there is grand but playing Afghanistan isn’t ? Mind boggling.

Big hundred for Kohli again today in an odi against Sri Lanka. Looks like he’s well and truly out of his slump now. Which is great to see, he can rub the wrong way and it was enjoyable to see him fail for a while but he’s a fantastic player and I’m happy he is back making runs again.

Good timing as well with a big series against Australia around the corner. That should be cricket worth getting up early for.

Crazy stat that there have been ten double hundreds in ODI cricket and seven have been by Indians. Shubman Gill did it today against New Zealand. Bowlers doing the rest now.

Start of a World Cup year in India and they are starting to look formidable.

Enjoying watching SA vs England in Bloemfontein… such a wonderfully colourful and beautifully picturesque ground.

pitch is great so plenty of runs in the offing although England have bowled with real quality and are limiting SA to around 300 or so.

have to say going back to his Channel 4 days way back I’ve always been a big fan of Mark Nicholas on commentary… he was wasted when various broadcasters used to shoehorn him into a presenting / anchor slot… far more value for the cricket viewer to have him contribute play by play…. Knows his stuff and is an easy / interesting listen.

And England hit the wall….

when your openers set you up both in terms of runs scored and the rate they scored them… but after you more or less collapse. Middle order not firing and the tail collapsing, offering nada...

Vice Captain he might be but 35 year old Moeen Ali.. not moving very efficiently in the field or scoring runs…and his overall ODI career

ODI ‘s : 123

Batting Average : 25

50’s/100’s : 5/3

Wickets : 95

If there’s a ready made replacement even just as in a batsman, I’d say thanks Moeen, we are moving on…. That’s a poor record really.

Picked as a number 6 batsman / batting all rounder….. in other words, lower middle order, not the tail so you’d expect him to make you runs. He hasn’t, wickets ? Averages far less then 1 wicket per game…in his ODI career…

he’s had his moments where he’s performed but ….

Experience is one thing, he just looks physically past it. Not scoring many runs, not getting many wickets, not moving that efficiently in the field. Going on 36. I wonder… hmmmm

this is going to be tight… one more wicket and the tail is exposed, Parnell ‘can’ bat but it’s not much to come after.

if this run chase is successful I think it’s the 20th all time successful ODI run chase.

Ali drops Jansen… not an easy chance, not a difficult one either though. Catchable.

On paper they do but for various reasons they’re not at their peak here. Stone was the pick in the last game and he’s not playing today.

Incredible partnership to rescue that. Nice cameo by Moeen too, after a good innings the last game as well. Not completely done for yet.

South Africa made to pay for resting their best bowlers and when they need to win to qualify for the World Cup too. Crazy. Probably resting to play in the SA2020

Going to script so far. Bored of the pitch talk to be honest, India can simply point to the scorecards and show their batsmen making runs on them.

Shocked to see Australia left out Travis Head. Never mind all the runs he’s scored but his bowling is very handy. Looked more threatening than Lyon in the last Sydney game. He’s a bit like Root bowling, can come on and make the main spinner look like the part timer.

Ponting should have been dropped for Indian tours on that thinking. Head was in great form and deserved an opportunity to fix those numbers.

All by the bye anyway whoever Australia select. Rohit is an animal at home and they bat so deep it’s hard to see them being too troubled.