LeicesterExile wrote:

Calm down ITE this game is getting a bit exciting - too close for comfort with wickets falling at a steady rate. ( Never heard it called poom-poom before)

it is too close for comfort indeed, thinking about Tahir and his celebrations and his gorgeous wife always cheers me up

paulbear wrote:

I enjoyed Imran Tahir during 2010, strange that he had 1 season and had an agreement to go back to Hampshire after his time with us. Wickets, and then you would have to try and see which direction he was racing off to.

ha. It would get to a point when he got on top when it would seem like every ball was an event, scooting off inside or outside edges or up in the air, thudding into pads, and all accompanies by his fervent dramatic pleas to the umpire, slumping knees to the ground, asking the uncaring heavens how fate could transpire against him so cruelly

his season with us was basically his break through season, I had a theory on it. His wife was literally one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Jaw-droppingly beautiful.

My theory was he was on a 'reward' deal with her, you know, in terms of marital relations, like 'no wicket no poom-poom', hence the fervent histrionic appeals and the desperate visible disappointment when the ump turned one down. And a hat trick? Just imagine what Mrs Tahir must have promised him if he got a hat trick, a whole weekend of 'poom poom' for you Imran.

Highveld wrote:

Has been named as captain for the england T20 tour of Ireland.

I just saw. these people are absolute mentalists. There seems to be no limit to their 'edgy risk-taking bold-decision-making'

I wonder if at some point they will pick a kid based on seeing him face 2 balls in the nets. they're absolutely off their tits.

FarmerPalmer wrote:

And interestingly, he looked a bit out of sorts early in the blast, and wickets taken were all catches in the deep, after his spell captaining the seconds in red ball and getting some wickets, and runs, he seems to be bowling straighter and more attacking and most of the wickets are now bowled or lbw. Interesting

absolutely
with Lintott it seemed to me you could tell his confidence level (and certainly his likely effectiveness) just on how the ball is coming out of his hand. when he's 'on' it really fizzes out, you can see the action/revs on the ball from the trajectory and its relative violence. when he's low in confidence it kind of limps out of his hand and the trajectory is totally different like a dying bird all floppy and limp. most of the T20 it was definitely the latter.

GerryShedd wrote:

Well done to Jake Lintott.

A great reminder that economy rate isn't the be-all and end-all for wrist spinners, and that having the confidence to pick them pays dividends, especially when they are proven wicket takers

i still fondly recall that one season Tahir had with us (tbf his economy was generally excellent as well), ripping out middle orders like some crazed steroidal giant pulling up weak shrubs by the root, left and right.

Highveld wrote:

Zen is 27, almost 28, remember he was rejected by 12 counties, they can not all have been wrong when they decided not to sign him.

Can't they? Really? First class centuries (and match winning 4th innings ones, at that) just don't count now? If someone saw the match-winning innings against Worcester and denied there was any potential there, I'd have to suspect they were beyond help as some kind of wanton miserabilist. There are doubtless players at some or all of those counties as we speak, whom have played more first class games than Malik, and still not got a first class century. Until players actually get a first class chance its all speculation and there is always a leap of faith in picking them to debut. But the very fact they were given contracts and he wasn't now undermines his actual, concrete record? Now he has been given his chance he has basically been a success, but, what? Deny or reject an actual first class record because clubs some way back didn't rate him? what an utterly bizarre attitude.

Andy wrote:

Yeah Zen's got a bit of credit in the bank.

agreed, i want to see him given a good run in this 'development' competition

Andy wrote:

Don't think yer as devastated as he is.

Yes I think the fact that Taz is fairly tall means that he can get above the eyeline without appearing to get too 'loopy' or floaty. It's the way he's getting his wickets too which is impressive, he's outfoxing batters as opposed to relying on batters to make mistakes. And his googly is well disguised, there's no obvious tell.

yeah he's getting a nice proportion of bowled and lbw

. Good again from Taz Ali, the ball to get Leaning was magnificent

yeah I watched his first spell on the stream when I got home from work, I thought from Sunday that he definitely had a googly in his armory but the ball to get Leaning was a bloody great ripping, big-turning one. That's such a great indicator for his future as it totally changes the spectrum of threat for batsmen, especially against left handers.

I get a nasty feeling after a year or so we won't be seeing him again once England get a sniff. Albeit, with Rehan Ahmed's rapid development especially with the bat, I'm hoping his all-round ability will mean they pick him and there's no place in the England lineup for another leggie who doesn't bat nearly as well. Either that or they can stick with their arrogant, probably misguided, vibes-based pick of Bashir, fine with me if we get to keep Taz but in the long term I suspect it would be their loss. Taz strikes me as a bit more of a test-style leggie than Rehan does, FWIW, seems to flight it more.

its always nice to see a cross-generational connection at clubs

there's a Jaydn Denly playing for Kent- is Joe Denly old enough to have a lad in the Kent team? I guess he probably is?

Andy wrote:

That last paragraph, the shot he played to from 40 to 44 was sublime. Shot of the day.

he seems to be at his best when he isn't going too hard at the ball and that was a great example

Andy wrote:

Brilliant performance. Good day. Pleased for Alex Davies, it's a match winning knock really. Listen, I said years ago I'd have never signed him and he wouldn't be my choice of 4day captain right now but the stick he gets sometimes is way over the top and people are never so readily forthcoming with praise when he does well.

Oh and yes, considering the excellence of the knock yesterday to say the praise for it has been underwhelming is an understatement, most can barely bring themselves to even acknowledge it but i guess thats a problem with making someone a forum whipping boy, its tough to acknowledge when they do well (apparently). If Barnard had played that innings the plaudits would be audible from Edgbaston all the way to the Northampton border ;-)

I was quite happy when we signed him TBH as my memory of him for Lancs was a pretty positive one. He's out-performed my expectations in the CC but slightly underperformed them in the T20, where like I say his seeming insistence on being the quick scorer up front seems to have hampered his development as a cricketer. Even with that said, especially this season whilst he hasn't got a great weight of T20 runs he has absolutely fulfilled the assignment of scoring very quickly virtually every time and that is an asset for a team to have within a certain gameplan. Remember the Leicester team that won the first ever T20? role players was the key. If all Davies ever does in T20 is get 250-300 runs a season at SR165 and barely any 50s, thats doing a very good job in a certain role, its the Neil Carter role we should all recognise. It's just that, as he showed yesterday, he's better than that.

I really like watching him when he is on form as I love to watch the way he can manipulate it square and backward of square.

Andy wrote:

sdobbs wrote:

Poor experience at the ground. Only 1 entrance, spectators limited to half the boundary (rest is reserved for VIPs/hospitality and radio), no announcements, no on tap beer, members discount...not taking a day off work on Wednesday to be made to feel unwelcome

I agree Dobbs. The fact that we're only limited to half the ground is terrible, it's not a great viewing ground anyway. I want this outground experience to be good but I can only tell it how it is I'm afraid. Need more toilets too, there already filthy.

filthy doesn't match my experience of the toilets TBH mate I thought they were about as good as it gets for portaloos. maybe my expectations are slanted by nightmare festival experiences in the 1990s but i had no complaints at all on this front

Devon_Bear wrote:

Fair play to Davies, that was a great innings. Perhaps batting at 4 suits him better than opening?

i have said for ages that I would swap him and Hain in T20. I think Davies's straightjacketing himself as the 'aggressive opener' with a 'Bazball' mindset has led to his lack of scores beyond 50, I think Hain as our clearly best batsman should face the maximum possible number of deliveries, and actually I think Davies may be better suited as a 'finisher' type or coming in in the middle overs at 4/5. he's a busy player against spin, which, Hain can sometimes let spinners bowl at him, and I feel like he works the ball square and backward of square against spin possibly better than anyone else we have.

Andy wrote:

Brilliant performance. Good day. Pleased for Alex Davies, it's a match winning knock really. Listen, I said years ago I'd have never signed him and he wouldn't be my choice of 4day captain right now but the stick he gets sometimes is way over the top and people are never so readily forthcoming with praise when he does well. The lad tries and it was great to see him play such an excellent knock today.

Taz Ali was terrific, barely bowled a bad delivery, excellent control. Outbowled Chahal who is a fantastic white ball leggy. Can clearly bowl genuine wicket taking deliveries and he has a googly, so encouraging. Looks like he can hold a bat too. Also, the reaction from the team collectively when he got his 5fer was brilliant, they were all over the moon for him, lovely.

Chahal is the all time leading wicket taker in the IPL so its some 'scalp' for Ali to take, so to say. My first time seeing Ali and it was an absolute pleasure, the control ,the variation of speed and flight, and he gets good bounce too being tall for a spinner.

ExiledBrummie wrote:

Not great this. Interesting that 8 of the starting line up played in the last Championship game so hardly a weakened side.

i obviously put the mockers on when i looked at the team sheet and thought what a strong team it looked to be

paulbear wrote:

It had no relevance on this series but lots of other things India did were pathetic and it just shows that the once genial players from that part of the world

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well, quite, I remember well the genial Bishan Bedi, and the genial Sunil Gavaskar always having a laugh and a joke, and the genial Sourav Ganguly, and the genial Harbajan Singh

Solbear wrote:
. I haven't seen Ed Pollock's name too often this season either, so unless he's carrying an injury suspect his days with Worcs may be limited.

yeah I have mostly tried to follow Pollock's 'progress' since he left and he's been given plenty of chances at Worcs but it seems he never managed to develop his game to add to the raw potential he flashed with us at first. If anything Worcs were more patient with him than we were because it felt like the occasional times he came off were even more occasional with them.

no idea but i have definitely seen us win there twice in white ball games !