jimhulbert.bsky.social
Cricket, politics and Simpsons references.
1,551 posts
342 followers
1,148 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
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You've misspelled "Bylines"
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Obviously a harder sport than padel with a steeper learning curve. But still!
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I feel like squash has an opportunity for growth. Cheap to build and maintain decent courts. Year round and not weather restricted. In the Olympics as of 2028. It seems odd it's not more mainstream.
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This is what I don't get. It's so expensive compared to squash. Ridiculously so.
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Who?
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I think this is probably a decent compromise and I question why the original form of the bill wasn't significantly closer to this.
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If you haven't read the Shakespeare bio of Fleming it's very good. Fleming also obsessed with eggs. Nothing that coffee and scrambled eggs couldn't fix, according to him. Is he wrong?
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I do think it's incumbent on counties to make the running though. Don't think there's enough of that going on. Gary touched on it in reference to Middlesex's declaration. Need more of that.
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I wouldn't call the 2019 final pitch flat! One of the worst pitches produced in England ever. Take the point more broadly though.
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I think there is an issue with slow pitches being particularly hard for less good batters to score on against accurate bowling. You don't see it as much in the intl game as obviously the batting is better.
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I guess I just think the attitude is wrong from the teams (and the coaches, clearly). Flat pitches and the kookaburra should allow them to score faster and put time into the game. That they aren't doing that is on them. It's the inbuilt conservatism of English cricket in a nutshell.
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It's as much to do with the difference between Test and CC pitches as the ball, I would agree. So the ball isn't a panacea. But I do think it's a start and it provides useful data. I actually think it would be better in the early rounds than mid summer, but Eng summer is so fickle.
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I think it's hard to say, given this is only it's 3rd year. Performances with the Kookaburra, in this Eng administration, are well regarded by selectors. It is an opportunity for bowlers to catapult themselves into the reckoning. If they choose to sulk like the coaches have, then so be it.
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Fair enough, don't agree. Bit little Englander for me, which I know you obviously aren't but it's a subset of English cricket (particularly domestic) I don't like! Perfectly possible to like the tradition of the CC without implicitly slagging all the cricket played everywhere else.
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The Dukes has primacy for the season as a whole. It's clearly not being buried.
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I don't disagree, but the idea the Dukes is being buried is nonsense. A few Kookaburra rounds in a season is not destroying English cricket culture. It's an (overdue) effort to make county cricket even vaguely resemble the challenges of international cricket.
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English conditions should make which ball you use even less relevant.
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I find this kind of approach to Kookaburra a bit parochial though. It's fine for every other country.
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It also extremely funny though.
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I like the kookaburra rounds. County bowlers doing hard yards on flat pitches is good prep for international cricket. Wouldn't like it full time but it's a nice addition to the season. Issue is, as you say, negativity from batters and captains, which will come.
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That's diplomacy!
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Yeah, that's the judgement call. I'd be very surprised if Stokes goes that way but a lot will depend a) on how Bashir bowls this summer and B) the pitches Aus serve up this winter. I don't think they will be as spicy as they have been recently. Think their batters are fed up of it.
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Yeah, probably. But I'd have a spinner of any kind really, even Leach. Just don't like pace only attacks.
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It's a pretty big if though! And even then you actually do want variety for the reasons mentioned downthread.
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Starc has also massively helped Lyons career by creating rough. Attacks work precisely because they are varied and challenge different elements of a batters game.
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I'd have Bashir, every time, because Stokes is there as well and 5 quicks is too many and not varied enough.
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Even if they don't get wickets they change the pace of the game a bit. A 4 quick attack is always samey, even more so if they're all right armers.
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Yeah, he's the biggest reason I think. Brilliant spinner (arse of a bloke though). I just don't like going into tests without a spinner, esp on big australian grounds where the weather can be hot etc.
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I think he is underrated! Lyons main weapon in Aus is his overspin and bounce, which Bashir can replicate. Obviously he isn't as good as Lyon (who is?) but Leach doesn't offer that for me.
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I see the logic, but after the mess last time around (playing the spinner at Brisbane when we shouldn't, then leaving him out at Adelaide when we should have played him) I'm happier with just playing the spinner I think. He has a knack for wickets, Bashir.
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I don't think this is likely, stokes has picked a spinner in every test he has captained.
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Carse is very close to first pick now I think. If he's fit, he plays. Proper athlete, bats and fields too. Will be effective in Aus if he can stay fit. I think you play one of Wood and Archer in each test, Carse/tongue and then either woakes or Atkinson depending on how flat it looks.
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I'd also be tempted to play Kuldeep but he can go round the park and two spinners feels excessive. Probably weather dependent.
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I think Reddy is a very handy bowler, and I beg to differ on the batting given their tail got rolled twice. Thakur can bat, so I would understand if they persist, but he had a shocking game.
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I think he was probably knackered. No point snapping him in half. I think he'd have bowled if they'd taken another wicket or two.
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He could just shut the fuck up for a change, of course.
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Back around
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Hahaha
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You won't be alone!
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Precisely. 16k is fuck all.
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Everything you said before you said but discounts everything you said after! It would obviously be good, but it's not financially achievable. Sky pay a fortune for cricket rights.