England touring India

[Guest Alex]

I won't pollute the Aston Villa thread any more to talk about cricket.

But jeez did any of the cricket-appreciating Chelsea fans on here watch the last few days of the test in Hyderabad?!

Pope's innings was one of the best I've ever seen. Rohit Sharma said it was the best ever in India by a non-Indian batsman. Then Hartley played a Roy of the Rovers-esque fantasy game. He was smashed in the first innings, his first ball in test cricket went for six, then he was hit for another six. Stokes backed him with three failed reviews. But he came back to make crucial runs in his partnership with Pope and take seven wickets.

All-time ninth highest reverse of a first innings deficit, but given England were away, the quality of the opposition and the venue, probably the best ever.

Then in the same day the West Indies pulled off a similarly spectacular away win at fortress Gabba aka, 'The Gabbatoir'.

@NoblyBobly you don't know what you're missing

 

[NoblyBobly]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

I won't pollute the Aston Villa thread any more to talk about cricket.

But jeez did any of the cricket-appreciating Chelsea fans on here watch the last few days of the test in Hyderabad?!

Pope's innings was one of the best I've ever seen. Rohit Sharma said it was the best ever in India by a non-Indian batsman. Then Hartley played a Roy of the Rovers-esque fantasy game. He was smashed in the first innings, his first ball in test cricket went for six, then he was hit for another six. Stokes backed him with three failed reviews. But he came back to make crucial runs in his partnership with Pope and take seven wickets.

All-time ninth highest reverse of a first innings deficit, but given England were away, the quality of the opposition and the venue, probably the best ever.

Then in the same day the West Indies pulled off a similarly spectacular away win at fortress Gabba aka, 'The Gabbatoir'.

@NoblyBobly you don't know what you're missing

 

I’ve tried. For each bit of excitement there’s hours of dullness.  But I’m happy that many enjoy. 
Now I’m off to tidy my sock draw for 6 hours. 

[Guest Alex]

51 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

I’ve tried. For each bit of excitement there’s hours of dullness.  But I’m happy that many enjoy. 
Now I’m off to tidy my sock draw for 6 hours. 

You don't watch it like football or rugby, you have it on in the background and do stuff around it, then pay attention during the important action.

Or you go to the ground and get monumentally smashed since you're allowed to drink beer all game (build a snake...etc) not just during the half-time break.

[chrisb]

7 minutes ago, Alex said:

You don't watch it like football or rugby, you have it on in the background and do stuff around it, then pay attention during the important action.

Or you go to the ground and get monumentally smashed since you're allowed to drink beer all game (build a snake...etc) not just during the half-time break.

I’ve done a few Essex 20/20 games and they’re great fun but I’ve only been to one day of an Essex league game and due to the typical English summer weather most of the time was spent in the bar due to rain stopping play.

On my bucket list is a day at Lords for an England game.

[Guest Alex]

2 minutes ago, chrisb said:

I’ve done a few Essex 20/20 games and they’re great fun but I’ve only been to one day of an Essex league game and due to the typical English summer weather most of the time was spent in the bar due to rain stopping play.

On my bucket list is a day at Lords for an England game.

Super fun venue, like the Oval. Always easy to get day 5 tickets, but with Bazball, matches don't tend to last that long anymore!

[Ham]

5 hours ago, Alex said:

I won't pollute the Aston Villa thread any more to talk about cricket.

But jeez did any of the cricket-appreciating Chelsea fans on here watch the last few days of the test in Hyderabad?!

Pope's innings was one of the best I've ever seen. Rohit Sharma said it was the best ever in India by a non-Indian batsman. Then Hartley played a Roy of the Rovers-esque fantasy game. He was smashed in the first innings, his first ball in test cricket went for six, then he was hit for another six. Stokes backed him with three failed reviews. But he came back to make crucial runs in his partnership with Pope and take seven wickets.

All-time ninth highest reverse of a first innings deficit, but given England were away, the quality of the opposition and the venue, probably the best ever.

Then in the same day the West Indies pulled off a similarly spectacular away win at fortress Gabba aka, 'The Gabbatoir'.

@NoblyBobly you don't know what you're missing

 

I love England cricket but have to admit that on hearing how we started in this one, I gave up, only to then read about the incredibly turnaround.

Gutted to have missed it, especially the last day. 

Edited January 29, 2024 by Ham

[NoblyBobly]

3 hours ago, Alex said:

You don't watch it like football or rugby, you have it on in the background and do stuff around it, then pay attention during the important action.

Or you go to the ground and get monumentally smashed since you're allowed to drink beer all game (build a snake...etc) not just during the half-time break.

Oh I know. It’s the only game during which you can take snooze, go to the shops, cook your dinner, eat your dinner,  have another snooze , wake up and find that not much has happened on the pitch. 

[east lower]

2 hours ago, Ham said:

I love England cricket but have to admit that on hearing how we started in this one, I gave up, only to then read about the incredibly turnaround.

Gutted to have missed it, especially the last day. 

All 4 days highlights are on TNT Catch-Up, just finished watching the Day 4 highlights. 

[Guest Alex]

11 hours ago, Ham said:

I love England cricket but have to admit that on hearing how we started in this one, I gave up, only to then read about the incredibly turnaround.

Gutted to have missed it, especially the last day. 

I tend to turn off when I think there's no chance anymore, which I did after Stokes was out. Turned it back in when Pope and Foakes were going well to see Pope go past 💯.

Then a sneaky feeling of, 'we might actually do this!' started building.