Winning isn't what is important here.

Fair credit to NZ - they are an easy second team for neutrals to pull for.

But still, there isn't anywhere near enough lolstralia in this thread imo. What a shambles.

lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia lolstralia

Wow I thought Australians had some backbone in tough spots

Obviously not

Haha we are now officially better than Australia at Test Cricket and got an extra $100000 out of it for the team looollll

Think I'm gonna punt it off on the India v england WODI's. 11/8 looks big to me, better top order and spinners for the Indians.

India full strength and home. england missing key players. They also blew up at the business end of the T20 tri-series. Wyatt and Beaumont may come good but they don't convince me at the top of the order.

If they lose, I'll happily follow them over the cliff for the next games at bigger prices (barring injuries and stuff)

Nobody watching the IPL? Favourite cricket of the year for me.

lol limited overs cricket

even more lol the ecb's suggested 100 ball variant. can we not just accelerate to having two forms of the game, test matches for actual cricket and six or out off of medium pace bowling machines for everything else?

^^ Guess not!

Doubt cricket would be as popular as it was now without the limited overs variant. Not enough people have 5 days spare for one sporting event unfortunately.

The English T20 had to change - there were too many teams so the talent was spread too thinly. But this 100 ball thing seems silly. I wouldn't mind so much if the ECB just thought that this was the way to go and this may eventually replace 20 overs everywhere, but it seems like it's more to do with timings of when the games finish. They said something or other about it being more simple for spectators - wtf?

I get that 20 overs games tend to take loner in the IPL now, with the advertising breaks and slow play, but that could be sped up. Why have the only league in the world with a different format? Will stats be combined with T20? It just seems so daft to me.

I think I'm right in saying that T20 games are about the same length as baseball and US football games (?). It just seem ideal to me for a one day format.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/ECKO43128

I hear there's a sandpaper factory in Chelmsford

Loving Kohli signing for Surrey for a month.
Surrey play Somerset in Guildford from June 20th, 200 yards from my front door.

yeah my volume always tanks a little during april/may

actually think this has been one of the better editions so far both from betting and viewing perspectives, SRH repeatedly defending <150 targets reminds me of 2013, RCB's disintegration reminds me of, well, every year, and pretty much every team has someone in it to root for and funk against (even the two teams I cant stand have, respectively, Chahal and Ashwin - gotta love a 4ft guy who tries to start fights with every batsman he bowls to, and based on hearing him speak and watching him captain Ashwin has to be one of the smartest cricketers around).

Ireland de facto 139-7. Winning after following on in their first test would be baller.

I'm a massive sucker for a sporting underdog story and wanted so badly to believe, but their bowling attack, openers aside, seemed kinda toothless and you're really gonna struggle to defend a low score when your bowlers cant hunt as a pack. glad they made it into a contest though, Ireland and Afghanistan have huge potential if allowed to compete over the next 5-10yrs.

Have Ireland got any promising young players though (esp bowlers)? It's like Dad's Army at the moment so they need some guys to start stepping up if they want to progress.

it's probably gonna cost Eoin Morgan too much to choose to play for Ireland now but it'd be awesome for him to somehow be allowed to play tests for them

I'd like to see Ireland play in the One Day Cup/T20.

Anyone know of any firms offering odds on the Womens T20 Challenge in Mumbai on Tuesday?

I have a feeling that the Supernovas will be favourites but will be happy to back the Trailblazers at evens or above.

I see that Sky Sports have embarrassed themselves once again by not broadcasting the game :/

De Villiers just retired from all internationals...

Somethings fishy about this, he takes a break from tests to make sure he can make the 2019 WC, seems like he will retire from tests, then makes himself available for all formats then after successful test performances retires from it all with the WC a year away. Bizarre.

Hmm

Genius from Root, batting first so we get the final hour at Pakistan on the overcast day.

Must restate how much better Guerilla Cricket is to TMS, you still get the great derails (must have spent at least an hour talking about toast and chessboxing) but without the twattishness that having mostly ex-pros brings. It's worth listening just for the Mark Wood thinks he's a horse jingle

Sheffield is mainly to blame

Match fixing documentary on Al jazeera @ 9pm tonight (Sky channel 513)