Ashes comments

[D.B.Cooper]

I didn’t like it, reason being the ranga hobbit (thanks ASIU) was not trying to gain an advantage, as say a non striker would by stealing ground in a mankad situation.

Yes the fat, pie guzzling, Fanta pants, oompa loompa, Ron Weasley looking turd was stupid and probably deserved the dismissal, but if I was captain I’d call him back.

I did however enjoy the crowd going off and the old wankers in the long room.

[B.M]

Pretty Simple

He was out!

How dumb could he be - just walking out of his ground

[shanegrambeau]

I didn’t like it, reason being the ranga hobbit (thanks ASIU) was not trying to gain an advantage, as say a non striker would by stealing ground in a mankad situation.

Yes the fat, pie guzzling, Fanta pants, oompa loompa, Ron Weasley looking turd was stupid and probably deserved the dismissal, but if I was captain I’d call him back.

I did however enjoy the crowd going off and the old wankers in the long room.

Well said.

[SaintPav]

Not the first time this has happened.

[asiu]

i have no idea what the fuss is about

thats OUT

tell your story walking back to sheds

[shanegrambeau]

I laughed at the English

Still do

They laugh at us

Condescendingly sometimes

As an Aussie, there is always that stain anyway, so when they say this 'leaves a stain', well, our shirts are already stained - a tad.

But,

edit: altho it wasn't a good thing..

there was no way to back down after the first split second of opportunity to do so had passed

Had Cummings called him back, it would have looked weak

Had the English and Bairstow been offered the chance to remain - then what?

Bairstow and England would have looked diminished if they took up the offer. (not that it was beneath them..or above, depending on POV)

Once the accusations had started to fly, it's off to the races

And Cummings did a pretty good job at the press conference

Australia looks united and powerful

And the Poms will certainly be arrogant when they eventually get their next win

Which doesn't look likely for a while

that declaration on the first day of the first test, was too ambitious of them

Move on..

Stained

[The_Dud]

Not sure what’s worse, the Poms hypocrisy or whinging!

On top of all the examples already shown, it was made clear the day before that “the letter of the law” was above the “spirit of cricket” when Duckett didn’t walk after a clear Starc catch.

And not sure where bowling 98% of balls ‘short’ in a session sits within the “spirit of cricket”?

2-0

[saynta]

I did however enjoy the crowd going off and the old wankers in the long room.

[markp]

“Nothing makes me feel more English than watching the Ashes,” is my stock response, as a Pom who has come to call Australia home, to anyone who inquires about my cricketing loyalties. But few things better illustrate why I have not lived in Britain for almost a quarter-century than the boorishness of the Long Room’s egg and bacon army.

In an age when all of us are expected not only to hold views about everything, but to assert them with great passion, I should confess at the outset to a certain ambivalence about the Jonny Bairstow dismissal. I lean towards thinking that Pat Cummins would have won many plaudits for withdrawing the appeal. But to claim that the Australians were cheating is plainly ridiculous, and to argue that cricket is based as much on norms as well as laws – the essence of the “spirit of cricket” argument – is also a stretch.


Had England’s wicketkeeper – one Jonny Bairstow – pulled off the same stumping against, say, David Warner or Steve Smith, the grandstands at Lord’s would have erupted. Many England supporters, I suspect, would be complimenting our side on “making a statement,” or showering Ben Stokes and his oak hearts with garlands for demonstrating how we had finally come to emulate the same sporting ruthlessness as the Aussies.

More upsetting than the nature of the dismissal has been the response. Booing at a sports stadium is usually an expression of self-defeat. Lining up to ambush a side as it enters the pavilion at the home of cricket – a supposedly sacred inner sanctum – is not only an abuse of privilege but one of its most ugly manifestations. As others have pointed out, for members of the MCC to “get in the face” of a Muslim cricketer, Usman Khawaja, at the end of a week in which the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket released its finding that the English game is afflicted by “widespread and deep-rooted” racism, sexism, elitism and class-based discrimination at all levels of the game is the very worst of looks.


It would be lazy to stereotype the MCC’s membership as a pride of Bufton-Tuftons. This I was reminded of on the way out of Lord’s last Friday, when I ran into a lovely old man wearing the club’s famous red and yellow tie, who displayed no airs and graces and spoke with a deliciously thick Yorkshire accent. But I suspect he is heavily outnumbered by the kind of members who I had watched stride into the ground earlier in the day, with the upper-class elocution and born-to-rule demeanour that has come to be associated with one of Britain’s most exclusive clubs. Indeed, there are few sporting venues in the world that make you feel quite so class-conscious as Lord’s.


Much as I love the Ashes, and much as I enjoy the banter, the hype preceding and surrounding them has all become a bit tedious and formulaic. I understand the modern-day requirements of the attention economy. I recognise that revving up the rivalry stirs interest in the game. For players like Stuart Broad, I realise that playing the villain has become central to their brand. But so many of the modern-day mind games sound so moronic and mindless, and so much of the sledging has the feel of lame pantomime.

Nor, confessedly, am I a great fan of Bazball, the cavalier style of play pioneered by England’s Kiwi coach, Brendon “Baz” McCullum, and embraced by its brilliant buccaneering skipper, Ben Stokes. Indeed, there are times when I think it could just as easily be called “Brexitball” because it seems to be based on a lot of bravado, an excess of wishful thinking, some rash decision-making and regular acts of national self-harm.

When, after the first Test, the England fast bowler, Ollie Robinson, complained that the Aussies had not gone “toe-to-toe” with the English because they adopted a more traditional style of play, he almost took us into the Trumpian realm of turning defeat into a kind of victory.


Over the years, the Ashes have become a useful barometer in assessing the national self-confidence of its protagonists. In its early decades, as a fledgling Australia sought to assert itself, they meant more to the green and gold. In post-imperial Britain, they started to become more important to the English.

In post-Brexit Britain, the need for victory has become especially pronounced. Just as humour has become a coping mechanism to deal with our national decline, so, too, has beating the Aussies at cricket. And whenever the opportunity arises to become imperious, and to revel in a sense of British exceptionalism, we tend these days to grab it. That helps explain some of the supercilious talk about British fair play, and the moral superiority it implies.

I still hope that England will win the next three matches, and regain the Ashes. But let’s not kid ourselves if we lose. The Bairstow controversy was not the key turning point, and victory for Australia could never be categorised as purely pyrrhic.

Nick Bryant is an English-born Australia-based journalist, author and former BBC correspondent.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/brexitb ... 5dljj.html

[asiu]

that was a good read

ta

[Banger9798]

Excellent read. 100% agree.

[magnifisaint]

I did however enjoy the crowd going off and the old wankers in the long room.

I reckon those old bastards had some big skid marks on their y fronts

[Freebird]

Not sure what’s worse, the Poms hypocrisy or whinging!

On top of all the examples already shown, it was made clear the day before that “the letter of the law” was above the “spirit of cricket” when Duckett didn’t walk after a clear Starc catch.

And not sure where bowling 98% of balls ‘short’ in a session sits within the “spirit of cricket”?

2-0

Agree with dud, even though I did not like it was it worse than bowling not one full length ball in 1 & half hours or short pitched balls at Lyon who could not move two feet?

The poms are condescending, whining hypocrites.

[George27]

This is a great thread . I agree with everyone else - the hypocritical Poms can get stuffed !

I find an irony in the fact that on this , a Saint fan website, we have some strong disagreements about our team ( and , on the rare occasion, it gets a touch personal! ) , and yet we are all in agreement on a topic that has nothing to do with the Saints ( well, not since Warnie passed away ) .

[B.M]

Piers Morgan is a c***sucking C***!

No wonder Brett Lee tried to nail him in the nets!!!

[The Fireman]

The poms are saying the aussies are always cheating. Albo has tweeted “the Aussies are always winning “. Good one Albo

[asiu]

This is a great thread . I agree with everyone else - the hypocritical Poms can get stuffed !

I find an irony in the fact that on this , a Saint fan website, we have some strong disagreements about our team ( and , on the rare occasion, it gets a touch personal! ) , and yet we are all in agreement on a topic that has nothing to do with the Saints ( well, not since Warnie passed away ) .

thats observant commentary

in the old days , when trolled by opposition supporters
we used to do the same

it was good for the Soul n like a palate cleanser
around the place

[asiu]

then we hit the GT / RL divide
and we were easy pickings
to be divided by the trolling

[The Fireman]

then we hit the GT / RL divide
and we were easy pickings
to be divided by the trolling

I was gonna offer my thoughts that we cheated to get the ball rolling.

[markp]

The self-appointed guardians of 'the spirit of cricket' are, rather shockingly, complete hypocrites (and absolute sore losers).















But I have to pay this....

[asiu]

hypocrites of the highest order

same old poms always whinging

[Killa]

As the old story goes, look at the Scorecard

Nothing better than winning and watching the Poms whinge

Then you get to Broad!!!

I note 9 Entertainment have footage of him being caught at slip and standing his ground

The great unwashed are serial losers no matter the sport

Then you get to Brexit (so racism and why Khawaja was targeted)

Whinging Poms

And just so enjoyable

[The_Dud]

I love how the cricket world is tearing the Poms apart

[saynta]

Aldo reckons the nuns taught him you keep his bat behind the crease.

I agree with his comment. A first for me.

[The_Dud]

Mitch Marsh is playing, probably the worst 30 Test player in history… Aussies in trouble already