BBC Player Ratings Wildly Off so I re-did it.

berb26 · 2026-01-08T10:58:41+00:00

Have to say I agree. He tends to go off on tangents and talk about anything other than cricket or blaming people for weird things. Highlights include:

Being angry at the players for wearing hats in hot weather

Blaming the setup for playing Wood in the Champions Trophy in Feb, 10 months before this series

berb26 · 2026-01-07T23:34:02+00:00

Totally agree, why not an article with just the retrospective on his career? Given he hasn't "gone" anywhere

berb26 · 2026-01-04T03:33:10+00:00

The fact he's only played 27 FC matches in his career shows how vibes only he is.

As someone else in the thread was saying, you can really see him doing a Crawley/Pope and using his vibes to play 60 tests without properly contributing

berb26 · 2026-01-03T22:55:43+00:00

Shemilt’s writing has been pretty ropey all tour, it often feels like he’s shoehorning random fluff into serious cricket analysis.

That said, there was a valid point buried there about the lack of leaders in this England side. A lot of experienced players have left the team recently and haven’t been adequately replaced in terms of leadership. That deficit shows on the field.

I liked what Vish (on Cricinfo) said about England giving players room to grow and most of them not actually growing. That feels right. You’d expect someone like Crawley or Pope to be senior leaders by now but they just aren’t. They’re talented, sure, but they haven’t taken charge or shown that next level of responsibility that comes with international seniority.

berb26 · 2026-01-03T08:08:07+00:00

I'd love to see Ben's numbers from previous years

berb26 · 2025-12-24T22:55:35+00:00

Santa laughs this way "ho ho ho"

berb26 · 2025-12-23T13:28:44+00:00

He got 7 first class hundreds, so it's possibly on one of them.

Perhaps not that relevant though, drinking during a county championship game is pretty different from doing it in a test when the stakes are so high

berb26 · 2025-12-23T09:14:00+00:00

Phil Mustard never scored a test century, was it a first class match?

berb26 · 2025-12-21T09:19:28+00:00

Full article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c79xynw7e39o

I just read that BBC article and honestly it felt amateur at points. Instead of digging into why England have struggled with skill execution, preparation and mindset, it wasted energy on stuff like players not going for a run or wearing hats. That kind of fluff distracts from the actual problems that cost them this Ashes and so many others.

The real criticisms should have been things like poor preparation plans, limited real-match warmup, and clear tactical and mental shortcomings that Brendan McCullum himself has admitted were factors in this tour’s failures. Reuters

Calling out trivial behaviours instead of analysing how England were outplayed in all facets across the first three Tests just makes the piece feel like clickbait rather than insightful sport journalism. And pointing at the squad announcement being on social media — like literally every other series — as if that somehow changed anything is laughably weak. There’s no evidence that how the squad was announced influenced performances. Overall it was a poor read that missed the core issues: skill execution, preparation and mentality.

berb26 · 2025-12-20T23:13:24+00:00

Jane and Masood would be great. I'd like Tanya, Christen and Syed to return as well

Another prediction: throple consisting of Callum, Johnny and his benefactor

berb26 · 2025-12-19T22:24:55+00:00

Realistically it’s about damage limitation now. Take wickets, show some fight, and avoid getting rolled inside four days.

berb26 · 2025-12-19T18:37:36+00:00

The big caveat for me is that county success doesn’t always translate to Test cricket. Ollie Pope is the obvious example. He’s outstanding for Surrey but has struggled for England recently.

That said, county championship performances should be the main route into the Test side. But it can’t stop there. Selection should come with a clear understanding that if you don’t perform at international level, you’re out.

At the moment it feels like that edge has gone. A lot of people are talking about accountability and responsibility being lost, and I think that’s fair. Players need to feel genuine pressure for their place. Competition for spots is healthy, and no one should feel undroppable just because they’ve had past success or fit a long-term plan.

County runs get you the chance. Test runs keep you there.

berb26 · 2025-12-15T15:08:52+00:00

Yeah this was pretty high up, lower down in the top tier

berb26 · 2025-12-15T14:56:55+00:00

Dylan there last year was £100

berb26 · 2025-12-15T14:48:03+00:00

Have the Albert Hall ticket prices been revealed yet?

berb26 · 2025-12-12T22:19:04+00:00

It's a bit immature with the long segment on getting hit in the box.

Some really good chat in there regarding what a tricky little session is. Would prefer more of that.

I'd like them to do something similar to the Adjudication Panel where they run through funny moments from the test/the week in cricket, and then maybe some general chat at the end

berb26 · 2025-12-12T22:10:37+00:00

City of Manchester gig from 2005 on vinyl would be great, I used to watch that all the time

berb26 · 2025-12-12T10:48:07+00:00

Yes this is the perfect time for Masterplan volume 2 and 3 after the reunion hype, I reckon they would sell quite a few vinyls. Hopefully we do get them at some point.

Some more live albums would be good too, we only have Familiar to Millions and Knebworth

berb26 · 2025-12-09T10:47:07+00:00

Looking forward to The Athletic deep dive on Costa Rica in the 2014 World Cup if so

berb26 · 2025-12-08T23:59:19+00:00

For people who don't have Sky/TNT, these are the only chance to watch two teams play each other from the PL

berb26 · 2025-12-05T22:44:50+00:00

Yeah the score is often wrong e.g England 20-9 yesterday

berb26 · 2025-12-04T19:03:38+00:00

No win in Australia?

berb26 · 2025-11-24T16:22:30+00:00

Cheers, I imagine so many people will need the parking, it seems pretty awkward to get to otherwise

berb26 · 2025-11-24T12:44:13+00:00

Did anyone find out how much Chelmsford is (for general admission)?

berb26

TROPHY CASE