Cricket 14:22 - Jan 3 with 2586 views | stowmarketrange | I’m just watching SA v India test match on tv and SA were bowled out for 55 in their 1st innings,and India had reached 153-4 just after tea.They lost 6 wickets for 0 runs and were all out for 153.And it’s only day 1. I think the Indian players would get lynched if that happens against England over the next couple of months. | ![](/images/avatars/4993.gif) | | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 14:24 - Jan 3 with 2575 views | GaryBannister86 | I've never seen anything like it. Even England have never collapsed for 6 wickets for 0 runs. Probably. | ![](/images/avatars/30181.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 14:25 - Jan 3 with 2564 views | stowmarketrange |
Cricket on 14:24 - Jan 3 by GaryBannister86 | I've never seen anything like it. Even England have never collapsed for 6 wickets for 0 runs. Probably. |
It’s early yet. | ![](/images/avatars/4993.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 14:31 - Jan 3 with 2515 views | Wegerles_Stairs | What is the pitch like? | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 14:44 - Jan 3 with 2492 views | stowmarketrange |
According to the bbc website it’s a lively bouncy pitch,but India seemed to be playing it well until their collapse. Twenty wickets in less than a day shows it can’t be that great to bat on though. Now 22 wickets in a day. [Post edited 3 Jan 15:05]
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Cricket on 21:42 - Jan 3 with 2225 views | Malintabuk | Some wicket that.... and while India are preparing for us in SA ... England decide to have a warm up in Dubai playing golf..... and arrive in India 3 days before the 1st test.... anyone fancy lumping on us to win that one? | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 08:57 - Jan 4 with 2077 views | TheChef |
Cricket on 21:42 - Jan 3 by Malintabuk | Some wicket that.... and while India are preparing for us in SA ... England decide to have a warm up in Dubai playing golf..... and arrive in India 3 days before the 1st test.... anyone fancy lumping on us to win that one? |
Modern cricket schedules don't allow for proper Test series preparation. And Test cricket will get marginalised further as all the money is in the one day stuff. Ashes is probably the only Test series which generates much income. Sad times. | ![](/images/avatars/2559.gif) |
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Cricket on 10:47 - Jan 4 with 1990 views | stowmarketrange | Virtually all over just after lunch on day 2.Not very good for SA cricket I think. | ![](/images/avatars/4993.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) | Login to get fewer ads
Cricket on 12:57 - Jan 4 with 1861 views | DWQPR |
Cricket on 10:47 - Jan 4 by stowmarketrange | Virtually all over just after lunch on day 2.Not very good for SA cricket I think. |
Worse still is that SA have got a two test tour of New Zealand in February which coincides with the SAPL T20 competition. Out of the 15 players selected to tour are 7 debutants, the most experienced will have 15 caps to his name and the captain has never played test cricket. The international tour schedule has been set years ahead and the T20 competition dates has only just been confirmed. And yet CSA have said that they requested NZ to move the test dates. It is a sorry state of affairs for SA. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Cricket on 13:01 - Jan 4 with 1853 views | Loyalitat |
Cricket on 10:47 - Jan 4 by stowmarketrange | Virtually all over just after lunch on day 2.Not very good for SA cricket I think. |
Totally agree, but they would have taken a draw before the series started. The stranglehold that the so-called big three now have on the game will lead to a reduction in the number of test cricket nations playing this format. In 2024, England will play 11 test matches in total: 5 matches in India, and 6 games at home against the West Indies (x3) and Sri Lanka (x3). On the other hand, South Africa are at this stage only scheduled to play another two games this calendar year, next month in New Zealand. Where they will be fielding a weakened team, as it overlaps with their T20 tournament, which starts next week. Before England play South Africa away in December 2025, in 3 tests, they will have played 20 test matches , home and away, against Australia (x10) and India (x10). Alongside a number of one day/T20 games against the same nations I'm sure. The by-product of this, is that other nations such as South Africa, are understandably focusing their attention away from test cricket and growing their own/IPL influenced T20 tournament. So much so, that the captain of the test team, T Bavuma, sustained a hamstring strain I believe, on the first day of the first test match against India. He never played any part thereafter. Not even when his teammate was stranded on 80-odd runs and needed another player to appear so that he could perhaps have got to three figures against India. I'm convinced that uppermost in T Bavuma's mind was his being fit for the imminent T20 tournament rather than helping his teammate reach three figures. It saddened me to see that, but I understand it from the player's perspective and the money he could lose were he not able to play in the T20 tournament. I'm worried about the longevity of test match cricket away from England, India and Australia. Once a player like V Kohli stops playing test cricket, it may well coincide with India's support for it starting to wane too. [Post edited 4 Jan 13:08]
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Cricket on 13:18 - Jan 4 with 1825 views | GaryBannister86 | Yep, I am afraid the slow death of test cricket as we know it has begun - especially with SA picking a second string for a test tour. I know it is because of all the money, but I am surprised that there hasn't been some sort of correction as there is SO much cricket even for a cricket nut like myself, I just don't care, or even know, who plays for what franchise and where. Not even English players I like. It is all so meaningless. Whereas - even that 2 days of test cricket SA v India - absolutely electric. | ![](/images/avatars/30181.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 14:29 - Jan 4 with 1761 views | Loyalitat |
Cricket on 13:18 - Jan 4 by GaryBannister86 | Yep, I am afraid the slow death of test cricket as we know it has begun - especially with SA picking a second string for a test tour. I know it is because of all the money, but I am surprised that there hasn't been some sort of correction as there is SO much cricket even for a cricket nut like myself, I just don't care, or even know, who plays for what franchise and where. Not even English players I like. It is all so meaningless. Whereas - even that 2 days of test cricket SA v India - absolutely electric. |
I totally agree with you. There is no contest between test cricket and T20/10/16.4! in terms of quality, skills on show (batting and bowling), general ebbs and flows of the game. It's over-exposure may start to have an adverse effect by way of supporters' interest waning. I would never wish for it to fail, as it does generate a decent amount of revenue for counties like mine; Essex. However, its primacy isn't borne out by the number of one-sided games that occur so frequently, which doesn't make for a great spectacle. If you bat first and get a big score, the chances of that score being chased down are pretty slim, in my view. [Post edited 4 Jan 22:21]
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Cricket on 14:57 - Jan 4 with 1727 views | stowmarketrange |
Cricket on 13:18 - Jan 4 by GaryBannister86 | Yep, I am afraid the slow death of test cricket as we know it has begun - especially with SA picking a second string for a test tour. I know it is because of all the money, but I am surprised that there hasn't been some sort of correction as there is SO much cricket even for a cricket nut like myself, I just don't care, or even know, who plays for what franchise and where. Not even English players I like. It is all so meaningless. Whereas - even that 2 days of test cricket SA v India - absolutely electric. |
I’m seriously thinking of heading to India for the last 3 tests next month but what’s the point if they’re only going to last 2 or 3 days each?And probably after we’ve been spanked in the first 2 tests because we haven’t been playing red ball cricket for so long. | ![](/images/avatars/4993.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 15:01 - Jan 4 with 1714 views | R_from_afar |
Cricket on 14:44 - Jan 3 by stowmarketrange | According to the bbc website it’s a lively bouncy pitch,but India seemed to be playing it well until their collapse. Twenty wickets in less than a day shows it can’t be that great to bat on though. Now 22 wickets in a day. [Post edited 3 Jan 15:05]
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A fascinating game because - spoiler alert - Markram managed to score a 99 ball hundred in the midst of all the drama... | ![](/images/avatars/5145.gif) |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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Cricket on 15:18 - Jan 4 with 1698 views | stowmarketrange |
Cricket on 15:01 - Jan 4 by R_from_afar | A fascinating game because - spoiler alert - Markram managed to score a 99 ball hundred in the midst of all the drama... |
I did see that he was the only one who managed to score a few runs amid the chaos all around him. | ![](/images/avatars/4993.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 17:52 - Jan 4 with 1623 views | essextaxiboy | It was the first time the groundsman had prepared a test match wicket . | ![](/images/avatars/1443.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Cricket on 19:54 - Jan 4 with 1554 views | OldPedro |
Cricket on 13:18 - Jan 4 by GaryBannister86 | Yep, I am afraid the slow death of test cricket as we know it has begun - especially with SA picking a second string for a test tour. I know it is because of all the money, but I am surprised that there hasn't been some sort of correction as there is SO much cricket even for a cricket nut like myself, I just don't care, or even know, who plays for what franchise and where. Not even English players I like. It is all so meaningless. Whereas - even that 2 days of test cricket SA v India - absolutely electric. |
Totally agree with this - test matches are still the best form of cricket. I hate all of the T20 / 100 competitions because it's rarely a competition between batters and bowlers - it's generally decided by who can thump the ball the hardest. And there are so many games, I don't know whether I'm coming or going. The only good thing that has come out of the 100 is the positive exposure for the womens game. | ![](/images/avatars/2453.gif) |
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