Stanford Super Series

[Yorkshire Blue]

England beat Middlesex last night in a warm-up to the $20m game.

Not the most inspiring of games on a slow scoring pitch. No-one really seemed to get going, although Shah - playing against his county - top-scored for England and probably looked as fluent as anyone.

Strauss dropped the easiest catch ever. A lot of catches went down and people are asking questions of the lights, particularly for skied catches, but Strauss' catch was an absolute sitter to temporarily reprieve Flintoff. Murali Kartik's drop of Bell at slip was one of the easiest slip catches I've seen spilled as well.

Allen Stanford was about, and much of the TV coverage involved following him around. He appeared to shake hands with every single person who turned up. He also turned out to be a dirty old men, with his hands all over the women.

England's approach was overly formulaic. They decided it was a spinners' pitch and so KP and Patel just bowled through the middle overs, despite Broad's earlier success and Malan scoring far more easily against spin than pace. All in all it was a bit of an anti-climax, the media I suspect have already decided that the final is going to turn on a dropped skier.

 

[Grayson]

Rubbish game. Went to bed at the end of England innings, it was so drab.

Crap advert for 20/20. At least ODI games like that are interesting.

 

[canveyshrimper]

I hope the following games won't be played on such flat decks, both games so far have been pretty poor fare.

 

[number11]

Game last night was pretty dull as well (well, the Middlesex innings anyway, I turned off after that). THe outfields seem the slowest Ive seen and spin seems to be the order of the day for keeping scores down....after buying his pink Ferrari Graeme Swann may have to send something the groundsman's way as surely he will get into the final 11 ahead of Wright......

Glad to see Sidebottom may have injured something last night as Im not a fan and rumours were it was to be a battle between him and Anderson for a place in the final 11. ULtimately though it got me thinking, do I actually want England to win. WIll that kind of money satiate the players desire for success and improvement and leave the upcoming ashes as an anti climax (whereas the Convicts will I predict be coming into that series on the back of losing 2 out of their last 3 series and will have a point to prove). Will not winning inspire the players to achieve success and fortune by conventional routes of being succesful test players, or will it increase their desire to go over to the IPL? Is an interesting situation, and ultimately one I would rather was not happening.

 

[Stats]

I've watched all the games so far and as people have said above its turning into a damp squib.

The wicket is slow, the outfield looks the most well maintained in world cricket but is slow as you like, I'm surprised we havent seen skyed shots hit the turf and spin back.

Also the amount of dropped catches is a joke, how on earth they can play for so much money on a ground that has got floodlights similar to what you'd find at a non league ground is beyond me.

 

[The General]

B.o.r.i.n.g

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

The Middlesex innings was dull, but the finish was excellent. Real tension and the South Africans choked under pressure - who'd have thought it?

Excellent innings by Ramdin, demonstrating the difference between international and county cricket.

 

[The General]

Finally. Its taken 5/6 matches for the first decent knock of the tournie.

 

[HudsonNo1]

Tried to watch the England Vs Middlesex game the other night, and watched a little bit of the Middlesex Vs SS's tonight. Its just crap, boring cricket for Twenty/20...and also the ground is really poor, what a place to stick the ground near a airport, knowing full way that dimmer lights will make catching harder. Just cant seem to get into it

 

[number11]

THe team for tomorrow has been named, and its bad luck for Jimmy Anderson. With spin being useful Swann is the more sensible choice, though Luke Wright must feel a lucky boy!

Still dont know if I want England to win or not!

England 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior, 3 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 4 Owais Shah, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 Steve Harmison.

 

[effy67]

No problems with the team making lots of money but can't bear all the bleating about Stanford's behaviour, the state of the pitch, the lights etc etc. You've sold your souls for the money so get on with it and stop bickering. Anybody would think that the girls had s****ed Stanford one was sitting on his knee smiling and the others were giggling, what's the problem? Nobody held a gun to their heads did they!

Middlesex took Carter on loan for the duration of the compo, shabby behaviour and won't have done much for team morale.

In fact taking all things into consideration come on the superstars perhaps a few of them need the money more than the England team (Why do they call it an England team should have been Pieterson's whingers would have been more appropriate!).

Right rant over Stanford may be a creep but hey the piper gets to call the tune.

BTW I do actually like cricket and will be in Jamaica for the test against the Windies, proper cricket that..

 

[MK Shrimper]

I think the fact that the 4 that didn't make the team AREN'T going to get the payday that the others will IF England win is going to seriously damage team morale and could seriously damage the attempt to regain the Ashes.

 

[Swiss Tony]

Roll on the Indian tour,aaaahh proper cricket.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Roll on the Indian tour,aaaahh proper cricket.

Indeed, I don't give a toss about this "series"!

 

[RobM]

Oh well - no wonder it's quiet now after England's "performance"!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Oh well - no wonder it's quiet now after England's "performance"!

Absolutely awful from England. Picking Swann as a second spinner was madness. I'd have rather Jimmy had played as a specialist fielder. I think it was the first sign that they were choking (the downside of a South African as captain). If England thought it was the same pitch they were playing on in the warm-ups that was slow and (arguably) needed a 2nd spinner, why did they bat so aggressively, as if it was a 180+ pitch?

They then had a chance to make a match of it, but spurned two run-out opportunites when Mr Cricket Fit failed to hit with a single stump showing and then KP's nuts lobbed the ball miles over the top of the stumps. At least he didn't do a Swann and throw it for 4 overthrows. From that moment it was game over. The WIndies Stanford All-Stars could take it easy knowing England would crumble under pressure, which meant they could relax and play their shots.

Hopefully England will now give Bopara the chance he richly deserves. Bell's spot at the top of the order would be a good spot to start.

 

[SUFC Forever]

What a total waste of time all this was. "England" were poor throughout and it is hard to play the "all high and mighty, sinned against card" not focused because of all going on off the field when the bloke theY moaned about put up ten million quid to get them there in the 1st place. Let's face it, Stanford is only tollerated by the powers that be and the players because of his money and for no other reason.

As I said, how can they complain about Stanford going into the dressing rooms or taking a photo opportunity with the WAG's (whom he is most likely paying for to be there anyway with the best hotels, luxury flights etc) when he is putting up than amount of dough. As somebody said, to hear some people speak it is like he sh*gged them all one after the other...

If this is the way this tournament is played in the future then these players have to decide if they want to go and if not, either put up or shut up. The whole thing was a farce from selection issues (why no Mascarenas or Napier?) keeping players like Cook in the squad for a payday to the end.

Also, this was not an officail event so why were the team called England and allowed to wear official England Twenty20 garb?

I am pleased "England" did not win and it is time now for the ECCB to look at this objectively and see if the exercise has really all been worthwhile - if not, it should not be repeated again no matter what money is up for grabs.

 

[number11]

I think the fact that the 4 that didn't make the team AREN'T going to get the payday that the others will IF England win is going to seriously damage team morale and could seriously damage the attempt to regain the Ashes.

I agree with this. Im surprised, as a sign of solidarity they didnt agree to share the pot between all 15 players so that there was less pressure on selection issues.

Still, doesnt matter now, and I hope the good thing to come out of this is that the players strive to earn their fame and fortune by becoming better test players and winning the ashes next year. Do that and Im sure their financial rewards will come.

 

[canveyshrimper]

I agree with this. Im surprised, as a sign of solidarity they didnt agree to share the pot between all 15 players so that there was less pressure on selection issues.

Still, doesnt matter now, and I hope the good thing to come out of this is that the players strive to earn their fame and fortune by becoming better test players and winning the ashes next year. Do that and Im sure their financial rewards will come.

Amen to that.:)