Great thing about twitter is that it opens people up to posting info out to the public before they have time to cool down and think about what they're doing. I probably see a ban on it in the near future by the ECB, they strike me as that type of organization (boring as hell).

sigh, only gloucestershire can bowl a team out for 44 in just over an hour on the first day of a county game and still manager to lose comfortably.

I tell you its no fun been a gloucestershire fan, least im not a pakistan fan though!

Worcestershire 303/3 (31.0/40 ov)

v surrey in the 40:40. look likely to break surreys record that has been talked about earlier in this thread. Surrey top 4 looks good as well

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steven Davies
Kevin Pietersen
Mark Ramprakash

Not that its going to matter with 400 or so on the board

They didn't ban it after Bresnan's outburst which was worse than Pietersen's so I would be surprised if they did. I hope they don't anyway because some are quite interesting to read. Graeme Swann's is the best.

From the BBC website below. Honestly, is there one single person who is involved with Pakistan cricket in any way that is not ******ed?

"The Pakistani high commissioner said today he believed the three players under investigation for spot-fixing were innocent, after talking to them in London about the allegations.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who will take no further part in the tour of England, had been summoned to explain themselves to commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan, and the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ijaz Butt.

After the meeting, Hasan read out a statement saying the men maintained their innocence but had requested their own removal from the remaining matches because of the "mental torture" they had faced.

In response to a question he said: "I believe in their innocence."

When pushed on why he believed they were innocent, he said: "Because they have not been proven guilty."

Hasan said the players were "extremely disturbed with what has happened in the past week".

While speaking Hasan was persistently asked by Pakistani journalists, who believe the team is the victim of a conspiracy: "What about India?""

lol the conspiracy theory, sad thing is, it looks like they;ll now go for this route.

It's just embarassing. I mean, who cares that the management team couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery (we can all laugh at Ijaz Butt making a big point that Yousif, implicated in match fixes before incidently, wasn't "banned" for a year but just told that he wouldn't be picked for a year) but this goes way beyond their own internal affairs. I really hope that other teams refuse to play Pakistan, or play the bare minimum to fulfill whatever the ICC enforce, until Pakistan at least try to reduce the problem as much as they can. Instead, we get this pathetic head-in-the sand attempt at face-saving that is so far beyond ******ed it's pathetic. In many ways I blame the management more than some of the players, such as Amir.

A few of us have stated itt we feel a level of sympathy for Amir.

right this situation is putting me on life tilt. if the notw videos only count as accusations wtf do you have to do to prove them guilty?

and yeah i feel for amir but he still cheated.

meh, pakistan are playing this as expected.

Players and PCB saying players should not be considered for ODI's / T20's.

Politicians coming in saying they're innocent and should be considered for ODI's / T20's.

Will have to wait and see if ICC will do nothing as usual.

As with Amir, I think its a very fine balance between making an example to deter others of this sort of behaviour and accepting the fact that he is a young and naive man being pushed into this by senior players. Personally, I think a certain amount of leniency would be in order for him.

I predict incompetence from the ICC and more ******edness from Pakistan officials.

The problem is that it's not illegal to get paid to bowl a no-ball, or even to play badly. It's when fraud comes in, like placing a bet, that the police can get involved. If the police can't prove that someone somewhere (not sure if they have to be in the UK) has been defrauded then it doesn't matter if they are 100% sure that players have been bribed. It then becomes an issue for the sport's governing body which, unfortunatley for cricket, is the ICC. And of course, when the police have to drop the matter the ******ed Pakistan officials will doubtless claim a victory. Squirmish stuff.

More ******edness, this time setting new records. Off the scale in fact.

"The three Pakistan cricketers accused of corruption may have been set up, according to the country's high commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan.

When asked whether Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who are being investigated for spot-fixing, had been framed, Hasan replied: "Yes."

Hasan claims the News of the World video allegedly exposing the scandal may have been made after the incident.

However, the paper said it "refuses to respond to such ludicrous allegations". "

I'm a British-Pakistani, though have never lived in Pakistan and have no great affection for the country. But I've observed that this conspiracy talk is so typical. Every time something happens that makes Pakistanis or Muslims look bad, Pakistanis shout "conspiracy!!" It's a very childish, irrational attitude, and not a small minority one.

Oh and Pakistani players are banned from the IPL.

More NOTW allegations tomorrow. Not much new information, more just them detailing their investigation, proving times details of their meetings. Also saying that Yasir Hameed has told them that players were fixing almost every match and that he’d been offered £100k to fix a match

I didn't really come here to post that specifically though, more just that I’m really excited about a number of young English cricketers coming through the ranks.

Ben Stokes(durham),19 born in new zealand but has lived here for a number of years. A hard hitting middle order batsmen, he was the standout player in the u19 world cup and scored a century against a strong indian team. He’s broken into a good durham team this year, averaging 45 in the county championship, less successful in odi cricket but should be left to develop for a few years

Moen Ali(worcestershire), 23 and sporting a massive beard but this guy is an attractive batsmen who this season has really kicked on. What england will really like about him is that he is a very decent off break bowler so could potentially be a possibility in the future if england continued to play 4 bowlers.

James Taylor(leicestershire), 20, another top order batsmen(3 or 4), he is more of an accumulator rather than an overtly attacking batsmen but has had an outstanding couple of seasons albeit his figures may be slightly polished by playing in the considerably weaker second division. England have apparently been looking hard at Taylor but he may have to move elsewhere for first division cricket if he really wants to push hard for an england spot.

Nathan Buck(another leicestershireite),19, a right hand medium fast bowler he has broken into the leicestershire team this year and without setting the division on fire has performed admirably and will do well under new captain Hoggard. A number of players on the circuit have been talking this guy up as a potential england bowler of the future and he has come up through the england age groups. Will need to continue to improve and stay injury free before the england senior team come calling.

James Vince(hampshire), 19, another batsmen and anyone i've ever heard talk about him seem to always reference his similarities to Michael Vaughan. Made a vital knock on 20.20 finals day, and playing regular first division cricket at such a tender age should only improve his game. All he can do is look to improve and score a weight of runs that the selectors can;t ignore, but still a long way from the england team

Chesney Hughes(Derbyshire), 19, a solidly built Anguillan Hughes has broken into the derbyshire team this season and in a struggling team has been a ray of light forcing himself up from no.7 to opening. Whether he decides to play for england or his native west indies is upto him but if i was the england chairman of selectors i would be telling Hughes to keep up the good work and his batting hasn;t gone unnoticed.

Jos Buttler(Somerset), 19, a wicketkeeper batsmen of destructive power has been playing as a batsmen alone in the cc since kieswetter returned to somerset and has had some blistering knocks for somerset in the 40:40 and upstaged kieron pollard in the semifinal of the domestic 20:20 with 55 of 23 deliviries. He currently has an average of 58(407 runs) with a strike rate of 150 in 40 over cricket this year whilst average 35 in 4 day cricket. That alone will be enough for england selectors to sit up and take notice but the added factor of the wicketkeeping makes me think that Buttler could make a rapid promotion towards england odi colours whether as a batsmen alone or replacing his club teammate kieswetter as wicketkeeper.

Luke Fletcher(nottinghamshire) , 21, has broken into a strong nottinghshire team this season and has impressed as an opening bowler who can bat as high as number 8. Well built and at over six feet he has all the properties of a future quality fast bowler and should learn from an experienced and competitive nottinghamshire bowling attack whilst getting plenty of games whilst broad and swann are away and with sidebottams moving away the responsibility will be on Fletcher to step up in the next couple of years. Still a long way from England reckoning but should get plenty of chances to impress in the more competitive first division of county cricket.

Alex Hales(nottingamshire), 21, is a very tall(6’5”) batsmen who has been earning rave reviews at the top of the Nottinghamshire batting order this season. Dropped at the start of the summer for a lack of commitment he seems to have put those issues behind him and has been consistently scoring runs in 4 day and one day cricket. Although Hales has said he would like to drop down to 3 or 4 later on in his career the fact that he has performed so well as an opening batsmen in a county championship leading county suggests he has the technical capabilities to bat anywhere in the top 4. Will need more runs next season to be recognised by the selectors in any manner but he is at a good club to be recognised.

Chris Woakes(Warwickshire), 21, already has outstanding pedigree in the first class game, 148 wickets at 26, and 1212 runs at 27 suggest that Warwickshire have a quality bowling allrounder in their midst. Whether he will be quite good enough at either aspect of his game to merit international selection is upto debate and he may need to fill out his frame and add 5-10mph to make it on the international scene. Is probably reasonably close to a call up to one England squad in the near future but all he can do is continue performing so consistently in county cricket.

Ashley Lyth(Yorkshire), 22, is an attractive opening bat whom in sheer weight of runs alone this season will have caught the England selectors eyes. First to a 1000 runs whilst playing ½ your games at headingly is no mean achievement. Whether this season alone is an anomaly or a sign of things to come i don’t know but Yorkshire is as good as place as any to get noticed by selectors so if he continues this weight of runs next season expect him to be close to England selection in the longer format of the game.

There are a number of other players who i could have mentioned but i’m getting tired now. I don’t expect any of these players to make the main ashes squad although some may be in the lions squad which tours Australia this winter concurrent with the full set up but i am genuinely excited about some of the prospects coming through and the future of English cricket. The batting looks very healthy with any of the players mentioned possible England stars of the future, the bowling on the other hand looks slightly more bare and in the event of injuries England may well struggle in comparision to Australia who always seem to have a bevy of fast bowlers in backup who are more than capable of playing to a high standard. Once the ashes and world cup are over this winter i think could be a turning point for a number of English players depending on results. Collingwood most likely will make way in the test team unless he has a brilliant tour of Australia, the fact is that even if he is a great fighter, averaging 42 in modern day test cricket is distinctly middling and he will be an age whereby the selectors will probably look to youth. The two openers cook and strauss should come under pressure and cook almost certainly if he fails in Australia will be binned in favour of youth. Pietersen i think will return to form eventually but if he continues to struggle they may well have to drop him but they know when he is on form he is genuinely world class so they will give him every chance.

All in all sorry for the gigantic post but i really am very positive about some of the prospects coming through the English game.

So how many of these guys are from South Africa?

ZING!
That was pretty funny (unless you're english)

i did chuckle at the first player being kiwi born...

lol it was a good line.

Thanks for the post anyway Andy, you're clearly more in touch with county cricket than i am, look forward to quoting the post in a few years time

bopara really is awful whenever he plays for england. 12 of 24 today and just doesn't look comfortable. Im never get why he has this massive support from a load of england fans because as far as i can see he is a bunch of ****.

pakistans batting was pitiful today

Because he performs so well in county cricket. Thankfully hes still relatively young so has time to adapt to International level, but there's a good chance he could be the next Ramprakash. Almost too good for County but just not quite able to perform for England.

Pakistan were awful but I thought England bowled very well as well.

Opinion on Rob key and his lack of games for England?

I think its because he's fat and resembles a pigeon .

Whay else could it be really?

really good knock by davies today. Unlike kieswetter he seems able to rotate the strike as well as hitting boundaries. even in the 20:20's kieswetter hasnt actually scored that quickly for england, 118 runs per 100, and it always seems to be a biff for a four or six or he defends or hits the field.

Kieswetter might struggle to get back into any of the teams for a bit now, he seems very proficient hitting through the offside but limited otherwise. His wicketkeeping also is worse than davies. For the ashes i can see prior no.1 and davies reserve keeper. 50 over world cup, davies keeper, possibly kieswetter reserve opening bat/wicketkeeper. even in 20:20 he might lose his place to davies.

i really hope england are not thinking long term with trott in the one day team, he just seems to bat at the one pace and is unable to really accelerate. If i was going to play him you'd have to open with him as he does with warwickshire and let him play anchor and let others bat around but with strauss as captain and opener i can't see that happening. bopara who i chastised earlier is a better bet in odi cricket, especially as bopara is the better fielder and can bowl decent medium pace with has been underused by england in the past. bops also has ipl experience in india which should really help for the wc in the subcontinent

good champions league match between mumbai indians and lions. sachin is still on his unreal form adding 67. pollard batting now