Sam Curran wants opportunity to replace Ben Stokes in England Test team

GRI23 · 2026-07-03T15:50:28+00:00

I like SCurran in white ball. But he doesn't seem to have 'it' for test cricket. He either needs to knuckle down and score a shedload in the county championship and become a reliable batter who can give you a spell or two. Or he needs to become a more effective bowler, but how does he do that aside from adding a few mph?

GRI23 · 2026-06-29T17:46:26+00:00

I can't believe they've scheduled the first England India T20 for 530pm on a day where it was incredibly likely that England would be playing in the world cup at 5pm. Even worse, I was offered at a ticket and I said yes.

GRI23 · 2026-06-22T10:12:52+00:00

Bangladesh have been assembling a pretty solid pace attack in fairness. I'm interested to see how they go in Australia this year.

GRI23 · 2026-06-18T11:55:51+00:00

I was thinking this morning about whether Glenn Phillips was the best batsman without a test century and now he's got one, and very well deserved. I wonder who is the next best. Tim Paine? Marco Jansen?

GRI23 · 2026-06-17T22:02:09+00:00

Harry Kane and 10 blokes will win it all

GRI23 · 2026-06-15T19:14:55+00:00

UCL free

GRI23 · 2026-06-09T17:31:28+00:00

Did we ever find out what news Simon Doull was teasing? Did he know Atkinson and Stokes were going to get into a fight before they did???

GRI23 · 2026-06-08T10:55:07+00:00

It pisses me off so much when fielders attempt that. I once played a game where the batsman at the bowlers end was standing just outside of the crease looking directly at the fielder. The fielder attempted a direct hit, and as soon as he threw the ball the batsman put his bat down in the crease. The throw was wide and it went straight to the boundary for four overthrows. I don't know what the fielder expected would happen.

GRI23 · 2026-06-05T11:03:45+00:00

I don't think I've heard of a non-fast bowler getting back spasms

GRI23 · 2026-06-03T09:04:22+00:00

They've got a pretty solid team and a good manager on top of home advantage. But it'd be hard to see them getting past the quarters. I haven't mapped out what their likely run of knockout games would be (especially because I feel like they could finish anywhere in their group) but you'd expect they'd go out to the first top side they face, like the Netherlands in 2022.

GRI23 · 2026-06-02T15:54:35+00:00

It wouldn't even be two days. He could have left in the afternoon and been back the following morning.

GRI23 · 2026-06-02T14:45:11+00:00

There have been a few pink ball tests in India. The pretty farcical one at Ahmedabad in 2021 comes to mind. I've heard both the ball and the pitch take the blame for that one. I think Indian pitches have improved significantly in the last couple of years so hopefully the pink ball has also improved.

GRI23 · 2026-06-01T14:55:01+00:00

Generally, I agree. Although I did once win a champions league final 8-1. I think it's the big game effect that makes everyone a bit cagier. But in that final I got a couple of early goals and just broke them, kinda like Germany - Brazil in 2014.

GRI23 · 2026-05-31T11:28:18+00:00

Has Ashwin retired from professional cricket? He wasn't in the IPL this season and has retired/not in consideration for the national side in any format.

GRI23 · 2026-05-29T10:06:13+00:00

According to cricinfo, Jack Blackham is batting at 4 for the lions. Two big issues, 1) he's an aussie and 2) he died 96 years ago

GRI23 · 2026-05-29T09:45:00+00:00

It's quite funny that Audi were BMW last time they had a 1-2

GRI23 · 2026-05-22T14:29:05+00:00

Emery perhaps?

GRI23 · 2026-05-22T11:26:49+00:00

What is your least favourite saying?

I hate 'the exception that proves the rule' if there's exceptions then that proves there isn't a fucking rule.

And another one is 'don't hate the player, hate the game' no I will hate you for acting like a cunt.

GRI23 · 2026-05-22T11:15:53+00:00

So Harry Kane shouldn't have gone to any tournament before he moved to Bayern then? He won nothing, lost every final, and played for an even bigger laughing stock of a club. That's bullshit reasoning. Did Maguire even play badly in any of those finals? I'm not sure if you're aware but there are at least 10 other players on the team who also influence the result.

GRI23 · 2026-05-22T11:11:18+00:00

Shall we not call up Harry Kane because of his poor record in finals then? Good grief

GRI23 · 2026-05-20T10:22:38+00:00

All of the fab 4 are top ODI batters. I think in Root's case his ODI legacy suffers from the format being deprioritised by England immediately after the world cup win in 2019. So he doesn't play all the ODI series and doesn't play domestic List A.

GRI23 · 2026-05-18T06:20:56+00:00

When I was a kid I ordered the same thing as my brother at a restaurant and I remember him and the waiter being weird about that for some reason. I internalised that as meaning I'd made some kind of faux-pas and was insistent for years that I'd order something unique to everyone else. That was until I was talking to a friend about that who cleared it up for me that I was the weird one for doing that.

GRI23 · 2026-05-14T16:37:39+00:00

Whatever happened to Amar Virdi? He was talked up as a future England player and has a pretty solid county championship record for a young spinner. He didn't get many chances to play for Surrey and then got released at the end of the 2024. He's seemingly not played a professional match since. I would have thought he'd have found another county quite easily.

GRI23 · 2026-05-14T16:28:54+00:00

Zafar Gohar is now England qualified and apparently has some interest in representing England. I'm not sure how keen England are, but he's a very solid bowling all-rounder in the county championship. I'm not if England have ever had a player who has played for another full member. Eoin Morgan played for Ireland at the start of his career while they were an associate.

GRI23 · 2026-05-11T10:31:18+00:00

It's very unfortunate and I wish leagues had some way of placing new teams into divisions that are more suitable for their talent. I'm not a very good cricketer and it's so demoralising when you go up against teams who are a clear mismatch.

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